Lagoon Tower HOA Settles With Its Ex-President

[seagila]

Great news for Hawaiian Village Vacation Suites (Lagoon Tower) owners. Faster elevators would be nice!

Back story here:

Ex-board president owes Waikiki timeshare owners $5.7M

Letter from the current Lagoon Tower HOA president:

Dear Fellow Owners,

This is a letter I have been waiting for several years to send to each of you! I am very pleased to confirm that we have finally settled our claims against our former Board Member and president, Mark Barra. The insurance carrier defending Mr. Barra has paid our association $3,084,000 after an almost six-year period of litigation including depositions, a 13 day trial, and three mediations. As the Board's representative, I have personally attended and participated in each step of this process. We are obviously not only pleased and proud of the outcome, but happy that this matter has been concluded and that we can put this issue behind us.

More importantly, provisions have been made to help prevent incidents such as this from happening in the future. We are also very appreciative of the enormous contributions which Hilton Grand Vacations provided in contributing to the success of the prosecution of this litigation.

After careful consideration, the Board has decided to use the settlement money for the long term benefit of all Owners in two specific ways. First, we will move some of the money to the reserve account to stabilize future annual reserve contributions. The remaining funds will be held in a separate account for special projects and improvements to the property. For example, the most common complaint we hear about the building is the slow response of the original elevators. With that in mind, the Board will be investigating the possibility of increasing our elevator capacity and efficiency. Over the next year, the Board will be evaluating several possible building improvements.

In the meantime, I hope all of you are pleased with this news as we are, and enjoying your ownership at our beautiful resort.

Sincerely,

Neil B. Goodhue
President
HVVS Board of Directors

 

[buzglyd]

That is great news. I’m going next October. I’ll check elevator speed.

 

[vacationbear]

Great news indeed!
Yes, additional elevators or capacity increases would be fantastic!
We stayed once on the 12th floor and used the stairs at times due to the long line in the lobby.
Getting down from the 22nd or 23rd floor can take a while since it stops several times during peak times.
And then there is the Saturday morning check-out madness...
It is here where I would endorse the zip-line which they thought about in the past (thankfully that did not materialize...). How about zipping right down onto the great lawn?
Fast, efficient, fun...

 

[csodjd]

Great news indeed!
Yes, additional elevators or capacity increases would be fantastic!
We stayed once on the 12th floor and used the stairs at times due to the long line in the lobby.
Getting down from the 22nd or 23rd floor can take a while since it stops several times during peak times.
And then there is the Saturday morning check-out madness...
It is here where I would endorse the zip-line which they thought about in the past (thankfully that did not materialize...). How about zipping right down onto the great lawn?
Fast, efficient, fun...

There's a strategy you learn there. Every elevator that goes up must come down. I go up a few floors to near the top and press the UP button. Get on, then ride it down.

 

[Maverick1963]

I did not know anything about this. In the Star Advertiser article, there is a line "It’s possible that Barra could appeal." Is the case settled? I had a firm belief that this kind of betrayal, deception and manipulation would happen only at third grade timeshare resort. I am purely surprised.

 

[klpca]

I did not know anything about this. In the Star Advertiser article, there is a line "It’s possible that Barra could appeal." Is the case settled? I had a firm belief that this kind of betrayal, deception and manipulation would happen only at third grade timeshare resort. I am purely surprised.

I think that the article predates the letter (looks like it is from 2016).

Congratulations to the owners on collecting over 3 million!

 

[buzglyd]

I wonder if the insurance company will go after Barra?

 

[Maverick1963]

I think that the article predates the letter (looks like it is from 2016).

Congratulations to the owners on collecting over 3 million!

Oh, I see. A few years ago, I felt the renovation at Lagoon Tower was getting done with a short interval. I have never had the faintest idea such thing were going on behind. Really good news to the owners.

 

[jehb2]

Thanks goodness. From the headline I really thought we agreed to give him some huge payout for leaving

 

[vacationbear]

There's a strategy you learn there. Every elevator that goes up must come down. I go up a few floors to near the top and press the UP button. Get on, then ride it down.

Good point! Will try it out in July...
Yet, rest assured that one would stop more than 10 times on various floors when coming down from the top.
Saturday morning is just an insane scramble. And the same continues at HNL...
We now avoid a Sat check-out and book a longer stay in the same room.
A Sun check-out is a breeze by comparison and our check-out/ return flight from HNL on a Wed was- get this- enjoyable fun! No waiting anywhere, nobody was there...

 

[thare]

Nice.

Re the elevators, they could just used advanced controls to better manage the elevators. It just is super slow since during peak you stop on every floor even with a full elevator. A few sensor can fix that easily. The other problem is that they need a freight elevator for housekeeping and bell. Insane how long those poor people have to wait!

 

[csodjd]

The other problem is that they need a freight elevator for housekeeping and bell. Insane how long those poor people have to wait!

That!

 

[alwysonvac]

Update

From my Annual Billing Letter via the HVVS Owners Association
(hopefully I caught all of the things my OCR software missed )

Dear Hawaiian Village Vacation Suites Owner,

Aloha from beautiful Waikiki!

The Lagoon Tower continues to enjoy a high occupancy of 96.3 percent as of August 2018. The resort also continues to be extremely popular with 84.9 percent booked by our owners and club members.

This summer, we rolled out our oshibori (cold towel) program to all our arriving guests. The oshibori, whether cold or hot, is a popular amenity in Japan. We also added more cultural activities at the resort, as well as weekly yoga on the great lawn, fronting the lagoon.

We have multiple project improvements for this year. We've completed several different improvements to our elevators, such as replacing door locking devices on many floors and sight-guard replacements. Also, we replaced the P-glide, which monitors door speed and position, as well as recording data to set operating parameters. One of the most exciting improvements is the replacement of the lanai (balcony) glass doors, which are original to the building. The upgraded sliders are dual-paned and heat resistant glass. In addition to reducing exterior noise, we look forward to more energy efficiencies. We began the project in August and expect to finish it at the end of next summer, in 2019.

These improvements will contribute firmly toward guest satisfaction and will reinforce our resort as best-in-class. And of course, our team will continue to offer the signature hospitality that Hawaii and Hilton Grand Vacations is known for.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS UPDATES

....Your Board of Directors, using funds from the litigation settlement of $3.1 million, has approved a Lagoon Tower building modernization and improvement project of $762,000 that includes a basement transformer upgrade to new standards, replace fire door locks, repair electrical vault doors, replace two make up air valves and air actuators, elevator glide P-operators, new elevator escutcheon tubes, elevator car and hoist way astragals, elevator hoist way door sight guards, rebuilding of the HVAC supply in the master bedroom, lobby restroom air conditioning, lobby wood trim and panel replacement, hallway corridor repairs, horizontal drain and lobby ceiling modernization, electrical panel upgrade, new linen chute doors, new back of the house utility sinks and laundry room linen closet organizer. The remaining funds of the settlement, $2,191,624 will be transferred to the reserve account to help stabilize future maintenance fee reserve contributions. ​

 

[GeorgeJ.]

What a great deal! After the repayment, the HOA only squandered $3 million of the owners funds...!