TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Has anyone looked at the rates at Alegria?

I just did.

http://www.alegriasxm.com/rooms.htm

$670/night or $4,700/week for a 2BR penthouse suite in Feb 2015. Ouch! I'm glad my MFs at Flamingo were only $1,580 for comparable accomodations and same period.

As for the former Caravanserail owners who were offered a room for the price of their MFs, these rates confirm that the offer was just a temporary tactic to generate some short term revenue and to take advantage of owners left without many alternatives for their upcoming vacation.

Just sayin'.

Realistically, I doubt they rent many, if any, rooms at those rates. I wonder what a phone call direct to the place would produce in the way of rates?

Couple of weeks ago, I looked for just a room, any room, for Regatta week and got a price of $180 a night, which frankly I didn't think was too bad. At the time, I didn't look at the more expensive rooms. There's no way they are going to be able to get $670 a night for there, not right now.

You can rent rooms there for less than $200 a night from many sources.

SXM??? Wendell

Their rates for Regatta week are a tad higher than that now, which is understandable.

They can ask/list any price they want. Getting it is another matter.

Yes, I agree, except that when people Google Allegria and see these rates, I doubt many of them call to check if they can get a lower rate.
Do you call the airlines after seeing their airfares online? I don't.

I think dealing with the airlines is a little different than this particular case. We also know airline fares can change many times a day.

Actually one time I was booking on Delta and doing it online. From the time I started the booking process the fare did change and a phone call to Delta did produce a lower fare.

Which ones? Booking.com rates not including a 20% VAT tax!
Booking.com

Actually, Expedia is showing a standard room for $178 during Regatta.

Alegria

Expedia's total after tax is $1,473.57 or $210/night.
Still not too bad though.

Which shows it pays to check various rental sites. Anything decent for around $200/night during the Regatta time frame is pretty good.

Yep. Never been to SXM during Regatta week but we'd like to.

Now is your chance!

We came back last Saturday, we have to wait till next year now. <sigh>

Wow, we lost our 3 bedroom penthouse in the Caravanserai fiasco, I wonder what they are charging for that accommodation? Of course I secretly hope that they never get any room rentals. Since this was purely just business, the best way for Algeria to feel the pain is in their pockets, just like we felt the pain when we lost our T/S accommodations!!

Wasn't it Manek/Endless vacations you bought your TS from?

SXM??? Wendell

It's not Alegrias fault. It was and is Manek's fault for the way he went about business and the bankruptcy that ensued. You can't hold Alegria accountable for your misfortune. They bought a foreclosed and bankrupt property and all rights end with that for the previous involved. I hope they do well as it is a nice location and will be an asset for SXM tourism.

I understand exactly what happened & I agree, the location is magnificent which is why I bought there to begin with, but to think that I would have to pay $670 per night for an accommodation that I had for $950 M/F per week per year is totally frustrating along with the fact that we also lost our trading ability with RCI. It would cost me $9,380 for my annual 14 day stay in SXM as Alegria. The fact that the property failed under Manek's management is one aspect but the way the whole situation was handled was so unprofessional & left a lot to be desired. The new owner is obviously trying to attract an upscale clientele with those rates but he truly did business with the owners in such a low class manner. With so many T/S rentals available on island, I would never pay that nightly rate just to stay there & I bet there are very few people who will. There are no amenities, no restaurants on site, no room service, no spa, none of the luxuries associated with hotel accommodations in that price range. We were all left with such an empty feeling & I'm sure he'll feel the same way when his hotel is empty. Just sayin.........

"There are no amenities, no restaurants on site, no room service, no spa, none of the luxuries associated with hotel accommodations in that price range." Sounds like they did you a favor if the place is that amenity free.
I do feel for you but there are plenty of other places with a lower rack rate or rental from owners with far better accommodations and amenities for your future trips.

If you were paying only $950 in MFs per year for a 2BR penthouse, you were obviously getting a heck of a deal , unfortunately for you, it didn't last.
Was it a special deal or what is the case for all units there?

One may wonder why, with such low MFs, the Management at Caravanserail didn't try to reduce the deficit by raising the MFs to a more "normal" level, comparable to what other TS Resorts on the island charge for similar accomodations.

FYI, I pay more than $1,500/year in MFs for a 2BR/2BR unit at Flamingo Villas, a fee that I consider "fair", and it's pretty much the same at Royal Palm for their 2BR/2BA units. A studio at Flamingo is around $1,100/year if I'm not mistaken so the $950 for your 3BR unit were completely out of whack.

I'm very surprised by these low MFs, especially coming from Manek.
Do I miss something?

Maintenance wasn't the problem, problem is the 5-15k (have no idea what i units cost) that they are out. FYI your maintenance is a little less than what I'm paying for a 3 br/3br penthouse at the Towers at Mullet Bay

My MF for my two bed penthouse in building three at the Flamingo villas is 1525.00 and I'm not complaining. Some may think that's high but I have no complaints and I'm in that unit two consecutive weeks.

The worst thing possible is that Flamingo becomes the comparable rate to pay as it ranges from 30 to 50% higher than about anywhere other than Royal Palm (same group). At least you do not have to worry that they will try to turn it into a hotel and give up those AMF's.

I think Towers is getting up there where a 1 bedroom is close to $1k, borderline but a nice relaxing property. They took a significant increase this last year, but still not Flamingo cost.

I get that you two like your units, but as a whole Flamingo is sure a lot of money for a place like that.

I guess Caravanserai owners can look at it as if they owned there for 5 years they paid about $3k to $5k less in AMF's than Flamingo owners. If they owned longer or are able to extend for another year or two they almost could pay their ownership cost at developer pricing. Always looking for the positive spin.

Cheers,
T

The positive spin is that we think our units are worth what we paid for and the MF are what is workable for the units and the resort we are in. It might not make sense to others but it does for us and that is what counts. To have the unit you want for the weeks you want says a lot. Especially if you are bringing guest, as we do, to be able to tell and show with pictures exactly what they will have when they get there is priceless. I know what to expect and I'm not on this board like others trying to figure out what the resort or rooms are like other than inquiring about improvements. You get what you pay for and for us we have never been disappointed.

Kim (and also Todd),
I understand that, in this debacle, the owners have lost their initial investment, but nonetheless, in my opinion, the MFs were low and this might have been a contributing factor to the financial situation of the Resort.
Pelican had much lower MFs than Flamingo too. Remember what happened there?

The MFs at Flamingo are considered high compared to other Resorts, that's a fact and I don't deny it. This is why I wrote that I consider them "fair" and not great. But like Scuba said, we need to look at the whole picture.
It's easy to compare MFs, but we also have to compare the rest: amenities, location of the Resort, etc....

Anyway, Flamingo is in much better condition than it was when Sunterra was running it. Our MFs were much lower back then but nothing was done and owners were complaining.
Since Diamond Resorts took over, the MFs have increased noticeably, but the Resort is now better managed. The grounds, the beach, the common areas and the units are in much better condition and all this contributes to making our vacation there much more enjoyable than before.

My 2cts.

"the units are in much better condition..." Should I quote you and Scubaman and others, b*tching about the condition of the villas??

Enough!!! Let it go. That's why there are different kinds of ice cream so we can all choose.

Gee, if that's addressed to me, I wasn't the one defending huge AMFs...

Considering it is high season in SXM and all the resorts/hotels seem to be full up, Algeria on the other hand seems to be almost empty. Last night when we were over we counted about 17 units that seemed to be occupied.

Carol. I don't recall "b*tching about the condition of the Villas". I have been quite pleased with my units in the Villas. Yes there are sometimes issues with the units but were always fixed to my satisfaction when reported.

Same here. Plus I didn't defend "huge" MFs because I don't find them "huge" in the first place. I said I consider mine to be "fair" for what I get out of them.

In any case, Carol has the right to consider them "huge" but I will just comment with all due respect that since she doesn't own a timeshare at Flamingo, she doesn't pay them so I'm more interested in opinions of people directly concerned with the subject.

I made my point, but I wonder with as defensive as you two get regarding where you own why you would show so much interest in what others have or had. It would seem that effort would be better spent working on your own resort issues including the high AMF's.

I wish you luck with your battles with Flamingo and their management company.
T

It seems to me that as a timeshare owner, it's legitimate that I pay attention to what's happening in other TS Resorts no?

In any case, I don't think I'm particularly defensive and biaised when it comes to discussing where I own, what I own and how much it costs, but because I try to be as objective as possible when discussing TS issues, and because it's my philosophy in life, I prefer to see the glass 3/4 full, unlike some posters here who don't even own a TS, and who have developed a habit of seeing it almost empty.

To each his own.

To conclude and this will be my last post in this thread, if I have issues with the Owner/Operator of Flamingo and I have some minor ones, I won't use this Forum to have them solved.

Yes, that is correct, we paid $950 M/F for a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom. The starting M/F when we first bought in 2006 was $750. We chose points when we bought and because we had a 3BR, we were given 134,000 points which at the time was extremely high. Now, with that being said, we bought pre-construction and did not get to stay in our actual unit until 2010 for the first time. Our good friend Ray Minelli who unfortunately passed away in May of 2011 was so helpful in making arrangements for us to stay at other properties during the construction. We were always put in 2 or 3 bedroom penthouses which also gave us the opportunity to see other properties on the island. We have stayed in Royal Palm in Simpson Bay, Royal Islander LaPlage and LaTerrasse.

I think you have to take into consideration that raising M/F at a property that we couldn't stay at for the first 5 years after purchasing would have been absurd.

After the takeover by Manek, we were very disappointed in how things were being managed. The pool was green, the units had various issues, the front desk staff were not very friendly, the elevators never worked consistently and at the very beginning the pool bar wasn't open so you couldn't even get a bottle of water while you sat at the pool. All of the above contributed to us taking a different approach and what we ended up doing was trading our one week 3BR at Caravanserai for 2 weeks in a 2BR at Royal Islander using our points. The loss of the points and affiliation at RCI is just as devastating as the loss of our actual unit, however we loved the fact that we could now stay for 2 weeks instead of one for the same $950.

My parents have owned at Royal Islander LaPlage since preconstruction as well & there M/F for a 2BR/2BA are $925. IMO, that property is one of the best run and maintained properties on the island. As fate would have it, my parents are now in there late 70's with some health issues & they have decided that they are not going to travel out of the country anymore. Their T/S is for 55 years so with about 25 years left, we have decided to just take over paying their M/F so we will be able to return to SXM each year to enjoy our 2 weeks.

We are very fortunate that things worked out for us this way & we will continue to come back to the place we fell in love with many years ago. We have no regrets in purchasing our unit, never looked at it as an investment but as a place that we could share good times with our friends & family. Like I said in my original post, we are more upset about the way the whole transaction occurred. To this day, we never received the letter telling us that we had no more unit or RCI affliation & we were so lucky last year that we had already traded into Royal Islander because we arrived on November 1st which was the deadline to sign the letter giving you the option to stay at Caravanserai for your week if you paid an additional M/F at your current rate. We know of many people that had already booked airfare & had family and friends coming to SXM that had no choice but to stay & pay the M/F again.

Sorry this was so long but in business relationships and the way you conduct yourself can lead to your success or demise. Alegria's demise seems eminent.

Since you included me in the "you two" comment I'll respond to you. I have no issues or "battles" with the Flamingo management. I have always had and presently have a good relationship with them. As to regards to your comment about we should take issue on our higher MF's, I have no issues.
I enjoy my resort with all it's amenities that other resorts with lower MF's don't have.