[Marriott leaving] management of the Mallorca Marriott Son Antem Golf Resort & Spa

Hopefully, this will not happen or if it does the impact can be minimised.
Also, hopefully it will not be the start of a trend for co-located MVC resorts and Marriott hotels.
Nevertheless, it is worrying news.

[FONT=&quot]You may have seen press reports speculating that management of the Mallorca Marriott Son Antem Golf Resort & Spa is going to change. At this time we are aware of ongoing discussions between the owner of the hotel, Orenol S.A., and the hotel manager, Marriott Hotels S.L., but not of any specific agreements.

We are writing to offer our assurance that irrespective of what happens with the management of the hotel we want to assure you that your resort will continue to be managed by MVCI Management S.L. We are dedicated to ensuring that you, the owners, at Marriott's Club Son Antem continue to have the vacation experiences that you have come to expect.

Our businesses, while sharing many core brand values, are entirely separate. Marriott's Club Son Antem, is managed by a company unrelated to the owner or manager of the hotel. The separate nature of hotel ownership and hotel management, as at the Mallorca hotel, is a very common model and changes can take place from time to time. Even if the hotel is in fact no longer managed by Marriott Hotels S.L. and branded as a Marriott hotel, this will not impact the branding and management of Marriott's Club Son Antem. The amenities at Club Son Antem including the Spa, golf courses, golf restaurant, fitness center and Marketplace continue to be owned and/or operated by Marriott Vacation Club International and your continued use and enjoyment of these facilities would remain unchanged.

At this time we are looking at how Marriott's Club Son Antem can operate entirely independently of the hotel, if necessary, including new check-in facilities. Please be assured, that our focus in this process is upon maximizing the Owner experience, ensuring the continued smooth operation of Marriott's Club Son Antem and maintaining the standards which Owners have come to expect from a resort operated as part of Marriott Vacation Club.

We understand you may have additional questions, however please be assured that as we become aware of further important developments for which we are able to share, we will keep you informed.

We look forward to continuing to provide you with unforgettable vacations on the beautiful island of Mallorca.[/FONT]

It was very disappointing to receive the email & suggests its highly likely to happen. I believe it can only be a negative for owners & the overall experience of visiting Son Antem.

Beat me to the punch. Interesting communication. Will feed back anything I get from the owner board member I know.

JonP said:

It was very disappointing to receive the email & suggests its highly likely to happen. I believe it can only be a negative for owners & the overall experience of visiting Son Antem.

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Probably indicates some unhappiness on the part of the hotel property owners with Marriott's management of the hotel. Whether they can do better without the global backing of Marriott is a question that we cannot answer.

For myself, over recent years and especially since Marriott spun off MVW there has been something which I can't quite fathomn about the relationship between the TS resort and the Hotel at Son Antem. Prior to the spin off the resort had a single General Manger who (IMHO) ran a pretty good operation. The TS and hotelo were run together and worked pretty well. Since he left and the TS and hotel were managed separately, although working together to provide services to the TS resort - there always seemed to be something not quite running as smooth as it had in the past.

What is a concern is that the whole thing is really set up to run as an integrated operation. Housekeeping services run out of the hotel, guest services likewise, site maintenance, security. Separating the two operations is a lot more than jsut setting up a stand alone check in facility for the TS guests.

A lot of thing to be sorted out if this does come about.

I have friends who are at Son Antem at the moment. They met up with one of the sales team for a chat. There was no mention of this. I've forwarded the email that I received from MVCI to them.

Must admit I find this news slightly unsettling. I like the fact that the hotel is branded to Marriott.

A similar thing happened a few years ago at Fairway Villas. I do not own there and never stayed there until after the change, so i do not know if there was any impact on the timeshare guest experience. Perhaps a Fairway Villas owner can comment on this?

We were at Club Son Antem for the first time last Spring, and loved exploring the island so much that we spent little time actually at the hotel or timeshare area. However, if we had planned to have a more resort centered week, not having access to the hotel and pools would be a real loss.

We were at Four Seasons Aviara just after Park Hyatt had taken over the hotel management from Four Seasons, and we could still use all the facilities there, and charge to our Four Seasons account. Long time owners seemed to feel the service would not be the same at the hotel, but it was lovely when we were there.

So although Marriott managing the hotel would be best, if the management changes, but keeps the relationship with the MVCI guests open, it would be to the advantage of both facilities. The resort is not in a densely populated area, and the MVCI guests bring lots of business to the hotel and hotel restaurants. I would have gone back this year if I could have talked my husband into another long flight!

Ann in CA said:

We were at Club Son Antem for the first time last Spring, and loved exploring the island so much that we spent little time actually at the hotel or timeshare area. However, if we had planned to have a more resort centered week, not having access to the hotel and pools would be a real loss.

We were at Four Seasons Aviara just after Park Hyatt had taken over the hotel management from Four Seasons, and we could still use all the facilities there, and charge to our Four Seasons account. Long time owners seemed to feel the service would not be the same at the hotel, but it was lovely when we were there.

So although Marriott managing the hotel would be best, if the management changes, but keeps the relationship with the MVCI guests open, it would be to the advantage of both facilities. The resort is not in a densely populated area, and the MVCI guests bring lots of business to the hotel and hotel restaurants. I would have gone back this year if I could have talked my husband into another long flight!

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I've heard that the hotel management might move to the Spanish company Iberostar. Not an internationally known company really. Most of their properties seem to be average quality package tour type hotels which is not a great prospect. However it would not make sense for any new management to neglect the TS guests who would be an obvious source of income for the hotel. Use of the hotel pool would be an obvious thing to continue as would use of the hotel's other services and the ability to charge to the villa account.

My main concern would be any reduction in quality and the loss of brand standards in the hotel.

There have been rumblings for a year or two about the hotel owners wanting a switch from Marriott. I suspect the split off of the TS business from the Marriott Hotel management business put some more emphasis on that.

The potential move to Iberostar management would potentially indicate a switch in the target market to a more mass market package tour business which is the sort of thing we moved away from back in the late 1980's.

The email seems to indicate that many of the facilities around the golf club and spa are owned/managed by MVCI which would mean that the TS business would be in the driving seat there and so the hotel would need to negotiate access for guests. The financial side of those bits is generally fee driven with green fees and spa fees with a contribution from the TS maintenance fees. The new hotel management would not want to lose access to the Spa and Golf facilities and also they would be expected to want to attract business into the hotel bars and restaurants from TS guests. To do that I would want them to provide something to attract me to use those facilities, at a minimum to continue to allow me to sign for the costs to my MVCI villa account and indeed I would want something on top such as a discount deal since they need to offer me something on top as I can easily go elsewhere and indeed we have not been using the hotel restaurant for some years now due to excessive costs and lower quality.

My big concern would be in other areas of combined services such as housekeeping, guest services to the villas, security, pool services, landscaping & gardening etc.

On our visit we used the hotel simply to check in and out and used the pool on two occasions. We never ate in the restaurant as the prices were out of kilter for what they were offering. The rest of the time was spent in our shared pool and at the beach / Aqualand. Meals were predominantly barbecues or cooked in the kitchen. As a family with young children we would not miss the hotel or its facilities although I would still prefer it if it remained an integral part of the resort.

BocaBoy said:

A similar thing happened a few years ago at Fairway Villas. I do not own there and never stayed there until after the change, so i do not know if there was any impact on the timeshare guest experience. Perhaps a Fairway Villas owner can comment on this?

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I own at Fairway Villas and was initially concerned when hotel management changed a few years ago. In reality, there has not been any noticeable impact. We continue to receive discounts at the hotel restaurants and golf and can charge expenses to the Villa to accrue MR points. The shuttle still runs its circuit, so I assume hotel guests have reciprocal access to the Villa amenities - kids club, etc.

I hope a similar working partnership happens for Son Antem.

Maria

mpizza said:

I own at Fairway Villas and was initially concerned when hotel management changed a few years ago. In reality, there has not been any noticeable impact. We continue to receive discounts at the hotel restaurants and golf and can charge expenses to the Villa to accrue MR points. The shuttle still runs its circuit, so I assume hotel guests have reciprocal access to the Villa amenities - kids club, etc.

I hope a similar working partnership happens for Son Antem.

Maria

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Maria

Thanks for your input - it is good to know that it has worked well at Fairway Villas - co-incidently another Golf Resort like Son Antem.

I will be sorry if the hotel at Son Antem ceases to be a Marriott since we often add additional nights in the hotel to our stay in the TS villas. Without the option to use MR points or accrue nights towards our elite status for paid stays, we would now not do so. Another loss of business for the hotel.

MALC9990 said:

I will be sorry if the hotel at Son Antem ceases to be a Marriott since we often add additional nights in the hotel to our stay in the TS villas. Without the option to use MR points or accrue nights towards our elite status for paid stays, we would now not do so. Another loss of business for the hotel.

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Can't you add nights to your TS stay with points? We've done that for our stay at Andaluza at the end of the month, used points to extend our stay to 10 nights.

Pompey Family said:

Can't you add nights to your TS stay with points? We've done that for our stay at Andaluza at the end of the month, used points to extend our stay to 10 nights.

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Of course one can always look for a MR points reservation into a villa but in high demand seasons these can be hard to get and also when there are just two of you then it rquires many more MR points to get a villa (if available) than a single hotel room.

May look at using DC points in future for a villa to add a few nights when needed.

Pompey Family said:

Can't you add nights to your TS stay with points? We've done that for our stay at Andaluza at the end of the month, used points to extend our stay to 10 nights.

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Or just pay to stay at the timeshare and accrue points and elite status. Owners might even get a discount if you call the resort directly.

MALC9990 said:

I've heard that the hotel management might move to the Spanish company Iberostar. Not an internationally known company really. Most of their properties seem to be average quality package tour type hotels which is not a great prospect.

The potential move to Iberostar management would potentially indicate a switch in the target market to a more mass market package tour business which is the sort of thing we moved away from back in the late 1980's.

My big concern would be in other areas of combined services such as housekeeping, guest services to the villas, security, pool services, landscaping & gardening etc.

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I looked up some of the properties that they run near Palma and the reviews from the guests aren't great to be honest. http://shar.es/emZsE.

Wouldn't particularly like the prospect of seeing coaches full of holiday makers pulling up outside reception. I'll fire off an email to our rep and see what happens.

Worcesterdee said:

I looked up some of the properties that they run near Palma and the reviews from the guests aren't great to be honest. http://shar.es/emZsE.

Wouldn't particularly like the prospect of seeing coaches full of holiday makers pulling up outside reception. I'll fire off an email to our rep and see what happens.

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You still have a rep at Son Antem? Mine was made redundant several years ago. For the last two years we saw a trainee both of whom were hopeless.

I believe this will be a very bad move for Club Son Antem owners. This is our favourite MVCI destination and we greatly enjoy the ‘resort aspect’; it’s a wonderful place to relax even during high season.

Should a company who primarily operate in the ‘package holiday’ sector take over, I fear the ambience of Son Antem will be destroyed.

Furthermore, as Malc has noted, many resources are currently shared and to address this issue will be a serious challenge for both parties.

Heard back from our contact in sales.

They know nothing at the moment, seemingly a Spanish newspaper did an article saying the hotel was being taken over, hence why Marriott then sent out the email that we got.

Nothing is confirmed, all they know is that IF the hotel no longer was managed by Marriott it will not affect the owners regarding the facilities as they all belong to the vacationclub.

So nothing more than we already know.

bazzap said:

owner of the hotel, Orenol S.A

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what specifically does marriott own?

owners can do what they want, including sell.

if there were full/fractional owners at four seasons exuma, they are so far the biggest losers. its now a sandals.

We should all remember that years before Marriott split off the timeshare business into a separate legal entity with its own shareholders as an independent business, which pays Marriott $50 million every year to use the word Marriott as part of its various brand names (Marriott Vacation Club International, Marriott Vacations Worldwide etc), the hotel business split off the property owning section of the business in a similar way.

Bill Marriott recognized that owning the properties that made up his hotel business was a massive drain on his income, since most of the properties were bought with borrowed money and the interest on the debt was a big drain on the balance sheet.

So all the debts and the property assets were hived off and Marriott started down the road that it is on today. In the UK recently the property company that owned 40+ Marriott hotels went bust because the costs of the debts and maintaining the properties to Marriott standards was too much and the income from Marriott did not cover the costs - so the bank took over the properties and they carried on being run by Marriott - this includes top properties like the Marriott County Hall.

The TS part of Marriott was a cost drain due to the interest on the debts run up to finance the developments. In the good times the sales were enough to off set these costs but one bad year was enough to convince Marriott that it was hitting the hotel business bottom line. So they hived off the TS business to MVW and cleared the potential for bad news from their bottom line whilst still making money from the franchise of the Marriott name and brand.

The issue for Son Antem is that there are now three players in the operation of the integrated resort. Marriott operate the hotel which is owned by Orenal SA and Marriott Vacations Worldwide through its Spanish associate company own and operate the TS resort. This meant that the single resort general manager was replaced by a hotel manager working for Marriott and a TS resort manager working for MVW. That loaded some costs onto both businesses but that is small beer when you consider that now each has separate business objectives and paymasters.

The hotel has a different set of financial challenges to the TS resort. he TS has a relatively captive market of owners and exchangers with some renters. The hotel has a totally different market made up of many people who have no affiliation to Marriott other than some who will be Marriott Rewards members. The property owners want a good revenue stream to help finance the interest payments on the debts that were incurred to build the property, just like MVW need to finance all their debts on the development of the TS units.

MVW however is master of its own good or bad fortune whereas the hotel property owner is dependent on Marriott to operate the hotel in a way that will generate enough revenue to finance the debts and also offer a profit to the owners of Orenal SA. Marriott gets the costs of operation covered and then shares the profit of operating the hotel with Orenal SA but is that enough to cover the interest on the debts and capital repayments and also a profit for Orenal SA. In the current financial world innSpain it may be that Orenal need to improve their income or go bust and that may be driving tem to look at their options and quite likely their lenders are driving them from behind the scenes.

This difference in business priorities is what concerns me. The business imperative for Orenal SA might be to move the hotel down market to increase bodies in beds overall and still increase their revenue but that will definitely conflict with the expectations of the TS guests. Also it may well be that the Spa and Golf are owned by MVW but the hotel guests use these and offset the operating costs. If the hotel clientele moves down market and uses the spa and golf less due to the costs being out of their price range then more of those costs will fall more on the TS owners.

So I am concerned about this potential change and the financial and quality implications to me as an owner at the TS resort at Son Antem.

Marriott leaving Son Antem hotel

We are at the villas this week. Front desk staff told us it will transition away from Marriott. Timeshares will not change.

The effects we notice right now are that the concierge desk is not staffed. The front desk handles requests. (Not nearly as well as the former concierge). The only resort activity is an exercise class. Check in and housekeeping go through hotel front desk. But the staff member assured us that Marriott will be out.

Aviara in Carlsbad CA seems to have survived the Four Seasons change.

Empty Nest said:

We are at the villas this week. Front desk staff told us it will transition away from Marriott. Timeshares will not change.

The effects we notice right now are that the concierge desk is not staffed. The front desk handles requests. (Not nearly as well as the former concierge). The only resort activity is an exercise class. Check in and housekeeping go through hotel front desk. But the staff member assured us that Marriott will be out.

Aviara in Carlsbad CA seems to have survived the Four Seasons change.

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This is nothing new to Marriott timeshares. It has happened a few times already in the last 3 years. Sorry to see it happen but management of properties does change hands from time to time. Hopefully impact to MVCI resort will be mitigated over time.

Thanks for the heads up!

We have been owners for 12 years and due to the intrinsic nature of the resort this can only have a negative impact. It's such a tranquil resort which would be ruined if a package orientated hotel chain take over!!!!

JonP said:

We have been owners for 12 years and due to the intrinsic nature of the resort this can only have a negative impact. It's such a tranquil resort which would be ruined if a package orientated hotel chain take over!!!!

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Ditto. Us too - also own three weeks. Very, very sad and nervous, really, to see what's going to happen. The hotel and the TS are so intrinsically linked, it's difficult to see how this will have anything but a negative effect. It's like trying to pick apart a long marriage! We were there last week and in fact we didn't set foot in the hotel apart from having to check in, but when we visit in the summer we spend a lot more time there - suppose that won't be the case anymore.

I think I'll be interested to see how the the housekeeping, maintenance and "At Your Service" will be managed, although the latter could definitely be improved!

Oh well, we can't stop the juggernaut heading our way, so all we can do is hope for the best!

Friends who have a hotel ressie thru Marriott.com received an email telling them that their booking would not be a Marriott stay. This is for June. The email stated that the hotel ceases to be a Marriott immediately.