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Dear Fellow Virgin Grand Villas Owners:
It is with great pleasure that we, (Melissa and Walter), your owner representatives on the Virgin Grand Villas – St. John Condominium Owners Association Board, have this opportunity to write a brief letter conveying to you our thoughts, impressions and the issues discussed during our association’s board meeting that was held on property January 19th.
First and foremost, we want to thank those of you that either called, emailed and or stopped us while visiting St. John to provide us feedback on your unit’s “looks” as a result of the current refurbishment project. We enjoyed spending time with you whether it was at the reception or the board meeting.
While our refurbishment project has substantially moved forward on schedule and within budget, there are a few items that you need to be apprised of with regard to the completion of Phase I. Some of the units still have outstanding items such as a towel rack in the second bathroom and an additional shelf in the kitchen’s cabinet area above the sink that the project team has agreed to add.
Additionally, the team is waiting on delivery of an area rug to be placed by the sofa as well as some shower stall dams. Other items that have been replaced in this Phase are the water heaters and the air conditioning units (high efficiency chilled water system instead of individual air conditioning units).
As you may already be aware, Phase II of this project will commence in April of this year. Phase II will complete the overall project and includes updating Building 32 and replacing the tub area upstairs in the three bedroom villas of Buildings 43 & 44 with a walk-in shower to eliminate the water overflow problems of the past. This work is scheduled to be finished in November.
As part of the ongoing replacements, a soft goods refurbishment in Building 31 is scheduled to start in September. Included in this upgrade are sofas, lounge chairs, sheers, carpet, and interior paint.
The last major project remaining is the roof replacement along with the windows and doors. The SVO staff is currently meeting with specialists and will be on site within the next 30 days to focus on the issues pertaining to the roof. The board is hopeful that by the latter part of this year we can be under contract with work commencing during the first quarter of 2011. The goal is to install roofs, windows and doors that will provide high insulation, achieve low maintenance costs, blend in with the surroundings, and provide durability for many years to come while staying within our proposed budget.
However, the changes don’t stop there. We, (Melissa, the Board and I) have had numerous discussions with the interim General Manger, Kim Chappell, as well as with the new General Manager, Mike Ryan. Both have promised a renewed focus on not just the “bricks & mortar”, but the other services that impact our resort community… more specifically, SERVICE-ATTITUDE-RESPONSIVENESS. While the “jury” is still out on this aspect (some improvement has been noted on the resort comment cards), we welcome this approach and would like your feedback as the villas move forward on this path of continued improvement.
Additionally, with regard to “responsiveness”, two action items have been undertaken. First, George King from the SVO office in Orlando has been on site for the past six months to reinstate the importance of the “STAR GUEST” system. This is the system that tracks issues reported by staff and guests/owners for repair, replacement, etc. Hopefully, the refocus on using this system will reduce repeated service calls as well as eliminate items that may have “fallen through the crack” here-to-fore.
Secondly, we have a new onsite Director of Operations assigned specifically to the villa units of Virgin Grand Villas and Bay Vista. John Ireland started his assignment January 18th and has already written in “his book” items for action that he heard at the reception as well as during our meeting. As he stated, some are quick to address and others are going to take some time and planning. I for one am very happy to see someone dedicated to “go after it” and get it done!
Last but not least, we are addressing the bad debt issues that have intensified during the past 18 months. To this end, the Board has approved funding to proceed with an aggressive collections approach whereby we as owners achieve several positive outcomes as we meet our goals. First we want to substantially collect and reduce the over $800,000 USD (several years’ impact) outstanding in past fees and place this in our account. The next step will be to re-sell the unit to a new owner who will pay the annual fees associated with the unit so that you and I don’t have to “fill the gap”. The amount is large enough to have an impact on our fees; however, the percentage of delinquent accounts is less than 5 percent of total association members.
In closing, Melissa and I would like to assure each and every one of you that it has been and continues to be a challenging situation to recommend the difficult decisions that we have suggested to our board regarding the repairs, upgrades and changes to our villas to the benefit of all. We understand that no one looks for nor enjoys ANY increase in fees. However, very few of our owners would look forward to arriving at their favorite vacation destination and not finding the quality of accommodations and service they expect. We are hopeful that the majority of the 3,900 co-owners agree and enjoy the new changes. We know that it is a difficult task to have all owners agree; however, we are making decisions that we hope you will approve of upon your return. Melissa and our families look forward to meeting some of you at our annual meeting and more importantly, during your stay on St. John.
Wishing all of you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year,
Cordially yours,
Walter DeCastro and Melissa Brookes"
Dear Fellow Virgin Grand Villas Owners:
It is with great pleasure that we, (Melissa and Walter), your owner representatives on the Virgin Grand Villas – St. John Condominium Owners Association Board, have this opportunity to write a brief letter conveying to you our thoughts, impressions and the issues discussed during our association’s board meeting that was held on property January 19th.
First and foremost, we want to thank those of you that either called, emailed and or stopped us while visiting St. John to provide us feedback on your unit’s “looks” as a result of the current refurbishment project. We enjoyed spending time with you whether it was at the reception or the board meeting.
While our refurbishment project has substantially moved forward on schedule and within budget, there are a few items that you need to be apprised of with regard to the completion of Phase I. Some of the units still have outstanding items such as a towel rack in the second bathroom and an additional shelf in the kitchen’s cabinet area above the sink that the project team has agreed to add.
Additionally, the team is waiting on delivery of an area rug to be placed by the sofa as well as some shower stall dams. Other items that have been replaced in this Phase are the water heaters and the air conditioning units (high efficiency chilled water system instead of individual air conditioning units).
As you may already be aware, Phase II of this project will commence in April of this year. Phase II will complete the overall project and includes updating Building 32 and replacing the tub area upstairs in the three bedroom villas of Buildings 43 & 44 with a walk-in shower to eliminate the water overflow problems of the past. This work is scheduled to be finished in November.
As part of the ongoing replacements, a soft goods refurbishment in Building 31 is scheduled to start in September. Included in this upgrade are sofas, lounge chairs, sheers, carpet, and interior paint.
The last major project remaining is the roof replacement along with the windows and doors. The SVO staff is currently meeting with specialists and will be on site within the next 30 days to focus on the issues pertaining to the roof. The board is hopeful that by the latter part of this year we can be under contract with work commencing during the first quarter of 2011. The goal is to install roofs, windows and doors that will provide high insulation, achieve low maintenance costs, blend in with the surroundings, and provide durability for many years to come while staying within our proposed budget.
However, the changes don’t stop there. We, (Melissa, the Board and I) have had numerous discussions with the interim General Manger, Kim Chappell, as well as with the new General Manager, Mike Ryan. Both have promised a renewed focus on not just the “bricks & mortar”, but the other services that impact our resort community… more specifically, SERVICE-ATTITUDE-RESPONSIVENESS. While the “jury” is still out on this aspect (some improvement has been noted on the resort comment cards), we welcome this approach and would like your feedback as the villas move forward on this path of continued improvement.
Additionally, with regard to “responsiveness”, two action items have been undertaken. First, George King from the SVO office in Orlando has been on site for the past six months to reinstate the importance of the “STAR GUEST” system. This is the system that tracks issues reported by staff and guests/owners for repair, replacement, etc. Hopefully, the refocus on using this system will reduce repeated service calls as well as eliminate items that may have “fallen through the crack” here-to-fore.
Secondly, we have a new onsite Director of Operations assigned specifically to the villa units of Virgin Grand Villas and Bay Vista. John Ireland started his assignment January 18th and has already written in “his book” items for action that he heard at the reception as well as during our meeting. As he stated, some are quick to address and others are going to take some time and planning. I for one am very happy to see someone dedicated to “go after it” and get it done!
Last but not least, we are addressing the bad debt issues that have intensified during the past 18 months. To this end, the Board has approved funding to proceed with an aggressive collections approach whereby we as owners achieve several positive outcomes as we meet our goals. First we want to substantially collect and reduce the over $800,000 USD (several years’ impact) outstanding in past fees and place this in our account. The next step will be to re-sell the unit to a new owner who will pay the annual fees associated with the unit so that you and I don’t have to “fill the gap”. The amount is large enough to have an impact on our fees; however, the percentage of delinquent accounts is less than 5 percent of total association members.
In closing, Melissa and I would like to assure each and every one of you that it has been and continues to be a challenging situation to recommend the difficult decisions that we have suggested to our board regarding the repairs, upgrades and changes to our villas to the benefit of all. We understand that no one looks for nor enjoys ANY increase in fees. However, very few of our owners would look forward to arriving at their favorite vacation destination and not finding the quality of accommodations and service they expect. We are hopeful that the majority of the 3,900 co-owners agree and enjoy the new changes. We know that it is a difficult task to have all owners agree; however, we are making decisions that we hope you will approve of upon your return. Melissa and our families look forward to meeting some of you at our annual meeting and more importantly, during your stay on St. John.
Wishing all of you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year,
Cordially yours,
Walter DeCastro and Melissa Brookes"
