Festiva speaks out? What did they say?

Pre-ramble

I do have opinions, but I try to primarily post facts and information here that will help us understand what is going on in a complex situation. If you know of an error in any post in this blog, please leave a comment. I will post it if it can be verified.

Please know that unless you leave your contact information in the comment, I cannot respond to you personally. If you do not wish your contact info to be public, tell me, and I will not post it. By leaving a comment you can get connected to a group of unit owners who are trying to do the right thing, just ask me.

Now for the juice:
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The Posting

Jeff Berger puts out a great newsletter and has a terrific site about everything St Maarten. http://www.everythingstmaarten.com/

Excerpts from his newsletters and email forum here are included with his permission and are copyrighted.

Earlier this month, in the email forum there, Festiva was mentioned for it's involvement in the Atrium takeover on the Dutch side of the island.

I have spoken with Rowie Percoco (mentioned below), a unit owner there who hired a lawyer, and their fight against Festiva was successful. Festiva agreed to abide by the Master Deed which did not allow the assessment, and withdrew the illegal assessments just before the matter went to court.

Did you just understand what was written there? They had to be sued in order to behave legally. What were they doing? Breaking the contract knowingly, trying to see how much they could get away with? Or can you think they didn't know what was in the contract? The latter is a bit hard to believe. So that leaves us with the understanding that they knew what they were doing, and only just before they would get thrashed in court did they back down.

Not only did they have to refund monies, but it was found that payments of assessments had gone to Festiva general funds and not to improvements at the resort that was paying the bill!!!

Same story, different resort.

Here is what was written in the email forum:
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More Problems for Festiva Resorts
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Based on conversations with a number of timeshare owners at Atrium, the consensus about Festiva appears to be that they took over Atrium at a vulnerable time, then socked it to owners with huge AMFs which timeshare owners contend violate their contracts. (Please tell us if you think this is an incorrect interpretation.)

Apparently timeshare owners at Festiva Atrium aren't the only ones who are seething about the way Festiva Resorts is treating them. Look at this: http://sandcastleowners.blogspot.com/

On a different note, we're still awaiting word from Rowie Percoco on the outcome of their (Atrium timeshare owners') litigation against Festiva.

We'll keep you posted.
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Then Jeff included a piece I had previously posted here in the blog, which was actually an alert put out by TimeSharing today about the industry-wide pattern of abuse to unit owners by big companies that take over resorts:

http://sandcastleowners.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-not-right-indeed.html

You will not find Festiva mentioned in that blog posting.

The next day, the following response came in from Sara Bader of Festiva Resorts. She must be keeping an eye on the forum!

Maybe you can translate it for me. I know what double-speak is. Perhaps there is such a thing as half-speak. Or double-half speak , with a twist!! Shaken and stirred.

Here are her remarks and contact info, again, thanks to Jeff Berger and this submission is copyrighted by JMB Communications and is reprinted with permission:
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Festiva replied and we are publishing their reply today:


Unfortunately there is some misleading information in yesterday's
newsletter about Festiva Resorts as it's related to the Sandcastle
Resort. Festiva Resorts is not the developer or management company for
Sandcastle Resort in Provincetown, Mass., therefore we have no control
of the day to day operations, the actions of the board of directors or
the maintenance fees/assessments at that resort. It is simply a part of
our Adventure Club network of resorts as we own units there that
previously belonged to weeks owners who have upgraded to our
points-based Adventure Club. Like any other owner, Festiva Resorts pays
maintenance fees and assessments for the units owned at the Sandcastle.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this topic.


Sara Bader
Director of Corporate Communications
Festiva Resorts
One Vance Gap Road Asheville, NC 28805
sbader@festivaresorts.com

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Cliff Hagberg will have an opportunity this weekend to show some Sandcastle unit owners at the upcoming meeting there, just how much he, and Festiva pay in Maintenance fees and assessments.

He may be able to explain the full nature of the "Affiliation" (his word) of Festiva to Sandcastle. He will help us understand the documents filed in Barnstable on Sept 25, 2008 linking Festiva to Sandcastle.

Look back at the recent post here for the definition of the word Affiliation in the timeshare laws. How it relates to control. Then explain what the Festiva remarks above mean.(or don't mean) What isn't being said?

Like Sara above, I think we should keep it simple. Cliff should simply abide by Mass Laws and the trust instruments and provide us with the owners list and let us view all financial information we have rights to see and copy.

Or the courts can be invited to the game.(the St Maarten shuffle...)

Any questions?