Wyndham Kingsgate Board Meeting

[Miss Marty]

Q:

Anyone going to the Kingsgate
Meeting in Williamsburg Virginia

 

[Miss Marty]

Kingsgate Resort Williamsburg Virginia

The next annual meeting for the

Fairfield Kingsgate Property Owners Association Inc
will be held on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 in
the Governors Green Equestrian Club at 10:00 a.m.

www. kingsgateresortwilliamsburg .com

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

Ya know, I find it funny that the kingsgate meeting is being held at Governors Green...

Maybe it's just me that finds that funny...

 

[Cheryl20772]

Ya know, I find it funny that the kingsgate meeting is being held at Governors Green...

Maybe it's just me that finds that funny...

Not really, if you know that place. The three resorts there are very close together. A large meeting room is needed and GG is newer and probably larger.

 

[Jerry in NJ]

Will be there!

Hi All,

Plan on being there as I threw my name in the ring to run for the board! I got my candidates form in early this year when I was in Williamsburg for the Fourth of July during our yearly family vacation tradition.

After three years of special assessment, double digit maintenance fee increases, activities fees charged to owners using our weeks at the resort, removal of the hot tubs in the rooms and downsizing of bedding from Kings to queen size in the one bedrooms during renovations I think we need a change. I did attend the meeting last year and saw that the board was quite disconnected from the owners in attendance. Even when there were multiple owners wanting to ask questions the board closed the meeting at about noon as that was the time that was allotted for the public Board meeting. Effectively this shut down many people that had concerns and wanted to be heard. Hope to bring a new outlook to this long standing board.

Marti it has to be seven or eight years when we all got to meet with a group of Tuggers at Seasons Restaurant in Colonial Williamsburg. Maybe we can arrange a dinner and get together the night before the annual meeting on Tuesday, September 21st..

We own three weeks ( 546,000 points ) at Kingsgate. I plan to post my candidates form on Tug and the Wyndham forums. If anyone has questions I can be reached at:

Dotjerry1@msn.com and I am not adverse to picking up the phone and speaking to anyone about Kingsgate.

Jerry in NJ

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

OK, as a Kingsgate owner, I'll bite...

What is your reason for running? What should be done? How would you do better than what we presently have?

Honestly, I can see the point of every change you reference that "they" made. The removal of the Hot Tubs reduces the overall cost of running the resort by a significant amount. Not in just the energy costs to heat the water...the water itself, AND the inevitable maintenance cost to keep a Hot Tub, well, Hot Tubbing. And the cleaning and disinfecting of a Hot Tub...the less you know, the better in this case. The reduction of Kings to Queens increases the amount of space available in the room and Queens are cheaper than Kings. Just go look at the cost of bedding to confirm that one. OK, so the cost savings are fairly minor on that one...the space saving is real.

So, what are you going to do better and why should I chuck a current board member for you? One more thing...just because you do not like the way it is running now will not sway my vote.

It's an honest question...give me a reason to vote for you...and since there are more than a few owners that read this forum, consider this a fantastic opportunity to reach the interested (read voting into that) portion of the electorate.

Ball back in your court.

 

[Miss Marty]

RE: Q: Why should I chuck a current board member (for you)?

The key to success is that Board membership should have staggered terms
so that new members are coming on and old ones are going off regularly.
It keeps your board fresh and open to new ideas.

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

That's definitely one...we do the same thing on our Recreational League Soccer Board

 

[Jerry in NJ]

Response to Rob and Carol Q

Response to Rob and Carol Q

Let’s see what I can do to answer your questions: starting with why I am running for the board. I own just under 1.2 million points with 546,000 of them at Kingsgate. This equates in maintenance charges on the converted weeks of 2 double shares and 1 triple share. When I paid over 2500 dollars in special assessment (over three years) I have to ask questions and be concerned. (Over 2100 in yearly fees) I do own at other resorts that have done complete renovations and have paid small or no special assessment. We also have been hit with larger maintenance fee increases after the special assessment than other resorts. Hopefully I could have been the voice on the board that took the approach to have prudent reserves allocated for impending renovation expenses.

Answering the king to queen issue. When most people are on vacation they use the bedroom for sleeping. If I bought a fixed week with a king size bed I would be very upset. Think about the families who travel with one or two small children. Sometimes on vacation they end up in the bed with Mom and Dad because they are scared of sleeping in a strange place. Personally I do not see a large enough cost savings to change and downgrade the unit configuration of what people bought originally.

I take your points about the expenses in relationship to hot tubs very seriously. Maybe it was a good cost cutting move. Regretfully I cannot answer that, as I do not have the detailed financials. This is not for the lack of requesting them from the existing board. I placed my request in May. I have received copies of most meeting minutes as requested but have not been sent any of the financial documentation. This brings me to answering your previous questions about what should be done and how I could do better. Without the financial documentation I cannot answer the question of what should be done. But how I will do better would start with complete transparency of the board.

Here is where I will not bite, to put it in your terminology!

I am not going to knock anyone that serves on a volunteer board. Do I agree with all the past actions of the Kingsgate Board? Obviously I do not. But I will show the respect and appreciation they deserve for giving up their time and energy to serve on the board and will not knock them in a public forum. But as I said before I hope to bring a new outlook to the board. I am not going to post my Candidates Form till it is closer to the election as I am not sure of TUGS rules in reference to “campaigning”.

If you would like copies of the past meeting minutes that were forwarded to me I would be glad to send them to you or other Kingsgate owners, please send me an e-mail at dotjerry1@msn.com

On a side note, nothing in the minutes I have received explains the Trustee Sale that is taking place later this month.

Jerry Thompson ( Jerry in NJ )
Manahawkin, NJ

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

Valid point back at you...without financials, all this is hot air. And I didn't consider the fact that folks purchased units and/or points with the understanding that there would be Kings.

I do, unfortunately, understand why they would want to keep the entire financial picture under wraps. As a member of our local Soccer Association, we have found that there is a point where too much info can be released. We tried once to justify a $5 registration increase (between $2500-3000 total) by releasing our annual budget to the interested public. OMG! The number of folks that lets us know we were wasting funding "Taxing" the public was astounding to me. Of course, none of the whiners were willing to join our board to assist us in finding good stuff at a lower cost. They just wanted to complain and tell us how screwed up we were. Well, after about a week of that, we voted to limit access to our financial records to the city and anyone who filed a FOIA with them. Simplified our budgeting process considerably and we are still subject to regular scrutiny from the city...from a gal who knows things.

Honestly, I think just talking back and forth is the best campaigning you could do...though I'm not sure how you would reach the rest of the Kingsgate owners...

 

[Miss Marty]

Wyndham Kingsgate - 2010 Annual Meeting - Update


Jerry Thompson ( Jerry in NJ )

Did anyone go to the Wyndham Kingsgate Sept 22, 2010 Annual Meeting
Please update whats new and who won the two Board of Director seats.

 

[rickandcindy23]

You might be surprised how many Kingsgate owners are right here on TUG. We own well over 1 million Kingsgate points and don't want anymore special assessments, either.

I would also like to know who our new board members are.

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

Well, you got at least two votes Jerry...I'm assuming you voted for yourself.

I just checked the Kingsgate website, no news.http://www.kingsgateresortwilliamsburg.com/kingsgate/Welcome.html

Do note that this website is not the Wyndham site.

 

[timeos2]

Wyndham contols - thats the way it is.

You might be surprised how many Kingsgate owners are right here on TUG. We own well over 1 million Kingsgate points and don't want anymore special assessments, either.

I would also like to know who our new board members are.

Back when I owned at Kingsgate (as recently as last week but today I'm an ex-owner!) I applied for Board membership. Strangely they "lost" the application until it was too late to send out on time thus never got an actual chance to run. Of course they had no problem getting the Wyndham employee names on the ballot and, since others didn't make it, surprisingly they won! What a crock.

Wyndham tries to make it appear they are following the rules and opening the Board to the real owners but in reality they make sure the control stays with them 100% of the time. They will bemoan the need for special assessments to cover what should have been saved for and funded in past years but take no responsibility for the fact that they called the shots/set the rates when the reserves were seriously and IMO knowingly underfunded to aid sales.

Surprise! Sales taper off, suddenly we "need" all the work done (and we did) but there are no funds to cover it. A three year $400+ assessment per week and we're back where we should have been but, as far as I could tell, still underfunding going forward. But we have those great Wyndham backed Board member "looking out" for us or is it the Wyndham bottom line? You decide.

I got out not because of that, I still very much like the overall Wyndham system and consider it to be one of the truly great deals in all of timeshare for a great, multi-resort timeshare system at resale prices - NEVER at retail - but health has reared it's ugly head making us cut back. Unfortunately Kingsgate was one I was able to move relatively quickly (again showing that there is a basically good value there) so now I'm an ex-DVC and ex-Wyndham system owner. I hope to add ex-Wastegate to that list soon but that is a much harder time to get out of.

I've attended Kingsgate HOA meetings as well as Fairshare system annual meetings and, as expected, it's all show, no meat and the control is and stays with Wyndham. If you don't like that then Wyndham doesn't work as it looks like its not going to change going forward.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I feel that Jerry has been attacked a bit in this thread. I wish I had seen it earlier, because any owner that cares to take on big business, specifically Wyndham, for my benefit, I am going to wholeheartedly back that candidate.

John, I wonder what Wyndham resorts are indeed owner controlled? Does anyone know?

What bothers me is the blatant lying of the candidates. Why not say you work for Wyn? Why make up a] line of garbage about your interest in the resort. We have no way of knowing who is Wyndham and who is a private owner, by reading the candidates' paragraphs or seeing their occupations.

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

I feel that Jerry has been attacked a bit in this thread.

Really? I thought I merely asked him to justify me voting for him and he willingly stepped up to the plate and took a few swings. Baseball metaphors are appropriate given that the Cincinnati Reds are just two games away from capturing a playoff spot.

Did fine in my book as I actually went and filed the proxy thing for him.

Honestly, I don't see an attack.

 

[Rob&Carol Q]

Yeah, I'm double posting...but this news is worth it...

From an email I just received....

=============
Thank you for your inquiry on our Association website. Mr. Gerald “Jerry” Thompson and Mr. Christopher Wiedle were the two owners elected by the Association onto the Board of Directors.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Judy Moham
Administrative Support Coordinator
Wyndham Vacation Resorts
Wyndham Kingsgate

Office: 757-259-8478
Cell: 757-592-8988
Fax: 757-259-6991

judy.moham@wyndhamvo.com
Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a Wyndham Worldwide company
www.wyndhamworldwide.com
==============

Congratulations!
Guess my vote mattered...

 

[Miss Marty]

This calls for a celebration!


Congratulations to our friend Jerry (and his family) in New Jersey
You met the challenge with determination, strength, and total confidence!

 

[Jerry in NJ]

Hi All,

I would to say THANK YOU for all the support I received from TUG members while running for the Kingsgate board.

I want to thank all of you that called and e-mailed me with advice and concerns over the last few weeks. It has truly been a great learning experience.

Thank you again,

Jerry Thompson

 

[rickandcindy23]

So good to hear you are on the board. I am so happy for all of us.

 

[timeos2]

Although I am now an ex-Kingsgate owner you had my votes & you go to it! Owners there need real representation and not just the Wyndham view and fees. Congratulations & get busy!