TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Atrium assessment.

just received notification that The Atrium Resort investments LTD in the U.S.is demanding a $750.asessment per unit. Demanding payment before Dec.1st.
If not received by then, you will incur a $50.penalty plus 18% interest.

Without being insensitive, as "owners" we should have been informed as to the actual extent of damages and the economics of insurance on the property. I have asked for this and they keep blaming extreme situations and lack of ability to communicate with Island.

My question is..."if they are spending the money and projecting and opening date" why can't they explain the situation to the "owners". While I LOVE the Atrium...I smell a class action lawsuit.

I haven't received anything yet, so I am hoping that for some reason this is not true.

Good luck with that.

Received my special assessment for 3 weeks ($2,250)in the mail today. Ouch! The accompanying letter of explanation was generally vague having few details relating directly to the resort's financial burden caused by Irma. It did reference the resorts anticipated 75% plus decrease in revenue for the next several months. As a small business hotel owner, it has always been a priority for me to purchase property insurance coverage which included a "loss of revenue" clause. Am I being too cynical thinking Festiva saw an opportunity and struck while the iron was hot? The special assessment fee seems exorbitant and would have made more sense accompanied by financials justifying the fee.

$750 X 87 units X 52 weeks = $3,393,000

I was told by Festiva today that the property did have insurance. Perhaps with a high deductible, but from what we have heard...the resort did not suffer major damage. Once again...no official details of damages.

I was told the HOA determined the assessment. I have never heard about the HO or seen any documents/financials relating to the HOA. Festiva reps keep saying that they are only management agents...they don't set prices, etc. But they won't give details on who does.

This whole things smells like fraud to me. Some operating costs will be reduced with no or low occupancy. What happens if the revenue decrease is not as bad as projected?

I am awaiting a call from the director of the Atrium...who is employed by Festiva/Patton Mgmt.

another question...75% reduction what revenue? Are they assuming that maintenance fee's won't be paid? Don't maintenance fees cover the cost of operating the resort?

My week was canceled by the resort for this year- actually had reserved this week - but my 2017 maintenance fee was paid as I assume all other weeks this year that have been canceled.

This means the was ZERO reduction in revenue. I guess they make some money by renting unsold weeks... We need some real firm numbers.

It's really a matter of principal here. They will chase you down to the end of the earth to get that AMF.

there is a group on FB setup to discuss with owners... https://www.facebook.com/groups/639137756475621/

I have no involvement in this specific issue but I do remember past "special assessments" for hurricanes including Luis. No difference in my opinion to businesses in US that choose to under insure so they can maximize profits and then expect someone else to finance their bad decisions when the s!@# hits the fan. Many of us did that in SXM and I, for one won't do it again.

I'm no lawyer but the target should be Festiva, a US company...

Can anyone send me text or a pict of the letter? I'd like to pass it on to a number of people.

Festiva is notorious for interpreting their contracts to mean that although you have a right to use for so many years, in actuality you are obligated to pay maint fees for all those years and cannot walk away without them referring your case to their in house collection agency. Attorney Generals in numerous states have sued them for fraud. Be careful out there!

For those Atrium owners who don't remember, they did this same thing when Festiva bought the property in 2010. They made a "special assessment" to the timeshare owner's, apparently because they didn't do their due diligence regarding finances before buying the property. The Atrium contract that I and everyone else signed specifically stated that there would NEVER be any special assessments for any reason. A large percentage of timeshare owners sued, and went to the Dutch version of court. After countless delays, the judge finally ruled that, even though the contracts we signed said no special assessments, he would allow it this one time. I told Festiva to stick it, and walked away. I'm glad I did.

Good for you. There have been and will be so many people being conned by some timeshare resorts. Unwilling to read your original agreement? Paying more than conventional rentals and believing baseless claims or threats made by unethical people?
Barnum was right. "One born every minute!"
Sad.

You might want to rethink your stance. Without time share owners buying into a timeshsre, time share resorts would not be there for you to rent and have a place to stay. I any an owner of 4 weeks at a time share in st maarten and don't regret it one minute. I might get a special assesment and I might not but if I do I'll pay it and look forward to many more years at my home away from home.

He said some, not all. I too am a happy owner, but I think the reputable timeshares are the exception and not the norm, at least on SXM.

There are many fine places to stay on SXM that have no connection with timeshares, have never been a timeshare, and will never be timeshares. Your statement about timeshares providing places to stay is true, as far as it goes, but there are far more non-timeshare facilities that provide quality accommodations without the risk of foreign financial investment.

If you count the Timeshare Resort beds on St Maarten prior to Irma, they far out numbered available private rental properties and hotel beds.

Sorry, you assume that the only place to stay is at timeshares, which is not correct.

No I'm not stating that at all. Just more beds available in time share resorts in sxm.

...which are financed by those who pay those overpriced annual maintenance fees, versus what you can get if you just rent..

Maybe you need a rethink on this one, Scuba. Timeshares in SXM or anywhere for that matter are worthwhile as long as they have an advantage over conventional resort rentals. Their popularity went downhill after maintenance fees went too high. Need proof? Check the internet and see how many people are selling them for next to nothing or 0. I have High Season timeshares but I don't kid myself about their current value. I have enjoyed them for a very long time but will end them if I need to. I think we will see many do just that in the near future.

Some are high some are not. Without those time share resort beds made available the law of supply and demand will kick in on the private villa and hotel rates.

Good statement but as more people walk away just means more beds available to rent. Just showing timeshares have their place on sxm.

As often seen on this board, we can agree to disagree on this topic. I think timeshare anywhere, especially after an Irma will continue to lose popularity. Time will tell.

Not sure how anyone still gets caught up in that "ownership" in St. Maarten. My friend used to sell TS (until Irma) and we don't see eye to eye on the topic.

The beds aren't going to go away. With more t/s 'owners' walking away, there will be MORE beds available for others to rent. ...once they are all repaired after the hurricane, that is.

I have heard at least two (and I think three) different radio ads for companies to help timeshare owners get out of their timeshare "legally". I wonder if it is coincidental these ads are appearing with the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean?

Timeshares have always been a matter of opinion. For some it works, for others their answer is no way. It worked for us initially. Grace and I were always making excuses and not taking a vacation. Once we had a timeshare those excuses seemed silly. It worked until Pelican got out of hand.

Since then we have bought another timeshare in Cabo San Lucas for a stupidly low price. The AM is not crazy. We have never been there and have used it to trade into SXM the last 4 years. So again, timeshare is working for us.

As always, this is JMHO

We always get phone calls & mail offers. As far as timeshares, I don't think I could rent a two bed, two bath sleeps six on the beach in Feb. for less than $1500.00. That is what I own at SBR.

I think you would be surprised. We have done it many times.

I agree. We have same (2 br, 2 bath, sleep 6) right on the beach for $1,175/wk @ Belair. BUT, we have seen comparable offers via rental that enable you to go when you want (avoid the mob scene on Sat/Sun to go through Customs and Immigration). We, too have enjoyed our ts but that is subject to change dependent upon assessment and maintenance charges.
If we were to discontinue our ts, we may well go with rental @ Belair. It just opens other options.

We own one week at SBR and it works out great. Now would I advise anyone to purchase a timeshare? No. My wife purchased two weeks over 15 years ago, while we were engaged. I was not her husband and could not put my foot down...still can't ( I digress), but when she explained on how little she spent I was OK with it.

SBR (Pelican at the Time) sold us two weeks in September. They were in dire straights at the time and, to us, there was very little risk. We endured the drama of the Pelican Management fights and the foreclosure. We also thought of walking away because September just did not work out for us and the only way to get another week was to invest in...another week. Too costly because they realized with improvements they were charging more for the units. Skip ahead several years. They have now switched to points, we traded our two weeks, single bedroom, low season unit for a single week, two bedroom, high season unit. To us it works out great. Because we pay lower maintenance and a single week high season can translate to two weeks in the lower seasons and we can accrue up to two years. Is it the most economical deal? Maybe not. Is our TS an investment? Certainly not. But we crunched the numbers (the reps hate when you steal their calculator and star doing "math" in front of them) and year to year it works out decent. We love it because SBR is VASTLY improved, a known quantity, and to show up unpack for two weeks and head to the beach that's all we need. So to each his own....

Did you miss something in my post? That is what I posted earlier. Without timeshares those beds would not exist.

No, you miss MY point. The timeshares are already there. Regardless, this is not an argument that either one of us will convince the other on.

Regardless of if you think a timeshare is a good investment, or if you like yours that you own...they should be managed without fraud and live up to their contractural obligations.

The issue with The Atrium is they are assessing $3 million dollars or $1.2 from the timeshare owners- without showing any sort of budget or plan for this money.

I saw the Atrium letter. Not to transparent. At least they put something out. Diamond is yet to send any update or notifications out to us fixed week owners.

i think Scubaman is looking for gratitude

thank you Scubaman for buying into a timeshare, if it weren't for you philanthropists, we renters wouldn't have as many economical room choices without the unforeseen financial obligations <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/thanks.gif" alt="" />

p.s. and i'm sure the timeshare industry thanks you also!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Not looking for gratitude. Just stating the facts of what timeshares have done for the tourist industry in St Maarten. Have a nice day.

Calm down now people.

I've been called by Diamond and they followed up with an e-mail.