Latest from Concerned Deeded Owners Pt at P

[Kauai Kid]

This info should be good for several hundred responses.

Sterling




From The Concerned Deeded Owners at the Point at Poipu( CDOPP)



November 1, 2011



Note: We will be changing the name to reflect that this group consists of deeded owners and point’s program owners (Hawaiian Collection). We are looking for a remedy for both ownership groups as a collective group of vacation owners.



We would like to welcome all of the new and existing registered members, as well as those of you that have not yet registered on our website. We appreciate your patience while we have been gathering information and reorganizing the Board of Directors for CDOPP. We are receiving a lot of new registrations on a daily basis and we are working diligently to get information to you. The website is being worked on daily to provide better communication and more content, as we look to make positive changes.



Several years ago, many owners at the Point at Poipu banded together and formed CDOPP with the intent of collecting contributions in an effort to get the Association Membership List released to CDOPP. In addition, CDOPP launched the website www.PoipuOwners.org as an effort to inform and further identify owners that shared the same concerns.



The board members devoted countless hours collecting information, talking to concerned owners, meeting with government officials, seeking legal consultations, documenting the complaints made by owners of the Point at Poipu, as well as many other actions. Much of the work had to be done “behind the scenes” in an attempt to keep things confidential. In the winter of 2011, the website was hacked by someone forcing the Guestbook page to be shut down. This led members and others to believe that the group was inactive. In addition, the newsletters were making their way into to the hands of Diamond Resorts employees through a member that registered as a concerned owner, which we now believe may have been an employee of Diamond Resorts or one of their affiliates.



In response to the shocking Water Intrusion Assessment Invoice, one of the new board members, Tammy Sona started the Facebook page Point of Poipu Angry Owners (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Point-of-Poipu-Angry-Owners/148027451960608?sk=wall&filter=2). Between the new Facebook page and the water intrusion assessment notice, there has been an increased awareness of our group and the realization that there is an even stronger need to band the owners together. Many are looking to our group to assist in protecting our resort from the poor decisions made by the Board of Directors at our resort under the guidance of the current management company, DRI. The registrations on the website have been growing in numbers very rapidly over the past few weeks and we expect that to continue as more owners are becoming aware of our efforts.



Here are a few basic facts that we would like to share with you.



The 2012 AOAO & VOA Approved Budget consists of various line items. We would like you to be aware that Diamond Resorts is collecting a total of $3,265,745 for management and corporate administration fees. This does not include the $612,732 budgeted for administration fees.
The water intrusion fee is nearly $6,000 per deeded week for the deeded owners and an unknown amount for the Points people in the DRI Hawaiian Collection. This is an economic hit of at least $65 million dollars for the deeded and Hawaiian Collection (points/Club/Trust) owners. “Your” VOA & AOAO Board of Directors voted to require this payment with the terms and penalties presented in the assessment. “They” decided to spread the assessment over 3 years instead of giving owners the option to spread it over a greater number of years to make it more affordable.



The State of Hawaii has received dozens of complaints to act on, and they need to receive even more to get them to enforce their own laws concerning time-shares in the State of Hawaii.



“Your” elected Board Member, Cleana Dean, is the mother of Linda Riddle (a Vice President with DRI) and was elected to the Board of Directors without disclosure regarding her relationship with DRI.



It appears that DRI has taken over the Point at Poipu in its entirety with no resistance except for the actions initiated by our members group.



The initial goal of this group (CDOPP) was to obtain the membership list consisting of contact information for all of the owners of the Point at Poipu to provide a direct line of communication with other owners for voting purposes. Without this list, we believe that it is virtually impossible to obtain the support of other members and also to ask them to vote (or assign their proxy to a representative of CDOPP) for OWNERS, not affiliated with DRI at the next election. We believe this has to be done in order to gain the majority interest on the boards of OUR resort.

The identified goals of CDOPP going forward are as follows:

1. Obtain the contact information of as many of the owners as possible.

2. To continue our efforts to obtain a copy of the membership contact list.

3. Assist owners with information about candidates that we support in upcoming elections.

4. Provide communication to owners beyond what the current management company provides.

5. To have an option regarding the costs of our management fees and the ability to seek other qualified management companies or to change the structure of management at our resort.

6. Assess the options available regarding the Water Intrusion issues

7. Take action to make changes to the existing assessment, including working out an agreeable payment solution with our AOAO and/or VOA Board of Directors. It’s pretty easy to defend their actions to us individually, with a group this size, we believe they will be compelled to make some changes.



The new Board of Directors has been working diligently and we are looking forward to sharing the actions that are being planned to help achieve the goals that we have identified with you.



CDOPP

Keith Paulsen – President

www.PoipuOwners.org

If you have contributed to CDOPP previously and would like your contribution returned, contact us and we will return your contribution immediately. If we do not receive a request for a refund by November 10, 2011, we will assume that you want to continue to support the efforts of CDOPP.

The information and opinions expressed in this letter are the opinions of the members of CDOPP. For legal purposes, we ask that you always include this disclaimer in your correspondence with CDOPP or other written communication. Contributions and/or registration to CDOPP by any Diamond Resorts International employees, relatives of employees, subsidiary or affiliated companies, or any other person not purely identified with the purposes of the CDOPP cause, is strictly prohibited and legal action will be taken as deemed prudent and necessary.

 

[jconte]

Have "heard" DRI is trying to make ALL their owners participate in the special assessment at Point at Poipu. Any DRI owners out there know if this is true or not?

 

[timeos2]

All owners at the resort & those in the trust(s) that hold time there will be taking part. Those that aren't at least a part owner there will not pay. Makes the choice to use the "voluntary" club membership (and hold on to your deeded & voting rights) look even better than ever vs the various trusts. The whole idea that you spread the costs and add a hefty overhead to an ownership that also costs more to "save" money never made any sense to me. This goes to prove it.

 

[singlemalt_18]

All owners at the resort & those in the trust(s) that hold time there will be taking part. Those that aren't at least a part owner there will not pay. Makes the choice to use the "voluntary" club membership (and hold on to your deeded & voting rights) look even better than ever vs the various trusts. The whole idea that you spread the costs and add a hefty overhead to an ownership that also costs more to "save" money never made any sense to me. This goes to prove it.

It depends on which side of the equation you are on.

As I stated on the other thread, the Poipu owners who did convert over the past couple of years, have saved themselves over $4,100 per week owned. They have got to be feelling pretty good about now.

Maybe the real question many of them should be asking is "Why weren't they given some limited window of opportunity to make a change in order to mitigate this cost, with the implications of not doing so being what the were?"

I'm NOT happy about paying for part of this bill, but I understand it. Knowing that this type of thing is actually possible now, I'm thinking the "mutual fund" approach to ownership through a trust has got some merit in reducing this risk.

As for "hefty overhead", when we did convert into the trust about a year ago at KBC, we were NOT saving anything on maintenance fees by remaining deeded. Our fees were not going down by going into the trust, but they were not really going up either - dollar for dollar; our fee did go up a bit with the additional points purchased at conversion.

I take enough risk with stocks, I'm somewhat satisfied to have less exposure with my timeshare, thank you, even if the cost structure may be a few basis points higher.

Different strokes...

 

[singlemalt_18]

I have spent most of the past weekend searching out places to learn more about this issue. There are simply too many unpleasant dots that exist in the timeshare universe, and when emotions are running high, it becomes convenient to connect them all together. Unfortunately, the picture that many see is not clear or rational.

The timeshare industry’s single biggest detractor – and Diamond in particular – is probably their sales tactics. In the world of high level, consultative sales, the relationship and trust is the life-blood; loose it and you have lost everything. In a situation like this, the tedious, transparently manipulative, go-for-the-close, sales approach they have used only makes matters worse for many who are already way too familiar with the nagging humiliation of buyer’s remorse.

Everybody complains about rising maintenance fees, and seems to think “How dare they raise my fee!” Putting fiduciary and management competency issues aside, EVERYTHING has been costing more for years! Anyone who runs a small business needs to endure cost challenges day after day, year after year. Why should timeshare be any different? It isn’t, but unrealistic expectations were often set at the time of sale, and nobody is ever supposed to pay a penny more than they feel they should. Timeshares are a sophisticated real estate purchase made to mostly unsophisticated real estate investors, have some risks and obligations, and as such have caused a lot of ill will. Think Sub-prime.

This problem at Poipu is now unfortunately – to use the old hackneyed expression – a perfect storm in a sh!thole. Disenchanted owners with years of pent-up frustrations of one kind or another, on the heels of trying to survive the financial challenges of the past three years, are being told that the Kobayashi Maru of timeshare ownership has occurred, and that the previously unthinkable mother of all assessments is now due upon receipt.

The 160 “angry” folks over on Facebook only seem to blame it all on DRI, and many others coming here for answers, are certainly not satisfied with the facts, and that is understandable. This is a terrible situation that was handled badly. Another issue that I think will eventually end up in any reforms to the industry, will be over management company obligations and terms to provide buyback or surrender. The fact that truly distressed or unhappy owners have no one-time option for forfeiture is an area that must be addressed.

The fact that DRI is behaving so badly in this area is only making matters worse.

Thanks to all of the “experts” and moderators here and over at TS4MS who have been trying to be a voice of reason, and keep the emotions to a low roar.