Hyatt Hacienda del Mar- Update

[grevas1]

Does the "Rapit Test " your getting, qualify as a "Molecular Test"? The Hacienda del Mar resort manager told me the test must be a Molecular type test per the government of Puerto Rico regulations.

Yes, the rapid test qualifies. I was able to get a COVID test resulted in 2 days, in time for the flight to Maui. Once there, I provided the health screeners a copy of the negative test result and received a pink slip allowing no quarantine. Never seen Maui with fewer people before, and had lovely time.

 

[PerryKing]

Hacienda del Mar Owners' Association Meeting 29 OCT 2020

See new thread that I later opened for this subjet. Sorry about that. please take a look there and reply there.

Perry

 

[Scubadoc]

I’m wondering how many folks will just default. This will lead to responsible owners having to pick up the slack (unpaid maintenance fees by the defaulting owners), which further increases the maintenance fees. Vicious cycle.

I purchased a foreclosure there about 5 years ago and for two years used the points for other Hyatt Properties. Then came the hurricane. I reserved my April week for 2021, as I really have heard so many great things about the property, but with this huge increase in MF, i don’t know if I can continue to own this deeded week, A default could be in the future, unless there are other alternatives.

 

[Sapper]

I purchased a foreclosure there about 5 years ago and for two years used the points for other Hyatt Properties. Then came the hurricane. I reserved my April week for 2021, as I really have heard so many great things about the property, but with this huge increase in MF, i don’t know if I can continue to own this deeded week, A default could be in the future, unless there are other alternatives.

I was there a few months prior to the hurricane. I truly thought, and still do (though I have not been to Hawaii yet), that Hacienda could be a crown jewel IF they just did a few things with the property. With all of the hurricane repairs to the property, they may have addressed most of the items. The biggest problem is the abandon neighbor property, which Google Maps is now showing as a JW Marriott & MVC... maybe Google knows something we don’t.

My point is you should probably go check it out before you decide to pitch it. You may love it and hold on to it to stay there and not turn it into points. The other side is it is now a really bad points play with the new high maintenance fees.

 

[Tenga]

I was there a few months prior to the hurricane. I truly thought, and still do (though I have not been to Hawaii yet), that Hacienda could be a crown jewel IF they just did a few things with the property. With all of the hurricane repairs to the property, they may have addressed most of the items. The biggest problem is the abandon neighbor property, which Google Maps is now showing as a JW Marriott & MVC... maybe Google knows something we don’t.

My point is you should probably go check it out before you decide to pitch it. You may love it and hold on to it to stay there and not turn it into points. The other side is it is now a really bad points play with the new high maintenance fees.

Hey Sapper and all Hyatt Hacieda del Mar owners. I've been on site from the beach access and I took photo's from this year 2020 in February and in April. So as you claim the biggest problem was/is next door is now currently coming to a end! Right now JW Marriott has crew's on site 6 days a week striping the inside of wood, metal anything thats not made of concrete. As soon as crews finish this task them the knock down starts. Marriott has announced plans for two new towers one being a JW hotel the other a Marriott time share MVC. The entire project is slated for competition in 2022. At the Hyatt's Hacienda del Mar board meeting on Oct 5th 2020. Hyatt showed slides of all the progress to date next door at the old Cermar Hyatt.

What I find highly amusing or troubling depending on how you look at it is? Since the Marriott take over of Hyatt. This property the "Hacienda del Mar" seem's to be managed/run into the ground causing owners to flee and stop making payments left and right! This IMO can only serve the developer to either merge or sell to JW Marriott and MVC. Either way current owners are going to have some prime developments next door in the next 2 years. BTW I agree with your assessment the location and IMO is a crown jewel and was a best kept secret to all that stayed!

The front desk is now open and taking call's.
+1 787.796.3000

p.s. I'm sad to hear from the currently site manager that the mini golf course which is on JW land will not be back! Hopefully JW and MVC will re-open the mini golf course along with the 18 hole course that surrounds both property's.
Regards,

 

[Sapper]

Hey Sapper and all Hyatt Hacieda del Mar owners. I've been on site from the beach access and I took photo's from this year 2020 in February and in April. So as you claim the biggest problem was/is next door is now currently coming to a end! Right now JW Marriott has crew's on site 6 days a week striping the inside of wood, metal anything thats not made of concrete. As soon as crews finish this task them the knock down starts. Marriott has announced plans for two new towers one being a JW hotel the other a Marriott time share MVC. The entire project is slated for competition in 2022. At the Hyatt's Hacienda del Mar board meeting on Oct 5th 2020. Hyatt showed slides of all the progress to date next door at the old Cermar Hyatt.

What I find highly amusing or troubling depending on how you look at it is? Since the Marriott take over of Hyatt. This property the "Hacienda del Mar" seem's to be managed/run into the ground causing owners to flee and stop making payments left and right! This IMO can only serve the developer to either merge or sell to JW Marriott and MVC. Either way current owners are going to have some prime developments next door in the next 2 years. BTW I agree with your assessment the location and IMO is a crown jewel and was a best kept secret to all that stayed!

The front desk is now open and taking call's.
+1 787.796.3000

p.s. I'm sad to hear from the currently site manager that the mini golf course which is on JW land will not be back! Hopefully JW and MVC will re-open the mini golf course along with the 18 hole course that surrounds both property's.
Regards,

Tenga, thank you for this update! Are you able to share any of your photos of the site? I am sure many here would be interested.

I wonder if MVC is trying to get as many people as possible to walk away, have the existing owners foot the rebuild bill, pick up as many deeds as possible at close to zero $ out, then dump them into the HPP to help sell the HPP on site or co locate with the new MVC sales office.

I wonder if they will share amenities like the old water park area when Cermar was in operation?

 

[Tenga]

Tenga, thank you for this update! Are you able to share any of your photos of the site? I am sure many here would be interested.

I wonder if MVC is trying to get as many people as possible to walk away, have the existing owners foot the rebuild bill, pick up as many deeds as possible at close to zero $ out, then dump them into the HPP to help sell the HPP on site or co locate with the new MVC sales office.

I wonder if they will share amenities like the old water park area when Cermar was in operation?

Sapper, yes I can post some photo's. Since my last trip on site in April 2020 I captured the start of the tear out of the lazy river and Cermar pools and spa's. Better more current photo's were shown in the slide's from Oct 5th Board meeting. Current photo's are also found in the Hyatt owners website under news.

More on your thoughts of MVC. I believe were both on the same page here. Only exception is the del Mar is not a points property so that can't be of any help to Hyatt or the developer who owns the land. All of us Hyatt owners are still in limbo after the merger to see how or if we Hyatt owners get fit in under MVC umbrella. IMO the del Mar is the perfect location to start the process. I mean think about it! Two time-share property's located mere feet from each other all under the same CEO Stephen P. Weisz, president/CEO. “Both Marriott Vacations Worldwide and ILG"
One can only hope the two sites share amenities its going to be interesting at the very least!
Regards,

 

[Sapper]

Sapper, yes I can post some photo's. Since my last trip on site in April 2020 I captured the start of the tear out of the lazy river and Cermar pools and spa's. Better more current photo's were shown in the slide's from Oct 5th Board meeting. Current photo's are also found in the Hyatt owners website under news.

More on your thoughts of MVC. I believe were both on the same page here. Only exception is the del Mar is not a points property so that can't be of any help to Hyatt or the developer who owns the land. All of us Hyatt owners are still in limbo after the merger to see how or if we Hyatt owners get fit in under MVC umbrella. IMO the del Mar is the perfect location to start the process. I mean think about it! Two time-share property's located mere feet from each other all under the same CEO Stephen P. Weisz, president/CEO. “Both Marriott Vacations Worldwide and ILG"
One can only hope the two sites share amenities its going to be interesting at the very least!
Regards,

The photos in the news portion of the HRC site are great. The Units look nice.

I don’t think there is anything in the HPP docs the preclude them from adding a property to it. So, change the paperwork, add deeds in bulk, increase the points per week similar to what they did to the Key West properties, instant inflated product to sell for equally inflated prices. Alternatively, don’t add them to HPP, buy up the deeds in bulk for nothing, then sell next to the new MVC product. Salesman,”You can buy the new MVC Cermar for $100k, or the recently remodeled HRC Hacienda for $50k”. That’s nearly pure profit for MVC.

 

[PerryKing]

Remember that the property where the old hotel is located is actually owned by the “Caribbean Property Group “ as is the the Ritz Carlton down the road and the Plantation across the street from the Ritz, and all the golf courses land.


Also they own the so called “owners club house” at Hacienda Del Mar that was the former and Original Sales office for Hacienda Del Mar. So the way I take it is that Marriott will be the operator of any new hotel on the site of the old Cerromar Beach Hyatt Hotel and probably will not be the OWNER of the property. Also remember the Club just has a lease on the land it’s built on. With about 70 years left on the lease.

In any case it’s great news that finally some action is taking place next door. But I believe it’s actually being done by the Carriebean Property Group. ( unless maybe the Marriott group bought them out. Which I doubt ).

And that to us owners at Hacienda del Mar it does not really make much difference who is the owner / developer. And if it is actualy still the Carriebean Property Group then I think that the Hyatt RC will stay as the HRC !


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[PerryKing]

Also I think wether a Hyatt property can become part of the HPP program has more to do the original wording of the development contract, the sales contract and deeds etc. otherwise they would have put HPP into all the properties already. Or tried to anyway. I hope there are restrictions so they can not expand the HPP program. Or at least hold them back some.


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[Sapper]

Also I think wether a Hyatt property can become part of the HPP program has more to do the original wording of the development contract, the sales contract and deeds etc. otherwise they would have put HPP into all the properties already. Or tried to anyway. I hope there are restrictions so they can not expand the HPP program. Or at least hold them back some.


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My guess is the reason additional properties were not included in the HPP had more to do with money than wording in a legal document. The guy (team) HRC brought over to create the HPP was previously part of MVC’s DC points program. MVC has historically not cared much about wording in legal documents as they need to keep their lawyers employed. An example would either be the Aspen Ritz or the Aspen Hyatt property owners bringing a lawsuit.

 

[Tenga]

PerryKing and Sapper, something that Hyatt owners need confirmation. Did JW Marriott and MCV lease or purchase the land i.e. site. I can confirm from current onsite management that the owners/sales building and the Bohio restaurant have only been given a new 3 year lease which falls into the time frame the new project is scheduled to open in 2022. This brings into question what was the former lease/agreements? Why now only a new 3 year lease? Why not the 70 year left on the license agreement?

Back in February I wanted to see how far I could get driving into the front side of the Del mar to take some photo's. I was surprised to see at the security check point "shack" a front desk worker who I'll remain anonymous. It made sense to eliminate the daytime security company and keep good employees employed by re-purposing them from front desk to guard duty. They told me at this time there will be two separate driveways, unlike the current shared one long driveway; each property will have its own driveway into the buildings.

There must of been some hard feeling's between Hyatt, Marriott and the developer on the sharing of the central cooling tower. HRC had been leasing its A/C needs and somebody wanted to end this arrangement? As stated in the Oct 5th managers meeting the developer had to shell out of their pockets $1.2 million to construct a new tower for A/C and hot water system. Supposedly; Hyatt owner's were not charged for this??? At least not on front end but hidden somewhere??? Which is why I find it hard to believe the developer out of the goodness of his soul wanted to spend this kind of money, his own money.. Either way there is a lot of behind the scene's events Hyatt owners will never be made aware of!

Regards,

 

[PerryKing]

Re the Utilities building and A/C cooling plant etc. for Hacienda del Mar I remember that from my first time going to the Hacienda Del Mar homeowners meeting while staying there many years ago, and every year after that, that the owners of the Hyatt Cerromar property were OBLIGATED to build a replacement plant for the residence club (someday) and that when that happened the Resort Manager said that our maintenance fees would go down about $100. ( I privately suggested to him that that would be nice, but he probably should not promise an amount for the estimated savings to the club in out yearly fee but that maybe just say it would help save the club money for utilities expense in the future). The club resort manager was also always optimistic that when any new hotel was built next door, no matter what brand was on it, that he, (The residence Club), could negotiate a mutually beneficial arrangement to share each others facilities for the better good of all. That would be nice, but we will see how that works out !

I'm sure many other owners have heard that same story for many years, and could confirm what I just said: that the owners of the Hotel property were by contract obligated to replace the cooling plant if and when the hotel building was ever torn down. So I think that's all that has happened and not anything more than that. To me its a sign that, finally, the Old Hyatt Cerromar property is going to be developed. And probably by the Caribbean Property Group ( Who did the 6 star Ritz Carlton on the grounds of the former Hyatt Dorado Beach Hotel) at the east end of the property, and which is managed by and as a Ritz Carlton (i.e. Marriott Corporation), but Marriott is not the OWNER of the property.

My GUESS is that The Caribbean Properties Group has teamed up with the Marriott Corporation probably because the Ritz Carlton property has been such a success for the Caribbean Property Group.

All this land , and all the land across the street , from the Ritz on the east to the Hacienda del Mar on the west was (is) part of the original PLANTATION bought by Laurance Rockefeller in the 1950's. Over at the Ritz Carlton Spa complex there is a huge coffee table type book that documents the history of the original Plantation, and its owner ,Clara Livingston and her connection to Amelia Earheart. before selling to Rockefeller. The book was too expensive for me. at several Hundred dollars, But whish I had one. There is a life size oil portrait of Amelia Earhart in the reception building of the Ritz Spa. If you go you can discover the connection of Ameilia to the plantation property, part of which the the Hyatt Hacienda del Mar is built on today.

Interesting recent background story FYI See:

https://www.spearswms.com/how-ritz-carlton-revived-laurance-rockefellers-resort-in-puerto-rico/

 

[PerryKing]

I also tried waking into the property in JAN 2020 from the beach (Just to take some pictures ) , but I got lost and blocked from beach access at a dead end in the residential area next door (East of) to the old hotel. I then ran out of time. I also did not have any water shoes that I knew that I would need to be able to pass over the rocks in front of the old concrete stair case on the eroded beach section coming out from the grounds of the old hotel. into the ocean. So I had to give it up, but I meet Renter in the residential section who sort of rescued me and he did not have any ideal what that big building to the west of his house was. So I filled him in on the history of the Hotel and the Club, as he gave me a ride back to the Plantation Golf Course parking lot. I had parked my car there because I knew the Pineapple golf course trail route and the under the Highway tunnel system that would get me onto the Ritz property (Undetected) and could then lead me eventually to a way to access to the beach in front of the Hyatt If I had the right kind of shoes. Which as I said I didn't have, but was hopping I could still get over the rocks some how. My mistake was trying to get to the beach by avoiding walking directly through the Ritz boundaries and instead going along the Pineapple course to the second tunnel under the Highway toward the west end of the course.

At the beginning of my hike I did see that on the currently unused Pineapple Golf course that they are building many fancy and expensive homes along the one of the fairways, the home development is before you reach the old Club house, which is also In total disrepair and completely trashed . There are three golf courses in total on the Plantation / Ritz / Hacienda del Mar Property limits but the Pineapple course , that is partly across the street from the Residence Club is in disrepair and not being used -for golf

Just FYI for HRC Hacienda del Mar Owners. Perry

 

[cladescar]

My point is you should probably go check it out before you decide to pitch it. You may love it and hold on to it to stay there and not turn it into points. The other side is it is now a really bad points play with the new high maintenance fees.
[/QUOTE]
Does Hacienda Del Mar come after anyone who doesn’t pay the maintenance fees? Do they sue the owners?

 

[PerryKing]

I assume you not talking to me but to TENGA above, For I love the place ! and I was due to spend 6 weeks there at a time in NOV and DEC for the last 4 years now (like I did once prior to the hurricanes. It was (is) a hidden Gem ! "Was' ... because as you mentioned the high maintenance fee for now, hopefully less next year.

It appears that the HOA of Hacienda del Mar just goes for repossessions from owners that have defaulted, that's why there are so many in the inventory of for resale.

PPK

 

[Sapper]

It appears that the HOA of Hacienda del Mar just goes for repossessions from owners that have defaulted, that's why there are so many in the inventory of for resale.

Does the board have a list of unit weeks they are selling like Beach House put out?

 

[PerryKing]

That’s exactly what I was saying, or what I thought I was saying.

Update. Sorry I was as actually reading my own post that you quoted thing that you were saying what was in the quote. That’s what I get for using the iPhone here I guess.

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[PerryKing]

So as far as the resale list. I have not seen one lately that is coming directly from the board. But they are probably trying to sell through the “ official hyatt reseller “ in PR as in the past. I could provide you with her contact info if interested. In the past she had both repos for sale and owner listings for sale.


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[Tenga]

Perry is there way for us to connect off the forums?
Thank you,
Tenga

 

[cladescar]

I assume you not talking to me but to TENGA above, For I love the place ! and I was due to spend 6 weeks there at a time in NOV and DEC for the last 4 years now (like I did once prior to the hurricanes. It was (is) a hidden Gem ! "Was' ... because as you mentioned the high maintenance fee for now, hopefully less next year.

It appears that the HOA of Hacienda del Mar just goes for repossessions from owners that have defaulted, that's why there are so many in the inventory of for resale.

PPK

Thanks for the response. The question was for no one specifically.

 

[bdh]

Also I think whether a Hyatt property can become part of the HPP program has more to do the original wording of the development contract, the sales contract and deeds etc. otherwise they would have put HPP into all the properties already. Or tried to anyway. I hope there are restrictions so they can not expand the HPP program. Or at least hold them back some.

I'd expect that Hyatt would like to have all the Hyatt properties in HPP - however in order to implement/sell the Points Program at each property, they need approval from each state's regulatory board. So in lieu of original wording of the development contract stopping HDM from being a HPP property, it's the unique rules of the non-state of Puerto Rico that are slowing it down.

 

[lolita]

OK. So that's to be expected! Right ? Do you see something questionable about this new development ?

and thus ALSO I now have 3 new SEP and OCT 2020 reservations cancelled at Hacienda Del Mar , that were made with Credits and Comps from 5 prior reservations canceled twice because of the hurricanes 2 years ago. I just hope that Hyatt does not loose track of all the Comp reservations I have coming some day, sooner than later I hope. So now I will try again to make 6 reservations for Hacienda del Mar after November 22. .

All my reservations for December were cancelled.

 

[lolita]

I completely agree! I am currently disputing the 2020 maintenance fees because of their deception tactics. If we band together, there is a class action suit opportunity.

Agree. How can we organised?

 

[PerryKing]

I'd expect that Hyatt would like to have all the Hyatt properties in HPP - however in order to implement/sell the Points Program at each property, they need approval from each state's regulatory board. So in lieu of original wording of the development contract stopping HDM from being a HPP property, it's the unique rules of the non-state of Puerto Rico that are slowing it down.

Well Thats GOOD , hope it stays that way !