TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin any info on Club O

does anyone have any info on the resort at Club O. How did it make out?

This was just posted on the Club O FB page.

Dear Shareholders,

It's ugly!

Steve and Bert just returned to GCBC from a visit to Club Orient.
Their findings include the following:

All wood units are gone. Presumably the slabs are left, but the buildings are gone.

Gatehouse is gone. In its place is a huge pile of debris that landed there from the winds.

Pedro concrete wall … gone

Concrete buildings survived. Roofs gone or damaged.

Except for the waterfront chalets 46-52 … They are gone. No sign of where they went.

The new beach goes from the water's edge back to where the studios used to be. It's about 200 feet.

Hurricane shutters on units left are gone as well as the contents of all the houses … presumably sucked out by the wind … no sign of where the furniture, cabinets, appliances, etc., went.

The units' contents have been stripped by the hurricane.

The villa is standing … no further detail.

Papagayo is standing but may not be sound structurally. All the contents are gone.

The utility plant is covered with debris so Bert and Steve could not get a close look at the generators, switch panel, etc. It looks like there was about 5' of water in that area, which means salvaging the electric plant is in doubt.

The reception building is still standing. The front desk and other furnishings are gone.

The tennis courts are gone.

Steve and Bert drove through Orient Village where most of the buildings are standing but the contents of the first floors that they could see into are gone.

Looters beat Steve and Bert to the resort. They were clearing out the Boutique. We let them take the contents because presumably they need the stuff worse than we do!

I will continue to keep you updated as new information comes in.
Steve took about 100 pictures but has no way to transmit them until Internet service is restored.

According to Frédéric Lecomte, our Paris attorney, the French media are reporting that 95% of the island is destroyed.

We have a huge job in front of us. We will need a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to reinvent Club Orient … better than ever.

Thank you for the update. This is so sad and sobering to read. Such loss for so many people on the island and a loss for those of us who support SXM, Orient Beach, and Club O.

Awful, just awful!

Wow! Thank you for the update.

We ae devistated upon hearing this... So terrible...

Crying here...big time!

This is truly devastating news. I feel terrible for all the owners, wonderful employees, and guest who loved what so many called a piece of heaven. Hopefully everyone is safe and they do rebuild in due time.

This is so depressing and sad. Club O has been a part of my life for 25 years. I pray this is the beginning of a new path to a bigger better Club Orient. I hope our friends, Willy, Carlos, and Victor are safe as well as their families and the families of all the wonderful people at Club Orient.
Mario and Cindy

I don't see this report on their FB page.

Look in the comments from their Sept 5 post. it wasn't post by Club O, but by another person.

Who is Steve and Bert? Could that be Steve Wright from GCBC?

I would imagine it's referring to Steve Payne.

A very sad day for yellow umbrella aficionados..............the place always will be vulnerable. With insurance the units should be easy to replicate.

At this point concerned for the people and their loss of livelihood.

At first thought the chair and umbrella enterprise would provide cash but to who

Surprised guard shack didnt make it but checkin and boutique did.

Possibly more concrete block in the rebuild.

The beach also will be reset...........and the fate of papagayo

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

Hoping the rebuild is quick

I understand Hurricane Luis leveled Club Orient in early Sept. 1995. Does anyone recall how long it took for it to bounce back after that disaster?

I am so sad for the entire staff and the owners. My hope is that everyone is safe. Our hearts are with all of the people who consider this a home away from home and those whose home it is. We will wait for advice on how to help.
Club O Strong.
doctorj

I believe it was at least a year or so till they had a limited number of guest arriving. In some instances they where better off back then, the office was OK, the generators were functioning and I believe they provided fresh water to the island as the reverse osmosis plant was running. Perhaps they'll now connect to the local water and power grid.

Club O bounced back so quick! Barry was serving us lunch on the patio of a beach chalet that was gone. It was a makeshift Papagayo dining area till they did repairs. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

It wasn't more than 2 years because I have a Sep 97 photo of the front of Studio 25/26 as occupied that I downloaded from somewhere - background is noticeably devoid of any trees

Article about Steven Payne. Hope I don't get in trouble for forwarding this.

http://www.kesq.com/news/former-palm-spr...artin/617720771

This is so sad for so many. Our hearts go out to the wonderful staff at Club O who have made our visits so special. Obviously, they need assistance and we all feel so helpless right now. We will continue to have them all in our thoughts and prayers.

Yes, we went to Club O in early December after Luis had hit in September 1995...they had set up a barbecue on a patio and had restrooms working, a picnic table set up and 1 or 2 rafts were out. Was very eerie but on the other hand it was exhilarating to see things rebound even in a small way so quickly.

A friend suggested that maybe they won't even rebuild this time? It was something I hadn't considered but seems possible.

Getting the resort significantly damaged every few years and now utterly demolished every 20 years or so, makes me wonder if it is feasible to rebuild? Their insurance rates have got to be ungodly!

Not to mention the daily battles with the encroaching sea... i.e. hauling in sand, seaweed battles, building a seawall in front of Papagayos and all.

Lastly as Orient beach relentlessly seems to be encroaching onto their property, expanding towards that lagoon out back seems to have its own limitations.

Could the Eden known as Club O be over?

When I read this sentence at the bottom of the update...."We have a huge job in front of us. We will need a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to reinvent Club Orient … better than ever." It told me these are strong people willing to go forward and re-make Club O. I'm betting on them and looking forward to walking that beautiful beach and sitting in our orange chairs again.

Just saw this on SXM or Bust Facebook. Worst fears.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...ype=3&ifg=1

Expired??? What was it?

Link didn't work for me.

As an owner of ClubO and also a villa on the hill above the village, which status is uncertain but seen a view from distance and not good, I have some thoughts. As for ClubO rebuilding up and running soon, Luis and this are not comparable. Especially if generators are toast, they might be. We had water and power and some structures in 95. The beach front units are not there, not even foundations. So assume there is absolutely nothing down there. Picture surf hitting units 3-9 or at least where they were. Luis actually filled in the corner of bay, you could almost walk to Green Key. Even if we had a Home depot ship with a crew to start from scratch, there will be no lodging until 18mos. There will be a lot of issues that need to be sorted out, the least of which will be money, Insurance? for what? ?? . French Government will be a big one, and they will be a huge problem. They do not understand the island at all and what makes it go IMHO, never have. Tourism on Martinique and Guadeloupe..?
. Guadeloupe wanted their share of taxes in 1995 and everything had to go there first...this time?? Then you get to employees, unions, both of which may not be so happy to wait for 18 mos, may sabotage any rebuilding, would be shocked if they didn't to be honest....there is just so many variables so who knows?? Some owners may not want the fight or can't afford to...Brink had his personal fortune locked up in this in 95, no one does now. One hopes but one needs to be a realist. Going to be a tough place to be able to visit for years..I hope I'm wrong. Just being honest

SXM or Bust is a closed FB group so the link may not work until you join. It has 10 pics of Club O. So very sad.

These are the pics from that closed FB group. Link is safe and will expire in 2 days. not sure how else to post pics.


https://volafile.org/r/dpgf5ewm

This site cannot be reached error...

Thank you for posting. This is aweful. I was standing there six weeks ago.

Rebuild at Happy Bay!

Here are the Club Orient Hurricane Irma aftermath pictures you posted a link to above... now in a place that should last for a long time and make their display easily viewable.

Luis was much worse... really not so bad!

I like your positive thinking SXMmartini

At least someone who saw the old place can see a ray of daylight

Hope the owners managers can too.

Looking at the slab with patio.....perhaps the under sand infrastructure is salvageable............just some new chalet kits manufactured in europe and shipped in containers and as Vanessa would say Voila!

Lets hope so. Mother nature was pushing them back anyway on its eventual crawl.

They were asking for outside the box thinking.............more concrete...........easy in/out kitchen stuff.....portable induction tops instead of stoves........ grills........can be moved to higher ground

It will happen again, so build that into the plan

How about luxury tenting like Mombo Camp in Africa..(rated by some as best hotel in the world).....storm cometh take it down until it passes.

Does anyone remember the old map that Club O had on their website which showed all the units from overhead so you could see where you were booking? I haven't seen that in awhile just curious if anyone knows if it still exists.

Here's A Club Orient Resort Map that should display here.

Still on the Club O web page, but you have to drill down. Go to Menu in upper right corner (3 lines) and select Resort...then select Resort Map on right...takes a few moments to load...then small Map drop down menu appears on upper left of page.

Still can't believe the utter destruction...was just there in Jun. Heart goes out to the Club O staff and employees...and everyone on island! Hopefully the respective governments can move quickly on disaster relief and recovery.

Ahhhh thanks guys, I have been to the resort pictures but never saw the map up there.

We are also in a state of shock with all this happening, it's been 3 years since we've been there and just last month I booked 4 weeks for family month next summer. Looks like it's going to be a wait and see over the next few months to see how things start moving along.