The Jewel of the Las Vegas Strip-New 2008 MF's

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

Here are unconfirmed 2008 MF's - not sure about other types of units, but for the 1BD Suites, it is a whopping 15+% gain over 2007 ($479) !!! Not sure how we feel at this point... or or or or



Suites: 1BD/2BD
551/823

Villas: 1BD/2BD
601/903

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Here are unconfirmed 2008 MF's - not sure about other types of units, but for the 1BD Suites, it is a whopping 15+% gain over 2007 ($479) !!! Not sure how we feel at this point... or or or or



Suites: 1BD/2BD
551/823

Villas: 1BD/2BD
601/903

Keep in mind that MF's at PT's had been without and increase for at least two years. IMO, MF's have been kept low by reducing the amount of money set aside in the cash reserve and that led to a rather large SA this past year. Hopefully they'll be putting more money into the reserve fund to avoid an unpleasant surprises in the future.

It will be interesting to see the disposition of the funds in the year end budget report. I suspect a good portion of the increase is secondary to increased utility costs. The utility company for Vegas has had a couple of increases over the last year or two. I also wonder about the charge for water usage since the area has had drought conditions for some time now.

The final question in my mind is the amount of increase. It seems to me that the original project documents restrict any increase to no more than 10% per year but, I haven't looked through them in some time. Any change to that would require a vote by the owners. I do not remember being asked to vote on that matter. Perhaps enough owners had given the HOA/BOD proxy voting rights so as to make it a moot point anyway.

Even so, we're back to a lack of communication with owners. Something like this should have been addressed in some sort of communication such as a quarterly newsletter and/or E-mail communication. I typically save all my communication from resorts as a matter of habit these past few years. Sometimes I do find that something was communicated to me but was burried in with other information and I either missed it or forgot about it.

Before coming down to hard, I need to look through the information I've received in the past. Looking back at the billings I've received this year I see that they are duplicates of last years MF billing. Since the MF's had not increase in the last few years and really had not increase significantly in the past, I did not notice the due dates on those billings still read Jan. of that year (Jan. '07 in the case of the bills I've recieved this year). I was under the false assumption that they were working ahead on the budget and getting the bills out early when all they were really doing was providing a reminder that I could pay my MF's early, something that I do appreciate.

I do not mind increases in MF's if they're going to maintain the resort or make improvements to the resort. I purchased PT's as a vacation home and I expect it to be maintained to a high standard of excellence. In the past I have not felt those standards have been met.

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

increases are fine if justified and not a way of putting money into someone's pocket. I met a couple of polo employees in June who were frankly incinuating this. They seem overworked and underpaid and claiming MF money was being skimmed. Now to hear from one disgruntled employee is one thing, but from two would get me wondering.

So, is Polo (and maybe all CS resorts) being upgraded to Marriott/Westin quality with this (and anticipated more increases in years to come) MF increase?

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

increases are fine if justified and not a way of putting money into someone's pocket. I met a couple of polo employees in June who were frankly incinuating this. They seem overworked and underpaid and claiming MF money was being skimmed. Now to hear from one disgruntled employee is one thing, but from two would get me wondering.

So, is Polo (and maybe all CS resorts) being upgraded to Marriott/Westin quality with this (and anticipated more increases in years to come) MF increase?

Time will tell. I can tell you that the MF's now being charged are inline with what Marriott charges for the Grand Chateau and are more expensive than what HGVC charges for the LV Strip property.

When we get the breakdown from our MF bill. I can post them here for comparison to see what is thought. Like I said I've been concerned for the last several years because the MF's were almost as high as Marriott and higher than Hilton, yet less than 50% of what Marriott and Hilton put into reserves was going into PT's reserves.

One thing I do not like is the daily maid service offered at PT's. IMO this is an expensive perk I can do without when I'm on a timeshare vacation. Personally, I don't like when employee's are expected to enter my room on a daily basis. I do not change out my bath towels daily at home and I do not need them changed out daily while on vacation. A midweek towel exchange would be more than fine with me and I can make my own bed.......if I want to.