# The Reef Resort, Cayman (Royal Reef)



## tmbrit (May 11, 2008)

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Can anyone give me a financial update on the Reef resort?

Current maintenance fees? future fees 2009?

heard they changed to float weeks

Refurbished ?? plans for refurbishing?

Assessments? future?


the goods and the bads of this resort?

Thanks, Terri


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## Jestjoan (May 11, 2008)

Contact TUGger TomCayman.........


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## tmbrit (May 11, 2008)

thanks for your post    but..

Would like  an  "Owners"  opinion


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## pjrose (May 11, 2008)

*go to the members listed under the reviews*

If nobody pops up on the BBS, you could contact some of the members listed on the review page, here:

http://tug2.com/RnR/RatingsAndReviews.aspx?ResortGUID=1D2B9ED3-1A0F-4522-A1D4-17355D27D00D


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## tmbrit (May 11, 2008)

Thanks I will do that,  and we are here and walked over but there are many exchangers or renters.


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## TomCayman (May 11, 2008)

tmbrit said:


> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Can anyone give me a financial update on the Reef resort?
> 
> ...



Well Terri, you specifically asked for an owner's opinion, but you never know, the developer/manager of a timeshare might give you a straight and unvarnished answer...I'll try, at least 

2008 mtce fees (with utility charges in parentheses) :
- 2BD 1035 (285)
- 1BD 680 (185)
- Dx Studio 470 (130)

2009 mtce fees will go up in line with actual costs (as I guess would appear logical!). For the last number of years this has meant increases in the 3-5% region.

About five years ago we started to offer floating weeks as well as fixed weeks, as our internal exchange programme (allowing owners to switch their fixed week to another week during the year) was successful, and it was recognised that if all weeks were sold as fixed that programme would cease to operate effectively. A minimum of 20% of all units in each week were then reserved for floating week sales. 

Floating weeks are offered for two seasons (winter and summer), with Xmas and New Year weeks being fixed only. At the current time almost all prime weeks are sold out of fixed weeks.

As to refurbishment, the resort is eight years old and is continually maintained (with a deep clean in Wk37 every year, when the resort closes). Some units (6 of 30) are "brand new" as of Jan 2005 when they were gutted after Hurricane Ivan ! Some units had new mattresses post Ivan, the balance
are getting new mattresses (Serta plush mattresses) this month.

There was an assessment in 2008 for recovery of costs associated with boarding up and clean up after the near miss of Hurricane Dean ($81 per 2BD, proportionately less for smaller units).

As to good and bad, will let you get other opinions on that 

You also noted you are next door at Morritts now and noted there were lots of renters and exchangers at theReef. Not that many exchangers, actually, but yes, always lots of renters. 

We now have 166 bedrooms of which only 60 are timeshare units, and of those a lot of our owners put their weeks in with us to rent rather than exchange them. Based on that, timeshare owner occupancy is typically only c20-30% of overall occupancy.

As to rental rates, you can see what they are on our website.

Hope that helps answer a few questions for you.


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## tmbrit (May 12, 2008)

Thanks Tom    

  Now that I have your attention could you answer a few more questions I just thought of!


1  What are  the specific months that would be float?   summer vs winter


2  Is the $8 ci daily tax charged at checkout?


3. What %  of the maintenance fees go the management co   and what % to the reserves of the resort.

4. Are there washer and dryer in the units  or  onsite laundry machines for our use?

Also were told by sales staff that you could float any week now,  we want to keep you happy.  

Hey, thanks for your time,
Terri


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## TomCayman (May 12, 2008)

1 : Winter floating weeks are weeks 1-16 and can be used to float any time during the year. Summer floating weeks (less expensive) Wks 17-50 and can only be floated in Wk17-50. Yes, any fixed weeks can float now, ie your first internal exchange of the year carries no fee (further internal exchanges do, current fee US$125)

2 : Daily occupancy tax is US$10 (ie CI$8), and yes, charged at checkout

3 : Mgmt company is entitled under the membership agreement to 10% management fees, but committed to take no management fees while the resort was still under phased development, so the current answer is 0%. That phased development is now complete though (final phase opens July 1), so mgmt will be looking at adding a mgmt fee to the 2009 budget. However, economies of scale from that added growth should help mitigate against overall increase in fees due to adding the mgmt fee. As to reserves, there is currently no specific line item for capital reserves (to be honest it is always tough to sell timeshare owners on increasing fees for long term reserves), but we are now eight years old and, I'd say, better than new. We put a great deal of effort into ongoing maintenance and replacement programmes, so effectively a lot of what other resorts would put into reserves we are effectively charging through our budget allocation for ongoing maintenance and replacement. Geez, I sound like a pedantic accountant (but I suppose I am a qualified accountant, so if the cap fits !)

No washers/dryers in the units (too much maintenance), but central guest laundry.


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## tmbrit (May 13, 2008)

Thanks Tom,  that really helps.

Terri


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## ralphd (May 14, 2008)

Tom has a contract in his desk waiting for you Terri!:rofl:

Hi Tom, Haven't seen you around lately.


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## TomCayman (May 15, 2008)

Hi ralph.... if you mean not around TUG.... seems very quiet here, I check in, but not much posting happening.....

if you mean at theReef, I'm there, just buried in work in my office tucked away in the back corner !


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## Seaside (May 15, 2008)

Great Blog Tom, very informative......thanks!!!!


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