FOR SUNSET HARBOR OWNERS - BOD ELECTION

[JanT]

MODS - If this is not allowed, I apologize, and please remove it.

As a multi-week owner at Sunset Harbor, I’m reaching out to all owners regarding our Board of Directors (BOD) election. We received the vote and ballot information today.

I have serious concerns regarding an incumbent board member that is running for re-election. I have outlined my concerns in the attached document and encourage you to read it before you make your choice in determining whom you will vote for to represent owners on the BOD.

Because much of owner information is privacy protected, I have limited avenues to reach other owners without incurring significant financial cost. Postage alone would be $1200.00 to send a hard copy letter to all other owners and I have been unable to get to Key West to tackle the significant task of pulling owner information that would have allowed me to send an email. Therefore, I’m trying to reach other owners through social media/on-line forums to share this information. If you know other owners and have their contact information, I would appreciate your forwarding this information to them.

I’m not interested in turning this into a mud-slinging discussion. I simply want to get information out to owners that will help them make an informed decision.

If you have any questions, please feel free to private message me and I will do my best to answer them.

Thanks!

JT

 

[bdh]

Projected results (official meeting hasn't taken place yet)

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[bdh]

It is official now.

FWIW: Due to such a small percentage of SH owner’s voting in the election, Hyatt/MVW's votes changed which candidates were elected.

 

[ScoopKona]

It is official now.

FWIW: Due to such a small percentage of SH owner’s voting in the election, Hyatt/MVW's votes changed which candidates were elected.

A hand-picked board of directors -- willing to say "how high" when we say "jump."

SH had one chance to break away and they blew it. It's a real shame -- they could have improved their own situation, and the situation of every legacy HRC resort.

 

[JanT]

WARNING - This is long

I don't know that I agree with ScoopKona's assessment that it's a "hand-picked" BODs. Per my sources, Jim Drum who previously served on the BOD for 20 years isn't real happy with MVW, even though he apparently was pretty chummy with Hyatt. He's said to be pretty upset with MVW, so, not sure they have an ally in him. I don't know anything about Rick Lohr other than he's on the BOD at CP. Is he pro-MVW? I don't know.

There is no doubt that MVWs votes had an impact on the election and that will always be the case until owners get off their asses and vote. There's a real danger in their complacency, since the more weeks MVW acquires over time, the more control they will have. If people don't like that they have to vote. There's obviously complacency on the part of owners - that's true at a lot of resorts. But, part of the problem is there is absolutely no one that is uniting owners or even trying to unit them. There is a new SH Owners Group on Facebook started by an owner who is trying desperately to get owners to join. If you're a SH owner, please go over to Alan's page and join. Look for "Owners Only - Sunset Harbor Key West." You'll have to ask to join and verify your ownership, but Alan is very quick about getting you verified and approved. And before anyone asks, no, I don't know Alan, have never met him, he's not my buddy, he's not paying me anything to mention the website. but he is an owner that is trying to unit owners.

From my viewpoint, the number of owners that want to push MVW out and terminate the resort agreement are a small minority. It's pretty evident from the vote on those measures that other owners are not going to support that. At least based on what I perceive as some half-assed, self-serving effort that presented absolutely no logic, no plan, no real information, no facts - absolutely ZERO reality. The promises that were made were ridiculous. None of that was happening. How they thought they were going to sway owners to vote on that nonsense is beyond me. They're going to have to present a lot of concrete proof of malfeasance on the part of MVW before people are going to vote to push them out. They squandered a boatload of Association money for absolutely NOTHING.

From where I'm sitting it looks like there's a small group of owners that are trying to turn that into their own private resort where no one else is welcome. WTH? They have their little "paradise" there and if you're not in the popular kids group, you're not getting in. Literally, they sound like a bunch of damned juveniles.

Lest anyone think I'm speaking out of my rear-end, let me tell you that when that little fiasco to terminate the management contract/resort agreement hit, I got to work. I started paying attention - FAST. As an owner, I had been complacent and that was a HUGE mistake. I started digging and digging and digging. I didn't, and don't like what I found.

Because of life circumstances, I really had had no time to even worry about what was happening at SH. We hadn't been there in about 15 years; instead using our points to take vacations closer to home, etc. Last year when we knew we could start traveling again, we bought two additional weeks because we loved the resort and love Key West. We bought those additional weeks without even traveling to SH because we'd placed a lot of faith in the BOD/Hyatt/MVW and trusted they had maintained the resort at a level that it deserved that "Premiere" rating by II. Placing that trust in any of those entities was a HUGE mistake on our part. NEVER again will I put my trust in a group like that. Sunset Harbor is an absolute mess. Don't let that beautiful exterior fool you.

Everyone who read through that long, drawn out thread in this forum about the termination effort knows I was against the plan presented by the board. I made no secret of that. I also made no secret of the fact that I was pissed off by the BOD member that released a confidential list of owner information and then did an about face and torpedoed the very board effort they voted to support. Believe me, I was on a rampage about that BOD member. I requested their resignation knowing they wouldn't resign. I did what I could to try and keep them from being re-elected. In the end, it was futile. But, you know what? That's ok. Because it turns out that maybe they were asking some of the right questions after all. I don't like what they did and how they went about it (it certainly leaves the Association in a precarious position legally and they've fostered a very distrustful situation), but I have my suspicions about why they torpedoed the effort. I can't be certain but maybe they were onto something. I intend to find out.

As part of that effort, my husband and I traveled to Key West for the Annual Association meeting that occurred yesterday. The whole process of communication with the BOD to even get on the official agenda to ask questions of the BOD and MVW was ridiculous. It's a story for another time and one I intend to tell but not tonight. It's baseball playoff season and my boys are getting ready to play. I will say this though - I left that meeting at noon yesterday (10/18) and my blood is STILL boiling - I'm absolutely livid. That is not a good thing for either entity. It is a good thing for my fellow owners. Stay tuned.

 

[ScoopKona]

WARNING - This is long

I don't know that I agree with ScoopKona's assessment that it's a "hand-picked" BODs.

Who got the most votes? Who's the worst person on the board?

They're just going to keep chipping away at it until you have no say at all.

 

[JanT]

I know who got the most votes. I’m still trying to determine for a fact who the worst person on the board is. I know the person you’re referring to can be difficult but that doesn’t make them the worst person on there. And they’re ONE person. There’s 4 others on there which means they have more power than one.

I can tell you this. That board is NOT functioning as it should. It’s a mess. I’m trying to determine if it’s just because they haven’t done their homework about how to function or it’s intentional so no one can follow their tracks.

MVW isn’t going to be able to move fast enough to take full control. That’s just nonsense. I’m less worried about MVW at this point than I am the board.

I respect your KW knowledge, Scoop but there’s more going on here than anyone knows in my opinion.
As an aside, we went to El Siboney as you suggested. Wonderful place and fabulous Cuban food.

Who got the most votes? Who's the worst person on the board?

They're just going to keep chipping away at it until you have no say at all.

 

[ScoopKona]

I know who got the most votes. I’m still trying to determine for a fact who the worst person on the board is. I know the person you’re referring to can be difficult but that doesn’t make them the worst person on there. And they’re ONE person. There’s 4 others on there which means they have more power than one.

I can tell you this. That board is NOT functioning as it should. It’s a mess. I’m trying to determine if it’s just because they haven’t done their homework about how to function or it’s intentional so no one can follow their tracks.

MVW isn’t going to be able to move fast enough to take full control. That’s just nonsense. I’m less worried about MVW at this point than I am the board.

I respect your KW knowledge, Scoop but there’s more going on here than anyone knows in my opinion.

Corruption in Florida is usually the very easy to understand type -- MVC is going to brute force members they like onto the board, and brute force members they don't like off, until they have a rubber-stamp board. I guarantee you.

Be very, very, very worried about MVC -- because that's your real enemy.

That's why they were so 100% FUD with the special vote. They needed to keep control just long enough to cement control. It's now a done deal -- ask any Keys resident what a done deal means. You're in one now.

And just in case this is your first rodeo, here's what happens next. The board proposes something wildly unpopular, which is great for MVC and horrible for the owners. Owners complain until they're blue in the face about "the thing." Shills speak passionately in favor of "the thing" (remind you of anything which has happened recently?)

Board enacts "the thing."

"The thing" goes completely sideways.

Board says, "We wuz hoodwinked!"

That's the Key West way.

 

[JanT]

Are you seriously trying to tell me that the board did this intentionally at the direction of MVW as some sinister ploy to gain control of the resort. Meaning the board has been bought off so-to-speak and are just carrying out MVW direction? Because that’s what it seems like you’re saying.

 

[ScoopKona]

Are you seriously trying to tell me that the board did this intentionally at the direction of MVW as some sinister ploy to gain control of the resort. Meaning the board has been bought off so-to-speak and are just carrying out MVW direction? Because that’s what it seems like you’re saying.

That's PRECISELY what I'm saying. If SH left MVC, MVC wouldn't be able to sell the same units over and over with their new Portfolio points program. Owners were about to do the best thing possible for themselves. So that's why MVC pulled out all the stops, and probably bought off one or more board members -- and sent an endless parade of clowns to the Hyatt subforum -- to kill the vote. "I don't know. It's so sudden. We need to wait and see. Steady as she goes!"

Owners fell for the con. I'm very sad that they did.

EDIT -- Let me say this as bluntly as possible. SH owners who voted "no" got rooked by the timeshare salesmen and developers, yet again.

 

[JanT]

So…which two did they buy off?

 

[ScoopKona]

We both know of one for sure.

But the main thing was throwing the owner vote. And we all know how that went. All those "owners" who so passionately delivered misinformation to cause fear, uncertainty and doubt? They're all gone. Just like we all knew they would be.

They didn't care. They never cared. They wanted to sow discord and hope they could throw the vote. They won. Owners lost. Case closed.

That was the owners last, best shot. It's over.

 

[JanT]

Those are pretty serious accusations.

 

[ScoopKona]

Contact all the new users who participated in the SH vote thread (always toeing the MVC line).

See how many of them get back to you. I rest my case. Seriously. There's my case.


PS -- Don't get me wrong -- I was rooting for the owners. I wish you were as skeptical about them as you are about me...

 

[JanT]

Scoop,

I’m not stupid. Of course, there were MVW shills in that thread. No doubt about it and they were working it hard. No way MVW wanted SH to depart. I’m under no illusion that MVW is our friend.

And all I said was those were some serious accusations.

What exactly do you think MVW is going to do that is so bad? What crisis do you see developing? What is this sinister goal you think they have? What is driving your suspicions? I honestly want to know.

I’m not stumping for MVW. I recognize their bottom line is to make money and they’re not necessarily the owners’ friend. But, I’m not convinced they’re this evil entity you (and others) are making them out to be. What am I missing that makes you convinced they’re out to get owners? What is their end game?

 

[ScoopKona]

What is their end game?

Selling the same resorts multiple times and maximizing profits. If they ruin HRC, they can sell their new system. They then blow that system up and sell something different.

That's their end game. Legacy owners are in the way.

 

[Kal]

We both know of one for sure.

But the main thing was throwing the owner vote. And we all know how that went. All those "owners" who so passionately delivered misinformation to cause fear, uncertainty and doubt? They're all gone. Just like we all knew they would be.

They didn't care. They never cared. They wanted to sow discord and hope they could throw the vote. They won. Owners lost. Case closed.

That was the owners last, best shot. It's over.

YOU BET!! You called them out during the pre-vote period and it was sooo obvious they were MVW stooges. We will never hear from them again.

 

[Kal]

Selling the same resorts multiple times and maximizing profits. If they ruin HRC, they can sell their new system. They then blow that system up and sell something different.

That's their end game. Legacy owners are in the way.

Control the vote and BOD. Bingo! Legacy owners just become tourists paying ever increasing Maintenance Fees. I bet they wish they could raise the property and sell it for GIGANTIC BIG BUCKS!

 

[ScoopKona]

YOU BET!! You called them out during the pre-vote period and it was sooo obvious they were MVW stooges. We will never hear from them again.

The truly sad part is the private conversations we had about these stooges, long before it became a real problem. The sad fact is that this tactic works. They were able to sow enough confusion and doubt into what was otherwise a very clear cut, in-your-best-interest, I don't understand why this is even being debated issue, and throw the vote in their favor.

It's not like everyone wasn't warned this was happening. And it happened anyway.

 

[JanT]

Well, I'll tell you this much, MVW might have their own bottom-line end game. But, currently, I trust them more than I trust the people that have been elected by owners. How sad is that? Listen, I'm not just spouting the MVW talking points - I have my issues with MVW, too (a lot of them). But this resort has been severely neglected by the BOD and their damned hands haven't been tied behind their backs by Hyatt or MVW. They ultimately make the decisions on how to spend Association money and what gets done. They have their own damned agenda and it's not looking out for anyone but themselves. Several of them don't even use their units - they book their week(s) and rent them out for a nice little profit. Yeah, if MFs go up, guess what that cuts into? THEIR profit. EDITED TO ADD: I did not mean to intimate that every board member that rents out their weeks are a problem. There is one board member specifically that lives in Key West for a fair part of the year and they have been invaluable in helping solve some of the problems at SH and thank goodness they were there because without them there would have been some bigger issues to solve. I'm incredibly grateful for their efforts.

I'd like to know what the Hell they've been doing with our money. Not taking care of this resort I can promise you that. They have continually "kicked the can down the road," pushing maintenance issues aside as they spent it on ridiculous crap like sound bars. They've kicked the can so far down the road for so long that now we're looking at somewhere in the range of $11M of unfunded projects that need to be completed. They pissed off an exorbitant amount of money on that ridiculous "terminate MVW/resort agreement" boondoggle without so much as a smidge of a plan on how to execute. All the while trying to tell owners they couldn't get any real savings numbers because they didn't want to spend owners' money until they knew owners were on board with their plan. Well, they had absolutely no problem spending a chunk of it trying to pull of their plan. Wait until the amount of money that was spent on that mess gets exposed. Wait until owners get that number and find out just how much minor maintenance could have been done with that money. They're going to be angry!!! Well, owners who don't have their own self-serving agenda anyway and there's a lot of those that don't have their own agenda. Some members of this BOD will be lucky if they survive their terms. Recall elections just aren't that hard or expensive.

These pictures are just a few of the many that I've taken of our current unit.

See that big clump of hair in the picture? That came out of our bedsheets this morning when I was looking for bedbugs because something bit the living Hell out of me during the night. No bedbugs that I can determine but there was something crawling around in there. This unit is so dirty it is no wonder bugs are attacking. When was the last time pest control was on-site?

Another picture is just one of the several areas of absolute scum and deterioration under the kitchen cabinets. Another picture is of the absolute fricking absurdity of a kitchen redesign that doesn't allow you to fully pull out a kitchen draw to access a ridiculous two cutting knives and a set of steak knives that if you don't look close enough you don't even see. The only way to get the drawer open is to open the damned refrigerator door. See that outlet in the kitchen? How am I supposed to use that when the damned stove blocks it? The only other usable outlet is stuck in the back corner above the counter and I have to stretch like Hell to get to it. The other picture is of a chunk of missing drywall that's obviously been that way for awhile. And the other picture is of rotting wood in the inside entry. Believe me when I tell you, this is just the beginning of the pictures.

So, at this point if it comes down to MVW ultimately having control over the resort, I'll gladly pay higher maintenance fees if I don't walk into a unit that looks like a run-down, nasty Motel 6 out in the middle of the Mojave Desert. I have NEVER been to a Marriott resort that is in this kind of condition, and I've been to a lot of them. I've never been to another Hyatt Residence Club resort that even remotely resembles this mess at Sunset Harbor. Whose fault is that? Hyatt when they were in control? MVW? While they certainly share some of the blame, ultimately the blame lies at the feet of the BOD. It's time they stop pointing their fingers at MVW and screaming to owners how bad MVW is and how it's all their fault. No, it's not. Again, the blame is shared but the BOD has the absolute responsibility to make sure this resort is taken care of. Why haven't they? Yeah, that's the $64M question.

Go ahead and tout how great the BOD of is, how they care about owners, and how MVW is the ultimate evil asshole that is only in it for themselves. Your comment about them wanting to tear down the resort and sell the property? Well, if we continue to allow a run-amok BOD to push their own self-serving agenda, we're not going to have any choice but to tear the damned thing down. Eventually, it's going to end up a dilapidated structure (and believe me, it's already happening) that someone is going to pay a pittance for and either tear it down and start over or they'll just sell the property for enough profit to ensure generational wealth for their families. That works out well for them, doesn't it? Not so much for the rest of us.

If I sound pissed, it's because I am - absolutely livid. Tell me all you want that how crappy MVW is, how they've got some evil plan to take over SH and the island if you want to throw that in. But, for right now, I'll wager my money on their "end game" over the "end game" of the BOD.

 

[ivywag]

Are there any plans to replace the floors? They always look dirty. Your point that units are not maintained to the standards of the other Hyatt resorts is spot on. We’ve been trading into Sunset for nearly 20 years and have put up with the lack of maintenance because of the location. Just this year we finally purchased a unit. Since we were going every year anyway, we decided that we would like a specific unit and purchased. At the time of purchase we were a bit concerned that the reserves were not sufficient to maintain the resort in a first class manner as the units need a lot of updating. After seeing the 2023 maintenance fee and how little of it is going to the reserves (and how much more it would take to fully fund the reserves,) it seems that indeed we have a problem.

 

[ScoopKona]

So, at this point if it comes down to MVW ultimately having control over the resort, I'll gladly pay higher maintenance fees if I don't walk into a unit that looks like a run-down, nasty Motel 6 out in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

The reason it "looks like a run-down, nasty Motel 6 out in the middle of the Mojave Desert" is because Marriott is charged with maintaining the resort. If you want to point fingers, that's who to point them at. That's what that entire vote was about -- throwing MVC out on its ear, and finding a new company to manage Sunset Harbor.

MVC already has control over the resort. The vote was whether to let them maintain control over the resort. A "no" meant "Stay the course. Steady as she goes. Marriott has this." A yes vote meant "enough is enough. We need a new management company."

 

[Kal]

With regard to reserves, that's basically a "replacement fund" for such items as roof, elevators, furniture, etc. The owners vote annually to short the reserve which are based on Florida Law. The issue at hand is the annual budget for repairs, maintenance and upgrades. My guess is the BOD is actively trying to combat MVW's "management fee" of 13-15%, all the while keeping owner maintenance fees at a minimum. The posters here point out the desparate need for proper maintenance and upkeep of the asylum which obviously is not being done. If left unchecked the inmates will control the asylum. Which would be a good thing.

Of course, don't be like me where my solution is to spend more time at Schooner Wharf bar.

 

[ScoopKona]

Of course, don't be like me where my solution is to spend more time at Schooner Wharf bar.

If we go there on the right day, I can show you how to steal beer from Jimmy Buffett. Did it a hundred times when I was a kid. Problem is, you never know if it's going to be "beer-stealin' day" or not. Only got caught once -- by his keyboard player, Mike.

 

[Kal]

Aaaaah, that is so GREAT!!