Hey! I received this e-mail, which I think pretends to be an "official vote" on the future of the Royal Mayan...
The problem is, this is not a legal vote, the result does not mean a legal decision on the future of the Royal Mayan, and in any case, these are not the only two options possible... and notice that the wording of the option to extend for 15 years is slanted to make us choose this option.
I AM NOT GOING TO VOTE, which means my "vote" is that the Royal Mayan should be SOLD according to the contract.
In my opinion, there is a much better option, which is that we will be paid our residual value when our Villa week is sold, (which could be to us to renew, for 50% of the 2014-2044 resale price which would be determined by the Developers...)
EXACTLY what they did at V.C.I. except we would not get paid until our week is actually sold. Until it is sold, in my plan, we could continue to use our Villa week if we pay the maintainance fee.
In my mind, this is so simple and obvious...
And it would be fair to us, and fair to the developers.
I would be FOR this option... But this better and logical option is not in the ballot.
So who is the wise guy who is trying to separate me from what belongs to me (ie, 50% of the resale value) according to the contract?
The e-mail I received says this: (I erase the part in Spanish)
==========
The CVPL election is open through April 30, 2012, 11:59 PM CDT.
To cast your vote go to the link below and login using your unique credentials :
Membership Number : (XXXXXX)
Election Passcode : (XXXXX)
Go to: https://www.directvote.net/CVPL/
The Royal Mayan information is available on the on-line ballot.
=======
you go to that URL and you read this:
========
Dear Member,
When the Royal Mayan Resort (herein the Resort) was developed, it was intended that the Resort would be sold in 2014, and all interval memberships would therefore be dissolved. The Membership Agreement details the procedure by which this sale was intended to occur, and the manner in which all proceeds from the sale would be distributed.
In short, the Membership Agreement provides that after the resort is sold all proceeds would be paid as follows: first, all expenses and taxes would be paid; next, Members would be paid up to the amount of their residual rights; third, the developer would be paid from available funds an amount up to the sum of residual rights payments to members; and finally, all additional proceeds would be split equally by the Membership and the developer.
If net available funds are insufficient to pay full residual rights, Members would receive payment equal to a pro rata percentage of their residual rights value until all net available funds are exhausted.
Based on this reality, we are writing to get your feedback on a possible alternative to simply selling the resort.
When the Membership Program was conceived, resort industry economics were very different. At that time both the Company and the Members had reason to believe that the resort would enjoy an increase in value by the time of the proposed sale date 30 years later. As mentioned above, the Company and the Members even anticipated there would be extra profit from the sale to split 50%/50% between the Company and the Members.
Based on recent transactions of hospitality properties in the area, we now anticipate that it will be very difficult to sell the resort for more than USD$40,000,000 before taxes. We estimate that in an optimistic scenario, once taxes, commissions, expenses, legal fees, government-mandated severance payments to employees, etc., have been paid, the net available funds to be distributed to the Members would probably be in the range of 25% to 40% of the residual rights amount indicated in your Membership Agreement. The Company will receive no payment from the sale.
(ELLIS: NOTE, THE ONE WHO LOSES IS THE COMPANY, IF THE RESORT IS SOLD TO A THIRD PARTY FOR $40,000,000 BUT THE COMPANY DOES NOT LOSE IF IT RESELLS THE WEEKS AS TIMESHARES, AS THEY DID WITH V.C.I. - ELLIS)
Additionally, there is no guarantee that the property can be sold at market value before the end of the Membership Agreement. It is widely known that selling resort properties at true market value in these economic times is extremely difficult.
The Company has been working diligently to find the best option to provide maximum value for your Membership. An alternative option that is considered viable is to extend the Membership for 15 (fifteen) years for an administrative fee of $100.00 dollars, with no residual rights, as long as over 90% of the Members vote for this option. This will enable Members paying the annual club service fee to use, exchange, rent, lend or resell the Membership during this 15-year period.
(ELLIS: NOTE, IF THERE IS NO RESELL VALUE AT THE END OF 15 YEARS, IT BECOMES A "RIGHT TO USE" FOR 15 YEARS... WE WOULD BE EXCHANGING OUR RESIDUAL VALUES FOR 15 YEARS R.T.U. I WOULD NOT BUY IT.
"GIMME MY MONEY, WHATEVER IT AMOUNTS TO, AND THE DEVELOPER GETS ZERO" IS BETTER FOR ME THAN "I GET ZERO RESIDUAL IN EXCHANGE FOR I CONTINUE TO BE A MEMBER FOR 15 R.T.U. YEARS"... - ELLIS)
We hereby invite all Members in good standing to vote on one of these options as presented below.
To sell the Resort in accordance with the Membership Agreement and likely return a fraction of the residual rights to the Members.
(ELLIS: THE WORDING IS SLANTED "AND LIKELY RETURN A FRACTION OF THE RESIDUAL RIGHTS TO THE MEMBERS" IS TELLING US TO NOT VOTE FOR THIS OPTION. UNFAIR. - ELLIS)
To extend the Membership for 15 (fifteen) years for an administrative fee of US$100 dollars with no residual rights and the obligation to pay the yearly club service fee
In order to conduct this voting process in an independent manner, we have hired Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS), headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, which has specialized in election services including traditional paper ballot elections, online voting, telephone voting and hybrid voting systems since 1990.
Please note:
Only one vote will be accepted per membership regardless of the number of individuals registered on the membership. Once SBS has received the vote it will not be allowed to be changed.
If a vote is made by the Internet and also via fax, only the Internet vote will be considered valid.
If a vote is not received by internet or fax, it will be considered a vote towards the sale of the resort as stated in the Membership Agreement.
The voting period (by internet or fax) starts on March 30 and ends on April 30, 2012. Results will be announced by email to registered Members after June 1, 2012.
NOTE: The attached FAQs will provide Members with more information before casting the vote. If you have any further questions, please feel free to call Interval Servicing Co, LLC: Toll Free (US/CA): 877-736-4563, Elsewhere: 954-736-5563 or send an email to: royalmayan@intervalservicing.com
=======
The Ballot itself is worded as follows. Notice that it is SLANTED to make you want to vote for 15 years extension for $100 administrative fee. But... It does not mention that there will be a LIMIT on the maintainance fees... so... If they RAISE THE MAINTAINANCE FEES to $4000 per week, I would not be able to pay my maintainance and after that, I would surely LOSE my week.
I will NOT vote, so my vote counts as I am NOT in favor of extending my ownership another 15 years. Let them sell it for $40,000,000 and give me whatever corresponds to me, and that means the Developers will get zero, if that is what it sells for, which I can't see it is true. 200 Villas on the beach in CanCun, at a minimum cost $100,000,000 dollars (half a million each).
=====This is the wording on the ballot:
To cast a vote
Check the box next to an option
To change your vote, click the box again, and the mark will be removed /
To review your selections, click the “Proceed the Ballot Confirmation” button
You may save you ballot and return later by clicking the “Logout” link
Logout
Membership Agreement Vote
Select ONE from below :
To sell the Resort in accordance with the Membership Agreement and likely return a fraction of the residual rights to the Members
To extend the Membership for 15 (fifteen) years for an administrative fee of US$100 dollars with no residual rights and the obligation to pay the yearly club service fee.
=====
Hey, Mr. Developers: I'm not STUPID. Why would I accept zero residual value at the end of 15 years? Why did you give 100% residual value at V.C.I. and now you wish we would accept zero at Royal Mayan, at the end of 15 years?
If you would LIMIT the maintainance fee to 80% of what you pay us if we deposit into the rental pool, and if we still have 50% of residual at the end of 15 years, I MIGHT vote otherwise...
But as your proposal is now, this is equivalent to buying 15 more R.T.U. years in exchange payment for my residual value. No, sir, that is too expensive... I won't pay my residual for 15 R.T.U. years. - Ellis Toussier
The problem is, this is not a legal vote, the result does not mean a legal decision on the future of the Royal Mayan, and in any case, these are not the only two options possible... and notice that the wording of the option to extend for 15 years is slanted to make us choose this option.
I AM NOT GOING TO VOTE, which means my "vote" is that the Royal Mayan should be SOLD according to the contract.
In my opinion, there is a much better option, which is that we will be paid our residual value when our Villa week is sold, (which could be to us to renew, for 50% of the 2014-2044 resale price which would be determined by the Developers...)
EXACTLY what they did at V.C.I. except we would not get paid until our week is actually sold. Until it is sold, in my plan, we could continue to use our Villa week if we pay the maintainance fee.
In my mind, this is so simple and obvious...
And it would be fair to us, and fair to the developers.
I would be FOR this option... But this better and logical option is not in the ballot.
So who is the wise guy who is trying to separate me from what belongs to me (ie, 50% of the resale value) according to the contract?
The e-mail I received says this: (I erase the part in Spanish)
==========
The CVPL election is open through April 30, 2012, 11:59 PM CDT.
To cast your vote go to the link below and login using your unique credentials :
Membership Number : (XXXXXX)
Election Passcode : (XXXXX)
Go to: https://www.directvote.net/CVPL/
The Royal Mayan information is available on the on-line ballot.
=======
you go to that URL and you read this:
========
Dear Member,
When the Royal Mayan Resort (herein the Resort) was developed, it was intended that the Resort would be sold in 2014, and all interval memberships would therefore be dissolved. The Membership Agreement details the procedure by which this sale was intended to occur, and the manner in which all proceeds from the sale would be distributed.
In short, the Membership Agreement provides that after the resort is sold all proceeds would be paid as follows: first, all expenses and taxes would be paid; next, Members would be paid up to the amount of their residual rights; third, the developer would be paid from available funds an amount up to the sum of residual rights payments to members; and finally, all additional proceeds would be split equally by the Membership and the developer.
If net available funds are insufficient to pay full residual rights, Members would receive payment equal to a pro rata percentage of their residual rights value until all net available funds are exhausted.
Based on this reality, we are writing to get your feedback on a possible alternative to simply selling the resort.
When the Membership Program was conceived, resort industry economics were very different. At that time both the Company and the Members had reason to believe that the resort would enjoy an increase in value by the time of the proposed sale date 30 years later. As mentioned above, the Company and the Members even anticipated there would be extra profit from the sale to split 50%/50% between the Company and the Members.
Based on recent transactions of hospitality properties in the area, we now anticipate that it will be very difficult to sell the resort for more than USD$40,000,000 before taxes. We estimate that in an optimistic scenario, once taxes, commissions, expenses, legal fees, government-mandated severance payments to employees, etc., have been paid, the net available funds to be distributed to the Members would probably be in the range of 25% to 40% of the residual rights amount indicated in your Membership Agreement. The Company will receive no payment from the sale.
(ELLIS: NOTE, THE ONE WHO LOSES IS THE COMPANY, IF THE RESORT IS SOLD TO A THIRD PARTY FOR $40,000,000 BUT THE COMPANY DOES NOT LOSE IF IT RESELLS THE WEEKS AS TIMESHARES, AS THEY DID WITH V.C.I. - ELLIS)
Additionally, there is no guarantee that the property can be sold at market value before the end of the Membership Agreement. It is widely known that selling resort properties at true market value in these economic times is extremely difficult.
The Company has been working diligently to find the best option to provide maximum value for your Membership. An alternative option that is considered viable is to extend the Membership for 15 (fifteen) years for an administrative fee of $100.00 dollars, with no residual rights, as long as over 90% of the Members vote for this option. This will enable Members paying the annual club service fee to use, exchange, rent, lend or resell the Membership during this 15-year period.
(ELLIS: NOTE, IF THERE IS NO RESELL VALUE AT THE END OF 15 YEARS, IT BECOMES A "RIGHT TO USE" FOR 15 YEARS... WE WOULD BE EXCHANGING OUR RESIDUAL VALUES FOR 15 YEARS R.T.U. I WOULD NOT BUY IT.
"GIMME MY MONEY, WHATEVER IT AMOUNTS TO, AND THE DEVELOPER GETS ZERO" IS BETTER FOR ME THAN "I GET ZERO RESIDUAL IN EXCHANGE FOR I CONTINUE TO BE A MEMBER FOR 15 R.T.U. YEARS"... - ELLIS)
We hereby invite all Members in good standing to vote on one of these options as presented below.
To sell the Resort in accordance with the Membership Agreement and likely return a fraction of the residual rights to the Members.
(ELLIS: THE WORDING IS SLANTED "AND LIKELY RETURN A FRACTION OF THE RESIDUAL RIGHTS TO THE MEMBERS" IS TELLING US TO NOT VOTE FOR THIS OPTION. UNFAIR. - ELLIS)
To extend the Membership for 15 (fifteen) years for an administrative fee of US$100 dollars with no residual rights and the obligation to pay the yearly club service fee
In order to conduct this voting process in an independent manner, we have hired Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS), headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, which has specialized in election services including traditional paper ballot elections, online voting, telephone voting and hybrid voting systems since 1990.
Please note:
Only one vote will be accepted per membership regardless of the number of individuals registered on the membership. Once SBS has received the vote it will not be allowed to be changed.
If a vote is made by the Internet and also via fax, only the Internet vote will be considered valid.
If a vote is not received by internet or fax, it will be considered a vote towards the sale of the resort as stated in the Membership Agreement.
The voting period (by internet or fax) starts on March 30 and ends on April 30, 2012. Results will be announced by email to registered Members after June 1, 2012.
NOTE: The attached FAQs will provide Members with more information before casting the vote. If you have any further questions, please feel free to call Interval Servicing Co, LLC: Toll Free (US/CA): 877-736-4563, Elsewhere: 954-736-5563 or send an email to: royalmayan@intervalservicing.com
=======
The Ballot itself is worded as follows. Notice that it is SLANTED to make you want to vote for 15 years extension for $100 administrative fee. But... It does not mention that there will be a LIMIT on the maintainance fees... so... If they RAISE THE MAINTAINANCE FEES to $4000 per week, I would not be able to pay my maintainance and after that, I would surely LOSE my week.
I will NOT vote, so my vote counts as I am NOT in favor of extending my ownership another 15 years. Let them sell it for $40,000,000 and give me whatever corresponds to me, and that means the Developers will get zero, if that is what it sells for, which I can't see it is true. 200 Villas on the beach in CanCun, at a minimum cost $100,000,000 dollars (half a million each).
=====This is the wording on the ballot:
To cast a vote
Check the box next to an option
To change your vote, click the box again, and the mark will be removed /
To review your selections, click the “Proceed the Ballot Confirmation” button
You may save you ballot and return later by clicking the “Logout” link
Logout
Membership Agreement Vote
Select ONE from below :
To sell the Resort in accordance with the Membership Agreement and likely return a fraction of the residual rights to the Members
To extend the Membership for 15 (fifteen) years for an administrative fee of US$100 dollars with no residual rights and the obligation to pay the yearly club service fee.
=====
Hey, Mr. Developers: I'm not STUPID. Why would I accept zero residual value at the end of 15 years? Why did you give 100% residual value at V.C.I. and now you wish we would accept zero at Royal Mayan, at the end of 15 years?
If you would LIMIT the maintainance fee to 80% of what you pay us if we deposit into the rental pool, and if we still have 50% of residual at the end of 15 years, I MIGHT vote otherwise...
But as your proposal is now, this is equivalent to buying 15 more R.T.U. years in exchange payment for my residual value. No, sir, that is too expensive... I won't pay my residual for 15 R.T.U. years. - Ellis Toussier
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