Why have maintenance fees gone up so much for 2012 ?

Last year maintenance fees At the Belair went up 6% to $855.00 per week, the largest increase since I have owned at the Belair, 8 years. For the previous 5 or 6 years the increase has been a pretty steady 3%. I understand that all electricity in St. Maarten comes from an oil generated plant and that they have been updating all the rooms with new tiles, new showers in the hall bathroom and now flat screen TVs, but I don't need a high definition TV for a lousy satellite feed. This year I'm paying 9% more than last year and I expect free high speed WIFI and not the slow WIFI they charge for. Owners will have to demand more for their money. No shampoo in the bathrooms. Their excuse, owners like to bring their own shampoo. Guys don't care, however Jody does sell over priced shampoo in her store. No Toasters in the kitchen, their excuse, you have a toaster oven. I can toast a loaf of bread in toaster faster than 2 pieces in an ancient toaster oven. I started buying a cheap one and leaving it behind, it leaves some room in my suitcase for booze on the way home. So in another 70 years all the rooms will have toasters. Why is there a sign that says a towel on the rack means I will reuse and one on the floor is for the laundry, yet the maids take the rack towels any way. Let's voice our displeasure at this increase, tell the manager when you visit in 2012. If we are the only timeshare in St. Maarten without a mortgage, why are we paying the same high maintenance fees? Mike M.

Mike, I do agree with you about the fees, and The Toaster oven in the room !!!

Because they can. The real owners are a couple of Caribean numbered companies. The timeshare owners are nothing but renters with an 80 year term. You don't see the books, don't know what people are paid and don't vote etc. As far as the maintenance is concerned, they just picked a number. I have seen recent resale offers at under $1,000 for week 52. The resale program is run by a female buffoon linked to the real owners. I suspect that they may be trying to drive hundreds of owners to abandon their leases and once the Hotel has enough of them, they will restart their sales group and drive the prices up above $10,000

Both the water and electricity come from oil. Water is used by guests with abandon as is air-conditioning. So, we all must pay for it. The use of unkind words to describe individuals is un-called for. An apology is needed.

You are right, an apology should be offered. To date, the Belair Beach hotel has not offered me one for taking my $12,000 investment and driving it down to the point that I could have bought week 1 for $1,200.00. A trained monkey could do a better job of reselling weeks, of people who bought them with the understanding that a trained sales team was available to resell them when they were ready to move on, than the current Amateur in charge.

You are right about the electricity costs, Jennifer in the office told me the electricty went over budget last year, so part of this years cost is the deficit from 2011. Maybe the AC needs a kill switch, like the Sapphire has, the AC turns off when the Balconey or Room door opens. I wonder how much The Belair spent on the gas for their generators? One of the things we have over Divi nextdoor, our power stays on during a blackout.

The Divi, next door to the Belair, has a professional sales staff and charges $25,000 for a week 2 - 16, a Belair 2 bedroom goes for $1,200. The resort itself is good. The beneficiaries are new owners, the victims are old owners.

in answer to the original question, why have maintenance fees gone up. I suspect that a lot of owners of sub-prime weeks have walked (abandoned their units) leaving a lower number of tenants to pay the bills. made worse because the senior managers will not take a pay cut from what is likely $200,000/yr each.

I think it's time for a Belair Hotel timeshare owners association that represents our interests.If you agree,say so.Lets see how many people can get going on this.

Bob

Maintenance fees are up 9% again in 2013, again the resort is again blaming high electricity cost and is apparently trying to reduce cost by improving both the AC and reducing electricity waste. I did some quick calculations which show that the budget does balance ($1017*72*52= $3,807,648) approximately equals the 2013 expense projection $3,859,600, hence it appears to be allocated to all rooms over 52 weeks, so if there are defaults or unowned rooms the maintenance fees are picked up by the resort as operating costs and expensed against rental income I assume. But we don't have the income side of the budget; such as rental revenue from unowned weeks, the restaurant, car rental and other on site businesses. We could use an owners association to forward our concerns to management. Talk it up amongst ourselves while vacationing this year.

Mike that's because the Belair has done such a crappy job of maintaining market value, people that own non-prime weeks have been walking rather than paying their fees. The Belair has long had their timeshares re-marketed through an amateur called Jody (replaced for 2013), but the damage is done. They took the maintenance dollars they lost from the delinquent tenents (we are not owners) and dumped them on those still paying their bills. My 2013 bill topped $1,000, so I guess it's still continuing.

michael2146 wrote:

Last year maintenance fees At the Belair went up 6% to $855.00 per week, the largest increase since I have owned at the Belair, 8 years. For the previous 5 or 6 years the increase has been a pretty steady 3%. I understand that all electricity in St. Maarten comes from an oil generated plant and that they have been updating all the rooms with new tiles, new showers in the hall bathroom and now flat screen TVs, but I don't need a high definition TV for a lousy satellite feed. This year I'm paying 9% more than last year and I expect free high speed WIFI and not the slow WIFI they charge for. Owners will have to demand more for their money. No shampoo in the bathrooms. Their excuse, owners like to bring their own shampoo. Guys don't care, however Jody does sell over priced shampoo in her store. No Toasters in the kitchen, their excuse, you have a toaster oven. I can toast a loaf of bread in toaster faster than 2 pieces in an ancient toaster oven. I started buying a cheap one and leaving it behind, it leaves some room in my suitcase for booze on the way home. So in another 70 years all the rooms will have toasters. Why is there a sign that says a towel on the rack means I will reuse and one on the floor is for the laundry, yet the maids take the rack towels any way. Let's voice our displeasure at this increase, tell the manager when you visit in 2012. If we are the only timeshare in St. Maarten without a mortgage, why are we paying the same high maintenance fees? Mike M.

I'm thinking of buying a week 32 for $1500 main fees of $1017.00

I agree, the maintenance has totally gotten out of hand for the normal working person........I have consistently complained about the use of the facilities to the public....1 day I counted 37 showers in use by local kids, that's a lotta water.....I spoke to the beach boys about this and they say if they say anything, these boys will hide in the bush and attack them when leaving work.....Divi won't let them even walk on the sidewalks, WHY does Belair allow this? there are bicycles and dogs constantly on the property and no one says a thing..........I have walked up to the showers when in use by a non-resident and just turned the shower off and told them to get out, why can't management do the same? Our fees pay for these people to shower?

Replying to SandyM265. I have no problems with the locals using the showers. It is a small price to pay for local harmony while you are on vacation. In some cases the locals are children of staff, not 37 in a day though. And if it bothers you that much, I suppose you could vacation at Divi, but they have a few problems there too. I own there as well. You would lose your reserved beach chairs, morning paper at your door, and if you stay there multiple weeks, you normally move every week unless you own the same unit for each week. Also, you have to pay your bill at the end of each week, hardly a way to treat multple week owners. I prefer the more laid back Belair, thank you very much.

Why do you keep stating that Maintenace fees are $855.00, this is now 2014 and they are a whopping $1,070.00 for 1 week.