Minister of Tourism Ted Richardson and the St. Maarten Timeshare Association (SMTA) held an urgent meeting on Monday to discuss recent developments regarding the new owner of Caravanserai Resort, Alegria Real Estate, and its relations with people who have purchased timeshare rights at the property. Parties agreed that a meeting would be sought in an effort to resolve the situation where these persons were told they have lost those rights.
In its press release, SMTA said that while it is a resort association, its primary mission is to represent the best interests of timeshare in St. Maarten. "The current state of affairs with Alegria offering to annul unilaterally the timeshare rights purchased since 2007 does not foster this goal, and so the SMTA has chosen to act as an advocate for the timeshare owners in resolving this quickly and in a way that serves everyone's best interests."
The association said the minister had agreed at its request to invite the principals of the Alegria Real Estate company, the head of the St. Maarten Scotiabank and SMTA to sit together to come to a quick solution that would not require court action to resolve these issues and to see that the usage rights that had been purchased were honoured.
"The minister is certain that we can come to an agreement that will benefit our tourism, investors and the industry alike," SMTA added.
"This past September provides a major insight into the importance of the timeshare industry and our timeshare tourists in St. Maarten's economy. Off-season tourism occupancy is considered the 'Holy Grail' of Caribbean tourism programmes. Timeshare resorts in St. Maarten, which make up over 70 per cent of the island's tourism beds, had an occupancy in excess of 65 per cent on average for the month," the release stated.
