VOA Owners Corner

Announcement

Exciting News!
No More Celebrity!

A little over 2 years ago we sent a letter with the heading…

GREAT NEWS            GREAT NEWS          GREAT NEWS

And it was great news. We were announcing to the owners that we had reached a settlement with Celebrity Resorts to take back management control of Hanalei Bay Resort for the VOA and AOAO. There were several restrictions in the settlement agreement that we were going to have to deal with going forward as Celebrity was going to have a continuing presence in our resort because they owned the resort developer rights that they had purchased from Quintas. Well, today I have the privilege to report that.….

NOW  WE  HAVE  MORE  REALLY  GREAT  NEWS!

We have successfully negotiated the purchase of the developer rights and a full and complete settlement and separation with Celebrity Resorts. I’m sure you all know that as owners of the developer rights, Celebrity Resorts still controlled certain aspects of our Vacation Ownership Program. Really important things such as:

  • The exclusive right to use unreserved, unconfirmed or unused use periods
  • The right to rent its confirmed use periods and unused periods and to use them for sales or other purposes
  • The right to add units to the Program
  • Special reservation use rights of intervals per Section 4.16 of the VOA CCR’s.
  • Stipulation that the VOA Program rules could not affect Developer’s reserved rights.
  • Defined that the Exchange Agent may be an independent company, the Developer or the VOA.
  • The right to reserve and use intervals it owns
  • The right to use all common areas / elements of the Project
  • The right to change the name of the Program
  • The right to annex units.
  • The right to add units.
  • The right to remove units
  • The right to make various changes to documents.
  • Prohibit the VOA from amending any documents that affect Developer’s rights
  • Exclusive control over all timeshare re-sales*
  • Exclusive control over the concierge and activities services on the property*

Now for the first time in the history of Hanalei Bay Resort, our resort is under total and complete control of the owners, and our VOA owns and controls those rights.  The purchase price was $660,000.00 and included with the purchase of the developer rights is the settlement of any and all claims between all parties, including the AOAO. We also took deed to the 5 intervals that Celebrity owned along with the stipulation that anyone that is associated with Celebrity Resorts or any of their subsidiaries who acquires ownership in Hanalei Bay Resort is required to sell that interest to the VOA at the lower of cost or market. The VOA will also retain all rental income from intervals previously rented by Celebrity for occupancy on or after January 1, 2012 (approximately $20,000.00) and is immediately granted all rental rights after that date as well. Rental income currently held by TPI for rentals it made on behalf of Celebrity during the past 2 years is to be paid to the VOA (approximately $65,000.00). All of this nets down to an actual cost to the VOA of approximately $575,000.00. According to Celebrity bankruptcy court documents, this amount is somewhat less than 2 years of rental income from unused units - consistent with what we had estimated.
Before you panic with “now what’s this going to cost me?” I want you to know that your Board does not anticipate having to increase your maintenance fees because of this, nor do we anticipate any special assessments to our owners. The board has authorized temporary use of funds on hand to be replaced by the substantial income that can be generated by rentals, interval re-sales, and other opportunities that are now available to the association.  In fact, our maintenance fees should stabilize because of the income opportunities the association will now have with respect to unit rentals and re-sales.

So many great things are happening at your resort with the long awaited project starting on the complete renovation and remodel of all of our interval units, the just completed replacement and renovation of the swimming pool deck flagstone, completion of the demolition and removal of the fire damaged areas and the start of the rebuilding process of the structure for our front desk, lobby, offices, sundry shop, fitness center, restaurant, and other areas of our main building, the soon to be installed solar power network that will provide a considerable amount of green energy for our resort and cut our energy costs, installation of the new LED parking lot lights, and many other projects.

Hanalei Bay Resort is truly alive and doing well because of the support and energy of the owners, the wonderful staff, and the management services provided to us by Trading Places. I’m proud to work with all of these people and serve as your board president to see “my happy place” coming back to life.  Thank you for your support, help, and patience as we continue to catch up.

Sincerely,
David M. Nicholl
President, Hanalei Bay Resort VOA

 

Dear Owners:
During the very temporary unavailablity of the President of the AOAO, Kent Oehm, I am writing on his behalf with some great news for our resort. As you can see from the following blast, all matters between the AOAO, VOA, and Celebrity have now been concluded in a very favorable manner for us. For the first time in history, your resort is totally owned and controlled by you, the owners and members of the AOAO and VOA. I'm sure Kent will provide further updates but we thought it important to get this information to you in a timely fashion.

Sincerely,
Bill Kraft
Vice President, AOAO of Hanalei Bay Resort

 

*These rights were contained and defined in the 2009 Settlement, Mutual General Release, and Indemnity Agreement