Board Of Directors

[vail]

In general how difficult is to get elected to the board of directors for any specific timeshare?
My thought is the same guys have been on for 25 plus years so I assume no one votes and they get re-elected
every year regardless.
Even if there were some improvements that could be made, how many people even care?
I figure probably half or more trade their weeks to either points or deposit them in II and travel elsewhere?

What would you all suggest as a way that may be possible?
Thanks.

 

[echino]

Impossible if it's a brand timeshare like Marriott, Westin, Hyatt, Hilton, etc.

Developer firmly controls the board.

 

[vail]

Impossible if it's a brand timeshare like Marriott, Westin, Hyatt, Hilton, etc.

Developer firmly controls the board.

It is Marriott.
They ask for applicants for our local board?
Are you saying that is just a formality?
Thanks.

 

[echino]

Yes, just a formality.

 

[frank808]

I know of at least one tugger that got elected to a Westin board.

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[mogens.h1951]

Which resort?
The rules are different for the individual resort - what powers and how members of the board are elected are described in your ‘Purchase Agreement’.
I have been member of the board of a resort in Spain, where you can be member of the board for a maximum of six years.
Each year, two to three members are up for election - to be considered, you must fill out a 'voluntary form' in May - the board then selects six to nine candidates based on criteria set by the board - for example, how many weeks you have and not least how often to visit that resort.
After this, it is the owners who elect the new members to the board in September. Unfortunately, turnout is very low and MVC can have the decisive influence based on the number of weeks MVC owns at that resort.
The board is an important part of the day-to-day operations and, in my opinion, more than a formality.
As mentioned, the rules and procedure are not necessarily the same at all resorts.


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[bazzap]

Impossible if it's a brand timeshare like Marriott, Westin, Hyatt, Hilton, etc.

Developer firmly controls the board.

It may be so with MVC in the US, but not in Europe or Asia as Mogens says.
At Phuket Beach Club, as current Chairman of the Owner Board, I can confirm that MVC have no involvement in the shortlisting of candidates and they cast their Owner votes equally amongst all shortlisted candidates.
Different MVC resorts have different terms of office for Board members.
In Phuket, it is 3 years, with the possibility of standing for re-election for a second 3 year term after which you have to stand down (as I will this year)

 

[frank808]

Sorry wrong vacation club when I checked with him. He is elected to board at HGVC Lagoon tower.

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[dioxide45]

WIth the DC trust owning so many units at different resorts, Marriott can pretty much hand pick who they want for the board. This is because not enough owners vote their proxy to out vote Marriott voting in block. Owners also spread their vote among the candidates where Marriott, again, votes in block. This may not be the case at all resorts, but seems to be the case more often than not.

At Sheraton Vistana Villages where we own we often only have one or two candidates up for election and the proxy says to vote for one or two. Issue is if there is only two candidates and you can vote for up to two, what is the point. They are obviously filling two seats on the board and with only two candidates, we know who will get those board seats.

Another issue with Vistana is many times not enough owners vote to meet a quorum, so the board then decides who will fill the seats.

 

[dioxide45]

Impossible if it's a brand timeshare like Marriott, Westin, Hyatt, Hilton, etc.

Developer firmly controls the board.

For the most part this is true, but it is mainly because not enough owners cast their proxies. If more owners voted, the developer wouldn't control the seats.

 

[bazzap]

WIth the DC trust owning so many units at different resorts, Marriott can pretty much hand pick who they want for the board. This is because not enough owners vote their proxy to out vote Marriott voting in block. Owners also spread their vote among the candidates where Marriott, again, votes in block. This may not be the case at all resorts, but seems to be the case more often than not.

At Sheraton Vistana Villages where we own we often only have one or two candidates up for election and the proxy says to vote for one or two. Issue is if there is only two candidates and you can vote for up to two, what is the point. They are obviously filling two seats on the board and with only two candidates, we know who will get those board seats.

Another issue with Vistana is many times not enough owners vote to meet a quorum, so the board then decides who will fill the seats.

You are right, the number of owners casting their vote is very, very low unfortunately.
In Phuket though this does not mean that MVC hand pick who they want for the Board.
It is of course a different AP Points programme, but although they now own some 30% of the units they do not now use their vote to influence the selection here.

 

[dgf15215]

I gave up casting votes when any inquiries I made having to do with the proposed budget never engendered a reply. Not even a courtesy, non-specific reply.

 

[mogens.h1951]

I would strongly urge all owners to vote for a candidate.

Of course I can not answer for other resorts but all e-mails send to the owner board for Club Son Antem have been answered. The number of e-mails is in the order of 60 to 100 per year so it is not a completely insignificant job for the chairman to answer these inquiries.


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[bazzap]

I would strongly urge all owners to vote for a candidate.

Of course I can not answer for other resorts but all e-mails send to the owner board for Club Son Antem have been answered. The number of e-mails is in the order of 60 to 100 per year so it is not a completely insignificant job for the chairman to answer these inquiries.


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Similarly for Phuket Beach Club, although I haven’t received quite as many emails as you Mogens.
Also, apart from the Resort AGM Owner event, I have met and answered questions from hundreds of Owners at the weekly Owner Forums and Owner Parties during our 6-8 weeks stays each year.
I too encourage all owners to use their vote and if you don’t get responses from your Owner Board, please persist until you do.

 

[SueDonJ]

Marriott switched from allowing board members to provide their private contact info to owners to a system where each resort has a generic email address that sends each board member and the resort GM all communication submitted via a links on owners.marriottvacationclub.com. (At the time the switch appeared to coincide with a former board president behaving badly by wrongly utilizing the contact info he'd gained as board president, so don't fault Marriott too much for making our lives a little more difficult.)

--> Sign in to your account
--> Click on "Owners Association" in the dropdown menu under "EDUCATION & RESOURCES"
--> Click on the "view" button to the right of whatever item is listed under "Contact Your Board of Directors" (each resort has its own title for the listed document)
--> Scroll down below the list to find the email link

If none is listed, call your resort and ask the GM why not!

In my experience no inquiries have gone unanswered but all responses come from the GM, after s/he has consulted if necessary with board members. Again, there appears to be a good reason why Marriott discourages direct written communications between individual board members and owners so I'm okay with this method as long as it works.

 

[dioxide45]

In my experience no inquiries have gone unanswered but all responses come from the GM, after s/he has consulted if necessary with board members. Again, there appears to be a good reason why Marriott discourages direct written communications between individual board members and owners so I'm okay with this method as long as it works.

Personally, IMO, I should have direct access to the people I elect to represent us as owners on the board and not have to rely on a Marriott employee as a go between. Just my thoughts. Perhaps it works, but doesn't mean it should be that way.

 

[SueDonJ]

Personally, IMO, I should have direct access to the people I elect to represent us as owners on the board and not have to rely on a Marriott employee as a go between. Just my thoughts. Perhaps it works, but doesn't mean it should be that way.

But don't you, if communication via these links is forwarded directly to them (with your personal contact info blind to them, and theirs blind to you) and their comments/concerns attributed to them by name in any responses? Sure, it's not ideal, not as easy as it used to be, but it's worth it to me if it means that a former board member will be unable to include me without my permission in any future actions s/he decides to take unilaterally against Marriott.

It's also been my experience while staying at both Barony Beach and SurfWatch that board members have introduced themselves during owners' events on the Activity Schedules, but of course there's no guarantee of any board members being there at specific times unless you schedule your visit to coincide with an Annual Meeting.

 

[bazzap]

Marriott switched from allowing board members to provide their private contact info to owners to a system where each resort has a generic email address that sends each board member and the resort GM all communication submitted via a links on owners.marriottvacationclub.com. (At the time the switch appeared to coincide with a former board president behaving badly by wrongly utilizing the contact info he'd gained as board president, so don't fault Marriott too much for making our lives a little more difficult.)

--> Sign in to your account
--> Click on "Owners Association" in the dropdown menu under "EDUCATION & RESOURCES"
--> Click on the "view" button to the right of whatever item is listed under "Contact Your Board of Directors" (each resort has its own title for the listed document)
--> Scroll down below the list to find the email link

If none is listed, call your resort and ask the GM why not!

In my experience no inquiries have gone unanswered but all responses come from the GM, after s/he has consulted if necessary with board members. Again, there appears to be a good reason why Marriott discourages direct written communications between individual board members and owners so I'm okay with this method as long as it works.

I guess it works somewhat differently in Europe and in Asia.
For Phuket Beach Club we do have, as you say, an Owner Board mailbox
Ownerboard.Phuket@VacationClub.com
for which owner contact is managed by the resort GM, although he shares all communications with us and either he or we reply as best suits the situation.
However, we also all individually have our own email addresses, “name”@mpbcowners.com and these are shared with all Owners via for example my Chairman’s Newsletters and an mpbc Owner Blog which we run.
So it is not at all unusual for Owners to directly contact us as Board Members with questions and issues, which we answer to the best of our ability.

 

[SueDonJ]

I guess it works somewhat differently in Europe and in Asia.
For Phuket Beach Club we do have, as you say, an Owner Board mailbox
Ownerboard.Phuket@VacationClub.com
for which owner contact is managed by the resort GM, although he shares all communications with us and either he or we reply as best suits the situation.
However, we also all individually have our own email addresses, “name”@mpbcowners.com and these are shared with all Owners via for example my Chairman’s Newsletters and an mpbc Owner Blog which we run.
So it is not at all unusual for Owners to directly contact us as Board Members with questions and issues, which we answer to the best of our ability.

Oh, that is different from the US resorts.

Does every owner have an @mpbcowners.com email address (assuming it stands for Marriott Phuket Beach Club Owners,) or only the board members? If every owner, is this a list compiled by Marriott or was it an owner initiative to put it together and maintain it? I've never heard of any of the US resorts compiling an address list like that.

 

[bazzap]

Oh, that is different from the US resorts.

Does every owner have an @mpbcowners.com email address (assuming it stands for Marriott Phuket Beach Club Owners,) or only the board members? If every owner, is this a list compiled by Marriott or was it an owner initiative to put it together and maintain it? I've never heard of any of the US resorts compiling an address list like that.

It is only Owner Board members who have these email addresses (and yes you are right about what mpbc stands for)
Sadly there is no overall list for the ~7,000 PBC Weeks Owners available to the Owner Board, due to GDPR data protection reasons, so whilst we can and do request emails to be sent to all Owners, we have absolutely no idea who they all are.