Is BeachPlace's long overdue decor refurb going ahead in 2013?

Is the 2013 refurb of BeachPlace still going ahead, and when? After a huge MF increase for 2013 I would like to see BPT's decor professionally done as promised.

Here is the thread that covered this matter but I haven't heard anything lately.
http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182078&highlight=Beachplace+decor

Brian

Brian,
The 15 year refurbishment is on target to begin in May and completed by November. This project is being designed and directed by Marriott. The Board agreed with most of all the design changes except for replacement of the floor tile, which will be cleaned and polished instead. Sufficient reserve funds have been collected over the last several years to pay for this project without any special assessment or increase in fees to owners.

The major increase in the maintenance fee was not impacted by the planned refurbishment project. As indicated in my President's letter, the following is the reason for the unexpected significant increase in the 2013 maintenance fee, "During 2012, your management company deemed it necessary to make ongoing operating expenditures that exceeded the 2012 budget by $470,000... The majority of the increase is due to rising benefit cost for the associates and the addition of staffing to be in line with other Marriott Vacation Club properties and deliver the service levels required of a Marriott Vacation Club resort. The increased operating expenses resulting from staffing and benefits increases in 2012 will continue to occur in future years".

Eric

Eric,
I stayed for a 2nd time in November 2012 at BPT (Thanksgiving week). I noticed the additional staffing levels and wonder "WHO was being stuck with this bill?". Staff was falling over themselves, IMHO.

BPT has no real foot print of a resort. There is a pool deck and a top floor lounge (which few people ever go up to watch TV). Even the TIKI bar with its 4 or 5 stools and walk up service had 1 or none customers.

Yes, there were MORE clerks on the front desk - standing there alone without checkins or in the back room.

Or are you talking about Housekeeping? Saw fewer of them this trip.

$500K is 10-15 more FT people with benefits? Or does Marriott pay a lot more? Or is it ther several people who are working there from foreign countries that Marriott wants as a more INTERNATIONAL footprint --- that I did notice in several positions.

Linda,
There are more housekeepers and front desk staff, both deemed to be necessary by Marriott. The compensation packages for all BeachPlace based Marriott employees are confidential, so the Board is not presented salary and benefit or FTE details. This information is protected by Marriott's management agreement. The Board was unsuccessful in the past to legally obtain this information from Marriott to assist in our budgeting process.
Eric

Confidential? Please. MVCI Front desk staff run about $11-$12 per hour, benefits not included.

minoter said:

Linda,
There are more housekeepers and front desk staff, both deemed to be necessary by Marriott. The compensation packages for all BeachPlace based Marriott employees are confidential, so the Board is not presented salary and benefit or FTE details. This information is protected by Marriott's management agreement. The Board was unsuccessful in the past to legally obtain this information from Marriott to assist in our budgeting process.
Eric

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Thank you, Eric. I usually stay at Wyndham resorts, but have multiple stays at DVC. And this Marriott T/S resort for the 2 exchange visits. Plus other resorts, such as Hilton Club and Manhatten Club.

minoter said:

Linda,
There are more housekeepers and front desk staff, both deemed to be necessary by Marriott. The compensation packages for all BeachPlace based Marriott employees are confidential, so the Board is not presented salary and benefit or FTE details. This information is protected by Marriott's management agreement. The Board was unsuccessful in the past to legally obtain this information from Marriott to assist in our budgeting process.
Eric

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Eric...if there is anything owners can do to help pressure MVCI to allow our board complete info on costs, do let us know. A petition drive might help. Btw, I don't think costs including personnel costs should be kept from the HOA board by mgmt. The MVCI mgmt could always seek to have HOA board members sign confidentiality agreements...but to keep important budgeting info away from a Board of Directors is just plain wrong...and imho crazy and self-defeating ultimately. Eric thanks for all you do for members!

Hopefully staff members not being used or scheduled properly are being noted and then reported to Marriott. I do not mind paying for service but do mind paying for people to just stand around.

We have benefited greatly in the last few years from falling tax values at BeachPlace. This has kept of MF's in check. I hope that as property values increase we do not see a large spike in our annual MF's.

CarolC,
The Board does receive the total salary, wages and benefits by department. However the individual compensation and benefits are not disclosed to the Board. The Board has agree to sign confidentiality agreements, but Marriott's lawyers have rejected our offer. Marriott is a contractor to BeachPlace Towers and as such is paid a fee for their services. Under the self perpetuating management contract (written and signed by Marriott during the development period), the Association does not have any rights to Marriott personnel information.

Thinez3
The Board has no impact on the tax values used by the county for property tax assessments. The Board has been successful on assessment appeals related to certain common property tax elements. However, our legal attempts to reduce villa assessments have not been successful. Also, keep in mind that the tax portion of the maintenance fee has been subsidized over the last fee years by surpluses in the BeachPlace tax fund recognized in the mid 2000s. The subsidy will likely end in 2015 and tax amounts will return to full costs based on assessments at that time.

Eric

I find it perfectly acceptable that Marriott is not disclosing individual wage and benefit information. In any company, you would never disclose to your clients how much you pay your staff. I don't see this being any different in this situation.

minoter said:

Brian,
The 15 year refurbishment is on target to begin in May and completed by November. This project is being designed and directed by Marriott. The Board agreed with most of all the design changes except for replacement of the floor tile, which will be cleaned and polished instead. Sufficient reserve funds have been collected over the last several years to pay for this project without any special assessment or increase in fees to owners.

The major increase in the maintenance fee was not impacted by the planned refurbishment project. As indicated in my President's letter, the following is the reason for the unexpected significant increase in the 2013 maintenance fee, "During 2012, your management company deemed it necessary to make ongoing operating expenditures that exceeded the 2012 budget by $470,000... The majority of the increase is due to rising benefit cost for the associates and the addition of staffing to be in line with other Marriott Vacation Club properties and deliver the service levels required of a Marriott Vacation Club resort. The increased operating expenses resulting from staffing and benefits increases in 2012 will continue to occur in future years".

Eric

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Eric, thanks once again for your TUG contributions. I envy BPT owners for their board member's willingness to participate openly here on TUG.

About what I bolded above, does it mean that BPT staffing levels are being increased in steps and for the next few years, anyway, BPT owners will see similar percentage increases to what they saw this year? Or does it mean that the increased staffing levels are now set to where Marriott wants them and the BPT owners won't see any reduction to the increase they saw this year?

dioxide45 said:

I find it perfectly acceptable that Marriott is not disclosing individual wage and benefit information. In any company, you would never disclose to your clients how much you pay your staff. I don't see this being any different in this situation.

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I agree. In keeping with the season, it would be sort of like expecting to be advised of the individual salary and benefits packages for each employee in an accounting firm you hire to do your taxes.

SueDonJ said:

Eric, thanks once again for your TUG contributions. I envy BPT owners for their board member's willingness to participate openly here on TUG.

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Yes, we are lucky to have Eric, both on the board and on Tug.

Sue,
As I indicated in my letter to owners, the management company is estimating increases in the maintenance fee for 2014, 2015 and 2016 to be about 5% in each year.
The increase in fees for 2013 are a result of Marriott estimating overspending the 2012 budget by $470,000, which is about 60% of the increase in fees for 2013. This overspending was a complete surprise to the Board. Marriott has indicated that the staffing additions are in place during 2013 and thus their commitment to hold future operating fee increases to about 5% in the near future.

Dioxide45 and Sue
I agree with the position about the confidential nature of compensation. However, the topic is slightly different where the Association is paying directly the compensation of the local Marriott employees. This is a cost plus contract where their is no incentive to control the costs that are passed directly through to the Association (other peoples money). If the Marriott contract was a single all inclusive rate, and Marriott paid all employee expenses as a part of their corporate cost control process, I agree that their employees compensation packages are correctly confidential. As long as the employee compensation packages are a pass through cost to the owners, I believe there is a good argument to be made for the Board (or at least the Finance committee) to become part of the process to evaluate compensation.

Eric

minoter said:

Sue,
As I indicated in my letter to owners, the management company is estimating increases in the maintenance fee for 2014, 2015 and 2016 to be about 5% in each year.
The increase in fees for 2013 are a result of Marriott estimating overspending the 2012 budget by $470,000, which is about 60% of the increase in fees for 2013. This overspending was a complete surprise to the Board. Marriott has indicated that the staffing additions are in place during 2013 and thus their commitment to hold future operating fee increases to about 5% in the near future.

Eric

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A 5% hike each year, egads. That's like compounding interest in reverse! I predict alot of owners will bail out rather than pay year after year by a percentage much higher than the cost of living or inflation numbers. Btw, I agree with the above poster who questioned the high costs of "ownership" at a Marriott resort with a such a small footprint...and with no landscaping, only one small pool, and very few amenities that would require staffing. Something smells fishy here.

5% seems very normal.

Any pictures of BeachPlace's new decor and changes??

Just curious if anyone has been at BeachPlace recently ... I'd like to know if the complete renovation was done as planned but haven't seen or heard anything about it...even the Marriott sites show the old worn out furniture. Does anyone have pictures they can share?

Brian

pwrshift said:

Just curious if anyone has been at BeachPlace recently ... I'd like to know if the complete renovation was done as planned but haven't seen or heard anything about it...even the Marriott sites show the old worn out furniture. Does anyone have pictures they can share?

Brian

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When was the last time they did a complete renovation? I recall going to BPT in the fall of 2007 and believe that they had just completed one prior to that. Is that the last time?

Now of course, I don't think it was a complete renovation. I believe they "went cheap" on some things?

dioxide45 said:

When was the last time they did a complete renovation? I recall going to BPT in the fall of 2007 and believe that they had just completed one prior to that. Is that the last time?

Now of course, I don't think it was a complete renovation. I believe they "went cheap" on some things?

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They have always done renos on the cheap, but this one was supposed to be major but I've heard nothing. That could mean a big disappointment when I arrive for my month mid February. I would have thought the HOA would have posted pics to get owners excited.

Brian

pwrshift said:

They have always done renos on the cheap, but this one was supposed to be major but I've heard nothing. That could mean a big disappointment when I arrive for my month mid February. I would have thought the HOA would have posted pics to get owners excited.

Brian

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If you check out the chart on the last page of the Finance Committee board meeting agenda here.... http://www.morrowco.com/reports/mvcinews/bp20131003001.pdf it shows the useful life of furnishings (which includes furniture inside the units) to be 13 years with a remaining life of 13 years, which tells me all of that should have been completed by the end of 2013. It also appears all the building painting is fresh.

Also, back in late July when I was looking at a quick MOD long weekend stay, this popped up on the Marriott site when I was looking at their rates.

Renovation Information – Resort undergoing a full villa and lobby renovation May 12, 2013-October 14, 2013. There will be construction noise and longer elevator wait times 9am-7pm due to this project.

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Fasttr said:

If you check out the chart on the last page of the Finance Committee board meeting agenda here.... http://www.morrowco.com/reports/mvcinews/bp20131003001.pdf it shows the useful life of furnishings (which includes furniture inside the units) to be 13 years with a remaining life of 13 years, which tells me all of that should have been completed by the end of 2013. It also appears all the building painting is fresh.

Also, back in late July when I was looking at a quick MOD long weekend stay, this popped up on the Marriott site when I was looking at their rates.

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I recall reading that, too - since we will be arriving at BPT on Nov. 9 when this should be complete (we made sure that we missed the Boat Show this year - it does not interest us at all, and we want to avoid the crowds.) Everybody has their pet concern about a rehab - and ours is the location of the microwave in the Guest units. We are taking the whole 2BR this time, and bringing a friend, so I will see this firsthand - but we always hated that the micro sat on the teeny bit of counter space, leaving no room to function; we now hope that these are now wall-mounted. In other places we have stayed in, this was so much more efficiently done - if anyone knows about this, let me know, even though the 3 of us will be using the main kitchen, and probably not the Guest kitchenette at all on this trip. Looking forward to the trip! No leaves to rake/blow/mulch as we are doing here in the Hudson Valley!

Mamianka

Bump

Thought I would bump this thread as the BeachPlace renovations should all be completed by now...but I haven't heard a peep about them or seen any posted photos.

Curious to know before I get there mid-Feb and trust it all looks like the Ritz Carlton next door.

Brian

pwrshift said:

Thought I would bump this thread as the BeachPlace renovations should all be completed by now...but I haven't heard a peep about them or seen any posted photos.

Curious to know before I get there mid-Feb and trust it all looks like the Ritz Carlton next door.

Brian

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They could have picked better colors...

You must be kidding - pink?

suzannesimon said:

You must be kidding - pink?

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That picture had to be taken in the Poconos.

I'm counting on Dioxide to post a picture of the heart shaped jacuzzi with the mirrored ceiling and surrounding walls.

Come to think of it, if not the Poconos, it could be Hunter Mountain, NY.

Is there a heart-shaped tub?