[2008] Festiva is now managing my resort, how bad is it going to get?

[davidpatb]

Festivarep.....Thanks for responding to my post. I was just about to call Festiva to discuss this, and checked the board. I am glad that we are able to trade internally. Festiva has acquired some nice resorts.

Thanks again.

 

[FestivaRep]

Festivarep.....Thanks for responding to my post. I was just about to call Festiva to discuss this, and checked the board. I am glad that we are able to trade internally. Festiva has acquired some nice resorts.

Thanks again.

No problem! I'm glad you enjoy our properties. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[FestivaRep]

How would all this controversy affect me if I were to exchange inorder to spend a week at the Atrium? Is the Atrium in good shape or not? Apparently many people love that resort. Is it in the process of being destroyed?

Hi Pianodinosaur;

If you can be a bit more specific about what 'controversy' you're referring to I may be able to better answer your question. And the resort is certainly NOT in the process of being destroyed, in fact we are doing our best to make improvements and renovations throughout the property. If you are a Festiva Resorts member who wants to exchange into the Atrium, you can call our Owner Services department.

 

[pianodinosaur]

Festiva Rep:

The controversy is that many owners at The Atrium have expressed deep concerns about the new management. I own at HGVC and like to vacation in the Carribbean during the winter. I would like to visit Sint Maarten, Barbados, and Curacao in the next 3-4 years. I had heard very good things about The Atrium before I joined TUG and it is apparent from this thread that there are many members who just love The Atrium. I have also read posts to the effect that some owners at The Atrium do not want to see a resort that they love, be destroyed. However, an owner has responded that I would not be disappointed if I were to exchange for a week at The Atrium.

 

[jercal10]

Festiva/ Peppertree@Tamarack

I am an owner @ Pepertree@ Tamarack. I recently received 2 mailings:

a) a nomination form for officers-received after the due date to submit.

b) on the same day I received a letter with 2 things:
1) a list of nominees( guess who picked some of them? how did they get them in on time??)
2) "The approved 2009 Consolidated budget"

Hilites : 6.4% increase in op costs
11.3 % increase in MF
this is approximately $193k more increase in Revenue than expenses, yet they have decreased the money going to reserves by $143k

There is no explanation of where the $193k+ $143K= $326k is going!!!!

Nor is there any statement as to how much we have (or don't have) in reserve.

There's probably a couple of things here in blatant violation of Wis law,
but with loaded boards, little that can be done.

Be vigilant at your resort--make these guys provide decent management for their fees.

 

[Tia]

There has to be honest owners on the board for owners to get honest answers. A board loaded with developer or management company run by them is BAD!

 

[Talent312]

I am an owner @ Pepertree@ Tamarack. I recently received 2 mailings: [Litany of Complaints]
There's probably a couple of things here in blatant violation of Wis law,
but with loaded boards, little that can be done.

If you truely believe that Wisconsin law is being violated by these things, there's something you can do... Contact the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office or whatever agency is tasked with regulating TS's. Make some noise. Just sitting on your arse and posting your gripes here will not change anything.

 

[Tia]

Ditto to what Talent312 just posted. They do it cause no one holds them responsible....

 

[bnoble]

I don't understand how the fees were calcuated either. However, at least a few of those running for the board are not Festiva employees, as they describe their backgrounds in their statements.

I cannot attend the meeting, but would like someone who does to ask why the fee increases don't line up with the budget, and report back. Anyone expecting to go?

 

[jercal10]

Tamarack budget

Here's my dialogue with the resort GM:

* my question: "1) the MF increase is 11.3%, and the expense increase is only 6%. Where is the rest of the money going??*


*response:"When you do a budget you take into consideration income and expense, our income is considerably under and are expense is considerably higher. Therefore this offsets each other.

My comment
Don't expect any real answers as the GM is unprepared to say that the budget is wrong.

 

[tombo]

Here's my dialogue with the resort GM:

* my question: "1) the MF increase is 11.3%, and the expense increase is only 6%. Where is the rest of the money going??*


*response:"When you do a budget you take into consideration income and expense, our income is considerably under and are expense is considerably higher. Therefore this offsets each other.

Dear GM,
Well when you consider what I want to pay in MF"s and what you are charging, my desired outlay is considerably under, and your asking amount is considerably over. I will simply pay less MF's since these 2 offset each other. If they can do the budget that way then owners should be able to pay that way too.

 

[Laurie]

I'm employed by Festiva Management Group and I'm here to answer any questions that I can. If I can't answer them, I will direct you to the person/department who can.

Hi FestivaRep,

Can you tell us anything about the new/upcoming association between Sandcastle Resort in Provincetown and Festiva?

First, is this true? - is Festiva the new management company? If so, what benefits might there be, if any, to fixed weeks owners who don't convert to any points system? And, what special assessments might be slated for 2009?

 

[Carolinian]

There is a huge conflict of interest in management putting its employees on an HOA board. Board members should all be bonafide t/s owners who do not owe their souls to management. I would run, not walk, away from any resort where management has seats on an HOA board.

 

[FestivaRep]

re: Tamarack meeting mailings

I am an owner @ Pepertree@ Tamarack. I recently received 2 mailings:

a) a nomination form for officers-received after the due date to submit.

b) on the same day I received a letter with 2 things:
1) a list of nominees( guess who picked some of them? how did they get them in on time??)
...

Jercal,

I'll see what I can find out about the budget, I'll have to talk to several people as I'm not directly involved in that aspect of the company.

However, one thing I can definitely say is that the nomination letter for the Tamarack board meeting was mailed on August 29 (and the due date for receiving nominations was Sept. 10) so you should have received that in plenty of time. The proxies with the bios, etc. were mailed almost a month later on Sept. 22. I'm not sure why you received them both on the same day. I am the contact who works directly with our mailing company to send most of our member/owner mailings, and I have confirmation from the mailing company that the first letters were sent on 08/29. I haven't heard that anyone else received the letters after the due date. If you want to verify that we have your accurate contact information, send an e-mail to myemail@festivaresorts.com and they will make sure it is up to date.

 

[timeos2]

Not even close to a reasonable time

Jercal,


However, one thing I can definitely say is that the nomination letter for the Tamarack board meeting was mailed on August 29 (and the due date for receiving nominations was Sept. 10) so you should have received that in plenty of time.

How do you figure "plenty of time"? Thats 12 days to get the letter, get the BIO/ nomination ready, get it mailed and back to you. Not CLOSE to enough time. I should be a window of 30 days or more if you are serious about getting real nominations. Bulk mailings don't arrive in the mailbox 2 or 3 days later especially when there is a holiday in the mailing window as there was during 9/1 - 10.

 

[bnoble]

However, one thing I can definitely say is that the nomination letter for the Tamarack board meeting was mailed on August 29 (and the due date for receiving nominations was Sept. 10) so you should have received that in plenty of time.

I recv'd my nominating letter on September 11th, the day after nominations closed.

 

[FestivaRep]

mailings

The mailings went out as promptly as possible, and were sent by the post office on August 29. As indicated on the letter, nominations did not have to be mailed in, they could have been faxed or e-mailed to the GM to save time. If you have concerns about the timeliness of the mailings, those can be addressed directly to the GM or the board.

 

[Bill4728]

Since this thread is nothing about buy or selling a TS, I'm moving it to the "other TS board" .

 

[jercal10]

Peppertree@ Tamarack ann'l meeting

I don't understand how the fees were calcuated either. However, at least a few of those running for the board are not Festiva employees, as they describe their backgrounds in their statements.

I cannot attend the meeting, but would like someone who does to ask why the fee increases don't line up with the budget, and report back. Anyone expecting to go?

I received the detailed budget if you are interested, I can e-mail it??

 

[jercal10]

Festiva Rep:
It is is my understanding that at the annual meeting that Festiva voted the adventure club proxies as a block for its hand picked slate, at least one of which is not an owner.

It may not be technically a violation of wis law for this to happen, but certainly violates the spirit of the law which says that a minimum of 25 % of the board must be picked by the owners. ( I do not believe that the adventure club owners really cast any votes, only Festiva).

What is Festiva's position on reinstating owner control,per the intent of the law??

 

[FestivaRep]

Hi Jercal,

I will look into your concern, but i just want to clarify that you are referring to the Peppertree at Tamarack annual meeting, correct? Several of our properties' meetings have taken place over the last few months, so I just want to be sure. Thanks.

 

[jercal10]

Yes, Peppertree@Tamarack

 

[FestivaRep]

PTOA concerns

I have gotten some information from someone who works closely with our HOA boards, so hopefully your concerns will be addressed.

There has been some concern about putting Festiva employees on the PTOA board, but this is not the case. The three members we cast our (legal) votes for were:

1. An existing member of the previous board who is a homeowner in PTOA and the Board President of Mirror Lake 1 (also an HOA in Tamarack). He was RE-elected and is now the sitting Board President of the PTOA.

2. A homeowner and 2 year advisor to the board who was appointed by the previous board. Has served 2 years attending every board meeting and now has an official board seat and vote.

3. Board President of Mirror Lake 2. Not an owner in PTOA, but a 35-year association management professional, and someone who has a vested interest in the inner workings of the resort as a whole.

The PTOA now has representatives from each of the 3 sub associations under the master (TOA) association. The smaller Mirror Lake 1 and 2 HOAs had long felt that they weren't getting a fair shake from the PTOA on issues important to them and had no say in the TOA election process. Only the PTOA Board president can vote in TOA elections, yet the TOA still charges thousands of dollars to the Mirror Lake HOA's each year for the shared use and exterior maintenance agreements. We thought it fair to allow members of ML1 and ML2 serve on the PTOA board since the decisions made by the board affect all three HOAs.

To answer the concern about the board being picked by owners and Festiva casting votes as opposed to Adventure Club members, our Adventure Club members do not actually own deeded real estate at any of our resorts; rather, they have a 40 year club membership. Therefore, they are not a part of a specific property's HOA. We (Festiva) pay the maintenance fees for each club week. While some of those maintenance fees are offset by the fees paid to us by club members, not all of them are. We are responsible for 100% of the maintenance fees for weeks we have in trust, developer owned weeks that have no one offsetting the expense, weeks that are in default, and weeks that the HOAs have sold us in order to get maintenance fees paid for those intervals once again and forever. Further, if a club member does not pay their dues, Festiva still has to pay the fees on those weeks to the HOA, and we do so without fail.

I hope this information has been helpful with relation to the PTOA meeting. If there are any questions about this annual meeting or any other HOA board meeting, please let me know as they are all different.

 

[FestivaRep]

Hi FestivaRep,

Can you tell us anything about the new/upcoming association between Sandcastle Resort in Provincetown and Festiva?

First, is this true? - is Festiva the new management company? If so, what benefits might there be, if any, to fixed weeks owners who don't convert to any points system? And, what special assessments might be slated for 2009?

Festiva Resorts is not the new management company for the Sandcastle Resort, therefore we have no knowledge or control of any assessments for 2009.

 

[jercal10]

festiva rep

Festiva rep, thank you for your response about the PTOA.

I wonder how you decided to cast all the Club votes for these 3 candidates??

It hardly seems that this meets the intent of Wis law that developers not control the board.

Oh well, we'll all hope for the best.