July 2021
Dear Fellow Member of the Virgin Grand Condominium Owners Association:
We recently participated, as your owner-elected directors, in a conference call meeting of the Association’s Board of Directors.
Status of the resort
General Manager Eugene Martin reported that the resort has been near full occupancy this spring and summer and is expecting occupancy of more than 96% of the units for the remainder of the year. About three fourths of the expected occupancy is from owners, their guests, or people renting from them; the rest are from Vistana Signature Network exchanges into the resort, users of Bonvoy points, or renters of developer-owned units. The beach is fully open. Snorkels continues to be open and was recently allowed by the Virgin Islands authorities to seat people at the bar as well as at tables spaced four feet apart. The Virgin Islands continues to impose restrictions that have been lifted elsewhere; for example, as of this writing, even fully vaccinated persons must wear masks in indoor public places (such as the resort’s lobby) except when eating or drinking, and a negative COVID test within five days before arrival is still required for travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
As you know from previous reports, progress toward reopening the Lemongrass restaurant was impeded by the pandemic. The management company is now in the late stages of discussions with a vendor who might operate the restaurant starting late in 2021 or early in 2022. If the negotiations fall through, the resort plans to operate the restaurant itself, possibly on a limited basis.
HVAC-related repairs
Reconstruction of the resort after Hurricane Irma in 2017 left some units subject to microbial infestation, in part because components of the HVAC systems were not properly located or insulated, causing condensation and water damage. The management company agreed that the work necessary to improve and insulate the HVAC systems would be done at its expense. The first phase of that work, mostly on the pool villas, was completed in late 2019 and very early 2020, before the pandemic took hold. The second and final phase of the work will be done in the remaining months of this year.
Specifically, new vertical fan coil units will be installed in the 16 hillside end units. This will require building closets for the equipment, and in buildings 32, 33 and 34, the construction will result in the loss of approximately six square feet of usable space. The Board approved the loss of that space because it will result in significantly improved air quality in the units. In addition, the existing fan coil units in buildings 43 and 44 will be moved to spaces above one of the second floor bathrooms that can better be insulated and that will allow them to be more easily serviced.
This work may involve moving a few owners from their units in the affected buildings to similar units in their reserved weeks this fall, while work is done on their units, but Mr. Martin and his staff are working to keep those disruptions to a minimum.
We want to remind owners not to leave open their front doors, windows, or sliding doors to balconies and decks. Leaving them open lets in the moist tropical air, which facilitates the growth of bacteria and fungus. The air conditioning equipment installed after Hurricane Irma has up-to-date humidity control, but it cannot function as expected if the units are exposed to tropical moisture beyond what is necessary. With the Board’s encouragement, the resort will soon place stickers on the sliding glass doors with reminders to keep them closed.
The sliding panels in buildings 41 and 42
For many years, the vast majority of owners of units in buildings 41 and 42 have asked the Board to replace the sliding panels in the upstairs bedrooms with a solid wall. In 2013, the management company stated that this could not be done without the unanimous consent of owners of the unit in question, as it was considered a material alteration to the unit. For each of the twelve affected units, at least one owner either objected or did not respond to emails and phone calls from management. Marriott Vacations Worldwide (“MVW”) is willing to take a new look at this issue and will report back to the Board in the near future.
Foreclosures and resales
Owners who have not paid their maintenance fees are locked out of their units, and their ownership is liened. Nevertheless, some of these owners have not paid their fees for years, imposing the fixed costs of maintaining the resort on all the rest of us. For the past twelve years, the Board has authorized the initiation of foreclosure proceedings against owners who are seriously delinquent. These lawsuits have resulted in foreclosures by our Association, which is then free to sell the unit-weeks. At our next Board meeting, we will consider authorizing more foreclosure lawsuits against delinquent owners. If you are delinquent, please make arrangements to pay what you owe and avoid the cost and aggravation of having to defend a lawsuit.
We know that some owners have suffered income losses, some of them pandemic-related, and we remind you of what we said in our March report: MVW has to date declined to create a repurchase plan, but it is maintaining a list of owners who want to resell their units to the developer. In addition, MVW is willing to discuss personal circumstances with any owner. To get on the list or discuss your personal situation, call the resale department in Orlando at 866-682-4547, Monday through Friday or email
Resale.Operations@mvwc.com. The elected Board members would be pleased to hear reports of experiences from owners who contact this department.
The road
You will recall that MVW plans to sell property it owns up the hill from Virgin Grand, and that in March 2020 it proposed to allow access to the property, for construction and for the purchasers of homes on that property, through the road that leads up to the hillside parking lots. MVW requested that our Board agree to allow the use of that road. All of the Virgin Grand owners we consulted are opposed to opening the road for those purposes and we communicated that to MVW. MVW reported at this meeting that it is not currently considering using the road through Virgin Grand (nor is it considering an alternate route that we’d suggested through Estate Chocolate Hole). Therefore, at least for now, this is no longer an issue for our Association.
Possible future hurricanes
We have begun to give some thought to the role of the six owners associations in the event of a future hurricane or other natural disaster comparable to Hurricane Irma in 2017. We think that advance planning is better than decision-making in the immediate wake of a catastrophe. We have asked the management company for its thoughts about how any future disasters should be handled, and it has promised to respond before our September meeting.
Our personal gratitude to the general manager
We want to add that we have a great deal of confidence in Eugene Martin, who has now completed more than a year as General Manager. He has been extremely responsive to owner concerns, and he has just reinstated his weekly on-property forums with owners, which he had to discontinue during the pandemic. We encourage you to share with him your thoughts about the resort, both negative and positive. He is trying very hard to make the experience at the resort a joyful one for owners and their families and guests.
I tried changing to 5 nights, just for giggles and received the same error. Of course it's Sunday...
