Timeshare Board Members association is moving forward

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

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

With some of the self managed resorts on the OBX, the HOA hired an independent accountant, so every month when the monthly financials were prepared, there was a triple check between the HOA treasurer, the manager, and the independent accountant.

At the self managed resorts, the accountant had no role in preparing a budget for the coming year. The manager sent a proposal to the treasurer, who prepared a draft budget for the board to consider.

Another interesting concept from some self managed resorts was the members' audit committee, where a committee of members was appointed annually to review the resort financial records. Most participants had some background in finance, and sometimes they would identify issues that the accountants missed because they tended to look at things from a practical standpoint, not just if the right number was in the right column. This adds an extra layer of protection. They also would put forward interesting suggestions to management from time to time.

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

Ride, Hotel VC Type developer such as SPG, Marriott, Hyatt, etc. may be a bit different than other developer controlled resort. They tend to be more professional in operation and also have more concern of reputation since it impacts their hotel reputation too. Having looked at my Hyatt budgets recently, Hyatt as the management company do get several income stream from the club fees, management fees, and some share support fees and the TS also likely contribute to their hotel income since TS owners sometime spend money in the hotels in the area. I like to think of those as win-win situations.

But recently there have been several dirty laundry type of cases where some developer / management company has been accused of and even lawsuit filed of mismanagement or even fraud. So generalization such as those you said without support information is a tad dangerous.

Even owner controlled HOA may run into issues with mixed use resorts where there are whole condo units and TS resort since whole condo owners get 52 votes per unit and they are often there onsite for the annual meetings. As a result some budget items get approved where whole condo unit get something benefits / stuff done while TS owners pays for the majority of the costs...

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

Mary - You sound very well informed as to how these things work and the politics involved. You clearly see why making blanket statements such as all HOA's are crooks or Developer HOA's are better just don't fly. You need to know the situation at each resort & then decide. If there is anything close to a blanket statement that has a good chance of standing up to scrutiny it's "Developer controlled HOA's mean higher costs and less accountability. Owner controlled HOA's are better value for the money spent". But even those can be reversed in certain cases. No one size really fits all.

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

timeos2,

I am used to reading financial statements and budgeting since I build planning and forecasting systems for large companies. Had to educate myself on more intricate details of TS recently, including TS operational costs and efficiencies, replacement cost, management and TS regulations and rules.

If I had known what I know now, I would not have bought some of my timeshares and maybe even delayed my Hyatt purchase till more recently. I traded into Hyatt Beach House in Dec twice using II (at cost around $600 or 2/3 of Hyatt MF) before I bought Hyatt Beach House in 2009 but it took me a couple of years to learn how to use it and what I want out of it.

it is not a one size fit all situation and blanket statements might not apply in certain circumstances but now I have a list of question I would ask or things I would look at before purchasing a timeshare.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

Mary, one way to find out about your own HOA is to attend a board meeting. Many of these meetings are open to owners(some items are subject to board members only) and those that are not ought to have a good reason why not.

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

Yeah thinking of going to one in Sept time permitting. Timing of some of those annual meetings are not great for me.

[Doc Holiday Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Doc Holiday]

A meeting was held recently in Florida under the sponsorship of Timesharing Today magazine to organize an association of timeshare board members and resort managers of member-controlled timeshare resorts. Now that it is organized, its first conference and board meeting will be held in San Diego, California Oct. 28 to 30.

Whether it is dealing with PCC's, dealing with delinquincies, or dealing with exchange companies and their changing practices, this is a great opportunity for member-controlled timeshare resorts to work together for the common good. I would encourage all HOA board members who are active on this board to look into this opportunity. For more info email HOA@tstoday.com

A similar association, TATOC, has been up and running in Europe for a number of years.

This is a big problem in timeshare as most resorts that are member controlled are not based on the resorts and may only get together a handful of times a year. Their main objective is to keep costs down, ensure the resort is run to the best of its ability and maintained. There big fear is maintaining club memberships, most of these resorts do not have access to a resource where their members without fear of being sold to can access a user friendly advisory resource.

The sad thing is that those timeshare owners who want out just don't see the value anymore. Admittedly there are those who have genuine lifestyle challenges but a very high percentage of timeshare owners who dispose of there timeshare somehow, go on to take holidays!

Most resorts have no after care service ensuring their members are using their timeshare to the best of their ability. There are forums like this and TUG but most timeshare owners don't even know they exist or would just get caught up and feel overwhelmed with the options they could consider.

The resorts should have a structured support service for their members this could even be internet based. The owner can then educate themselves without fear of being sold to. How many club members would stay the course if they found that the likes of SFX or DAE who might give them two weeks for their one week or upgrade their low season week. UKRE does virtually the same only its UK weeks that get given 2 for 1 but that could be a UK studio in July for two weeks. What about ceeding a week with Petchy into points. If you own high season weeks with Petchy its worth considering as they have NO exchange fees within their own Portfolio of resorts. Mr & Mrs Tams used up some of their Points allocation (works like RCI Points) to stay over in Spain at one of their resorts for 5 weeks. There was no exchange fees! Just travel costs, sure they had the maintenance to pay on the two weeks that were ceded to points but it only worked out around £100 for each weeks accommodation and they still had points left over.

RCI Points if you own in the right way thats high points weeks with low maintenance it is good value, especially if you take 3-4 weeks in the same apartment the exchange fees are less.

Its different strokes for different folks, unfortunately sometimes the salesman tries to make everyone fit with just one company. In this day and age there is choice, you just need somewhere to go to access this information thats user friendly with no products for sell so there is no axe to grind.

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

I quite agree that all HOA's need to educate their members about the various exchange options. I, myself, first learned about DAE when I was on an RCI exchange in Germany and picked up a DAE brochure (they had them in both German and English) at the check-in desk. Several resorts I have checked into in England have had DAE brochures in their unit books or elsewhere or the DAE magazine on the coffee table in the unit.

Resort newsletters are a good way to get the word out. The resort on whose HOA board I served regularly ran articles about exchange options. Also, a number of exchange companies will pay the postage on resort newsletters if you include a brochure from the exchagne company. We did that for DAE Europe, then for DAE USA when they opened, for Platinum Interchange, and also for Timesharing Today magazine. Enhancing the exchanging competition is a good way to hold the big exchange companies' feet to the fire.

I think this new association will also be a good venue for independent exchange companies to make the connections with independent timeshare resorts.

This is a big problem in timeshare as most resorts that are member controlled are not based on the resorts and may only get together a handful of times a year. Their main objective is to keep costs down, ensure the resort is run to the best of its ability and maintained. There big fear is maintaining club memberships, most of these resorts do not have access to a resource where their members without fear of being sold to can access a user friendly advisory resource.

The sad thing is that those timeshare owners who want out just don't see the value anymore. Admittedly there are those who have genuine lifestyle challenges but a very high percentage of timeshare owners who dispose of there timeshare somehow, go on to take holidays!

Most resorts have no after care service ensuring their members are using their timeshare to the best of their ability. There are forums like this and TUG but most timeshare owners don't even know they exist or would just get caught up and feel overwhelmed with the options they could consider.

The resorts should have a structured support service for their members this could even be internet based. The owner can then educate themselves without fear of being sold to. How many club members would stay the course if they found that the likes of SFX or DAE who might give them two weeks for their one week or upgrade their low season week. UKRE does virtually the same only its UK weeks that get given 2 for 1 but that could be a UK studio in July for two weeks. What about ceeding a week with Petchy into points. If you own high season weeks with Petchy its worth considering as they have NO exchange fees within their own Portfolio of resorts. Mr & Mrs Tams used up some of their Points allocation (works like RCI Points) to stay over in Spain at one of their resorts for 5 weeks. There was no exchange fees! Just travel costs, sure they had the maintenance to pay on the two weeks that were ceded to points but it only worked out around £100 for each weeks accommodation and they still had points left over.

RCI Points if you own in the right way thats high points weeks with low maintenance it is good value, especially if you take 3-4 weeks in the same apartment the exchange fees are less.

Its different strokes for different folks, unfortunately sometimes the salesman tries to make everyone fit with just one company. In this day and age there is choice, you just need somewhere to go to access this information thats user friendly with no products for sell so there is no axe to grind.

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

anyone going to the meeting in San Diego?