Excellent post, I agree with every bit of it. (And I got a chuckle out of the "Blog on!" - reminds me of peace signs and bell-bottom pants.)
I don't know how many and I don't think you or MarkSue does either. Eric has documented the info for you. I think we can safely assume this one report represents far more people that aren't on board as you are proceeding. If it were a petition and they went to certify the names, I'd guess you'd lose at least 20-30% or more of those on that list, likely more if you ask them point blank if their in favor of a recall. I don't think it's been established that anyone can speak for the group in question, other than the BOD who are duly elected. That doesn't make those upset wrong however but it does affect the legalities involved.
No, I believe I posted a couple of pages ago that my interest was in how Marriott conducted themselves as it might translate to their program as a whole and to other resorts. But why should it matter. If you want to limit discussion to only OC or OC/SC owners you might consider a yahoo group with that as a requirement. However, I have owned multiple weeks off and on at another resort in Aruba for over 10 years in one capacity or another seeing dues triple and at least 3 SA over that time with one of them due in part to embezzlement and at least one to frank mismanagement leading to law suites and ousting of the management company. I owned as many as 8 units at the time I finally converted those units to the points system. Luckily I was smart enough and/or lucky enough to be in between units for the most part for the majority of those extra costs. My SA alone the last time would have been almost $8K with another $4.5K for the regular dues.
No but it's a scam if you're not aware. You pay them $499 (pick a number) and they will sell or rent it for you for a very high price. Run away.
I am very experienced in timeshares and Marriott even if I don't post on TUG much anymore. I predicted Spicebush and Swallowtail would go away when essentially everyone else was saying no way. I predicted Vail would split and part would stay Marriott when many in the know were saying it couldn't happen and couldn't legally be done.
I'm always amused at the dichotomy of timesharing. By necessity one has to be willing to turn a blind eye to the bad side to enjoy the rewards and for some of us, the savings involved. Usually you can draw the line between the sales system and the resorts and management themselves as for the good and bad but not always. It has been interesting to me and amusing at times to see people who drank the kool-aid and have become disenchanted for whatever reason. I've seen the same dynamics with some DVC members over the last year or so when there were some minor changes to the system that they just couldn't fathom. I'd say that if you had bought one of the resorts that were previously Marriott mainly for the internal Marriott trading, you would have been off the bandwagon long before now. I remember some that did so directly from Marriott only months before Marriott and the HH resorts parted companies. Then when Marriott parted from their previous approach of letting such people do an equity trade for something else, snarling and gnashing of teeth. No doubt such companies are literally the 600 # Gorilla in the room and ultimately we as owners are betting on how they perform and are truly at their mercy in many ways. IMO, the info about Beachplace may be far more negative if one is evaluating Marriott than is this issue because it speaks more to the management side than the sales/development side. While I think in that instance Marriott was more on the correct side of the issues, I was interested they were willing to play hardball as overtly as they apparently did. The Vail issue is applicable to the same principles I think as well, that of realization that they were not a pushover and that there was more in consideration than simply the best interest of a given resort and it's owners.
