Just wanted to vent a little and ask if anybody has ever had a similar situation. Instead of going to Cancun this year (as we have for 3 of the past 4 years), we are going down to Sanibel Island off of Ft. Myers, Florida. My wife's grandmother owned an interval ownership (like a timeshare, but there is actually a deed on file at the Lee County Courthouse) and her weeks were/are weeks 20-22. She and her husband owned this for many years and ended up deeding them to my wife, her two sisters, and mother before she passed away a couple of years ago. Since the time period always fell in early/middle May to June, we had only used it sparingly since our son was in school during this time period. My son and I haven't been for probably five years, and my wife's last trip was around 2006, which was her grandmother's final trip to the condo. This year we paid the dues/taxes/maintenance fees, which tallied at a little over $2000 USD. We made our plans and invited some friends and family. We will going down for the first week, plus a couple of days over Memorial Day weekend. My wife's mother (who lives in Ft. Myer's) will be coming over to the island for those weeks, and my wife's aunt was coming down with us as well. Once we left, my wife's uncle was then flying down for the second week (week 21), and on the final week (week 22), my wife's cousins were coming down with their children. Dawn's relatives were coming down on week's 21 & 22 because Dawn's sisters stated earlier that they were not coming down this year. But after plans were made with her Aunt and Uncle, they changed their minds. Mind you this isn't the problem because we contacted another owner, who was not going to use his unit this year, and rented his unit for week 22. Therefore everybody had accommodations. Well it doesn't appear so now. The other day we received a letter from the Resort (Lighthouse Resort & Club), that stated that the Board of Directors recently voted and decided to shut down the resort the entire month of June to complete some renovations. These weeks would include weeks 22-25. Mind you they already have built in maintenance weeks in their schedule. But they voted to shut down the resort in probably the busiest time of the year, since children usually get out of school at the end of May or first part of June. I can understand why they would want to get a jump on things prior to hurricane season, but I still found it pretty ridiculous. What really baffles me is that they waited until eight weeks out to inform people of this. So now you have a great deal of people that now possess airfare that they might not get to use or it will cost them added fees to change dates. In defense of the realty company that manages this resort, they are attempting to find other lodging for those affected by this. My sister-in-laws and their family/friends are going to stay at another resort on the island, but it's going to cost them another $250. However my wife's aunt and uncle have decided they won't be coming down. So, now we have to go through the drawn out process of getting them their money back. Dawn explained to them that we will receive a refund on the third week minus taxes (because that is nonrefundable). But unless we rent out the second week, we probably won't be getting the money back on it. So we are going to give them the money back for that second week as well, even though we will only be in the condo for Saturday/Sunday. It's bad enough that they are going to have to eat their airline costs. I was telling Dawn that we should rent it out and just check into a hotel for the weekend over in Ft. Myers with our friends who are coming down for the weekend with their son. I'm just not sure if we could get it rented out in time. Needless to say, I am going to go down and party like it's my last time on the island. Because it just might be. And trust me...those folks down there will probably not like that. The island itself is like a sleepy haven. You have to cross the causeway to have a rowdy time over at Ft. Myer's Beach. Guess it's my way of sticking it back to them a little. Oh well, venting over... so has anybody ever had such an experience? Getting told that your accommodations are being scrapped with about eight weeks to go. And then putting in a contingency plan, not sure whether the company will reimburse you in a timely manner? I have heard of companies moving people from one hotel/resort to another, but that is usually without added costs, no? Then again... The Board of Directors are listed on the newsletter with their addresses and phone numbers. Perhaps a prank phone call or two? :lol:
I have no advice for you, I just wanted to say that stinks! Why didn't they do the maintenance in March or April? I would be ticked off :evil:
Not really sure. I think that their maintenance schedule is during the fall months. From what I understand part of the maintenance to be completed is on the decks of the units. They are also going to attempt to complete the scheduled maintenance for the fall months during this time period as well. I would think that January/February would be pretty ideal since the weather would be somewhat compatible. Later in the summer it gets extremely hot and humid which brings showers and thunderstorms. Not to mention the occasional hurricane/tropical storm. And although the island is somewhat sedated, my one sister-in-law did trade a week last year with another owner and went during Spring Break. She said if was an hour to an hour and a half wait just to get over on the causeway. So they must also be pretty busy during Spring Break... though I would have thought Ft. Myers to be a much better location. One other thing I forgot to mention was that the letter also informed the owners that the resort's insurance carrier has made changes to the resort's policy since it is on a barrier island. Something to do with wind coverage and barrier improvements. So there is also a special assessment of all owners of $416 per week coming this year. They are splitting that over four years though, so it is only costing essentially $312 per year for the next four years (for the three weeks). This bill will be mailed out July 1 and be due September 1 as I said for the next four years, along with the yearly fees, dues, taxes, etc. Which as I said comes out to a little over $2000 per year (due Late December/Early January). I will admit, the island and condo do have special significance. Not only because of the memories with Dawn's grandmother/grandfather, but we also spent part of our honeymoon there. Yet I'm just not sure how fond I am of returning there after being railed like this. Would much rather my time in the Yucatan.
