# Morritt's week/unit designations on Lease Contract



## Noelle (May 5, 2007)

Hello Everyone, 

Please help me weigh the pros, cons and probabilities while I can still get out of this deal if need be.

I purchased a resale Morritt's Tortuga Club a month ago.  In the listing and on the Contract for Resale, the timeshare description was Unit (3119), Week (35). However the week is used as a floating week (1-50).

I'm not sure in a floating week, RTU world whether there are any benefits to the lease being associated with one week vs. another, but I feel more secure regarding unanticipated future changes if I 'own' a desireable week and unit.  So, this building and week were great (not thrilled about ground floor -but it is what it is).

I received the closing docs in the mail this week and was really concerned to note that the Morritt's documents all referred to a much less desirable week (42) in the 5xxx building.   I call the transfer company who assured me that it didn't matter what is on your closing statement and that Morritt's has always assigned any week at all regardless of the Contract.   To me, I don't want to have my lease associated with a week in mid-Hurricane season and facing the less dramatic pool.  I am very tempted to cancel the agreement unless the week that was advertised is available for my contract.

What has been your experience?  Am I being fed a great story that works now, most of the time, while the original owners are still in control?   Am I at risk (or my descendants) of a new owner enforcing use of a contracted unit/week strategy if demand for prime weeks makes for unhappy owners?
What do you suggest I do???

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and insight... Noelle


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## TomCayman (May 5, 2007)

It matters not a jot which unit you have assigned to you, all weeks at Morritts float all year except the xmas/new year weeks.

As you say it is simply a RTU lease, and as experience after Hurricane Ivan in Cayman showed, an RTU contract worth only what the quality/integrity of the developer/manager makes it worth.

Performance of timeshare resorts in Cayman varied from (on the one end) a small resort operator who walked away from his responsibilities and paid nothing to the owners until they sued him, to (at the other end) a resort that fully renovated the resort within 4 months and then provided those owners who could not use their weeks in that 4 month period a replacement week of full value (not a limited value exchange company certificate) at the resort to use the next year.

Morritts was neither of those companies, it fell somewhere in between.

Mind you, if you have bought a MTC resale, I'm sure you know all of this, the resale pricing of MTC units clearly reflects market opinion on the value of the contracts. 

Quite honestly, MTC resale prices are very good value, as the developer has shown that, although it is taking a while, owners will eventually (about 4 years after the Hurricane, it would seem) have their resort back in a form even better than it was before the Hurricane.

Hey, I've even got some of those weeks myself (couldn't resist the price!).


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## caribbean (May 5, 2007)

The unit/week number on the contract is simply for legal documentation. They have to assign a specific unit/week number to each contract in order to track the units sold and make sure that each unit is sold only once. All of them float equally.


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## joyzilli (May 5, 2007)

The one thing that does matter is that it states "5000 building".  These are poolside units.  So you would be the owner of a poolside unit.  When you call to reserve your unit, you cannot request the oceanfront units.  The 3000 building is also poolside.


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## martinus_scriblerus (May 5, 2007)

Noelle said:


> I received the closing docs in the mail this week and was really concerned to note that the Morritt's documents all referred to a much less desirable week (42) in the 5xxx building.   I call the transfer company who assured me that it didn't matter what is on your closing statement and that Morritt's has always assigned any week at all regardless of the Contract.   To me, I don't want to have my lease associated with a week in mid-Hurricane season and facing the less dramatic pool.  I am very tempted to cancel the agreement unless the week that was advertised is available for my contract.
> Thanks so much for sharing your experience and insight... Noelle



The others have all pointed out that it matters not a whit what your contract says in terms of week. They, of course, are correct: it is just for inventory purposes.

Be aware that due to the destruction of two oceanfront buildings that Morritts is re-naming a bunch of weeks. I bought one of these too. The only thing that matters is whether it was a poolside unit or an oceanfront one.

If you call Morritt's management company, Global Resort Management, they can let you know exactly what you're entitled to. I agree wholeheartedly with Tom Cayman (who I would very much like to meet). Morritts is very undervalued right now as a result of all the aggravation associated with the hurricane. I recently bought an oceanfront townhouse for $4,065.00 plus closing cost and I am DELIGHTED with the price. Think about this: its a 1200 square foot unit with three baths that you can go to ANYTIME except Christmas and New Years. While I am not an experienced island goer (Trinidad, St. Maarten, Turks and Caicos, and Grand Cayman) it is my opinion that Cayman is the pick of the litter. Virtually no crime, virtually no poverty, full employment, British rule, easy access, common language, voltage etc. What's not to like?

I've purchased 4 weeks over the past year, and if I can continue to buy oceanfront units at the price I paid, I'll buy more.

Congratulations on your purchase Noelle, and if you need a contact name and number for Global Resort Management send me a private message.

Dave


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## caddie (May 6, 2007)

*Morritt's resales*

Kudos to the above posters. . .. It should probably also be noted that a resale purchase of a Seaside oceanfront week -- which is different from Seaside Tortuga and Grand -- gives you no access to the poolside units. And that is important in the short term because there are no Seaside units yet available. They are in the midst of rebuilding those two buildings. One is scheduled to open in July. The other has not even been started. The problem is, there are roughly double the number of unit week owners as there will be weeks available, probably into 2009 or whenever they get that second building completed. And Morritt's does not acknolwedge this as issue. If you are unable to get a reservation, it is not -- in their mind -- because there are potentially double the number of owners vying for a unit. There is no deferral program. If you can't get a reservation, you are instructed to bank your week with RCI or through the resort's internal exchange program.


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## jgirvine (May 7, 2007)

*Have you tried the Owner's site?*

http://morritts.17.forumer.com/ 

Are you aware of the Owner's Forum.  A great source for answers.


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## johnmfaeth (May 7, 2007)

The second new seaside building is scheduled for opening in late 2008.


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## Spence (May 7, 2007)

caddie said:


> Kudos to the above posters. . .. It should probably also be noted that a resale purchase of a Seaside oceanfront week -- which is different from Seaside Tortuga and Grand -- gives you no access to the poolside units. And that is important in the short term because there are no Seaside units yet available. They are in the midst of rebuilding those two buildings. One is scheduled to open in July. The other has not even been started. The problem is, there are roughly double the number of unit week owners as there will be weeks available, probably into 2009 or whenever they get that second building completed. And Morritt's does not acknolwedge this as issue. If you are unable to get a reservation, it is not -- in their mind -- because there are potentially double the number of owners vying for a unit. There is no deferral program. _*If you can't get a reservation, you are instructed to bank your week with RCI or through the resort's internal exchange program.*_


If you can't get a reservation, what is it that you're banking?


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## johnmfaeth (May 7, 2007)

Hi Spence,

Morritts has bulk purchased weeks which they bank for you. They are strong traders. I was able to pull some nice stuff on RCI with mine.

John


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## Spence (May 7, 2007)

johnmfaeth said:


> Hi Spence,
> Morritts has bulk purchased weeks which they bank for you. They are strong traders. I was able to pull some nice stuff on RCI with mine.  John


Good to hear that, for the MFs paid at Morritts you should get something nice!  Right?


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## escargot (May 7, 2007)

Spence said:


> Good to hear that, for the MFs paid at Morritts you should get something nice!  Right?



Are the MFs at Morritt's more than other similiar resorts in the Caribbean ?  I understood they are comparable and The Reef next door was higher ?


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## johnmfaeth (May 7, 2007)

I own a over a dozen caribbean resorts and Morritts is just about average priced for maintenance fees and probably the highest quality I know near it's fee price of $537 Studio, $641 One Bedroom. Just read the reviews.

PS. Yes, I understand that the Reef is much more expensive and has large extra charges.


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## TomCayman (May 7, 2007)

johnmfaeth said:


> I own a over a dozen caribbean resorts and Morritts is just about average priced for maintenance fees and probably the highest quality I know near it's fee price of $537 Studio, $641 One Bedroom. Just read the reviews.
> 
> PS. Yes, I understand that the Reef is much more expensive and has large extra charges.



Hmm... Studio $450 at The Reef, One Bedroom $650... doesn't sound *much more expensive to me*.... yes, The Reef has pretty high flat utility charges of $130 (Studio) and $185 (One Bedroom), but unfortunately we can't varnish that, those are our true costs for utilities and we can't individually meter those costs.

I could also say we aren't comparing apples with apples, but for those in the know that is stating the obvious.

I suggest we leave the comparisons out... each resort has it's own merits, no need to make little digs


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