2015 Proposed MF's and Budgets [15% MF Increase!]

Wow, Crystal Shores gets an 15% increase for 2015 Operating Budget!

I'm still in shock.:annoyed:

Big uptick in Management Fees, Maintenance, Housekeeping, and Owner Services.

FT

FractionalTraveler said:

Wow, Crystal Shores gets an 15% increase for 2015 Operating Budget!

I'm still in shock.:annoyed:

FT

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I'm glad I don't own there, that is a hefty increase.

FractionalTraveler said:

Wow, Crystal Shores gets an 15% increase for 2015 Operating Budget!

I'm still in shock.:annoyed:

FT

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15% from $1,731?? Wow!!

Seaport104 said:

15% from $1,731?? Wow!!

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Platinum 2-BR is now $2,032.71 for FY2015.

FT

Are the 2015 budgets out for most resorts? I don't see them online yet.

FT, is this post based on a proposed budget or has the BOD voted and approved it? Is there a link you can share? Thanks!

Seaport104 said:

Are the 2015 budgets out for most resorts? I don't see them online yet.

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Some of the resorts, not all of them, send out proposed budgets prior to the Annual Meetings which are held sometime during Sep/Oct. Approved budgets are not usually released until Nov/Dec, then invoiced with MF's due Jan/Feb. The MF's packages are not usually posted to my-vacationclub.com until they're invoiced.

SueDonJ said:

FT, is this post based on a proposed budget or has the BOD voted and approved it? Is there a link you can share? Thanks!

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Proposed Budget. Vote on 9/26.

http://www.morrowco.com/reports/mvcinews/ml20140905001.pdf

FT

FractionalTraveler said:

Proposed Budget. Vote on 9/26.

http://www.morrowco.com/reports/mvcinews/ml20140905001.pdf

FT

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Thank you! Hope you don't mind that I edited the title of your thread.

FractionalTraveler said:

Proposed Budget. Vote on 9/26.

http://www.morrowco.com/reports/mvcinews/ml20140905001.pdf

FT

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Double wow, and that's with still a developer subsidy.

Any news on the Marriott Aruba's?

Seaport104 said:

Double wow, and that's with still a developer subsidy.

Any news on the Marriott Aruba's?

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They also appear to be lowing the developer subsidy. I find this strange since they haven't added any new units at this property. This decrease in the subsidy is accounting for 10% of the increase in the overall MFs.

ETA: In fact, the operating fee is only going up 4.5%. It seems that the big culprit is the the reserve fee, a 50% increase.

I trust the Owner Advisory Board is strongly challenging the justification for such an inflation busting increase?
I know the resort boards do not have the power to reject the budget, but this does reinforce the need for all of us owners to vote for board representatives to at the very least raise some serious questions about proposed MF increases at such seemingly excessive levels.

Get those fee's to high and owners will stop paying. When that happens it's going to be a headache for the HOA and owners just trying to hang on.

I was just getting ready to post this myself - was wondering if I was misinterpreting the new proposed budget? Guess not.

I am not sure how much say the owners have at this property as MVCI controls the majority - at least from what I am told.

When we were there in July, we had a discussion with the new manager. He assured us once the other portion was built out, the maintenance fees would level out or even drop. But, it is anyone's guess when that will happen. Maybe the developer should continue a better subsidy until that happens.

I was always thinking 10% was pretty much the cap on the fees each year. This property's maintenance fees have gone up about 50% (at least) since we bought here pre-construction.

If you do the math, someone can get into one of the prime gold weeks (Gulfside) at Crystal Shores for 3450 destination club points. This equates to just under 1400 dollars in maintenance fees - but the owners are now paying over 1800 for this same week!??

I agree with the poster that said they are going to increase their delinquincy rates. Some owners will say enough is enough.

Ocean Pointe in Palm Beach County also has high property taxes, insurance, etc. But, my Mom is paying a lot less than Crystal Shores and their maintenance fees have not gone up nearly as much as Crystal Shores? Wonder why so much of a difference?

We are working with Marriott to see if we can come up with an equitable trade. They actually expressed a willingness to trade on this one - seems like even their people know this is crazy. Maybe they should have held off on some of those renovations. For a while loss prevention was going up - didn't notice this year. The public access would sure help in that department.

We can only hope at the budget meeting they come to their senses - but I am not holding my breath. We just don't have a lot of owners.

Harbour Lake Too!

It doesn't look like this is limited to just Crystal Shores. Got the proposed budget for Harbour Lake and our gold week will be close to $1300 in 2015 if the proposed budget holds up.

A 50% increase in the operating reserve, up $123 from $247 to a total of $370. I wonder what is up with the reserve fees in Florida?

Wow! A week vacation is now projected at over $200 per day. This is why they and all developers are forcing you to join some type of points system or a vacation club and that is my opinion only..

maybe the threat of rising water in the future? http://www.miamiherald.com/incoming/article1940791.html

The hyatt coconut plantaion up in bonita springs shares a private beach with another resort and a condo development, and they had to reconstruct the beach last year due to erosion.

scsu_hockey_fan said:

maybe the threat of rising water in the future? http://www.miamiherald.com/incoming/article1940791.html

The hyatt coconut plantaion up in bonita springs shares a private beach with another resort and a condo development, and they had to reconstruct the beach last year due to erosion.

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That is a very interesting article. Thank you, but I doubt Marriott or anyone else for that matter is thinking about 100 years down the road. They are probably just looking at next quarter's profit projections.

Rising seas is an important issue globally non-the-less.

FT

dioxide45 said:

It doesn't look like this is limited to just Crystal Shores. Got the proposed budget for Harbour Lake and our gold week will be close to $1300 in 2015 if the proposed budget holds up.

A 50% increase in the operating reserve, up $123 from $247 to a total of $370. I wonder what is up with the reserve fees in Florida?

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It's not just Florida. Our reserve fee's for Grand Chateau are way out of line compared to our HGVC and DRI ownerships in Las Vegas.

It's the cash reserve holds that are begining to worry me about MVCI. They are way out of line with our other timeshare ownerships, including Hilton and DRI. I fear there is some sort of sweatheart deal between MVCI and the vendors they have the HOA's use to refurbish the units.

After years of supporting keeping the Marriott name I'm begining to wonder if it's worth the cost. Yes I want my timeshare maintained but, when the reserves to maintain one branded timeshare are more than double that of any other timeshare I own, something seems a little fishy.

dougp26364 said:

It's not just Florida. Our reserve fee's for Grand Chateau are way out of line compared to our HGVC and DRI ownerships in Las Vegas.

It's the cash reserve holds that are begining to worry me about MVCI. They are way out of line with our other timeshare ownerships, including Hilton and DRI. I fear there is some sort of sweatheart deal between MVCI and the vendors they have the HOA's use to refurbish the units.

After years of supporting keeping the Marriott name I'm begining to wonder if it's worth the cost. Yes I want my timeshare maintained but, when the reserves to maintain one branded timeshare are more than double that of any other timeshare I own, something seems a little fishy.

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MVCI does have their own renovation company Marriott Renovation Services. This came up as an issue back in 2010 at Grande Vista where two bids came in for renovations to one of the phases. Marriott Renovation Services was the higher bid that was selected by one vote on the split board.

It is quite possible that Marriott Renovation Services does have some sweetheart deals with their suppliers. Who knows...

dioxide45 said:

MVCI does have their own renovation company Marriott Renovation Services. This came up as an issue back in 2010 at Grande Vista where two bids came in for renovations to one of the phases. Marriott Renovation Services was the higher bid that was selected by one vote on the split board.

It is quite possible that Marriott Renovation Services does have some sweetheart deals with their suppliers. Who knows...

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Then this could become the next great "class action" against MVCI, which probably won't solve much of anything. Eventually something is going to have to be done. Either they'll have to be more reasonable with the costs of renovations or owners will begin to stop paying MF's. It is possible to kill the cash cow that they believe owners to be and price yourself out of the business.

dioxide45 said:

It doesn't look like this is limited to just Crystal Shores. Got the proposed budget for Harbour Lake and our gold week will be close to $1300 in 2015 if the proposed budget holds up.

A 50% increase in the operating reserve, up $123 from $247 to a total of $370. I wonder what is up with the reserve fees in Florida?

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In FL reserve fees are governed by State Law. The reserves are for the benefit of the owners. The owners have the option of not electing to accept the mandated fee and voting to hold the fees that the board recommends. This has happened every year that I have owned at Harbour Lake since 2002.

At least that has been my experience.

wuv pooh said:

In FL reserve fees are governed by State Law. The reserves are for the benefit of the owners. The owners have the option of not electing to accept the mandated fee and voting to hold the fees that the board recommends. This has happened every year that I have owned at Harbour Lake since 2002.

At least that has been my experience.

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I am aware of this. I see it on the ballot every year and they always vote in favor of waiving the fully funded requirement. I wonder if perhaps it didn't pass this year?

Those fees are outrageous.

In my opinion, Marriott has the Homeowner Association board's stacked, and Marriott controls more Board decisions and outcomes then they'd have you believe.

If Marriott intended to be forthright, when they disclose the nominees for Board seats, they'd disclose how long/how many terms/total life a Board incumbent has served on the Board, and how many Marriott HOA Boards they serve on.

It appears that Marriott likes to have their predictable puppets on their Boards.

Perhaps, Mr. Weisz, President of Marriott Vacations Worldwide, will disclose the association between his daughter, who was employed by Marriott Vacation Club, and her then manager, who both frequented MVC Board meetings.

EducatedConsumer said:

Those fees are outrageous.

In my opinion, Marriott has the Homeowner Association board's stacked, and Marriott controls more Board decisions and outcomes then they'd have you believe.

If Marriott intended to be forthright, when they disclose the nominees for Board seats, they'd disclose how long/how many terms/total life a Board incumbent has served on the Board, and how many Marriott HOA Boards they serve on.

It appears that Marriott likes to have their predictable puppets on their Boards.

Perhaps, Mr. Weisz, President of Marriott Vacations Worldwide, will disclose the association between his daughter, who was employed by Marriott Vacation Club, and her then manager, who both frequented MVC Board meetings.

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It's not just Marriott but nearly all timeshares. Very few are truly owner controlled. The difference is MVCI appears to believe it's owners have very deep pockets. It's the same mistake they made with Crystal Shores, their Ritz Carlton Club or the quarter shares they started to sell at Timber Lodge. They also made mistakes with their family budget project Horizons.

I love our MVCI timeshares but, there will come a point when we'll have to let go. I can't keep paying a kings ransom just to vacation at MVCI resorts. Not when there are so many others that offer acceptable locations and accommodations.