TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Flamingo update

FOLLOWING IS COPY AND PASTE FROM JEFF BERGER'S "EVERYTHING SXM" SITE:

On Thurs, Apr 12, Doug and I had a great visit with our friend, Mervin LeBlanc, Diamond Resorts GM for Royal Palm and Flamingo. We are friends-for-life after our shared concurrent Irma and 50 anniversary experiences at Flamingo. He is, as always, friendly, positive, practical and focused. We enjoyed hearing his perspective on the island, progress, recovery, and of course Flamingo and Diamond plans and direction. Diamond members in the Florida area who can attend the annual meeting next week can hear some of his views. He will be there. We all hope anyone attending will provide updates here

As I posted earlier, the fence along the beach was moved to provide beach access. People use the "Flamingo Beach" despite the condition, most days for morning swims and sunning. Mervin said “the beaches are public.” However, Flamingo must focus on the re-build and not on managing the beach, so it will be accessible, but without upkeep. With that access between Flamingo and Simpson Bay's Flamboyant,, people can also walk around to the rocky, rustic beach area to the south.

Mervin stressed that there are always risks when major construction is ongoing, and safety is foremost. So, using beach access must be restricted to the un-fenced areas with careful attention to stay outside the fenced construction zones.

The photos (we only took these views of the same space) is our OUR MUCH BELOVED LONGTIME OWNED STUDIO ROOM 7212 😥! Mervin/Flamingos using the next door 7210 as a “headquarters on site.” 7210 is also the only room to remain “intact” so they have it as a reference point as they work. As you can see from OUR ROOM, they are taking everything down to the concrete. While we were there they were doing mold treatment on the concrete walls. Mervin also said they are rebuilding so all the rooms’ perimeter walls will be concrete—that means replacing the sections that were previously framed. (Those were a big weakness as the framed walls provided Irma an outlet for tossing refrigerators and stoves into the hall.) We could see that not all rooms had partial perimeter framed wall sections, but he said the plan is to change so all is concrete. (Thank goodness! 😊) The rooms are being redesigned so the views will be more focal, and the “kitchens” will no longer have beds in them! Mervin said they want the rooms to reflect the laid back Caribbean mode—more color and “vacation!” It sounds exciting! Those plans are still in early stages so we can all watch for more to come.

As we walked through the building we could see how much has been done (and how much more must be done). We were surprised to see all that has been accomplished inside. It is ALL GOOD! They are doing the important work and not cutting corners to rush-to-finish and then “pay later.” Mervin said the planners have been tasked with finding rebuild needs to accelerate rebuilding and get guests/owners back into the space as soon as possible but still do a good job on the property. They MAY be able to sequence things so less crucial installations can be scheduled after opening the spaces.

We were happy to hear Mervin state that Diamond is not cutting corners. They want to reopen at as high a level property as possible. Many of we Flamingo and Royal Palm owners consider our site—the beauty of the terrain and the location on the island as premier. It deserves and can support an outstanding facility.

I think that many of us would be happy to be able to return to our “home” even if “the pictures were not all yet hung, or the sheer drapes were not yet delivered, etc.”

Please check your private messages.

Just did. It was a shared facebook post to another page and shared again after that by the original author.

We are staying at La Vista, with all the construction, will we be able to walk around the Flamingo and up to the Hollywood Casino? We understand that there was a path around the Flamingo which was shorter than walking back up the road and back around.

You’re going to have to go over the hill as they’ve blocked off both entrances at Flamingo.

You could also walk the beach around the Flamingo and come out at SBR. There is a beach access in between the two reports.