TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Random thoughts

I owned two different condos on Saint Martin for almost 20 years and sold the second one in the middle of 2016. And of course everybody tells me that we were so lucky to do it and avoid Irma and everything connected with that. How come I don’t feel so lucky???? Mostly I just miss it and feel very sad that Irma happened and changed the island forever. Our last trip there was in July of 2017 and we had a great time. I kept thinking that even though we don’t own here anymore I can still visit and get my “ Saint Martin” fix. But of course everything changed. We still have great friends that live there and we talk but of course that can’t be the subject of every conversation. It’s boring and depressing after a while. But I feel like I lost a great friend and I never thought that I could feel that way about any place. It just points out to me how lucky all of us were to spend quality time there and be a part of such great experiences.

It is my hope that everybody connected with the island prospers in 2018 and things get better and a sense of normalcy returns. It is a wonderful and special place and I just wish that none of this ever happened. My thoughts are always with everybody there and when things have improved we’ll be there again. I really miss it.

Bob Jacobs

Bob,
Many of us have had the same good feelings about Sint Maarten. Unfortunately for some of us that still "own" timeshares, those warm feelings we had are being replaced with anger and frustration by the actions (or lack of action) taken by some resort management. Many of us have lost valuable vacation weeks and are being offered little or no fair consideration or compensation for our losses. We get no response to our communication requests except "Pay more $". Belair Beach Hotel is a small facility so they cannot use the excuse that may be valid for the larger resorts. It's sad that the good people that actually run this resort have to follow the orders from the resort owners in New York. In summary, I think you should start feeling "lucky".

Tom--I'm confused, Belair is back open, isn't it?

No, Belair is scheduled to reopen mid March 2018 but timeshare folks that lost their weeks are being told to go with RCI, or swap them between March and end of year if dates are available, in meantime, pay new maintenance charges of $1,310/week now. No information on availability and since I actually paid for 2017 week 52 in 2016 I simply asked for more information and options. No response.

OK, sorry, I thought I read here they were already open. I imagine there is going to be a flood of people surrendering their timeshares this year, especially places like Flamingo and Royal Palm..

Yes, Carol,
I think there will be lots of people that love SXM but don't like picking up the tab for resort owners that really don't care about folks that have been long term customers. Asking people to continue to pay even though they lost money already invested is unfair or even unethical in my opinion. The excuse that you cannot get a response to legitimate questions and concerns because phone or internet service is "spotty" is running thin. We have never missed a year in 30 years at the Belair but it took Irma to show us our real worth to the people in New York that own the place.

The Belair Beach phones are working, and they are working hard on reservations, The first floor will not be ready for the soft opening, but things are moving along, there appears to be an issue with RCI and RCI points, some have been able to make reservations, others are not able. I am fortunate that my reservations as a time share owner for over 25 years is scheduled, and will be going down for three weeks and another room for family, we always go 40 and 41, this year adding 42 and another room for family on 40. Looking forward to being at our HAPPY PLACE. Flights are a different story, hopefully the airlines will go down before October!! Over 900 from NY R/T with a stop over in Atlanta for one person. two years ago I paid 430 R/T!!

Had Irma never happened, we'd be on the beach right now completing our second week. But just moved one of our missed weeks to August thanks to a couple of emails to Paulina. Airfare from Boston thru PHL on American was $391 rt. On the wait list to see if we can pair the lost second week with one of our regular weeks when we we return next year with family. Happy things came together quickly with none of the hassles we heard impacted others.