WSJ-VGV - March 2016 Report to Owners
March 2016
Dear Fellow Virgin Grand Villas Owner:
As your owner-elected representatives, we recently participated in the annual meeting and the February Board of Directors meeting of our condominium association. We were pleased that quite a few owners were in attendance and they asked excellent well-informed questions.
There were no major issues for decision at this meeting, but we did make a couple of decisions, and we received an update on improvements and construction at the resort.
RESORT UPDATE
Renovation of the interiors of the units has been underway since early 2015 and all of the interiors will have been renovated by the end of 2016. The new dock has been installed and is in use by the ferry and by the boat and dive trips that leave from the resort. The conversion of the final group of hotel rooms to ownership units has begun, with first occupancy of the new Sunset Bay portion of the resort expected next January. New barbecue grills have been installed in Virgin Grand and they include timers so that the flame is not kept on indefinitely if an owner forgets to turn off the gas. Of perhaps greatest interest, Mr. Ryan is close to completing an agreement with an upscale restaurant to replace the much-missed Cruz Bay Prime. The new restaurant may be open as soon as late November. Sam Hugli, the new Director of Operations, is working on the menu at Lemongrass to make it more family-friendly.
BALCONY CHAIRS
The very heavy wooden chairs on the hillside balconies will be replaced as soon as General Manager Mike Ryan is able to identify a good replacement product that will not deteriorate despite being rained on frequently. The new chairs will be smaller and easier to reposition. The two-bedroom loft units will be able to accommodate four such chairs, rather than three chairs as at present.
OWNER QUESTIONS
We won't try to present all of the owner questions, but some of possibly more general interest are these.
One owner asked if the boards of the other associations at the property would get owner-elected representatives now that the hotel was being fully converted. Starwood Vacation Ownership's (SVO) response was that there would be such representatives, starting with Bay Vista, possibly next year. SVO recognizes that we need to find a mechanism through which all four condo boards can have input into decisions affecting the common resort areas.
One owner asked how the transition from SVO to Interval Leisure Group would affect owners or the resort. SVO's answer was that there is no indication that anything will change for the worse, and, as a benefit, there will be at least five more resorts in the system into which owners can exchange with StarOptions. We pointed out, however, that the acquisition of Starwood (the hotel company) by Marriott could be more problematic. Some owners have worried that Marriott will combine its point system with SPG points, making it harder for Starwood owners to use Starpoints to obtain hotel reservations. Thus far, there has been no indication that the programs will be combined. However, the merger does mean that there will be less competition in the hotel industry and we have seen one effect of this already: recently both Starwood and Marriott raised the category levels of many of their hotels, making it more difficult to use points for hotel stays. (As you know, the major airlines' loyalty programs are becoming less generous at the same time.)
One owner asked about the method for allocating the common area costs among the four condo associations, now that hotel rooms are being converted to a smaller number of timeshare units. Because some of the common area costs are allocated by the number of units rather than by the number of bedrooms, other things being equal this would increase our maintenance fees after the Sunset Bay development has been completed - and by more than if the costs were allocated by bedroom. We are working with management to understand the allocation formulas, the rationale for making allocations by units rather than bedrooms (given that conversion of the hotel was not contemplated when the allocation formulas were first applied), and most importantly, the dollar amount by which the maintenance fees will be impacted as a result of allocating some of the costs by units rather than bedrooms. We will return to these matters at the June Board meeting. Note: Maintenance of the commercial areas, such as the shops and restaurants, is paid for by SVO, not by the associations.
One owner questioned why the maintenance fee for a two bedroom premium villa (not a loft) was the same as for a three-bedroom pool villa. SVO responded that this allocation was established in the Declaration that created the condominium and thus was not subject to change.
One owner asked for full budget figures to be made available to owners. SVO responded that the audited financial statement for 2015 would be posted when completed (usually by the end of May) in the "Owners Association" section of the Dashboard on the Starwood Vacation Network website under the Association Information drop down menu. In the interim, SVO will be working to post the 2014 audited final statement.
One owner asked for reassurance that SVO was not using the toxic insecticide that caused serious harm to vacationers at the Sirenusa Resort on St. John. Mr. Ryan reported that our resort has never used Terminix (the exterminator at Sirenusa) or methyl bromide, the product that caused the illnesses.
One owner remarked about beach advisory signs that had been posted. Mr. Ryan reported that the Virgin Islands government tests all of the non-Park beaches for bacterial count every Tuesday and reports the results on Fridays. If the water is not safe for swimming because of high bacterial counts, the resort posts advisory notices during the weekend and removes them the following Tuesday. Typically, when our beach is affected, about thirty other beaches are also affected. The north shore beaches are not affected because currents wash away any pollution.
ELECTION RESULTS
Philip Schrag was elected to another term as an owner-elected representative. The next scheduled election will occur at the 2018 annual meeting, when Mr. Werbel's term expires.
Philip G. Schrag
phil.schrag@gmail.com
Robert H. Werbel
robert.werbel@yahoo.com
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