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Originally posted by T. R. Oglodyte
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1. owning at an idependant resort without the ability for internal exchanges leaves you at the mercy of the exchange companies which are evil
2. weeks ownership allows you to deposit you week for exchange with an independant exchange company, who in turn rents out the best weeks for profit. As stated in #1 exchange companies are evil.
3. Owners rarely vote to replace BOD/HOA's because of apathy. After sell out there is little reason for BOD/HOA's to maintain the resort to a certain standard of excellence so they tend to fall into disrepair and require large SA's, large adjustments in MF's or are aquired by larger mini-systems.
It looks to me as if timeshare ownership is an absolute no win situation unless you just happen to be happy with the developer or BOD you're ownership is with. Complaints can easily be made with any system of exchange or ownership. I joined Club Sun for exactly the opposite reasons you list. Our weeks based units at Polo Towers were becoming more restricitive and less flexible as time went on. Our BOD/HOA was not maintaining the resort to it's developer sales days and a very large SA had to be pushed through just to bring it back up to standards. For three years owners could have eaily taken over the BOD/HOA had they not been apathetic about what was going on.
Every ownership has it's positives and negatives. It's up to the individual owner to decide which is works for them. It's also up to each individual owner to read and understand their contracts. Those contracts lay out what the developer, BOD and HOA can and can not do.
In the case of the owners lounge, that space remains to this day developer owned territory that can be done with as the developer deems neccessary. According to Mr. C, that lounge was losing $600,000/year. I can see that lounge losing $50,000/month as it was never well utilized when we were up there. I really enjoyed that space and looking out at the strip when we were guests at Polo Towers. Access to that lounge as a quite place for owners to enjoy a few moments with a great view was one of the reasons we purchased at Polo Towers. It's demise without even so much as a letter or E-mail from the Polo Towers BOD/HOA really ticked me off. But I was mad because of 2 reasons. First, I did NOT read my contract until something happened. That's MY fault. Had I read all that legal mumbojumbo I might have rescinded the contract (but probably not). Second, there was NO communication from our BOD/HOA. The second is what really ticked me off and to this day still does.
I still believe that if that area was turned into something for the owners, even if it's just a place to sit and drink a cup of coffee, that owners will feel much better about the situation. I still believe that a Pizza Hut express, a Starbucks Express, Maybe a small deli counter, a few chairs with tables and moving the convenience store up to the old lounge would be a great use of that space for owners and perhaps turn a small profit. Once again it be a great place for owners to have a quite place to sit, relax and enjoy the view of the strip.
Another option would be to move the fitness center out of the Hawaiian Marketplace and up to the lounge area. What a GREAT place that would be to work out and have a great view of the strip in the morning!
There are things that I feel could be done with that space that would make owners happy but, it remains developer owned space and there's not a lot that can be done about that. Developers are like any other business, they're in it to make money. We always like to talk about due dillegence when buying resale. Isn't it just as important to understand owners rights, developers rights and the BOD/HOA's rights along with everything else? We might complain about what's being done but, if the owners have signed contracts allowing these things to happen, who's at fault anyway?
As far as Sunterra's past mis-steps, I find it hard to believe that anyone is going to hold a new owner responsible for the sins of the past owner. If you're going to find fault with the new owner then you'd better start rereading some of my past post's about DRI. Those are the sins that DRI can be held accountable.
1. I've covered the owners lounge situation already.
2. If you go online and research the Legionella situation you may get the same impression that I came away with, the governmental agency made much ado about nothing. The three or four cases of legionella occured months after the patients stay at Polo Towers but they all had a stay at Polo Towers in common so that must have been it, despite the obvious fact they had all been away from the "source" for months. Hardly resounding case-closed evidence to pull the scare tactic move they made.
3. The delay in building the Skyview Suites in the timeline promised and having to argue to get the usage week promised until they were built out. I'm still a little miffed about that one. Pre-construction owners were given a timeline for occupancy that was not kept. We were promised I.I. occupanct certificates (they were not AC) that could be used for exchanges with I.I. We recieved the the first year and had to call about accomadations thereafter. The excuse was they cost approx. $600 apiece but owners weren't using them. From that point forward I had to call each year and was assigned a inventory unit at Polo Towers to exchange. I did get my usage but I am still miffed I had to work at it to get it. It could have been done better IMO.
4. The family water park took to long to be completed after the SA was paid. There were several excuses I heard including not having the permits to not being able to find a construction company willing to do such a small project. Again, IMO this could have been handled better for the owners. In the end it did get done.
5. Communication for all intents and purposes ceased after build out and developer's direct involvement with the towers. This was an BOD/HOA situation. Up until that point we use to get a very nice newsletter concerning what was going on. Like most developer news letters there was some amount of advertising in it. Even the web page rarely got updated. Since Mr. C has come back into the picture, communication about Sunterra and the changes being made has made it's return. Of course, that communication is largely what is causing all the complaints right now. Maybe he's not telling you what you want to hear but at least he IS telling you what's going on.
6. Build out of the Villa's appeared to take much longer than the sales staff told us it would. Imagine that, sales staff telling us something that did not happen. Again it's back to reading what's in the contract. We received exactly what was in the contract so I'm not certain this could be a legitmate complaint. I just prefer to see construction progressing along the lines I was told. When it doesn't, I become suspicious and worried as to why it's not. I can say the same for Marriott's developement in Branson, MO. Construction there has been at a standstill.
At one point I made a comment to a Marriott salesman that sales for the Villa's must have been off. I gave two reasons for this. One, Mr. C turned the branding over to Marriott for the Chateau and two, it didn't appear to accelerate in completion until after Marriott took over the sales staff. The Marriott saleman stated that DRI wasn't having any trouble moving those units before or after Marriott took over the sales staff. Fact or fiction you'll have to decide for yourself.
Still, we received what we paid for and I'm not certain #6 could be considered a valid complaint.
If you're going to find sins with DRI you'd better find them in DRI's past actions and not based on the past actions of those who previously ran Sunterra. It's only been around 120 days since the buy out. Things have happened rather quickly and that's going to make it hard to process. The only people worried about Carlton Court are the people not involved with that transaction. However, I would not be surprised if there's not a realignment of Sunterra resorts in the states as well.
I've been to a couple of Sunterra resorts and driven by a few more. I have to tell you that I haven't been overly impressed with what I've seen and/or stayed at. They've been nice but there are aspects about them that are, IMO, cheap. No curtains, lower quality soft goods, amenities not always maintained in top form et.....Aparently Mr. C wants to bring those items up to another level right away. That in itself is a huge undertaking. Not to mention bringing the sales staff, management and all other employee's up to speed with how DRI wants things to get done. Toss in the fact that it's an international company with international laws, problems and issues to deal with and it's amazing anything has been done at all let alone having what's been done communicated to owners.
We're looking at a very small picture of a very large puzzle. I've been an outspoken unhappy camper for the last 3 or 4 years with my Polo Towers ownership. Yet, I'm willing to take Mr. C at his word that things are going to be handled differently and that things are going to get better. Right now I tend to believe him and am willing to take him at his word. He is the ONLY CEO/Chairman that has literally taken the time to find out who I am, call me and speak with me about my concerns directly and provide me with his phone #, fax # and E-mail address. He has obviously spent time talking with other owners/members and has made it know he not only reads these forums but will expose himself and post on these forums. I think we owe it to him to give him a chance and make good on his promises first before convicting him of the crimes of the former Sunterra.
If I can take this stance after the many complaints I've had then I feel everyone should be able to give it a little time and see how it shakes out. After all, the UK members do not seem all that bothered about the loss of Carlton Court and they are the ones directly affected by it. Let's also see what becomes of the Scottish fiasco that the former Sunterra mangagment got themselves into. That has to be on very sticky wicket that DRI has inherited. Let's wait and see what happens with the U.S. membership and resorts. Otherwise we may just be tossing the baby out with the bathwater and that would be a foolish thing to do as well. In the end, I don't think we have a lot of choice anyway.
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