K&L Gates doesn't work cheap - that's for certain.
I chased this based upon the post from @comicbookman as it occurred to me that perhaps we misinterpreted what "low owner occupancy" actually meant all along. I've since confirmed that while resort occupancy is low in several instances, and was a contributing factor, the biggest factor is actual low ownership at these resorts - which is what Wyndham actually meant by low owner occupancy - Wyndham was left holding the bag so to speak - and we've seen this in action since Wyndham is holding a high percentage of the intervals due to unsaleable inventory. Wyndham did so to take the pressure off of the HOA having to somehow deal with higher MF defaults and unsaleable inventory - but is no longer willing to do so basically. The HOA, while healthy today, would quickly deteriorate if Wyndham were to stop taking on additional intervals and/or force the HOAs to take back the unsold inventory (after which Wyndham would stop paying the MFs).
This is exactly what I was able to confirm on my end as well, so our due diligences are aligning.
Yup, lots of fixed weeks owners from back in the Fairfield days for sure.
Yes, CWA MFs are paid monthly throughout the current use year (I'm a CWA owner).
It seems the correct term then isn't "owner occupancy" or "low owner occupancy" but rather low individual ownership percentage? Perhaps I am still confused as to what the number is that they are reporting. Occupancy in the industry usually means heads in beds not some percentage of ownership. I think actual occupancy of rooms is a more important factor. If Wyndham owns 67% of the units and they are full 90% of the time, that should be good for them.
At the meeting they specifically said 60% occupancy. They did not limit that statement to Wyndham's ownership. As you say, if they dump to much high maint fee inventory into CWA then they create more unsold CWA inventory due to high Maint fees. Stane castle maint fees are very high $9.88 per 1000. So either way Wyndham has unsold inventory. The HOA also said Wyndham was no longer interested in taking more inventory which would mean the HOA would have to eat non-paying owners Maint fee, raising the overall Maint fees for everyone including Wyndham. So it really doesnt matter which trust holds the deeds, Wyndham still is paying for unused inventory. As to the split between Wyndham and individual owners, it was stated that Wyndham owns approximately 73% of the inventory. The HOA also said the default rate was increasing. So, it seems clear that this resort has become a money pit for Wyndham and a laibility to CWA.
Actually, they have been taking on the foreclosed and abandoned deeds for over 10 years at Glade. The HOA said that saved the resort. My guess is they though they could do better. They did not create the issue; the issue is the resort is just not viable. Wyndham does plenty of despicable and arguably illegal things, but this seems to be a result that would have happened earlier if not for Wyndham.
This is the exact same circumstance at Pagosa Springs. Wyndham started taking the HOA foreclosures, even re-paying up to $2,000 foreclose costs per interval, about 10 years ago. Wyndham may have thought they could sell most of the CWA points that resulted from that and Certified Exit deedbacks. This did not happen, and Wyndham was left holding the bag.
"Low owner ownership" at the affected resorts is Wyndham's definition of "low occupancy." (Wyndham should have said what they meant from the beginning, not that it makes any difference for the endpoint of the resort.)
The occupancy numbers reported by the HOAs in the voter packets are actual (low) owner occupancy numbers.
Exactly! This is the result of the evolution of a resort built 50+ years ago in the middle of no damn where. I'm not going to get into the details of the politics here but there was an overwhelming reason certain people loved to vacation there. Those people have either died or aged to a point where they can't travel as much. Younger people have replaced them as owners/travelers and they prefer different locations where there is more to do than play golf or drive an hour and a half to a city with restaurants, sporting events, concerts, theme parks, etc.
I'm not sure that anyone is dreaming up conspiracies. Perhaps some people interpret their questions and comments that way, but that may not be the case. The lack of early information caused a lot of confusion and perhaps some conspiracies. Just like when any major news breaks. Lack of information and transparency leads to questions and accusations. As we learn more, we understand that Wyndham isn't in a good place with these properties and it is certainly time to cut some of them lose.
Wyndham kept these resorts on life support. Termination votes could have been held for the last 10 years with no chance of ever passing, so why hold the votes? The alternative would have been the HOAs buried under a crushing load of bad debt that the remaining owners would pay through even higher maintenance fees, resulting in a death spiral.
Are you able to use all current year points before paying for the Years total?
I don’t believe Crestview is one of the HOA’s that are included in Wyndham’s disengagement.
Could they just keep that one portion of the "resort" open? Or can they pursue some other path to liquidation since that is a post-Shawnee development.
Is Ridge Top and Crestview the same association? We see a lot of posts here saying people got paperwork, but unfortunately many are not clear for which the actual association is. Best when people post photos of the pages.
Are the HOAs reporting occupancy numbers or owner occupancy numbers? These could be defined two different ways.
Yes, the points grants occur all at once at the beginning of your use year.