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

Belair Beach Hotel has announced to their timeshare owners that they have chosen to add an additional $380.00 to the weekly maintenance fee of $1,330 per year. They claim that this is needed to cover the cost of "infrastructure repairs and improvements". We have often heard from guests that the Belair is "dated". Looks to us like their solution is to have the timeshare owners foot the tab so that the real "owners" of the Belair can dodge their lease commitments and keep their profits high.

Tom is this a one time charge to your MF? Or do you mean your MF will increase by that much each year?

Yes, same question as RonDon. If this is a permanent increase, that is a pretty high AMF, perhaps as much as Diamond?

RonDon,
That question has been asked but no one is willing to respond. My opinion is that since such improvements are part of the normal proposed expenses and they have a reserve of $500,000. The (actual) owners have chosen to put this burden on the timeshare folks so their profits remain untouched.

Wow, not good. It makes it hard to know what to do, going forward. Best wishes...

At $1710.00 it will surpass the Flamingo MF for a 2 bed unit.

I know for a fact we could have rented at Simpson Bay resort villas in high season for less than that. Another example of why I would never buy a timeshare!!

Lets not go down that road again. Been hashed over many times. Works for some and not for others. Everybody has reasons for or against so let's respect that.

If it's a one time fee then it may be worth it if it gets you a remod on your unit. It was definitely worth it at SBR. Now if it's a reoccurring fee then it seems a tad above the norm.

..and...I just have to add that the convenience of having my perfect view prime time unit available every year for me at SBR s definitely a MAJOR plus.

Oh, and...I checked ..a junior suite (studio) at SBR Villas in January 2020 is listed at $2397 tax included. Yup, private rentals can obviously be a bit cheaper but you are working with a random availability.

Pick your poison...but don't spit out the other option

Divi imposed a "one-time fee" several years back and would not let people use their week until it was paid. On the other hand Divi offered another week if you paid it immediately. They should have called it a "single fee" for just before Irma they requested another one time fee. Last I heard a one bedroom MF was around $900. Sandflip would know since he's an owner there.

You could rent from the link here and save money and be close to the same area.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17355805?source_impression_id=p3_1570309541_n2Crw4KjfWidw5Yk

Wendell

Even if it is a one time fee, it demonstrates that the actual owners of Belair (New York City attorneys) can make up their own rules as they wish.

They are not using Irma to do this. They are claiming that "infrastructure repairs and improvements", which my lease says are part of my maintenance fee are the reason for the assessment. Again, I choose to believe that greed is actually the motivator here. Bear in mind that we have been going to the Belair for more than 30 years.

No matter, for us we have always agreed that when the maintenance fee reached the cost of a conventional rental (and we knew it would) we would end our timeshare at Belair. It appears that we have reached that point.

The sad part of this is that we really love the location and many of the people at the Belair, even with the possibility of the Pearl of China being a reality in the future, we were willing to continue but this is the proverbial last straw.
Some will say that we are giving the owners just what they want but I think that having the option of renting at other resorts will benefit us and save us a lot of money as it has for others who have chosen this option. Other timeshare owners and potential owners at Belair will make decisions that are best for them. They simply need to understand that the Belair owners have chosen to upgrade a dated resort without any negative impact to their bottom line profit.
Tom G.

Even if it is a one time fee, it demonstrates that the actual owners of Belair (New York City attorneys) can make up their own rules as they wish.

They are not using Irma to do this. They are claiming that "infrastructure repairs and improvements", which my lease says are part of my maintenance fee are the reason for the assessment. Again, I choose to believe that greed is actually the motivator here. Bear in mind that we have been going to the Belair for more than 30 years.

No matter, for us we have always agreed that when the maintenance fee reached the cost of a conventional rental (and we knew it would) we would end our timeshare at Belair. It appears that we have reached that point.

The sad part of this is that we really love the location and many of the people at the Belair, even with the possibility of the Pearl of China being a reality in the future, we were willing to continue but this is the proverbial last straw.
Some will say that we are giving the owners just what they want but I think that having the option of renting at other resorts will benefit us and save us a lot of money as it has for others who have chosen this option. Other timeshare owners and potential owners at Belair will make decisions that are best for them. They simply need to understand that the Belair owners have chosen to upgrade a dated resort without any negative impact to their bottom line profit.
Tom G.

Sounds like a little miss management in reserving enough funds to keep that resort in good operating and structural condition.

As an ACTUAL timeshare owner...i am reading this post as as an assesment...which is a one time fee. It seems a bit high to me if it is going to infrastructure improvements....that is what the reserve fund is usually used for. Also poster mentioned an already weekly MAINTENANCE fee (not an assesment) of 1330. It was not specified if this 1330 fee is for a one bedroom or more. If so....that itself is totally a ridiculously high fee for a one bed. Even the Diamond resort ones are not that high. Also, not sure how many units are at the Belair....but at 380 a unit multiplied by the usual timeshare use of 50 is NINETEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS per unit of EXTRA income coming in. Seems like the ownership is trying to skim some extra profits quickly. Would love to hear what improvements they plan to make with this extra cash coming in...and what the anticipated expenses of these improvements to infrastructure are. Please if anyone can get some more information about this would be quite interested in hearing.

If I remember right the Belair are all 2bed units.

All apartments at Belair are 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom. As most that have stayed there will attest, the 2nd bedroom is very small. The newsletter specifically states that since Belair's rooms are "dated and old school" they intend to work on the flooring, change out the linens, pictures and update the hot water system, walkways and central cooling plumbing system. The term used in the communication is "the maintenance fee for 2020 is $1,710" with $380 of the increase being assessed to cover cost of infrastructure repairs and improvement". Estimate for these improvements: $1,443,000. The Belair advertises that it has 72 apartments.
Timeshare people have attempted to get accurate expenditure reports for many years but only ever see "Projected Budget" numbers in the annual newsletter. Some of these numbers are difficult to believe but as stated, there is no additional accounting to timeshare "owners".
Some have a genuine concern about this price hike, others don't question it. I've already stated our plans.

Tom--have the kitchens and bathrooms been updated recently? One would think that should be a part of any major renovations. As has been stated here many times before, timeshare owners have zero protections under SXM laws. There is no accountability for anything that the owners of the resorts do. Your only option is to 'vote with your feet'. I would personally love to know the percentage of Diamond t/s owners who end up doing that, over this huge interruption of their ability to use their units after Irma. Their assessments are sky high already.

Tom I can remember walking past Belair when we stayed at Divi and seeing inside a room and thinking I wished Divi had that beautiful caribbean furniture. I hope renovations at Belair don't go the way of Divi in that everything became modern, sterile and cold. We stayed there before it became TS and loved it, but not enough to buyTS.

Has management asked owners to contribute ideas to what will be "upgrades"?

I absolutely disagree with you. Divi has given us beautiful upgrades including new bedrooms and kitchens. Not many people would not want this. I have also stayed in Belair which does has that old caribbean feeling which some people might like the vibe. Attracting younger people under 50, I would think they would not want that. I did really like Belair, but given the chance to upgrade, if this is a one time assessment of $350, I think that is reasonable for an upgrade. Just my opinion folks

I think that's part of the problem, as apparently they are NOT telling them whether it's only a one time assessment or not. And the upgrades they are talking about don't seem to include new bathrooms or kitchens. New HVAC may be necessary, but it ain't very sexy..

"Their assessments are sky high already."
We have not had any special assessments at the Flamingo and the year 2018 after Irma the FM's were waved and were halve price for 2019 and which we were told would be no increase for this coming year 2020.

No, the point is that the REGULAR assessments for Diamond are WAY higher than anyone else.

Assessments are different than MF's. Yes MF's are high for Flamingo but we have had no assessments because of Irma or prior.

And you have not been able to stay there for the past 2 years.

Correct but Diamond has given us fixed week owners the option to use our weeks, even though we paid no or 1/2 price MF, to stay at any of their other resorts through the Destination Exchange program made available to Flamingo and Royal Palm fixed week owners only not able to use those weeks they are closed. I have not use it yet but have talked to many other owners that have and have had nice exchanges. I will probably use it in future years as I have multiple weeks in it that were automatically enrolled in it with a long expiration date.

Good luck.

Thank you.

I am a happy camper as an "owner" at SBR and missed one year but I would be kinda pissed if I couldn't use my unit for two years (or more) .....life is short

As am I. My "studio deluxe" (not sure when it became deluxe) fee is $754 for 2020. And the one-time fee that was requested prior to Irma was credited against my MFs in 2018, which made me quite happy.

Tom , In reading what you have written here, I understand it to read that the 2020 maintenance fee is $1710 including the extra assessment. This is probably only for 2020 or it would be stated otherwise. I do not think that would be out of line for a total reno of the units as your regular maintenance fees would not be enough to cover that. Insurance premiums since Irma have really increased probably taking a large percentage of the regular maintenance fees and then there were repairs to make to the resort after the hurricane as well. A letter to the resort should get the answer you require.

exactly jazz
i too am a time share holder 20+ years

islandgem
Questions regarding whether the additional $380 was 1 time or not have been answered with "cannot say at this time".
We have been timeshare guests for 30+ years. Paid MF every year that was supposed to include property improvements that never happened.
Belair sustained damage from Irma but nothing like most other resorts.
Letters to the owners have been returned unopened or with responses that basically stated "comply or end your timeshare".
Perhaps you now better understand our position.
Tom

Pretty sad way to do business.

I do understand your position. Perhaps you will be able to receive some answers when you visit in December. I had heard that Belair had been very fair to their owners in the past so I was hoping this trend would continue. It almost sounds like things have changed at that resort. I'm sure that you will make the decision that will be best for you when you get some answers.

We have enjoyed our vacations at the Belair for a long time (30+ years). We cannot change the past but the actual owner of the Belair has chosen to take the timeshare maintenance payments every year without consideration for upgrading the infrastructure of the facility. Now, he has chosen to make those improvements but have timeshare guests pay for them. We look forward to our scheduled vacation in December and January because it will be our last at the Belair.

Tom,

Considering what has been going on at the Towers since that b itch Irma did her damage, and as another who has had thirty plus years of enjoyment from our timeshare, I feel your pain for sure.

The only thing I can tell you is, as hard as it is to let go of what you know and have loved for so long, in your case Belair and in ours, the Towers, should you continue to vacation at SXM after your scheduled Nov/Dec up-coming trip, you will be amazed at all the other great opportunities for vacationing there and so many of them for actually less than you might be currently paying in AMFs at Belair. Granted, the memories won’t be there for a while, but they will come.

Good luck down the road......

Tom, maybe that's the idea--that people say this is their last. Then units can be re sold.

Years ago we attended a sales pitch at Belair. We loved the place but decided TS was not for us. Lately, I've been wondering that if every TS has sold every unit, then income is only from MF's and what would property people (owners) do to make more money. Your post has answered my question. The MF goes sky-high, assessments until finally someone, as yourself, decides to walk away leaving a unit empty for resale.

I can't tell you what to do---especially since you've paid MF's for some time. I'd pay this assessment because it isn't extremely high, wait to see if it occurs again before walking away. You may pay once, get several years before another assessment, then decide.

Pat
Your input is always appreciated and most on this board have benefited from your experience and knowledge regarding SXM. We have discussed searching for another resort in SXM to continue to vacation there. For now, we will hopefully enjoy our 3 weeks in Dec/Jan at the Belair.
RonDon
We've considered postponing our timeshare decision as you suggested but it has become a matter of principle since our correspondence in past years with the actual owner of the Belair suggesting some of the improvements they have now announced were returned unopened or not responded to at all. We're aware that the Belair will profit from our decision but it just won't be my money.
Tom