Westin St John [Master Thread] - Part 2 (June 2014 and forward)

[LisaH]

How sad for all involved. And this is May 2018!

Indeed. Not sure about our early Aug week next year. Time to think about an alternative plan...

 

[tomandrobin]

I did receive the email from Vistana regarding the WSJ being closed thru the end of the year.

I keep playing out the logistics of a timeline for the Westin. My results are always bad to worse for a reasonable opening date. The island still has no power and at what point is the Westin still running its generator for an empty resort? Supplies are limited and rationed

View attachment 4767

How sad for all involved. And this is May 2018!

I saw that posted on Facebook the other day. Our reservations are for next July. The restaurant being closed does not mean the resort will be closed. It might be 1-2 months before an insurance adjuster can tour the resort. There might be a need for structural analysis of the damaged structures. I am not expecting all the inspections and assessments completed until December.

 

[SandyPGravel]

I did receive the email from Vistana regarding the WSJ being closed thru the end of the year.

I keep playing out the logistics of a timeline for the Westin. My results are always bad to worse for a reasonable opening date. The island still has no power and at what point is the Westin still running its generator for an empty resort? Supplies are limited and rationed


I saw that posted on Facebook the other day. Our reservations are for next July. The restaurant being closed does not mean the resort will be closed. It might be 1-2 months before an insurance adjuster can tour the resort. There might be a need for structural analysis of the damaged structures. I am not expecting all the inspections and assessments completed until December.

What section do you own? I still haven't received the email.

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[tomandrobin]

What section do you own? I still haven't received the email.

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Bay Vista

 

[SandyPGravel]

Bay Vista

Wonder if David & Robin received it. They're in VGV like me.

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[tomandrobin]

The past few days, I have tried researching part hurricane events to St. Thomas and St. John. I was trying to compare the damage caused by each event and the length of recover to the Virgin Islands current disaster. Irma seems to be the worse of the past 100 years.

 

[tomandrobin]

Just saw that the airport opening on St Thomas was pushed back to Sept 20th now.

 

[GrayFal]

Wonder if David & Robin received it. They're in VGV like me.

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Gina, I own in both VGV and Coral Vista. The reservation I had in December was CV

I really don't think they will be sending notification of resort closure to people with reservations next summer, it is just too soon to know abiut the state of the resort.

My VGV Resie is week 7. Will see if I get any further notification.

Edit
Both Delta and American are allowing cancelations for STT flights thru 10/31/17
St Martin cancelations are allowed thru 12/31/17

 

[GrayFal]

 

[SandyPGravel]

Gina, I own in both VGV and Coral Vista. The reservation I had in December was CV

I really don't think they will be sending notification of resort closure to people with reservations next summer, it is just too soon to know abiut the state of the resort.

My VGV Resie is week 7. Will see if I get any further notification.

Mine is week 8 so I am in the same boat as you. Plus I added one night to my trip staying at Marriott Frenchmen's Reef at the beginning of my stay. Wanted to get acclimated before we did the 8 Tuff Miles. I'm not sure what I will do if WSJ is open and the Marriott is still closed. Sleep in the rental Jeep that I hope still exists.

 

[Johnsky]

Mine is week 8 so I am in the same boat as you. Plus I added one night to my trip staying at Marriott Frenchmen's Reef at the beginning of my stay. Wanted to get acclimated before we did the 8 Tuff Miles. I'm not sure what I will do if WSJ is open and the Marriott is still closed. Sleep in the rental Jeep that I hope still exists.

I have not received the email even though I have a BV reservation for Nov. 4, 2017.

 

[dioxide45]

Egads, I hadn't thought of the impact of renters. I think that at the very least, Okwiater may have the duty to notify his guest that the resort will be closed through 12/31/17, which might open up an unpleasant dialogue and quite possibly a chargeback from Paypal/credit card company if you accepted these for payment, as these companies are notorious for siding with consumers.

Personally, although I said "no refunds for any reason," I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable making a big profit. After speaking with a lawyer, I'd certainly consider refunding all but the cost of the MFs as a good will gesture, and/or offering up the same remedy that VSE provided, such as depositing the week in II and offering to search for another location, or trying to book another location with SOs, assuming your unit came with SOs. I'd also add language in future contracts that covered hurricanes and unforeseen resort closures.

What a mess.

I would agree. Renters will have a lot of charge-back issues because of this and as you say, PayPal and CC companies tend to side with the customer on these. I have been reading over on TripAdvisor in the Sint Maarten forum and there are a lot of concerned travelers with rental bookings. One person booked a 45 person wedding. It still surprises me that someone would pay so much for a trip but not spend the little extra for travel insurance.

 

[ekinggill]

Would you feel the same way if you were one of the 35?
St Thomas Port and Marriott are saying the other was the reason for denying those 35+ people
access to the ship. And St Thomas officials are busy handling a disaster situation for a long time to come...
IMO in this situation, port officials would be more concerned with who is disembarking from a ship rather than who is getting on.

From the New York Daily News:

U.S. Virgin Island officials have since confirmed dock security prevented those left behind from boarding the boat.

"What occurred with non-Mariott guests was a necessity, that is normal, legal protocol," U.S. Virign Islands Department of Tourism commissioner Beverly Nicholas-Doty told NBC.

 

[dioxide45]

Surprised you did not get the email. Many on Facebook have gotten it


At the suggestion of a Facebook poster I am now working with someone from the resolution department that will allow me to use My HomeOptions elsewhere in the network this year. I will keep you posted.

My WSJ week 7 that I have rented (no refund) is in the VSE Network. It is in my contracts that I recommend travel insurance and give a link to a travel insurance company. Will see what happens

Keep us posted, it will be interesting to see if they budge on letting you convert to StarOptions. I am not sure they want to set that kind of precedent.

 

[okwiater]

I would agree. Renters will have a lot of charge-back issues because of this and as you say, PayPal and CC companies tend to side with the customer on these. I have been reading over on TripAdvisor in the Sint Maarten forum and there are a lot of concerned travelers with rental bookings. One person booked a 45 person wedding. It still surprises me that someone would pay so much for a trip but not spend the little extra for travel insurance.

Already working it out with my renters. I am offering to rebook them but am not offering a refund. I always recommend travel insurance as part of my rental contracts.

 

[okwiater]

Keep us posted, it will be interesting to see if they budge on letting you convert to StarOptions. I am not sure they want to set that kind of precedent.

As unfair as it seems, your usage rights are to your owned unit or to deposit in II. I see no reason for Vistana to allow a voluntary resale owner to receive StarOptions. It's not like people don't know that the Caribbean is subject to hurricanes from time to time.

 

[dioxide45]

From the New York Daily News:

U.S. Virgin Island officials have since confirmed dock security prevented those left behind from boarding the boat.

"What occurred with non-Mariott guests was a necessity, that is normal, legal protocol," U.S. Virign Islands Department of Tourism commissioner Beverly Nicholas-Doty told NBC.

The problem wasn't who was and who wasn't a Marriott guest, it was who was and who wan't on the manifest. Marriott didn't have the time or resources to obtain names and DOBs for guests not staying at their hotels. They did what they had to do for their guests. These people shouldn't be blaming Marriott, they should be blaming their hotels for not taking care of their guests.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Wonder if David & Robin received it. They're in VGV like me.

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No I didn't - but saw on their FB page

 

[LisaRex]

Already working it out with my renters. I am offering to rebook them but am not offering a refund. I always recommend travel insurance as part of my rental contracts.

FWIW, I think that's quite nice of you.

 

[SandyPGravel]

No I didn't - but saw on their FB page

I just received the email.

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[okwiater]

Stories from people on the island: http://mashable.com/2017/09/13/hurr...utm_cid=mash-com-fb-science-link#gLY_l7OOwaqD

 

[DavidnRobin]

I just received the email.

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Me too.
Enjoying our time at WKORV. Weather here has been awesome (if you like the heat) - writing from our favorite spot on beach.

We are all cried out.
Going to wait a few months and see how things pan out.
Figure it will take a while to hear from VGV HOA BOD. Hopefully sooner than later.





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[Helios]

Wonder if David & Robin received it. They're in VGV like me.

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I didn't receive it and own 1 VGV and 1 SB.

 

[Helios]

Me too.
Enjoying our time at WKORV. Weather here has been awesome (if you like the heat) - writing from our favorite spot on beach.

We are all cried out.
Going to wait a few months and see how things pan out.
Figure it will take a while to hear from VGV HOA BOD. Hopefully sooner than later.





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I still haven't received an email. My VGV resies are for Thanksgiving and week after, so that probably explains why no emails yet. My SB resie is for Easter week, I should have received one already

 

[SMHarman]

As unfair as it seems, your usage rights are to your owned unit or to deposit in II. I see no reason for Vistana to allow a voluntary resale owner to receive StarOptions. It's not like people don't know that the Caribbean is subject to hurricanes from time to time.

But let's think about that deposit for a second. Vistana is allowing a deposit of an uninhabitable unit because they can substitute the actual deposit with another unit so there is not a like for like there due to exceptional circumstances.

Being as a wsj > ii would always be a bad trade and they are pulling the inventory they are depositing to ii from somewhere ( lots of mud season ski or shoulder in the Carolinas?) then why can't they create a similar imbalance on the SO system.

Bank and borrow also creates a Theta based imbalance.