Teleconferencing Into Owners Meetings

[AlmostRetired]

I reached out to the Monarch HOA recently to see if they can set up teleconferencing for the owners meetings. I have a Monarch FB page that I am trying to create a groundswell to support this. There are free services out there that support up to 1000 call-ins and will support replay at no cost.

This is an issue much greater than the Monarch. Every resorts owner meeting should be doing this. Tug is a group that MVCI us aware of and carries some weight. There are many different facebook groups related to Marriott Timeshares or DP's. I understand all the reasons why MVCI might not want to do this but this is no downside to owners. The questions becomes through social media, can we create enough support to make a difference on doing this. I have seen Change.org used a effective tool. It is not difficult to create a partition. The key is the name of a person at MVCI to make aware of the partition as it is being electronically signed.

I am willing to start this. Good idea or not and whose name from MVCI should be on the paritition.

 

[VacationForever]

The issue is that with teleconferencing owners' meetings is that they do not get to look at a potential buyer in the eye, bring the sales manager in, keep them there for 90 minutes, guilt a potential buyer into buying.... all the things that help them sell. TUG is a negative to them, not a positive. They generally equate TUG = Buy Resale, no money in it for them. Don't hold your breath.

... unless you are referring to their HOA annual meetings...

 

[AlmostRetired]

The issue is that with teleconferencing owners' meetings is that they do not get to look at a potential buyer in the eye, bring the sales manager in, keep them there for 90 minutes, guilt a potential buyer into buying.... all the things that help them sell. TUG is a negative to them, not a positive. They generally equate TUG = Buy Resale, no money in it for them. Don't hold your breath.

... unless you are referring to their HOA annual meetings...

Sorry I wasn't Clear... The HOA Owners Meeting that every resort has once a year. This is not referring Marriott selling timeshares.

 

[SueDonJ]

Like I said in the other thread it will never happen until/unless it's legislated that MVW must allow it. For many people (not all) the relationship between timeshare developers/managers and owners is naturally adversarial, and it would be a stupid business practice for MVW to expose itself unnecessarily to those who consider themselves adversaries. Also, as soon as one resort GM/Board allows it, the floodgates will open to demands for every other resort to do the same.

If it were allowed, it definitely would come with considerable expense because there's no way MVW would allow recordings by any free or low-cost service providers and they'd no doubt bring in extra legal counsel to protect themselves. That expense would be foisted on the owners. I for one don't want any part of it because I think the standard business practice of releasing the Annual Meeting minutes to ownership is sufficient.

 

[JohnPaul]

Worldmark and Vacation Internationale do video broadcast (I don't think it's two way) of their annual meetings and then makes the broadcast available on their websites to view.

 

[SueDonJ]

Worldmark and Vacation Internationale do video broadcast (I don't think it's two way) of their annual meetings and then makes the broadcast available on their websites to view.

The corporate arms of both Marriott, Int'l (the hotel company) and Marriott Vacations Worldwide (the timeshare company) record and release their investor calls and Annual Meetings. That's different from what's being suggested here, which is recording/teleconferencing/etc the Annual Meetings of the individual Marriott timeshare resorts. Are you saying that WM and VI broadcast both corporate and governing meetings?

 

[AlmostRetired]

Like I said in the other thread it will never happen until/unless it's legislated that MVW must allow it. For many people (not all) the relationship between timeshare developers/managers and owners is naturally adversarial, and it would be a stupid business practice for MVW to expose itself unnecessarily to those who consider themselves adversaries. Also, as soon as one resort GM/Board allows it, the floodgates will open to demands for every other resort to do the same.

If it were allowed, it definitely would come with considerable expense because there's no way MVW would allow recordings by any free or low-cost service providers and they'd no doubt bring in extra legal counsel to protect themselves. That expense would be foisted on the owners. I for one don't want any part of it because I think the standard business practice of releasing the Annual Meeting minutes to ownership is sufficient.

I think the minimum we can agree on is it will fall short of causing world order in MVW to disappear if it happened. No one can not fault anyone for not wanting to be part of something they do not believe is necessary or for any other reason.

Please tell me what that standard practice is because as of the 2017 owners meeting two weeks ago, the 2016 owners meeting has not been published for owners. If this is a Monarch thing so much for standard practices.

Maybe the adversarial relationship exists because things are done as cloak and dagger. It is never a stupid business practice to allow your fellow owners to be involved or as far as MVW, provide a service to your employer. Unless things have changed I still believe MVW is paid out of our MF. I believe a far dumber business practice is to try and create apathy with owners, your customers or your employer.

I have a free service I use for business and I work for a technology company with slightly higher revenue than VAC. I used it when I retired from a technology company that has one month of revenue greater than the full year at VAC. I never had anyone complain on the quality and free is still free. You can disable replay and an open meeting shouldn't require any additional legal cost if more people attend either in person or via technology.

I am not sure I can make it happen at the Monarch but I am 100% certain it will never happen if it is not tried. The new incoming President actually likes the idea and while that won't make it happen, it is not a bad start for a 10 minute email. I believe it will take maybe 2 hours of my time between now and the next board meeting to try and make it happen at the Monarch. It would take me 4 hours each way to get to a meeting and cost $400 if I was to attend. The desire is there but not the time or money. I will invest the 2 hours.

 

[tahoe]

Buried in Timber Lodge meeting notes - looks like some of us are already paying for on-line sharing software.

https://image.email1.marriott-vacat...Newsletter+Minutes+Disclosures+Electronic.pdf

Boardvantage
Ms. Schille and Ms. Kammerer provided an overview of Boardvantage. The new software facilitates Board Meetings and provides document storage Board Members could access. A motion was made by David Armitage to approve the Management Company to purchase Boardvantage’s MeetX product to facilitate future Board and or/Committee meetings. The costs are not to exceed $2,800 annually without further Board approval. The motion was seconded by Daniel Craig and unanimously carried.

 

[dioxide45]

I am not aware of any free services for conference calling. Big companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year just in conference calling services. Many utilize 800 call in numbers and do carry considerable costs. Even without 800 numbers, they aren't cheap and those costs would be passed on to the owners. I like the idea, but I don't like having to pay for it.

 

[AlmostRetired]

I am not aware of any free services for conference calling. Big companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year just in conference calling services. Many utilize 800 call in numbers and do carry considerable costs. Even without 800 numbers, they aren't cheap and those costs would be passed on to the owners. I like the idea, but I don't like having to pay for it.

Many free services offer two flavors of product ...free and a fee version that offers more control, support and robustnes. The technology, quality and function for owners and board members to use for the free has been around since 2001.

How many times do we hear complaints about HOA's on how they work, lack of communications, owner involvement and timeliness of information flow. This solves some of this. HOA's usually meets at least twice a year in person. "Expenses directly related to Board work, including attenting the biannual Board meetings, are reimbursed". This is right off the Monarch Website. This is not unique to the Monarch. Maybe you might even cut down on expense or make meetings easier to schedule.

The one I use is FreeConferenceCall.com. The free version is great and the business version for fee is even better. It offers more support and function. I even use it now for setting up a date for family events out of traditional holidays involving nieces, nephews, my kids and my siblings.

If MVCI or a board is afraid to do this because of the fear of an educated or even adversarial owner, this makes it even more important to do this.

 

[RLS50]

For what it's worth...

Barrier Island Station - Duck (managed by SPM Resorts) provided a live video broadcast on Facebook of the annual Owner's Meeting. You can still view the recording on their Facebook page. Nothing fancy or complex, but plenty good enough. SPM Resorts supported the live video broadcast and participated in the meeting.

I think this is a great concept and idea for all resorts, and quite frankly very easy to provide in 2017. There are a number of options that can be used at either zero or marginal cost to the association. BIS-Duck is a relatively small resort, and under some financial pressure from an owner base that is aging out. If BIS-Duck can provide a service like this to owners who aren't able to travel hundreds of miles to attend the annual owner's meeting in person, literally any resort can provide this.

This would be a cakewalk for the larger Developer's and the HOA boards (largely controlled by those same Developer's) to provide. All they need is the desire to provide it.

 

[ctyankee62]

Has there been any update on the owner's vote for BIS? I stayed there as a guest in November and tried to get information but the staff was not very friendly. They invited me to a meeting and then gave me the wrong time so I missed it!

 

[DeniseM]

The corporate HOA's have little motivation to go to any extra effort or cost, because they don't really want owners at these meetings. The fewer owners involved, the easier it is for them to push their agenda.