Timeshare Board Members association is moving forward

[BWolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BWolf]

Interesting development. Two of our timeshares are HOA controlled and seem to be very well run. I'm thinking of asking members of each HOA if they have participated or will consider participating.

I wonder, though, how do the people who attend these meetings pay for it? First Florida, now California. Where's the meeting after that, Bermuda? So, do the HOA representatives pay from HOA funds (which may be a good use of the money} or out of their own pockets?

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

djyamyam,

Can you share some of what you guys went through about budgeting and auditing?

Thanks,
Mary

They had this accounting company that does work with a number of timeshare resorts go over a study where they surveyed both large and smaller resorts where key budget items (eg. doubtful accounts) were reviewed to give general patterns. For the audit side, they talked about the responsibilities of the management company, board, etc. One of the presenters was the president of an HOA who also happens to be a CPA so he was talking about it from a board perspective and the interaction that should occur between the board,management company and auditor.

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

Interesting development. Two of our timeshares are HOA controlled and seem to be very well run. I'm thinking of asking members of each HOA if they have participated or will consider participating.

I wonder, though, how do the people who attend these meetings pay for it? First Florida, now California. Where's the meeting after that, Bermuda? So, do the HOA representatives pay from HOA funds (which may be a good use of the money} or out of their own pockets?

I had heard about this meeting via Shep at TSToday. I had gone to the TBMA website and looked at the agenda items and found them to be very practical and very relevant to what our TS was going through so I pitched it to our board. Some thought it worthwhile so the voted to spend X amount of money for me to go. I found a cheap flight and used an XYZ exchange and was able to make it cost effective. The meeting itself was free and food was included as they were able to get sponsors to pay for the meeting and food. The sponsors got a limited amount of "airtime" as a result of the sponsorship. I found that part of it generally worthwhile too as we developed some practical relationships with a vendor or two (ie. collections company).

The first meeting was actually last year in Scottsdale. They are trying to have a meeting in the east and in the west in order to get attendance and exposure, recognizing that you're not going to get everyone to be able to attend because of the location.

[BWolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BWolf]

I had heard about this meeting via Shep at TSToday. I had gone to the TBMA website and looked at the agenda items and found them to be very practical and very relevant to what our TS was going through so I pitched it to our board. Some thought it worthwhile so the voted to spend X amount of money for me to go. I found a cheap flight and used an XYZ exchange and was able to make it cost effective. The meeting itself was free and food was included as they were able to get sponsors to pay for the meeting and food. The sponsors got a limited amount of "airtime" as a result of the sponsorship. I found that part of it generally worthwhile too as we developed some practical relationships with a vendor or two (ie. collections company).


The first meeting was actually last year in Scottsdale. They are trying to have a meeting in the east and in the west in order to get attendance and exposure, recognizing that you're not going to get everyone to be able to attend because of the location.

djyamyam: Thanks. I'll suggest they look into it, and see what happens.

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

I personally like the concept of this association. I just wish we had an owner controlled board at Greensprings Vacation Resort in Williamsburg,VA.

I personally enjoyed reading about Cypress Point Resort updates and all the photos / pictures that goes along with their updates. They are showing owners and guests what the resort truely looks like.

Great job to the board members at this resort.

[Ridewithme38 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ridewithme38]

The problem with 'owner controlled' timeshares is, if they slack off and do nothing, or raise MF's without strictly watching where the funds are going very few owners will actually stand up and say anything...You've all seen this at your resorts...Most votes receive less the 5% responses

With developer run resorts, they have bosses & Stockholders that can make their life hell if the Resort falls into disrepair...Places like Marriott and Four seasons have a reputation to live up to...If even one of their of their resorts falls to the level of even the best 'owner controlled' resort, their stock will drop, they'll end up fired and on the streets

Plus from what i've seen, 'owner controlled' resorts are dumps, i've yet to see one that can even stand up to the lowest quality marriott resort

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Ride - I guess you don't get out much. While we certainly enjoy the Marriotts/Hiltons/Wyndhams & others we now know, after over 20 years experience including Disney, not to own those developer controlled places. They do age ungracefully & when the required work comes due they either lose the Developer or pay 15-20% or more premium for the work after years of corporate padded profits on the fees.

We know well run owner controlled resorts are far better values & can be as good or better than "names". We can rent or trade for names easily when we want to visit them.

[MaryH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MaryH]

For the audit side, they talked about the responsibilities of the management company, board, etc. One of the presenters was the president of an HOA who also happens to be a CPA so he was talking about it from a board perspective and the interaction that should occur between the board,management company and auditor.

Yeah I am trying to research what are the fiduciary duty of the board, management company and accountant / auditors the resort uses since some stuff have been raising some red flags for me in a resort I own.

[Ridewithme38 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ridewithme38]

We know well run owner controlled resorts are far better values & can be as good or better than "names". We can rent or trade for names easily when we want to visit them.

I'll have to defer to you on this...i avoid 'owner controlled' resorts like the plague...So let me ask you...Can you tell me the name of one owner controlled resort that is as nice as an average 'developer controlled' resort...lets use a basic 'developer controlled' resort like ko' olina as a baseline...So do you know any as nice as ko olina?

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Here is the sort of situations that members find themselves in when developers continue to run things:

http://www.poipuowners.org/uploads/Lawsuit.pdf

This is a pretty sordid tale of what happens all too often when developers control HOA boards. Jacking up managment fees to ten times what they had been previously is only one of the lesser transgressions.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

I'll have to defer to you on this...i avoid 'owner controlled' resorts like the plague...So let me ask you...Can you tell me the name of one owner controlled resort that is as nice as an average 'developer controlled' resort...lets use a basic 'developer controlled' resort like ko' olina as a baseline...So do you know any as nice as ko olina?

Fair question. Here's just a handful we enjoyed that are equal or better than "names" in the area:

Royal Dunes
The Banyon
Cypresspointe
Blue Tree (non Westgate )
Smugglers Cove
The list could go on.

On the other hand the disappointing developer controlled names is far more lengthy

Cancun
Beach Place Towers
Celebration World
Westgate (but nice that those last two accept pets)
There were many more I can't recall now.

Therefore point is if you are limiting your choices to developer only you are missing out on great resorts and often better locations. Now there are certainly great resorts under developer control and there are bad resorts controlled by owners. But "nice" and well featured resorts are not limited to Developer control by any stretch. Each resort has to measured on its own. Ownership is definitely in favor if non-developer.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

The problem with 'owner controlled' timeshares is, if they slack off and do nothing, or raise MF's without strictly watching where the funds are going very few owners will actually stand up and say anything...You've all seen this at your resorts...Most votes receive less the 5% responses

With developer run resorts, they have bosses & Stockholders that can make their life hell if the Resort falls into disrepair...Places like Marriott and Four seasons have a reputation to live up to...If even one of their of their resorts falls to the level of even the best 'owner controlled' resort, their stock will drop, they'll end up fired and on the streets

Plus from what i've seen, 'owner controlled' resorts are dumps, i've yet to see one that can even stand up to the lowest quality marriott resort

Funny thing. I have seen just the opposite. Barrier Island Station - Duck was allowed to go quite a way downhill while under developer control, as Barrier Island was much more focused on the resort where they were still selling in Kitty Hawk, and treated their two sold out resorts in Duck like redheaded step children. When it started to turn around was when the members got control of the HOA and hired an independent management company, SPM, which has also done an excellent job at member-controlled GC Outer Banks Beach Club down the beach.

Another example is Ocean Villas II, one of the OBX resorts where the budget, including the m/f, have to be adopted by the membership at the annual meeting, not merely by the board. One year a member questioned the treasurer about the reserves, and the treasurer, a former banker who knew his HOA budgets (he has been treasurer for more than one HOA) like the back of his hand explained the resort's reserve study and how the amount was what the reserve study said was needed. The member then gave a speech about another timeshare he owned in another area which had just had a special assessment because of not keeping enough in reserves and to be safe moved to increase the line for reserves by ten or twenty dollars per week owned just to be sure. It passed unanimously.

The resort I own at in South Africa was a standard resort the whole time it was run by the developer, but since the developer has been kicked out and an member-controlled board and self management installed, it has achieved Silver Crown status. My UK resort has had member control and self management for years and is solidly a Gold Crown, and with lower m/f's than most UK resorts.

If you have a developer involved, you can be sure that they are raking off a nice little take for themselves from the m/f. That simply does not happen at member controlled self managed resorts, which is from what I have seen, the best combination.

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

Yeah I am trying to research what are the fiduciary duty of the board, management company and accountant / auditors the resort uses since some stuff have been raising some red flags for me in a resort I own.

Generally, it is the management's responsibility to prepare the budget and for the board to review and present to membership for discussion and approval. On the audit, management prepares the documents for the auditor to audit. There are three levels of audit, with the more indepth the audit the more it costs. The audit company is supposed to discuss the preliminary audit with the board (outside of management) and has a separate meeting with the mgmt company as well.

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

Does a resort accountant have any input into the planning of the resort budget and is the resort accountant obligated to tell anyone the truth about how money is being at the resort ?

[djyamyam Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close djyamyam]

Does a resort accountant have any input into the planning of the resort budget and is the resort accountant obligated to tell anyone the truth about how money is being at the resort ?

I would imagine so but usually the resort accountant is an employee of the management company, not the resort - that's my understanding.