Conversation with GM at MFV

[LUVourMarriotts]

I've owned at MFV for 18 years now. It was our first MVC purchase, and got us started. We used to live in NY, just a few hours drive to MFV, and went there somewhat regularly with our week. Almost 4 years ago, we moved to NC and it is very unlikely we will go back to MFV. I have been using it to elect points each year since then. It is not a great MF to DP conversion, at $0.73 per point. Even though I don't go, I am still interested to know how the GM plans to run things, and how she can keep costs down, along with the board. When the Elizabeth Arden conversation came up, here on TUG, the new GM's contact info was posted. I reached out to her with some specific questions. She called me the other day and we had a 30+ minute conversation. Here are some of the notes from our call.

About Yari:

• She has been with MVC for about 20 years.
• Most recently, she was at Canyon Villas (I think she said as GM, but I may be wrong on that).
• She also worked in Orlando at different resorts and in the corporate offices there for several years.
• She joined MFV in July of last year, moving to NJ with her family (2 kids).

I was mostly interested to hear how she plans to limit the MF's from getting back to the 6% yearly increases. Here are some of the discussion points.

• NJ passed a minimum wage law, which is forcing gradual yearly increases until it reaches $15
  • This is impacting them at the resort and also from their vendors, who are passing this cost onto the resort
• In 2020 MF's, there was a 5% increase to the reserve line item, because the 20 year renovation is starting this year, in October
  • During the renovations, they will be removing the fireplaces and jacuzzi hot tubs from each villa
    • These are 2 of the most frequent maintenance items in the villas. Estimated to decrease cost of reserves, water, electricity and maintenance from our MF's.
    • The hot tubs also caused one of the most common complaints, as the noise in surrounding villas was loud while the water filled.
• We discussed how new features are decided to be added. She said the governing documents dictate how this process should run by the board. It is up to the board, with her input to determine if it is a want or a need. Also to try to determine if it is a benefit to many or some guests. She was going to look into a process where owners could electronically vote on the final list of new features. She doubts MVC will invest in that type of technology, and I agree.
• She was not very pleased to see that one of the "features" added at MFV recently was the smoking gazebo's. I had mentioned that my personal opinion is that it is crazy to implement such a feature when it is exactly opposite the corporate stance of Marriott and MVC. She agreed.

We discussed the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa lease agreement.

• Half of that building is owned and maintained by the MFV HOA and half of the building is owned and maintained by MVC.
  • The portion Elizabeth Arden was using is MVC
  • The portion with the indoor pool, locker rooms/bathrooms and fitness room is MFV HOA (as well as the grounds and outdoor pool)
• The lease was going to end this spring.
• Elizabeth Arden RD spa is going through a global rebranding including the look/feel of their spas, as well as their product line. They are trying to broaden their demographic.
• Elizabeth Arden informed MVC that if they continued the lease, they would require renovations to get in line with the rebranding effort. At that time, MVC and Elizabeth Arden made the mutual decision to terminate the lease.
• The termination of the lease has NO IMPACT on MFV owners financially, in any way.
• Since the Elizabeth Arden closure:
  • The indoor pool, fitness center and hot tub are still available
  • The locker room was updated and bathrooms are still available
  • They opened a juice bar through the spring (mostly weekend hours) with drinks and some food options
    • Decision to be made later whether it will remain open during summer months
  • Adult pool will open for the summer and remain Adult-only
  • The hot tubs, cold tubs and sauna that were operated by Elizabeth Arden and are no longer available. The area is secured (locked).
• Yari does not believe they will be able to find another spa type vendor to take the space. She said there are a lot of new or updated casino's in Atlantic City that have very high end spas, and it would take a lot of technology and structural changes to get a spa to be able to compete with those spas.
• MVC is investigating several ideas for what to do with the space. They will work with the board when they identify their top choices. Some ideas may include repurposing the area and converting it to MFV HOA owned property. This would require approval from the board.
  • She said depending on the selection, this could impact owners in one of many possible ways:
    • If structural changes are needed, a closure to the rest of the facility may be needed, which would impact our usage of those amenities.
    • If they do decide to convert it to some other use and switch the ownership to MFV HOA, that will obviously mean our MF's increase to also cover the cost of that new building and whatever use/purpose the area includes.

I also told her about a conversation I had with the Resale Department about a year ago, where they told me they find no value in MFV, and have no interest in even trying to sell my unit. They would only offer me to deed back my week and they would then sell it for DPs. I get they are in it to make money. She was pretty upset that MVC was that blatantly rude about a product they sold. MFV is one of the largest locations for foreclosures each year, which also impacts our MF's. She didn't have much else to say there, expected. I then asked, since there is $0 value for any current owners, would it ever be possible for owners to vote to sell our ownership (the whole resort). She said those rules are dictated by the governing docs. She has never heard of it, but it may be possible. I'm not suggesting to start advocating for that, it was just a question.

At the end, she said it was good to have the conversation, because she has had conversations with several guests at MFV during her time there. She said most of the conversations she has, the guests say things like, "I love the new additions, we hope you keep adding more", "we love coming back to MFV, and come 4-5 weeks per year", "I wish we could come here more often", and the like. Whereas my conversation was more like, please figure out way to limit the addition of things that aren't truly necessary, and find ways to decrease our expenses instead of increase our expenses year after year. It shouldn't be a steady increase unless it is absolutely needed. She said it will help her balance expenses with both sides in mind as she make decisions going forward. That would be great!

That is all. Hopefully this is helpful to any MFV owners.

 

[mpizza]

Thank you very much for your comprehensive report!

Maria

 

[ThomasWentz]

Such great info - thank you! I want to buy a Platinum Escape to MFV in late April but haven't been able to yet.

People underestimate the impact that minimum wage increases have on costs in your daily lives!

 

[SueDonJ]

... She was not very pleased to see that one of the "features" added at MFV recently was the smoking gazebo's. I had mentioned that my personal opinion is that it is crazy to implement such a feature when it is exactly opposite the corporate stance of Marriott and MVC. She agreed. ...

Your entire post is a wonderful testament to the important conversations that can and should be held between owners and resort personnel/board members. Bravo!

I have a question about this one thing, though. It has irked me since the resorts all went non-smoking that smokers are treated like lepers at most of the properties. I'm a former smoker over 20 years now, I love that smoking isn't allowed indoors anywhere, and I am not advocating AT ALL for smokers to be able to smoke wherever they please. But it's disgusting that so many resorts banish smokers, which some of my guests have been, to the farthest corners of parking structures and/or out into the elements beneath flimsy beach umbrellas. Many of the original or earliest owners at the resorts bought when smoking was allowed everywhere and ashtrays were a staple in every room. Rules have changed, laws have changed, and they've had to adapt. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have to adapt, but surely MVW can consider doing a little bit better than making them think they're not worthy of even a tiny sliver of green space at these gorgeous resorts?

Years ago I noticed that SurfWatch had a small structure consisting of two benches back-to-back with a roof overhead, between the two gardenview buildings aside the small pond near the indoor pool building. I was shocked to learn it was the smoking area for those two buildings because at the other three, the smoking areas are in the far corners of the parking garages. I also was surprised, pleasantly, that somebody had actually put some thought into the problem that could pacify smokers and non-smokers alike! I've asked several times since, in owner meetings at the resorts where I own and in different emails to corporate over the years, why more resorts couldn't consider doing the same type of thing.

So, has something like this been done at Fairway Villas? And if so, why would anybody have a problem with it?!

 

[Swice]

Two points:
1. Ocean Watch in Myrtle Beach has a smoking gazebo. I have no idea how often it's used. I would think there is very little in yearly maintenance costs. My guess would be society is still in a smoking transition and it's an attempt to provide a place for smoking rather than the units.

2. Interesting mention of the higher minimum wage. I was listening to an earnings call for another company just a few days ago and they mentioned the same thing. People forget that any increase in labors costs trickle down to the vendors too. We can argue both sides of the political debate, but the fact is, any increase in labor costs impacts more than most people realize.

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

Ocean Watch in Myrtle Beach has a smoking gazebo. I have no idea how often it's used. I would think there is very little in yearly maintenance costs. My guess would be society is still in a smoking transition and it's an attempt to provide a place for smoking rather than the units.

Yes, we also own at MOW, and that Gazebo is pretty far away from any public place that people would be hanging around. It's also pretty small. As for the maintenance, I agree that one probably doesn't incur much maintenance, which is good. This gazebo also isn't very enticing to hang around it. On our visit last year, my MIL took many trips to this gazebo. She said its probably only big enough for 4-5 people to be in there comfortably. The gazebo's at MFV are significantly larger, from what I was told.

Your entire post is a wonderful testament to the important conversations that can and should be held between owners and resort personnel/board members. Bravo!

I have a question about this one thing, though. It has irked me since the resorts all went non-smoking that smokers are treated like lepers at most of the properties. I'm a former smoker over 20 years now, I love that smoking isn't allowed indoors anywhere, and I am not advocating AT ALL for smokers to be able to smoke wherever they please. But it's disgusting that so many resorts banish smokers, which some of my guests have been, to the farthest corners of parking structures and/or out into the elements beneath flimsy beach umbrellas. Many of the original or earliest owners at the resorts bought when smoking was allowed everywhere and ashtrays were a staple in every room. Rules have changed, laws have changed, and they've had to adapt. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have to adapt, but surely MVW can consider doing a little bit better than making them think they're not worthy of even a tiny sliver of green space at these gorgeous resorts?

Years ago I noticed that SurfWatch had a small structure consisting of two benches back-to-back with a roof overhead, between the two gardenview buildings aside the small pond near the indoor pool building. I was shocked to learn it was the smoking area for those two buildings because at the other three, the smoking areas are in the far corners of the parking garages. I also was surprised, pleasantly, that somebody had actually put some thought into the problem that could pacify smokers and non-smokers alike! I've asked several times since, in owner meetings at the resorts where I own and in different emails to corporate over the years, why more resorts couldn't consider doing the same type of thing.

So, has something like this been done at Fairway Villas? And if so, why would anybody have a problem with it?!

I haven't been there to see it, but from what this GM and previous GM told me, there are 4 smoking gazebo's. Each gazebo cost $10K+ and then they also added chairs/tables to each, costing more. So lets estimate it cost around $50K. From a cost perspective, it cost each owner/week around $5.50 in MF's. Not a lot. What I am saying is, they implemented a new feature that is against the corporate policy. This area is specifically for smokers (x4). When I asked, I was told these gazebo's are used daily, but not regularly. So, it is a smaller percentage of guests that benefit from this type of "improvement". During this part of our conversation, she did mention that when she was at Canyon Villas, they specifically decided to place a smoking area in the furthest parts of the resort that would not impact other guests, and that is the general recommendation they receive from corporate.

 

[pedro47]

The Manor Club in Williamsburg,VA have three (3) smoking gazebos ; two (2) on the MCC side and one on the Sequel side of the resort. I have only seen them used a couple of times over the years.

 

[Bmerritt]

We are currently staying at Cypress Harbour Vacation Club in Orlando. There is a beautiful deck system the sits at the shore of the lake on property. At the end of each deck, there are designated smoking area. The smokers get a better water view! From a non smokers perspective, the smoke from their cigarettes is blown into the main deck area by the lake breezes. So non smokers smell the smoke whether the smokers are isolated to their own area or not.

 

[Bmerritt]

We have noticed at certain resorts, the non smoking rule is not always enforced. During one vacation, guests were smoking on their balconies all day. We contacted security with the exact room number, with no positive results. Unfortunately, their smoking limited our enjoyment of our outdoor space.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Although folks are still smoking it is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past; there are fewer and fewer smokers as time goes on compared to the 50's and 60's. Of course vaping is the thing today but at least it doesn't smell like stale tobacco.

So as time goes on presumably there will be less need for many smoking areas on MVC properties.



.

 

[dgf15215]

Such great info - thank you! I want to buy a Platinum Escape to MFV in late April but haven't been able to yet.

People underestimate the impact that minimum wage increases have on costs in your daily lives!

More importantly, people underestimate the impact of low wages have on the lives of families and the importance of raising wages to create some equity in our society. We've gotten to used to low-wage labor subsidizing the lives of those of us who have the options that MVC owners must have to even engage in timesharing.

 

[bazzap]

Although folks are still smoking it is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past; there are fewer and fewer smokers as time goes on compared to the 50's and 60's. Of course vaping is the thing today but at least it doesn't smell like stale tobacco.

So as time goes on presumably there will be less need for many smoking areas on MVC properties.



.

For some reason though vaping tends to have an overbearingly sweet sickly scent which itself can be overpowering.

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

This was not meant to be a conversation about smoking areas. It was just part of the conversation about MF’s.

 

[chunkygal]

Your entire post is a wonderful testament to the important conversations that can and should be held between owners and resort personnel/board members. Bravo!

I have a question about this one thing, though. It has irked me since the resorts all went non-smoking that smokers are treated like lepers at most of the properties. I'm a former smoker over 20 years now, I love that smoking isn't allowed indoors anywhere, and I am not advocating AT ALL for smokers to be able to smoke wherever they please. But it's disgusting that so many resorts banish smokers, which some of my guests have been, to the farthest corners of parking structures and/or out into the elements beneath flimsy beach umbrellas. Many of the original or earliest owners at the resorts bought when smoking was allowed everywhere and ashtrays were a staple in every room. Rules have changed, laws have changed, and they've had to adapt. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have to adapt, but surely MVW can consider doing a little bit better than making them think they're not worthy of even a tiny sliver of green space at these gorgeous resorts?

Years ago I noticed that SurfWatch had a small structure consisting of two benches back-to-back with a roof overhead, between the two gardenview buildings aside the small pond near the indoor pool building. I was shocked to learn it was the smoking area for those two buildings because at the other three, the smoking areas are in the far corners of the parking garages. I also was surprised, pleasantly, that somebody had actually put some thought into the problem that could pacify smokers and non-smokers alike! I've asked several times since, in owner meetings at the resorts where I own and in different emails to corporate over the years, why more resorts couldn't consider doing the same type of thing.

So, has something like this been done at Fairway Villas? And if so, why would anybody have a problem with it?!

As a former smoker ( 31 years), physician and libertarian, I so totally agree. Make it illegal or tolerate it. The government has a huge problem with narcotics but not tobacco or alcohol, let's be honest kaye who is naive..

I believe for my life not an option, but if it's legal, why make people feel like criminals? Haters have at it.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

deleted

 

[Dean]

I've owned at MFV for 18 years now. It was our first MVC purchase, and got us started. We used to live in NY, just a few hours drive to MFV, and went there somewhat regularly with our week. Almost 4 years ago, we moved to NC and it is very unlikely we will go back to MFV. I have been using it to elect points each year since then. It is not a great MF to DP conversion, at $0.73 per point. Even though I don't go, I am still interested to know how the GM plans to run things, and how she can keep costs down, along with the board. When the Elizabeth Arden conversation came up, here on TUG, the new GM's contact info was posted. I reached out to her with some specific questions. She called me the other day and we had a 30+ minute conversation. Here are some of the notes from our call.

About Yari:

• She has been with MVC for about 20 years.
• Most recently, she was at Canyon Villas (I think she said as GM, but I may be wrong on that).
• She also worked in Orlando at different resorts and in the corporate offices there for several years.
• She joined MFV in July of last year, moving to NJ with her family (2 kids).

I was mostly interested to hear how she plans to limit the MF's from getting back to the 6% yearly increases. Here are some of the discussion points.

• NJ passed a minimum wage law, which is forcing gradual yearly increases until it reaches $15
  • This is impacting them at the resort and also from their vendors, who are passing this cost onto the resort
• In 2020 MF's, there was a 5% increase to the reserve line item, because the 20 year renovation is starting this year, in October
  • During the renovations, they will be removing the fireplaces and jacuzzi hot tubs from each villa
    • These are 2 of the most frequent maintenance items in the villas. Estimated to decrease cost of reserves, water, electricity and maintenance from our MF's.
    • The hot tubs also caused one of the most common complaints, as the noise in surrounding villas was loud while the water filled.
• We discussed how new features are decided to be added. She said the governing documents dictate how this process should run by the board. It is up to the board, with her input to determine if it is a want or a need. Also to try to determine if it is a benefit to many or some guests. She was going to look into a process where owners could electronically vote on the final list of new features. She doubts MVC will invest in that type of technology, and I agree.
• She was not very pleased to see that one of the "features" added at MFV recently was the smoking gazebo's. I had mentioned that my personal opinion is that it is crazy to implement such a feature when it is exactly opposite the corporate stance of Marriott and MVC. She agreed.

We discussed the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa lease agreement.

• Half of that building is owned and maintained by the MFV HOA and half of the building is owned and maintained by MVC.
  • The portion Elizabeth Arden was using is MVC
  • The portion with the indoor pool, locker rooms/bathrooms and fitness room is MFV HOA (as well as the grounds and outdoor pool)
• The lease was going to end this spring.
• Elizabeth Arden RD spa is going through a global rebranding including the look/feel of their spas, as well as their product line. They are trying to broaden their demographic.
• Elizabeth Arden informed MVC that if they continued the lease, they would require renovations to get in line with the rebranding effort. At that time, MVC and Elizabeth Arden made the mutual decision to terminate the lease.
• The termination of the lease has NO IMPACT on MFV owners financially, in any way.
• Since the Elizabeth Arden closure:
  • The indoor pool, fitness center and hot tub are still available
  • The locker room was updated and bathrooms are still available
  • They opened a juice bar through the spring (mostly weekend hours) with drinks and some food options
    • Decision to be made later whether it will remain open during summer months
  • Adult pool will open for the summer and remain Adult-only
  • The hot tubs, cold tubs and sauna that were operated by Elizabeth Arden and are no longer available. The area is secured (locked).
• Yari does not believe they will be able to find another spa type vendor to take the space. She said there are a lot of new or updated casino's in Atlantic City that have very high end spas, and it would take a lot of technology and structural changes to get a spa to be able to compete with those spas.
• MVC is investigating several ideas for what to do with the space. They will work with the board when they identify their top choices. Some ideas may include repurposing the area and converting it to MFV HOA owned property. This would require approval from the board.
  • She said depending on the selection, this could impact owners in one of many possible ways:
    • If structural changes are needed, a closure to the rest of the facility may be needed, which would impact our usage of those amenities.
    • If they do decide to convert it to some other use and switch the ownership to MFV HOA, that will obviously mean our MF's increase to also cover the cost of that new building and whatever use/purpose the area includes.

I also told her about a conversation I had with the Resale Department about a year ago, where they told me they find no value in MFV, and have no interest in even trying to sell my unit. They would only offer me to deed back my week and they would then sell it for DPs. I get they are in it to make money. She was pretty upset that MVC was that blatantly rude about a product they sold. MFV is one of the largest locations for foreclosures each year, which also impacts our MF's. She didn't have much else to say there, expected. I then asked, since there is $0 value for any current owners, would it ever be possible for owners to vote to sell our ownership (the whole resort). She said those rules are dictated by the governing docs. She has never heard of it, but it may be possible. I'm not suggesting to start advocating for that, it was just a question.

At the end, she said it was good to have the conversation, because she has had conversations with several guests at MFV during her time there. She said most of the conversations she has, the guests say things like, "I love the new additions, we hope you keep adding more", "we love coming back to MFV, and come 4-5 weeks per year", "I wish we could come here more often", and the like. Whereas my conversation was more like, please figure out way to limit the addition of things that aren't truly necessary, and find ways to decrease our expenses instead of increase our expenses year after year. It shouldn't be a steady increase unless it is absolutely needed. She said it will help her balance expenses with both sides in mind as she make decisions going forward. That would be great!

That is all. Hopefully this is helpful to any MFV owners.

I haven't been to the resort but if does seem like it's a poor resort option to include in the system given the value and other realities but it's likely not the only one we could say that about. It sounds like the appraisal of the resale department reflects the reality of the situation, I'd prefer they be honest when discussing such matters. I would think that from a company standpoint GM in NJ is a demotion from GM in AZ but I'm sure there are other factors.

As a former smoker ( 31 years), physician and libertarian, I so totally agree. Make it illegal or tolerate it. The government has a huge problem with narcotics but not tobacco or alcohol, let's be honest kaye who is naive..

I believe for my life not an option, but if it's legal, why make people feel like criminals? Haters have at it.

The reality is that it affects others around them and the % of smokers at most resorts is fairly low. It also tends to raise dues when it's allowed more broadly as do animals. Every resort I've been at the last few years has had an option for smokers so if they feel criminalized from a resort standpoint, it's usually self determined feelings IMO. A lot of businesses have made it against policy and an offense that justifies termination for any activity on the campus including our multi speciality clinic with 4 campuses and both hospitals in our area.

 

[Davey54321]

Thanks Brady for posting this - great information. We are longtime owners at MFV as well and while we havent used it in the same way as we used to, we do try to get there at least once a year or so - if only for a long weekend. (We live in CT a few hours away and used to go annually for 4th of July week.) We still enjoy the resort for the amenities, its proximity to Atlantic City for shows, concerts and shopping outlets, its proximity to Cape May and Philadelphia and the beaches, for the obvious reasons for each. We definitely agree that annual increases in the maintenance fees should be kept as low as possible for this resort (as for all, lol) and we have exchanged it mostly for DC points in the last several years... Our strategy for making best use of those points is to get the discount (30% for Presidential) for 60 day out stays either there or at other locations for weekend use. When we retire In a few years, we expect to make even better use of the 60 day out discounts but for now, weekend use and tacking on odd days to planned stays is working out well and we do feel we get more value from the points in this way.

Again Brady, thanks for posting this, we do plan on returning to this home resort periodically as there are many memories there... And if we dont meet you again there, maybe we will at another DC resort as its a small world (MVC world even smaller -lol).