# Flamingo Beach St Maarten



## Helja1157 (Sep 17, 2009)

My husband and I are owners at Flamingo Beach(formerly) Sunterra now Diamond Resort International ,for ten years. We are considering selling our studio unit.  I heard that the owners have started a lawsuit against DRI. The maintence fees are becoming excessive. Last year our maintence fee was $747.95 and $260.84 for Replacement Reserve. In addition they added a Voluntary Contribution for Arda-Rock in the amount of $5.00. I have viewed ads for resales and noticed that the maintence fee for this resort varies.

My husband and I also own a week in Cancun with Raintree. While we were there last June,  the sales rep told us that Raintree is buying the Flamingo Beach Resort.

We would like to hear from other owners regarding this resort. We would appreciate any input.

Helja1157


----------



## JRS (Sep 18, 2009)

I have not heard about a lawsuit against them.  My day job is accounting/finance and I have serious concerns about the reasonableness of their financial statements (mgmt) and fees in particular.  I also own right next door at LaVista.  Received statements I think a year ago regarding cleanup after a hurricane, at lavista it was a short cleanup and back in business as usual.  The explanation in management's justification of fees for Flamingo - a fair amount of damage, of which XXXXX was not covered by insurance.  Also they indicated they filed a claim with the insurance company and I believe it was not covered by the deductible.  Well, any reasonable property owner knows that it "may not" be in your best interests to file a claim - unless it is projected to benefit you - after having reviewed your policy.  In the same explanation, fees for insurance were noted to have increased .....  

  Mine is for sale as well ....   I haven't been there since they took over, but believe certain physical upgrades have happened and are in process ....


----------



## Helja1157 (Sep 19, 2009)

My husband and I are going there in October. I would like to see what upgrades have been made i.e. new furnishings, bedding etc., in the unit.

We were there 2 years ago and were told that an ice cream stand was to be constructed next to the snack bar. I was told by a couple who recently visited there, that painting was being done. They even painted the furniture.
I think that they should be replacing the furniture, not painting it,since we pay replacement fees in our maintenance. Apparently, you cannot get an honest answer from their finance dept, who collect the fees. They keep telling us  that the fees are high because of the hurricane that hit the island.

When we were there two years ago, they put us in a studio on the 3rd floor.
Our studio is on the first floor, which I prefer because I don't like the elevators in the building. We were told that they were making repairs in the unit. I personally think it was rented. We passed the room  several times and the door was closed.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Sep 19, 2009)

Helja1157 said:


> My husband and I are going there in October. I would like to see what upgrades have been made i.e. new furnishings, bedding etc., in the unit.
> 
> We were there 2 years ago and were told that an ice cream stand was to be constructed next to the snack bar. I was told by a couple who recently visited there, that painting was being done. They even painted the furniture.
> I think that they should be replacing the furniture, not painting it,since we pay replacement fees in our maintenance. Apparently, you cannot get an honest answer from their finance dept, who collect the fees. They keep telling us  that the fees are high because of the hurricane that hit the island.
> ...



We were also there two years ago, and about one-quarter of the resort was out of service for service and refurbishing.


----------



## momof16 (Dec 3, 2009)

I am an owner at Flamingo beach and I am trying to find out what my maintenance fees are and it is impossible to get a hold of Diamond Resorts by phone. I emailed them, telling them I no longer wanted to belong to The Club. I always thought it was mandatory and realized it was not. I received an email saying I had to fill out a form and have it notarized in order to drop out of The Club. The letter also says that after you cancel, you can't use accommodations reserved through the club. I have a confirmed reservation for January, since I go every January, but I didn't specifically make it through The Club. They just sent me a confirmation of my reservation back in May. I am afraid that if I cancel The Club, they are going to cancel my reservation.  They are making it hard to leave a club that is not mandatory! They still haven't told me what my maintenance fees are for this coming year and I know that they are due Jan. 1/2010. I have a deluxe studio. If anyone knows, can they please tell me. I was there last January and was extremely disappointed in the way it has gone down hill. At the time I was there, the elevator kept getting stuck. The day I left, I got stuck in it and the phone was not even working. We screamed to no avail. Eventually it went back up and we had to get out on the second floor with all our luggage. My friend went to get help and noone would come and help us. The first couple of days, the toilets wouldn't flush. The first night we got eaten by mosquitos because we had a hole in our screen and maintenance came and repaired it by putting scotch tape on it. What are we paying maintenance fees for?


----------



## KathyA (Dec 4, 2009)

Not sure about this year but last year the fees for a Deluxe Studio were $1013 per week!  You can expect them to be higher this year.  Happy that I got rid of both my weeks there this year.


----------



## momof16 (Dec 5, 2009)

That is what I paid last year. I just haven't received a bill for 2010 yet and I know they are due Jan. 1. How did you get rid of your weeks? Did you use a site like this to sell them? I want out but I am not sure how to go about it. I wonder how many people would be interested with such high maintenance fees.


----------



## KathyA (Dec 8, 2009)

No one is interested with that high a maintenance fee.  I gave them back to the developer, for which I paid $250 a week.  And this is for primetime weeks!  On the other hand, now that maintenance fees are due, I'm pretty happy not to have to pay over $2K for two weeks in a studio.  Plus I still own (and use) eight weeks at Pelican where the maintnance fees for a 2 bedroom 2 bath lockout are just over $800 for next year.


----------



## pgnewarkboy (Dec 8, 2009)

I am going to the Flamingo in March with friends.  I sure hope all problems with upkeep have been resolved.  I just read a real estate article that said St. Martin had the highest real estate values in the Caribeean - with beach front property a small fortune.  Assuming Diamond owns this property, they have something valuable on their hands and should be interested in keeping it in good shape.  I imagine that would translate into high maintenance fees.  I sympathize however with those stuck with the high fees.  I noticed that rentals on the island are exhorbitant.  Perhaps you should consider renting your weeks and holding on until the timeshare market improves or DRI decides it would be better to buy every one out and sell the property for a tidy profit.


----------



## JRS (Dec 11, 2009)

[There is a strict no-advertising rule in the forums. - DeniseM Moderator]


----------



## JRS (Dec 13, 2009)

To moderator:

  If you want to email me privately what exactly was wrong with my post, that would be fine.  Just quoted some figures - as a comment to his post about " high " rental fees - using actual figures.  Perhaps it was a comment that I as an owner was not successful thru advertising here at a reasonable price that caused it to be pulled ?


----------



## KathyA (Dec 16, 2009)

*New maintenance fees*

According to SXM-Timeshare News, maintenance fees for Flamingo studios are up by $153.18 or $1166.97 for 2010 compared to $1013.79 in 2009.


----------



## R in Delaware (Dec 19, 2009)

*Flamingo Beach St. Martin*

Kathy A. please clarify how you sold the week back to the developer for $250 dollars.  We are currently paying more for our maintenance then it would cost us to go there through Hotels.com or some other travel agency.  At this point I would be happy to dump the week and not pay the $1166 they are asking this year.....R in Delaware


----------



## cos54 (Dec 22, 2009)

KathyA said:


> According to SXM-Timeshare News, maintenance fees for Flamingo studios are up by $153.18 or $1166.97 for 2010 compared to $1013.79 in 2009.



I am looking in to giving weeks back to the resort and have heard all kinds of stories. If anyone has simply told the resort they want out, I would love to hear about your experience. Thanks!


----------



## KathyA (Dec 22, 2009)

*Giving them back*

I contacted Diamond via their 800 number and told them I wanted to relinquish my weeks.  They sent me paperwork which I had to fill out, have notarized, and send back to them with a check for $250 per week.  I did not get the paperwork back from them for two months, but eventually I did.  (I called in to confirm they had my check--they did not cash it for a long time.)  I do believe your maintenance fees have to be up to date in order to do this.  I actually rentedout my seeks in January (after having paid the maintenance fees), and then started this process in the fall.  So by the time fees were due again, I had completed the process.

I am SO relieved not to have to deal with them, particularly now that they've raised fees again.  And I leave at the end of next month for eight weeks in my Pelican unit!

If there's anything else I can answer, let me know.


----------



## Helja1157 (Dec 30, 2009)

Can you relinquish just one week or is there a minimum you must own?
Helen


----------



## KathyA (Jan 4, 2010)

Assuming you own individual weeks (not club points), with individual contracts, you can relinquish one week at a time.  You MAY be able to relinquish only one week if you have a single contract for multiple weeks, but I don't know for sure because in my case I had two individual contracts, each for one week.  I had to fill out seperate paperwork for each week relinquished. 

One thing to remember is that I started this process late last summer.  One of their rules is that the mainteance fees must be current, so at this point you would have to pay this year's maintenance fees before you could relinquish.  In my case, my weeks were early in the year (weeks 2 and 3), so I paid last year's maintenance fees, rented the weeks, and then started the process to relinquish.  Also, from what I'm reading on this board, the rules seem to be different if you are in the Club, as those rules seem to prohibit using your points in the year you relinquish PLUS maintenance fees must be current.
Kathy


----------



## R in Delaware (Jan 9, 2010)

*Owners Since 1988*

We have owned here a long time and the fees have continued to skyrocket.  It is now at a point where you can get a better deal on hotels.com.  This years fee's are over $1,100.  We are looking for a way to dump the timeshare and get by with just not having to pay the fee this year.  I heard about the lawsuit but no one seems to have status.  The suit started a couple of years ago from what I understood.  

Thank you all for posting here as we will be relinquishing our week as well.


----------



## KathyA (Jan 9, 2010)

The suit is still in the court.  There is no class action in St. Martin, so any outcome of the suit will only affect those who joined the action (that is, sent money to the attorney).


----------

