Heard of "M" Resorts in Puerto Vallarta? [AKA Castles & Condos]

[PapaBearAB]

so far some consistency but not in all cases re who got the Demare email

So far only a few have noted they got the emal from Nick Demare at DNG, only about 25% of the 20 people I know of that purchased at C&C, but it is summer time and a weekend, and also not everyone goes on-line every day.

One person (kscar) who bought same time as me and has same contracts as me got the email but I did not. The remainder of those that received the email either are not paid in full or have M Dreams as the provider on their contract. But it is early in this most recent event.

And I agree with the posted comment that another interpretation (and likely better interpretation, and hopefully so to) is that the next 10 months likley includes the next 90 days until contruction restarts.

I will contact DNG and RA on Monday to find out why I did not receive the email. If you do get the email, and your contract does say DNG, and you are in your opinion paid in full, then you may also want to check with RA to make sure Resorts Advantage thinks you are paid in full also.

Let's all continue to keep in touch, and hopefully more members will find these TUG posts and contact us one way or the other.
Joe Faubert (joefaubert at shaw.ca - substitute ' at ' for '@' to email me)

 

[PapaBearAB]

adding up m-weeks

Just observation and speculation, and a later question to be answered eventually by RA & DNG hopefully.

Judging by ICC #'s of those contacting me, which are likely sequential, the hightest ICC # that I know of being in the first half of the 300's from a purchase in June 09, then IF all sequential numbers were used for memberships (a big assumption, maybe wrong), and allowing for a small percentage likely backing out in the 5 days allowed after the contract, there are about 300+ C&C members, and thus having only heard from 20 C&C members, we have heard from less than 1/10 of the members so far, so there are many more stories and much more input to be heard from yet.

But continuing my speculation, 16 suites, 300+ purchasers. That's 20 members per suite if 320 members. But if everyone has 2 m-weeks or more including their registered week (so lets assume just two - I have not met someone with only 1 registered week and no other m-weeks, but maybe there are some members out there with that purchase), then that's 40 or more m-weeks booked up per suite already at C&C each year.

Except I know of at least one purchaser that has only a contract to use C&C weeks every 2nd year. But only 1 in 20 has said that they have every 2nd year (but some have not told me how many weeks they have).

So my guess is the C&C may be somewhat full already, if not fully booked, from year to year, because if you don't use your 2nd and more m-weeks, most may likely have family that will use it or will exchange it for elsewhere, because why would you pay for more weeks in your contract if you aren't going to use them or plan to rent them or exchange them. So another interesting question to be posed to Resorts Advantage and DNG is how many m-weeks are contracted already and therefore whether the resort is fully subscribed yet, or almost fully subscribed, or over-booked even (for instance, I am not the only member with 4 m-weeks, not 2).

So something to watch for down the road.
Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

want to know more about DNG owner Nick Demare

Perhaps don't expect Mr. Demare to have much time to spend on C&C issues, given the multitude of other companies he is involved in, and he will thus likely need to leave much of the development and running of Castles & Condos to other people.

Google on the name Nick Demare and you will find an almost endless supply of information, he being involved in many many companies, many or most involved in mining, many having a venture component, and so not surprisingly, if you dig through some financial statements or postings of those companies, you will find Castles & Condos partner Rob Anderson, another Canadian I have already mentioned, can be found involved in one way or another in at least some of those companies along with Mr. Nick Demare.

in fact, it is the connection with Rob Anderson in some of the postings I found that makes me almost certain this is the same Nick Demare that own's DNG, though I cannot prove that at this moment, but the fit seems good

I also found his picture on-line, but won't post it, though it is a public picture

So here is more than you may want to know about DNG owner Nick Demare, noting that DNG is a company in Mexico, a company in the USA, and a company in Canada.

the basics - from one web site -
Mr. Nick DeMare holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and is a member in good standing of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. Since May, 1991, Mr. DeMare has been the President of Chase Management Ltd., a private company which provides a broad range of administrative, management and financial services to private and public companies engaged in mineral exploration and development, gold and silver production, oil and gas exploration and production and venture capital. Mr. DeMare indirectly owns 100% of Chase. Mr. DeMare currently serves as an officer and director of other public reporting companies. (and more than just a few other companies)

from another web site (maybe not all of this data is up-to-date, but it will show you the extent of his business dealings) - Nick Demare is connected to 81 board members in 21 different organizations across 30 different industries. To keep the post shorter, I will eliminate 90% of the wording and just show the company names, many of which he is or was (mostly is still) either CFO, Vice-President, President, Corporate Secretary, and/or Director, etc - ... Salazar Resources ... Valor Ventures Inc. ... Mawson Resources Ltd. ... Atlas Minerals, Inc. ... JG Capital Corp. ... Lumex Capital Corp. ... IMA Exploration Inc. ... Halo Resources Ltd. ... Andean American Mining Corporation ... GGL Diamond Corp. ... Ecometals Ltd. ... Chase Management Ltd. ... Gold Point Energy Corp. ...Aguila American Resources Ltd. ...ACRO Inc. ... Global Energy Inc. ... Baradero Resources Ltd. ... Rochester Resources Ltd. ... Golden Peaks Resources Ltd. ... Tinka Resources Ltd. ... Tumi Resources Ltd. ... Hansa Resources ... Ausex Capital Corp ... Enterprise Oil Limited. ... Sinchao Metals Corp ... Mirasol Resources Ltd ... Lariat Energy Ltd ... Kola Mining Corp ... North American Oil & Gas ... GeoPetro Resources Company ... Gasco Energy Inc ... Ecometals Ltd. ... Consolidated Kookaburra Resources Ltd ....

ok, I am tired of listing companies now - there are more ...

Another comment I found interesting was "He has over 20 years experience in Economics, Commercial, Corporate Finance and Contract Revision consulting". The contract revision consulting caught my eye!

Certainly it looks like Nick Demare has the contacts and experience and resources to make this C & C development work. Now if only he can figure out how to get sufficient running water for 16 suites and swimming pool and jacuzzi's and other requirements.

He is at the least, unlike Daniel Mamann, not an illusive person for whom there is little concrete information. Whether he has time to pay enough attention to this resort and make sure it works is another question. Perhaps that task will fall to Donald Busby and Sylvia Herrara and others, and no wonder Resorts Advantage will be the go-between for most inquiries!

 

[CC6031]

Wording on contract

Joe,
Our wording reads exactly the same as yours. We purchased June 1,2009. We have paid 1/2 down and RA has no contract for us. We have been away for a few days and upon returning home we had a voice mail from Adrian to call him and a snail mail letter from C&C with no date and the postal stamp read Santa Clarita CA 913 6 T ( odd for an American zip code) and the stamp was a USA 44 American flag. The return address was C&C etc. I will contact Adrian tomorrow and hear what he has to say. I will keep you posted
Marie

 

[PapaBearAB]

counting members - first estimates may be high

my previous estimate on number of C&C members may be high, as I do not know of anyone yet with an ICC # less than 0100 - I am not divulging others member #'s publically, but at most there may be so far less than 250 members, some with only odd or even year usage - the smaller member number range knocks 100 possible members off the list if indeed there is no member #'s less than 100

the earliest purchaser I know of so far is Aug 2008, and the latest purchaser early June 2009

so if anyone is reading this post and purchased in Aug 2008 or earlier, or in June 2009, and have not contacted me, please do so and we will have a better idea of how many members and how many booked weeks are possible each year, and even more so if all members pass on that information to myself or this forum, as I don't believe we will get that information from Resorts Advantage or DNG

we are up to 21 confirmed purchasers at C&C now, but there must be many many more that do not know yet about this TUG post - maybe past employee(s) of m-dreams or others might have been in contact with known members by email on a personal basis and can pass on to those members our TUG forum link or my email address - if so, thank you

Joe Faubert (joefaubert at shaw.ca)

 

[indigo502]

Tracy

I've sent an email to Tracy (not at the former email but a current one) and asked her to pass along this URL to C&C owners if she still has access to a list (which I doubt). Hopefully we can get this forum out to more owners so they're aware of what's going on. I'll let you know if I hear anything further.

Thanks

 

[PapaBearAB]

email to RA and DNG re Dear Member letter of 25July2009

I have sent the following email to Resorts Advantage and DNG staff to get clarification on who got the Dear Member letter from DNG on 25 July 2009, and re clarification regarding the comments about reservations made in that letter. Others are also welcome to write or call RA and/or DNG and get further clarification.

For those of you who did receive by email the letter Dear Member.doc but are having difficulty opening it, try first saving it to your hard drive and then opening it. I think you must have at least ms-word 97 to open the document. I can make a pdf version available to you also, except that the letter is also already posted on the TUGS forum here.

Here is the email I sent to Resorts Advantage and DNG this morning:
to RA staff Adrian, Magaly, and the illusive Ralph Diaz-Cortes that no one has heard from,
and to Sylvia and Mae at DNG,

Some members received the "Dear member" letter dated 25 July 2009
Many others we know of did not, including myself

I am in touch with 23 castles and condos members privately now, and the list is growing daily.
Many of those did not receive the letter (perhaps even most, but the letter did come out on or just prior to a summer weekend, so many may not have opened there email yet, but I and others have and have not received the letter. And, by the way, because the attached document "Dear Member" that was sent out in the email included a database connection to a Microsoft Access database to add the member contact information to the form letter, some members had difficulty opening the letter, and some were not able to open the letter. Thus the letter is also now posted on TUG forum (time share user group - I hope you have been following it).

Could you please explain which group of members received the email and which did not

Sylvia mentioned last week that a letter would be coming out from DNG to all members, but that letter was not as detailed as was expected (though at least a bit reassuring), so perhaps that was not the letter we are expecting but just a letter to those not paid in full or those with M Dreams contracts or Castles & Condos S.A. contracts (vs contracts with DNG)

Please reply as to which group(s) of Castles and Condos members received the letter and who did not, and whether more information is expected out from DNG this week.

Please also clarify the statements in the letter regarding reservations that was mentioned in the letter. The statement said "
If you wish to make a reservation you can do so at any time and if Castles and Condos is not complete when you wish to visit then we will provide comparable accommodation at no or limited additional cost."



My understanding is that Resorts Advantage is not taking reservations for Castles and Condos, but just putting people on a waiting list for when reservations can be made, which will not be until there is proven inventory available. If they are about to start taking reservations, please let me know when that is and I will let the other members I know of be aware also via TUG's.



Also, are the members that have reservations already booked at the time of signing their contract (some for Dec 2009, some for Jan and Feb 2010 that I know of) going to be able to have you "provide comparable accommodation at no or limited additional cost."



Are those on the waiting list for reservations for Oct 2009 and later (such as myself, who has one m-week promised for 2009 in the contract and I have been trying to make a reservation since May 2009 for a specific week in October) also going to be able to have you "provide comparable accommodation at no or limited additional cost."

What are you going to do about all the people who were hoping to use M-weeks in the first or second quarter of 2010? Are they going to just have to bank M-weeks for later use, or is other action planned.

We hope you will answer as many of the above questions as soon as possible. If you cannot answer them all now, please indicate which questions you will provide further answers to later, and when.

Thank you.
Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

Resorts Advantage, as expected, not taking reservations yet

I talked to Adrian Toca. He says he passed on my email (previous TUG post) to Magaly.

I talked to Magaly. She says she had not read my email yet, since she deals with many companies for reservations and had not yet had time to look at my email. I asked her if she was taking reservations yet from C&C members for C&C property. She said no, nothing had changed. She had not seen the "Dear Member" letter from DNG dated 25 July.

I sent her a copy of the Dear Member letter, with a cc to Ralph Diaz-Cortes (operations supervisor for Resorts Advantage), and cc to DNG, with a note stating that there is a conflict of information regarding reservations between what president of DNG Mexico is saying (Nick Demare) and what Resorts Advantage is saying.

I asked them to clarify with DNG and report back to us.

I called DNG also to talk to Sylvia also. She was out of the office briefly. I will be calling her again soon.

Here is the note I just emailed to RA and DNG:

Magaly, and Mr Diaz-Cortes

Attached is the letter sent to some Castles and Condos members this weekend just past.

In it the letter from the President of DNG Mexico, Mr. Nick Demare states

"It is our objective to get construction back under way within the next 90 days and complete the building within the next 10 months. If you wish to make a reservation you can do so at any time and if Castles and Condos is not complete when you wish to visit then we will provide comparable accommodation at no or limited additional cost."

Since Mr. Demare states reservations can be made at any time, but Magaly from Resorts Advantage says reservations cannot be made, I suggest that you take up this matter with DNG at your earliest possible convenience and give the members clarification on Mr. Demare's comments.

Joe Faubert

 

[indigo502]

Tracy Part II

I just heard back from Tracy and she's going to do her best to try to get this URL out to as many owners as possible. Hopefully we'll see some new people on here in the coming weeks as we continue to try to sort things out.

 

[PapaBearAB]

reservations email address in Nick Demare letter of 2009.07.25

from what I can tell reservations email address in Nick Demare letter of 2009.07.25 does not work - it bounces back, including variation changing '&' to 'and', and including variations including or not including 'pv' before the @ sign

all bounced back - if anyone has success using a castles and condos reservation email address, let me know

I did however also email Magaly at Magaly-P@resorts-advantage.com, and hopefully I will get some response that way (and I will let you know what happened to my Oct 2010 reservations request I just made that Sylvia Herrara says we can make but that the request to Resorts Advantage will go then to her for review and approval then back through Resorts Advantage to you, at which time I am sure Resorts Advantage will be happy to bill your account for your weekly fee

next post much more interesting read, though longer too

Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

spoke with Sylvia Herrara again today

sorry for the length of this post but I want you all to have as much information as you possibly can as I dig about

it is important to all C&C members that if you did not receive the email from Nick Demare at DNG dated 25 July 2009 that you contact Sylvia and let her know about your contract even if Resorts Advantage says they know about your contract

I spoke with Sylvia Herrara today regarding the email I sent this morning that was posted by me to the TUG forum this morning July 27, 2009 09:40 AM

I then emailed Sylvia a summary of that conversation, that to follow below in this post

that summary included comments regarding the fact she may not have my membership contract information (and my disappointment that she has no easy way to check on that - her and Resorts Advantage do not have the same membership information - Resorts Advantage has a database that I don't believe Sylvia can access, and RA probably has more members in their database than Sylvia has, and not the other way around, some of Sylvia's 'database' likely being all the manual records at this time gathered from the contracts scattered on the floor of the sales office

again I say it is important to all C&C members that if you did not receive the email from Nick Demare at DNG dated 25 July 2009 that you contact Sylvia and let her know about your contract even if Resorts Advantage says they know about your contract

don't be surprised that if you get negative that you find some frustration at the other end of the line too, so try to stay positive, as Sylvia just works for Nick and has had to put together what she can so far from the scraps of information available to her, which to me sounds like that even if your contract said DNG on it, DNG may not know who you are (but maybe RA does)

the call certainly did not go the way I hoped this morning, finding a bigger mess than I thought I would that will take more time to sort out than I thought it would regarding the contracts

the only good point is that somehow I still think DNG intends to honour the contracts whether they knew about them or not

now here is the email that I sent to Sylvia and RA staff and DNG partners summarizing our conversation this morning


Sylvia Herrara,

Thank you for the time you spent on the phone with me today. I am sure you are finding the collection and compilation of C&C member contract data very frustrating and time consuming, and the many phone calls and emails you will get from members will just add to that frustration and use of time, but please keep in mind each member that calls you has paid out considerable dollars from their resources, financed or otherwise, to purchase those contracts and so to each person this is a very important and serious matter. You have my sympathy of the work you find yourself saddled with.

I am using the email adress castlesandcondospv@gmail.com that the letter from Nick Demare of July 25 said to use regarding C&C contracts. However, I am also using the email minasvallarta@prodigy.net.mx again, which I had previously been using, because I sent two emails to the gmail address early this morning and you say you did not receive them, but that you have many email addresses to check and that is probably why you did not see those particular emails. Thus I will always include the minasvallarta address also because you have read and acknowledged my emails to that address in the past. I have no email address for Donald Busby nor Nick Demare YET, so I will continue to cc the C&C partners Frank Taggart and Robert Anderson for now.

Regarding membership contract ICC0288 with Joseph and Stella Faubert, Provider name on the contract being DNG, sales representative Linda Mceachern of M Dreams.

Please confirm whether DNG has a copy of my contract ICC0288 (you have said it might take you until the end of the week to do so). Resorts Advantage has a record of that membership, and it is paid in full, which they have confirmed. So they must have membership documentation which you perhaps do not have yet, since you have stated that you sent the letter by Nick Demare to all members that you could find contact information about regarding Castles and Condos contracts, but I did NOT receive the Nick Demare letter, so I must not be on your list, or you just missed me in putting together the email distribution for the 25 July 2009. I will suggest to all other members I know of that they should also contact you ASAP if they did not receive the email of the July 25 2009 letter signed by Nick Demare as president of DNG. You have stated that there are over 300 members, starting with ICC0001, not with ICC0100 (I have not yet communicated with anyone with a number less than ICC0100, but obviously they are out there somewhere).

I would suggest you work with Resorts Advantage more closely. DNG is paying them to work with the membership. I would think therefore that you should be updating each other regularly as to who is members and who has contracts for use of the Castles and Condos resort via the Residence Club.

You have stated that the information you have gathered is at least in part (and it sound like a large part) from having gone into the 'office' (assuming at Castles and Condos) and picking up all the contracts you could find, at least many of which had been scattered on the floor throughout the office, and that you only have one assistant to help resolve all these contract difficulties, and that is Mae Garcia, but that either only you or her is available at any one time, thus it is only one person at any time working to resolve the contract situations with regards to Castles and Condos.

You have also stated to me that Resorts Advantage should be taking "reservations" for use at Castles and Condos' for registered weeks at least, and that the "reservation" process for now is that Resorts Advantage will take a request for use of a registered week for a specific date, and that DNG will then get back to Resorts Advantage confirming use of the registered week, and that DNG will honour the reservation at an equivalent resort if Castles and Condos is not ready. I believe you said this applied even to requests prior to the summer of 2010.

You would not comment too much on M-weeks (these are not the vacation club weeks, but weeks sold to be used at C&C or interchangable with another M-hotel development), saying that reservations would only be for registered weeks. However, I noted that an m-week is something people have paid for in their contracts. If they wanted to use the facility for two weeks, they paid more for the contract than if they wanted use for 1 week. I noted that if they wanted 3 or 4 weeks use, they paid even more. And thus the M-week is not an optional item for DNG - it is the same as a registered week, except that if you do not pay the weekly fee for an M-week, you lose it, but you must pay the weekly fee for the registered week. You replied that "if you paid for 4 weeks, you get four weeks", but otherwise you could not comment further on M-weeks at this time.

The above is the information I am passing on to the TUG on-line forum and to the private emails that I have of about 20 C&C residence club members. Thus those that did not get the DNG . Thus also all members might want to start requesting through Magaly at Resorts Advantage at least the dates they wish to use their registered week for at C&C in 2010 if they have one for 2010, and that we hope to get clarification on the other weeks paid for in the contract soon (this will be a serious issue if M weeks purchased are not usable, as it means many members will be out a large portion of the monies they spent on their purchase, so I am hoping this is just a miscommunication over the phone of what was being asked and answered.

I will get the main page of my contract scanned in and sent to you also this week in case you are unable to find its copy among all the copies you have on file, many obtained from gathering the scattered papers off of the floor of the sales offices of M Dreams at C&C.

I look forward to your reply, and your confirmation soon of acknowledging my own contract and membership (which I again point out Resorts Advantage already has information regarding that contract), and I am sure many others that did not get the 25 July 2009 letter from Nick Demare also look forward to similar confirmation soon also.

Joe Faubert ICC0288 403-510-5667 in Calgary Alberta.

 

[PapaBearAB]

for those C&C members who only read short posts

for those C&C members who only read the shorter posts, read this one anyway

ALL C&C members should read this post

I don't think it matters now from what I am discoverering lately as to who your contract was with - I have a gut feeling that DNG will honor all the contracts to some extent - eventually how much we don't fully get in our booking and other privileges yet to be determined, if not enough, then we consider legal action, but certainly not yet

I think the most important thing for now is to for each member to

a) make sure Resorts Advantage and in particular Adrian Toca know what your contract number is and determine if they have you on record, and

b) if you did NOT get the Nick Demare letter, make sure DNG knows who you are and whether your contract is on record - you may have to scan in your contract's primary page(s) eventually and email them to Sylvia if she does not have your contract information on file

I think DNG have a big mess that will take them some time to clean up, and no point at this point putting lawyers in the mix to slow down their attempt to fix the mess they got themselves into by not staying in good enough contact with M Hotels and M Dreams etc regarding the contracts on the use of their property - I think also however DNG needs to add some more staff to this issue for the short term to get all these contract issues straightened out and to work more closely with RA as well - Sylvia does seem overwhelmed at this point, and if she is not, she perhaps will be soon

Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

more info if you did not get emailed recent DNG letter

if you did not get the recent DNG letter,

I left this out of the last post to keep it shorter

I wish I could say I think it would be better if before scanning and emailing your contract you talk to Adrian Toca at RA, since I think Resorts Advantage should be working more closely with Sylvia to get the membership list and contract details of each member worked out

nevertheless, sometime, since I did not get the recent DNG letter, this week I am going to at least send Sylvia by email a scan of the key pages of each of my key contract sheets and my addendum, and my statement from RA that I am paid in full

Sylvia requested the contract be emailed rather than fax'd (it would be easier for me to fax it, but I will email it, since she did not give me a fax number to use)

 

[CC6031]

promised update

I spoke with Adrian today and he said he has our contract and was ready for us to make our payment due in Aug. I told him that we were not paying any more because of the uncertainty and state of confusion. He assured me C&C would be built and I told him I was not comfortable with his assurance and wanted to cancel our contract and get a full refund. He said for us to send a letter stating what we were promised and why we wanted to cancel. He said he would then forward it to Castles and Condos site ( I assume in Puerto Vallerta) and find out what he should do. I am hopeful for a refund but not overly optimistic.
On a different front. You might have better luck finding more purchasers if somebody that has a twitter or face book account post a notice looking for them. I don't have either so I can't do it

 

[indigo502]

Thanks Joe

Thanks for all the informative updates, Joe- you're certainly burning the candle at both ends trying to help sort this mess out on our end. I personally, and I'm sure I speak for all C&C'ers, appreciate your efforts VERY much and understand what a time consuming task it's been for you to not only make all these calls/emails, but to take the time to write them down in detail and post them so that we're all up to speed.

I'll send my contract to DNG tomorrow and await Sylvia's confirmation. Talk soon.

Thanks

 

[indigo502]

Please let us know what Adrian says about the refund- I'm sure many owners would take that route (obviously) if it is an option.

Thanks

 

[indigo502]

Icc0028

It just occured to me that Joe mentioned he hasn't seen any membership numbers below the "100" mark, but my membership is ICC0028, so I guess I was one of the first purchasers. I've just sent off an email and a copy of my contract and letter from Tracy confirming I'm paid in full. I'll await confirmation from Silvia. I've also put a C&C post on Twitter and will re-post each day in hopes of finding more owners.

 

[PapaBearAB]

some very positive news

Those of you that already had reservations for a certain week or weeks in late 2009 or early 2010 as part of your contract negotiations likely received a call yesterday, as I did, from Magaly at Resorts Advantage.

They are offering alternative accomadations for the cost of your registered week. Here is part of my email reply to another C&C member who also received the call. I will update you all when I actually have been told by RA that my reservation for Oct 9-15 is confirmed at the alternate resort and is approved by DNG. However, keep in mind that this one alternate resort won't accomodate as many people as C&C, as at most it can hold 24 people in 12 rooms, and maybe that resort already has many reservations, but it still is a very good sign and hopefully C&C will be ready before mid-2010, and maybe they will add another alternate resort.

Here is part of my email, slightly altered. Check out at least this one alternate resort as www.qdmproperties.com, but here is my feelings on this resort and the reservation ...

I received the same call yesterday mid-day for my pending reservation for Oct 2009, a promised m-week for 2009 when I did my contract, the specific dates later requested via Resorts Advantage back in late May or in June (I can't remember when I first requested specific dates - At that time M-Dreams and Lynda McEachern were still involved).

However, Maggie from Resorts Advantage also still has to confirm with DNG regarding whether DNG also agrees I have the booking for 2009. She also has to confirm with the resort that the week I requested is available. Her call to me was likely based on my reservation request to Resorts Advantage and DNG telling her to contact people regarding their bookings without DNG specifically perhaps having a list of booking. I also requested yesterday through Maggie reservations for Oct 2010 at C&C for both my registered week and one m-week being used at the same time, so confirmation on that reservation for both weeks will be the final indicator that things have improved drastically.

Of course the real test will be the first user who gets to the alternate property this year and finds out that yes they really did get to stay there. There are a few members with at least m-weeks reservations for 2009 (perhaps not core registered weeks, or maybe even core weeks).

I also did check out the web site yesterday and was not impressed and at the same time was impressed by the alternate accomodations proposed. The overall quality of the place looks fine. Large deck, two small pools (one round one, one square one, the square one harder to find in the pictures, but it is there, a bit bigger than the round one, but still maybe just 20 feet in length - soak pools only, but then C&C does not in the plans have a pool you can swim in also). But it is a unfortunately communal boarding house type of environment. Shared entertainment, social and lounging areas. And likely a large kitchen, not sure yet on the meal service and whether the kitchen is off-limits and chefs (available for sure) prepare all meals or whether you can use the kitchen too, and I have asked Maggie for the costs involved in whatever meal service is available. I believe the resort is a converted mansion or very large home, thus no kitchen in each bedroom suite. A quiet neighbourhood, it being the same neighbourhood as C&C, so one really can't complain that one is not getting a beach resort, because C&C was not a beach resort. My ONLY big concern is that, because of the communal nature of the resort, what if you get your booking at the same time as a large group of party goers who are going to woop it up not only downtown but also at the place where they are staying, so given the common areas, that could be a concern that you have no control over.

I think at least some members therefore will not be very happy with the alternate accomodations. But we are willing to give it a try. We are going to try it out in Oct 2009 if our reservation is confirmed and ok'd by DNG. Remember that for now it is only Resorts Advantage making a request to DNG and to the alternate resort for your reservation. We will certainly be letting everyone know what the place is like. And maybe then we will also be able to go over to C&C and take pictures of construction actually taking place again and even maybe have a chance to meet with someone from DNG.

At least it is a very positive sign that our membership is being honored and DNG is taking one of the the next steps promised in the letter by Nick Demare to move forward with this project.

More news as it becomes available.

Joe Faubert

 

[kscar]

Villa Quinta Del Mar

Hi Joe,

Here are some better shots of the villa with a little more info:

http://www.casahelga.com/puerto-vallarta/villas/quinta-del-mar

Kurt & Sue

Looks pretty good.

 

[kscar]

Villa Quinta Del Mar

I checked the map for Puerto Vallarta and it appears to me that it the Villa Quinta Del Mar is on the next street closer to the ocean from Castles and Condos. It seems like it is pretty close. Might be a good chance to check on the progress at Castles and Condos.

FWIW

Kurt & Sue

 

[PapaBearAB]

further follow-up to occur on Monday

On Monday I will be contacting DNG and Resorts Advantage to further pursue the status of the reservation requests for alternative accomodation in 2009 (I have an M-week for 2009) and for C&C in Oct 2010, that I attempted early last week to book but have heard no confirmation from to inform me that I am booked. I will also be asking about the Platinum Preferred Memberships regarding hot weeks, travel points, etc., as a member did receive a reply from Mae at DNG that referred him to the Mamann Group contacts, so I am guessing that referral was regarding only the hot weeks etc and not the core contract, but I will seek clarification.

I will report back to the forum on this later Monday. I have some other interesting digging I may be able to report on by then also.

Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

regarding the Banderas article link

regarding the Banderas News on-line article link http://banderasnews.com/0808/re-mamman.htm previously posted somewhere (maybe at Trip Advisor, maybe here - I can only see current forum page when doing a reply so don't remember where I saw it)

I previously check that article out closely when it came out earlier last week, and emailed the four email addresses. Two of them bounced back (well, came status'd as delayed delivery by server, so not quite a bounce-back, but then bounced back after time period for delivery expired).

I expected no response, and got no response,
as all those email addresses have to do with M-Hotels and Mamann group and Daniel Mamann and M-Dreams etc.

The link is not to a new article, nor to a relatively current article. It is the article from Aug 2008, but the on-line link passed on to us is the archived article with a new addendum at the beginning giving contact email addresses as Banderas News is aware of the Mamann Group failure.

If you just go to Banderas web site without linking to that article, you will find 2009 July news (or maybe now Aug 2009), and will not find the email address information noted on any current releases to Banderas News. This is not surprising, as it is the job of Banderas News to promote tourism in the Puerto Vallarta area (Banderas Bay), and thus they are not going to publish negative articles that would affect tourism, especially the timeshare industry that is much the heart and sole of tourism there (you don't see them kicking out the time-share vultures from the airport either for the same reason).

We know there is no one at Mamaan Group that is accessible. It is a failed enterprise or a fraud closed down. But in either case, it is still at least my opinion that DNG is going to complete C&C and honour the weeks each of us members have purchased at C&C, and those you don't use there, you will still be able to trade through Interval International if paying the weekly fee.

DNG has been accessible so far (and Resorts Advantage).
So as long as DNG is talking to us, we are ok still.

If it looks like all is starting to fall apart again, those of us that are willing to contribute will start to spend some initial small amounts of combined money on determining whether legal action can be cost effective.

As I noted in the previous post, I will be hounding DNG tomorrow (and Resorts Advantage), in part due to your previous response from Mae to one member about Platinum Preferred Memberships (the bonus hot weeks, your platinum cash, etc), but mostly about the promise of reservations and no firm response last week that my Oct 2009 week nor 2010 are accepted by DNG and booked.

Joe Faubert

 

[PapaBearAB]

reservations follow-up expected Mon 03 Aug now 04/05 Aug

I could not get hold of Magaly today, so spoke with Adrian. He says Magaly is not in today, hopefully will be in tomorrow. He offered to put me in touch with someone else in reservations, but I declined and will wait to speak with Magaly tomorrow.

I also did speak with Mae at DNG today. She noted all reservations are to be done through RA. So for now, I will, as I noted, follow-up with Magaly tomorrow on the status of my reservations requests from last week for 2009 and for 2010.

I did ask Mae/Sylvia at DNG via a second email today after my phone to Mae, the following direct questions, though for question #2 I am betting all the answers are going to be somewhat negative, though I can hope otherwise in the meantime (not that I want to rent a yacht anyway at 50% discount, but some of the other items were important like the golf and the platinum weeks and travel points):

I will ask her the questions in person over the phone tomorrow or Wednesday if no email reply by then (I prefer email response, as I then have something in 'writing'). Here were those questions:

Mae or Sylvia (Mae, thank you for speaking with me on the phone today).
Here are a few quick and hopefully simple questions I have:

Question 1) please confirm by email that you have
a) received the contract attachements of ICC.... (send by email attachments)
b) please indicate whether you previously had this contract on file,
as I did not get a copy from DNG of the Nick Demare email
(though I obtained a copy from another source)
c) and that as of 2010 I am entitled to 4 weeks per year at C&C for the weekly fee of $595 US$ (contract provisions allow that fee to be increased no more than 6% per year), the first week a registered week that must be paid for even if not used, and the other 3 weeks paid for only if reservation requested
d) and that I am entitled, as per my contract addendum, to 1 week at C&C in 2009 (obviously now in alternative accomodations since C&C will not be ready)

For the next question and answers, please do not refer me to M-Hotel contact links, since we both know there is no relationship between C&C and that group (or if there is, tell me what relationship still exists)... if some or all of the benefits below are not covered by our Residence Club membership at C&C, just let us know that and what options are available to access those membership privileges previously expected, as noted below

Question 2) Nick Demare has indicated in his July 2009 'Dear Member' email that construction will resume within 90 days, and will be completed within 10 months and that reservations can be made. He did not address the secondary contracts, so please comment on:
a) Golf club - free green fees in PV for 1 week per year for 5 years for registered owners - will this be honoured still
b) Yacht club silver membership (50% discount) - will this still be honoured
c) Interval International contract that was to start in 2009
and was to be paid by "resort cheque"
will membership be usable when inventory is available in 2010 at C&C ???
d) Platinum Preferred Membership by Castles and Condos,
serviced by Vacation Club, that (in my case) was to start May 20, 2009
will C&C members eventually enjoy the promised benefits of this membership regarding yearly hotel reward points and extra platinum weeks and other discounts available through Vacation Club

Thank you for your time in reading these questions and hopefully finding the time to reply to them.

Joe Faubert

 

[lvarey]

Thanls for asking these questions as I have just now been able to log on and answer in the streams.

 

[lvarey]

Oooops. I forgot to ask about the 24/7 car at our disposal. Did you ask that question of them.