We were a bit disappointed in some of the comments made by a few people after our recent update. Upon further reflection it appears may it is our fault for not explaining things better or repeating information that we had previously posted.
Let us try to respond to some of the items which were mentioned in the comments.
Club Orient did not start, organize or operate the GO Fund Me page for the employees, who were devastated by Irma. The site was the idea of Nancy Tieman of Bare Necessities and she talked with us, after it was in place, asking if we would help her in letting people know.
This money went directly to our employees, some of whom had no insurance or very little and were literally without housing and/or a roof. We posted photos of the money being distributed and some very grateful people.
We are very thankful for Nancy's kindess, and make no apologies for helping people who desperately needed help.
We thought we had been very clear in separating OBC (us) from the Copro (HOA). OBC received its insurance money very quickly and it has been sufficient to sustain us for nine months so far, without any income. People think our employees are on unemployment, they are not. Our employees have been receiving 85% of their net salary from OBC, this is called “chomage partiel”. The government only reimburses OBC a percentage of minimum wage. This is a very large difference in many cases.
If we are indeed able to open in late Fall or early winter, we will have survived for between 14 and 16 months with no income. How could we do that? Because we had sufficient insurance, including business interruption.
In addition, everyone who has needed their advance deposit returned has received it, to the best of our knowledge. We explained earlier why it took so long to begin this process. Unlike a Mom and Pop operation which may have 50 or 60 thousand in advance deposits, we had over 600,000 euros in advance deposits, to be distributed worldwide.
Our servers where all our information is stored, were looted and damaged, our offices, like the rest of Club Orient, were destroyed. In November, we found temporary space, got our servers back and used the “hot spot” connection on our phone to begin downloading the programs to access the information needed. A very time-consuming process.
We then had to wait for the banks to re-open and be operational, so we could replace our credit card machine, to more efficiently issue refunds. Banks were facing the same difficulties we were with lack of staff and working computers, it took a great deal of time. We have apologized individually to people affected and in some of our other postings.
Why are we grateful for people who have either donated their deposits or allowed us to hold on to them? Because no one expected the insurance company not to pay Copro the money which is due to them, so they could rebuild quickly. This continues to put a real strain on us.
The rebuilding fund was started by OBC because a number of people have been kind enough to ask how they can help. OBC has not paid for the architect or contractor of Copro. They have done that themselves. The money which people have been generous enough to give us for rebuilding, will be used to build the additional facilities, some of which the government now requires.
Finally, for people that say, “well, you just weren’t prepared”. You’re correct. We did not plan on the largest storm in the history of the Atlantic, where the airport wind gauge broke at 240mph. We did not plan on a 9-foot storm surge which wiped away almost all of Club Orient, including foundations in some areas. We did not plan on receiving no help from the military or government for a week after Irma to protect us from looters. We did not plan on no financial assistance to the island or its people from Paris. We did not plan on all but non-existent medical care, after the storm. We did not plan on many of these things.
I know it is very easy for some to sit thousands of miles away and say what they would have done. We hope you never have to find out just how difficult it can be.