TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Alegria apparently wins at the Supreme Court

Unreal.

https://news.sx/business/supreme-co...favor-of-alegria-in-toca-timeshare-case/

Hope this doesn't set a precedent.

Wow, that is a precedent-setting ruling by the Supreme Court! It is easy to see how other time share properties will also benefit by this ruling, at the expense of time share owners, unfortunately. Amazing ruling...

As I understand the case the old company got foreclosed on by the bank , went out of business and the bank auctioned the banks asset. A new company Alegria bought it in auction without any liability of the old bankrupt company and the bank cut it loss. Doesn't that happen all the time in the USA? To me the Timeshare owners should have been taking care of by the bank prior to any sale since they allowed the Timeshare sales. Isn't Timeshare just a long term lease at a preferred price? We have timeshare in Florida and it has paid off for us so far. Unfortunately SXM does need better laws to cover this.

But the fact is, no one took care of the timeshare owners AND they have to pay the court costs at the Supreme Court for both sides.

Sadly, Sint Maarten has made lots of promises with regard to taking care of her timeshare owners but they’ve never followed through or kept any of them. Feeling bad for those who purchased here in good faith but I can’t say I’m too surprised by this.

Wow, well said, Pat. People purchasing in SXM to become timeshare "owners" beware, as SXM law has absolutely NO protection for you.

And not to bring up a sore subject, but what's happening with the Towers??

Edited to add:

The following is purely my personal opinion and is NOT based on any facts or truths I’ve come across.

As far as I’m concerned, the Towers is DONE. It has been mismanaged and mishandled by the on site Manager along with the Ansary family. They played fast and loose with Ennia monies and island property evaluations and while there have been promises about government looking into the situation, as far as I know nothing of any substance has happened to benefit the unit owners.

We are among the lucky ones in that we were Charter owners and had roughly thirty years of annual enjoyment before Irma hit and then the latest problems arose. We divested ourselves of our four weeks, much as we hated to do so, but we could almost see the writing on the wall.

As Kenny Rogers sang, ‘ you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, know when to run......” which is what we finally did.

I do feel bad for more recent purchasers and those who paid full freight for their weeks and it angers me that once again, the government has done nothing but make idle promises. And who knows? Perhaps I’m wrong and the Towers will rise out of the ashes again someday. But personally speaking, I doubt it!

Pat--thanks for your thoughts. I'm sure this situation has torn your heart in two. I saw a story in the Daily Herald the other day regarding Ansary, but it really didn't make any sense to me, so I didn't post it. It seems like there has been almost no news regarding the Towers, thus my question.

Well that sucks....no argument about the no protection for "owners" . SO far we have kinda lucked out with SBR and it helps that it was an inherited two weeks....but....it had the same potential with the cluster frick of years back..but..so far it's fine.

Edit: I should add that it "is fine" for the "owners" of the buildings that still exist.....the ones that were destroyed kinda got screwed

What happened with the ones who owned in the buildings that got destroyed?

Any person who buys a timeshare on the island, from here-on-in, is a complete fool if you ask me. The government never passed the timeshare law - it just sits on the books - there is absolutely no protection for a timeshare owner. And if you currently own a timeshare, better sell it now and recoup some of your purchase price. I'm gonna predict there'll be another article published tomorrow about the Supreme Court ruling.

The fact was that the property was put on sale via Auction because the former Owner was way back on the Mortgage to the Bank , and Algeria bought it as new Owner ,; no ties to the Time Share Owners. The former Owner took the money from the Time Share sales and not Alegria. Harsh reality. Prayers for the Time Share Owners that lost their monies and investment.

I beg to differ but you're entitled to your opinion. I for one am a timeshare owner on sxm with no regrets.

Pretty much in agreement with you. Besides Covid, there are some t/s that never reopened after Irma and a couple of others that continue to make "owners" wait on the lengthy reconstruction process while continuing to take their $$.

Let the buyer beware.

Yup...I love when everything becomes a generalization. It makes it MUCH easier than addressing each property for what they are.

EVERY new car is bad because many years ago my Yugo fell apart...there...done

(I never had a Yugo but I do have two different timeshare properties (SXM & LV) and have enjoyed them for nearly 20 years). I guess I'm a complete fool but I am OK with that

SXM scuba:

I agree with you. I own at a solid resort on the island and wouldn't think of selling it. Feel very bad for all the owners who got screwed.....

Looks like the lesson is clear, do NOT purchase timeshare.

boucharda--what is NOT a generalization is that SXM has ZERO protections for timeshare owners. That is a FACT. If you buy a timeshare in SXM, you are depending on the integrity of the timeshare management company to protect you. That has often put the fox in charge of the henhouse. And when the fox starts doing what it does to the chickens, don't expect the laws of SXM to provide ANY protection.

Points of interest off the top of my head--1) Pelican--"Owners" shut out of their units, with almost no warning, while they were rented out, then sold to SBR, and new units built right in front of other units, blocking their views,; After Irma-- 2) SBR--some buildings demolished--what did the "owners" in those building get?? 3) Ocean Club--Demolished by Irma, owners got zero 4) The Towers--Ansary has apparently taken the insurance, rents out units, yet the t/s owners can't use the building, no resolution there, any time soon. "Owners" apparently get zero there either. 5) Royal Palm and Flamingo--THREE YEARS post Irma, still no resolution there, "owners" expected to continue to pay t/s fees for four years without being able to use their properties. Meanwhile the management company has business interruption insurance and they get paid regardless. And they plan on a whole bunch of "owners" just walking away during this time period, so they can sell their units all over again once they re-open. So far, that's working out pretty well for them. With COVID, there is a 6 week stoppage of work, which somehow in the timeline of Diamond Resorts, has translated into six MONTHS of delay in reopening. Both resorts could have been razed to the ground and rebuilt quicker. 6) The Atrium--decides to do renovation of the building this year, apparently seeing the writing on the wall regarding COVID, shutting out the "owners" for 7 months or so, I guess supposed to reopen soon. 7) Sonesta building downtown destroyed by Irma, will become a Planet Hollywood, supposedly, timeshare owners get zip.

Were there timeshares at Mullet Bay? Don't remember...

Is that enough??

Hit the nail directly on the head Carol! Timeshare in my opinion is a pyramid scheme. It blows my mind after reading about timeshare, why on earth would anyone want to even get near it, let alone buy into it? Just my thoughts

Carol,

The original Mullet Bay Resort was NOT a timeshare program. They sold ownership and management of units but maintained as their own the actual property the units were built on - a very different concept from timeshare where actually all one owns in most cases is the paper the details are printed on.

As to the why of timeshare, we went into it with eyes wide open, knowing we wouldn’t spend more than we could afford to lose comfortably and we did have a thirty year run at The Towers with no regrets of ownership there. Do we regret what ultimately happened? Of course we do but still, no regrets as to the thirty years of pleasure our four weeks gave us every year.

Pat--I knew that most of the units at Mullet Bay were wholly owned, but I thought that some were timeshare. Thanks for the correction on that. Sorry your run at the Towers ended the way it did..

Fox--Timeshare in the US at least provides some protections for the t/s owners. Even if you disagree with the concept (which frankly I do), you have some legal protections, including here in Florida a 3 day right to cancel after you purchase. Helped a friend do just that, not long ago.

It takes a lot more work to deconstruct and reconstruct than just starting from ground up on bare ground. Granted that 6 week work stoppage stretched out to 6 months. That was mostly due to approching hurrican season which takes an average of 10 days to prepare to secure materials with forcasted storms and another week after threat is gone to get back to being able to undue and work. My contacts involved with the project are quite confident both resorts will be opened early spring.2021. I've seen pictures of what is going on behind the fences and it's going to be great. Sure I'm disapointed that it's taken this long and have been paying MF's, at a reduced rate, for these years but the end result will be worth the wait.

Thanks, Carol. Life happens and really, in the end, all you can do is make the best of it.

And like I said, thirty years is a pretty good run and as much as I loved our specific unit at the Towers, their shenanigans allowed us to discover the BSV which turns out to be even more to our liking. So in the end, we won anyway.

SO--amazing that you admit that! So why didn't they just raze the buildings??? Obviously because it was in THEIR best interest to do it that way. They still get paid their business interruption insurance AND they get a lot of people to just walk away. Best of all worlds for them. And NO, the work stoppage was not anywhere close to hurricane season. As I recall, it was approximately April.

It comes down to doing your research and making a decision that you can live with. Like buying a car, some people don't mind the depreciation when buying new cars, some do. Timeshares have worked well for us, no regrets.

Yes that work stopage was due to Covid and by order of SXM government that all construction stop. What I am refering to is that they have to lock down and secure all building materials prior to forcasted tropical storms which stops work. Then it takes time to restart up after. They were originally planning on openiing September 1 but covid set them back and forced them to deal with hurricane season during construction. It is what it is.

I thought so myself at one time. Again, buyer beware!

I'm happy with mine so buyer beware doesn't apply to me.

Scuba, we have been fortunate as well surviving the Divi Chapter 11 of 1991/2. We have the complete Divi story and the Mullet Bay story for anyone interested, just drop me a private message w/email address.

Story in the Daily Herald today. Link

Interesting, the article states that the Morgan Resort is due to open in March, 2021...

Guess it's not over till the fat lady sings.

Say Carol, how many properties have been at that location named Caravanserai? Three, going back 30 years? Too bad they didn't honor the timeshare contracts. I remember when Sonesta took over a bankrupt resort on Aruba, they honored the timeshare contracts, the resort had a hotel section as well.

Bobcat--not sure. I think it was always Caravanseri, since I have known it.

Bobcat,

It was Caravanserai, the little sister resort to Mullet Bay in the 70s when we first visited there and it stayed that way for quite a while, I’m thinking. I believe it morphed into Club Munday (timeshares?) at some point and perhaps back to Caravanserai again, but I’m thinking there may have been one other name in there before the final debut (debacle?) of Caravanserai before it became Alegria and whatever it is today.

Hi Pat, my 1990 copy of Sint Maarten nights list 85 units. I seem to remember this place was completely torn down and a new resort built on the same site with the same name twice.

You could well be right, BC. I don’t remember that happening but lately, I often don’t remember if I had my morning coffee so that means nada to me ... I remember when the Concorde burned and I think was rebuilt as the earliest version of the Maho Sonesta Bay. I think.......

The 85 Caravanserai rooms sounds right as opposed to the 500 + or - Rooms at Mullet.

Boy did I love The Frigate Steakhouse at Mullet, great steaks and those small salad bowls that were becoming popular back then, place burned down as I recall. What a place Mullet was back then, they even had a Chase branch on site.