Villas at Southgate, Utah

[w879jr1]

Today I posted my voting proxy for the Board of Trustees at VAS.
The form was received in a Capital Vacations envelope while the return envelope was addressed, as before, to VRI Anericas. I assume that VRI, like Trading Places International, are part of Capital Vacations now.

Are there any Villas at Southgate owners in this forum who can tell me about how their ownership has been since Capital Vacations took control? Reading the views of owners at other ex-VRI resorts has been interesting. Management at my resort has always been good. How is the relationship between Capital Vacations and the HOA standing now?

 

[w879jr1]

Capital Vacations acquired VRI - what to expect?

I recently found out that VRI which manages my resort (Powder Ridge Village) was acquired by the Capital Vacations. So far it's been a mess...no online reservations we had enjoyed for years with VRI and/or online payments. Growing pains or state of things to come? Any Tugers here familiar with...

tugbbs.com

The link is to a thread in this forum which I found interesting. In particular there is some debate about "deedback", introduced by TUGBrian, to which there is thefollowing response from theo.

Capital Vacations acquired VRI. VRI manages +/- 130 independent resorts, but "deedback" policy is something that is determined solely by each individual resort's BOD/HOA, with VRI / Capital Vacations (appropriately) having no say at all in the matter. Accordingly, I am just confused about the intended meaning of your above statement.

Are you perhaps referring to Capital Vacations' apparent willingness to take over (some) HOA-owned weeks at (some) resorts where Capital / VRI has a presence, in order to then place them into Capital's "points" program (about which I can claim no knowledge or interest)? Occasional acquistion of HOA-owned weeks by Capital is apparently occurring at some Capital / VRI-managed independent resorts, but I am completely baffled by your stating that "capital vacations does have an official deedback program". Please help me to understand what you are even referring to.

w879jr1 fears that Capital's feedback option, which is not cheap, is only there to provide Capital with leverage to take over voting rights at the VRI resorts while cashing-in at the same time.

Any thoughts?

 

[theo]

w879jr1 fears that Capital's deedback option, which is not cheap, is only there to provide Capital with leverage to take over voting rights at the VRI resorts while cashing-in at the same time.

Any thoughts?

Capital Vacations owns VRI as of 2022. If / where VRI is merely the currently contracted management entity at an independent resort, the HOA / Board of that independent resort still determines its' own policies, practices and fees regarding the acceptance of "deedbacks" (i.e., deeding of ownerships directly back to the resort HOA); it’s not a matter for the hired management company to unilaterally decide or initiate. Bear in mind that any independent resort currently using VRI as its' management company (or any other management company, for that matter) can, at contract renewal date (or at any other time before then for actionable cause), terminate its' contractual relationship and just hire a different management company. This option to “dump” VRI after their acquisition by Capital Vacations has in fact been exercised in several instances in recent years at several Florida resorts with which I have some familiarity (e.g., Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, Lehigh Resort, et al).

As far as Capital Vacations "taking over" resorts, that would be easier said than done at independent resorts, in most instances. CV clearly now uses their 2022 acquisition of VRI to get themselves on site at independent VRI-managed properties to very aggressively peddle their "internal points product" (of very dubious value, IMnsHO). In such transactions, CV acquires the deeds (and, of course, some hefty cash) from willing / unfortunate "converts". I suppose if CV was ever sufficiently successful at selling enough of their snake oil / points product and acquired enough deeds at a resort in the course of doing so, CV could perhaps by increments make themselves more influential at such resorts. However, retaining and voting for known, individual fellow owners (i.e., repelling the candidacy of any unknown possible CV "plants" or CV stooges as new Board members) would seem to be an effective avenue of protection from unwelcome CV influences or machinations, with ongoing, diligent and watchful monitoring for any attempts by unknown "candidates" with unstated goals and objectives trying to quietly slide onto the Board. CV has in fact attempted this very thing relatively recently at Winners Circle Resort in Solana Beach, CA, resulting in a lawsuit which has been referenced and described in factual detail by others here within these TUG forums discussing Capital Vacations).

I own a few weeks at a VRI-managed resort at which there has been no sign or smell of any CV sales hyenas on site….yet. If that situation changes, I may have to choose among encouraging our Board / HOA to dump VRI, or trying to just ignore the foul aroma of a new and most unwelcome CV presence on site, or just selling my several long-held and desirable prime weeks to a known fellow owner there. In any case, I want nothing to do with Capital Vacations.

 

[w879jr1]

Capital Vacations owns VRI as of 2022. If / where VRI is merely the currently contracted management entity at an independent resort, the HOA / Board of that independent resort still determines its' own policies, practices and fees regarding the acceptance of "deedbacks" (i.e., deeding of ownerships directly back to the HOA), which is not a matter for the hired management company to unilaterally decide or initiate. Bear in mind that any independent resort currently using VRI as its' management company (or any other management company, for that matter) can, at contract renewal date (or at any other time before then for actionable cause), simply terminate its' contractual relationship and hire a different management company. This option has indeed already been exercised in numerous instances in recent years at several Florida resorts with which I have some familiarity (Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort, Lehigh Resort, et al).

As far as Capital Vacations "taking over" resorts, that would be much easier said than done in most instances. CV clearly uses their acquisition of VRI to get themselves on site at independent VRI-managed properties to very aggressively peddle their "internal points product" (of dubious value, IMnsHO). In such transactions, CV acquires the deeds (and, of course, some hefty cash) from willing / unfortunate "converts". I suppose if CV is sufficiently successful at selling enough of their snake oil points product and acquiring enough deeds in doing so, they could perhaps by increments make themselves more influential at such resorts. Keeping and voting known, individual owners (i.e., repelling any unknown CV "plants" or stooges) as Board members would seem to be an effective avenue of protection from CV influence or machinations.

I own a few weeks at a VRI-managed resort at which (...so far, anyhow) there has been no sign of CV sales hyenas. If that situation ever changes, I will have to choose between just ignoring the foul aroma of their presence or selling my few prime weeks to a fellow existing owner. In either case, I want absolutely nothing to do with Capital Vacations.

Thank you for your comments and useful explanation of the purpose of the HOA and the management companies The board of trustees at my resort have always acted, I believe, in the best interest of owners so I will continue to vote for the type of individuals you have identified. Like you I have no interest in points systems.