I'm sorry that you feel $1,500 is too much but is below the average amount charged by timeshare resorts to take weeks back. Please call my office. I am more than happy to discuss your situation.

Mr. Rosen,

With all due respect, we own at the Towers and they charge nothing to take one of their units back. The transfer fee to another entity is only $300.00 so your numbers seem way out of line to me.

If I were a company who had been dealing with an owner for many years, which it sounds is the case here, and that owner had been responsible in meeting his financial obligations to the timeshare entity over all those years, and IF the property being returned is a viable and profitable property, in the name of good will and good relations, I'd think the Belair would treat the manner in the same way as the Towers.

But that's just my opinion and I have no pony in this race.

I might be wrong but what happens if everybody decides to give something back that they don't want anymore. You bought the timeshare shouldn't it be your responsibility to keep or sell it yourself. Walking away from it is the same problem we had in the states a few years ago when people just stopped paying for their homes.

I've noticed in many cases at the Towers they are more than happy to have them back. They can then rent that week on the open market, use it as a hotel/condo room by the night. They have entered into agreements with airlines to put aircrew up, the Starz casino for events lodging, and cruise lines when employees (or fired employees in the case I witnessed) have to be put off the boat.
They will make their money on the room, and are happy to have control over it again.

Jaialai,

I guess we can all look at the same thing and see it from different viewpoints.

In this particular situation, the timeshare property has long since been paid for in full and the actual timeshare entity -owner/developer/manager - continues to collect annual fees. Beyond this, many timeshares offered to act as reasonable agents should the need for a resale arise down the road, though in fairness, I don't know if this property made that assurance as part of their timeshare sales spiel or not.

As far as the owners having to sell the timeshares themselves, had so many of the St. Maarten properties in particular not made such a mess of the handling and treatment of their owners - ie Pelican and Caravanserai immediately come to mind - and the crazy AMFs so many have managed to inflate, it might not be so difficult to sell a unit as a resale and more would be able to do so. It's done but as often as not, people end up giving them away because most who have heard of timeshare in general, and in relation to ownership on St. Maarten in particular, few will buy there today unless the purchase is of particular value to them - like a back to back week to something they already have, or the price is so low, it feels like it's a gift.

IMHO, that's a lot different from people walking away from homes and mortgages they purchased and are unable to pay for and in the end, thanks to Freddie and Fannie - we end up paying for them. But again, that's just my opinion. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Well said. No comparison.

Jim,Be glad to dicuss situation. Give me a number and best time to reach you

Would be glad to talk to him,however I don't know his office number and he hasn't been employed at Belair in a few years. He used to be in charge of timeshare there. (I called timesshare relations @ Belair to get this info )

Sapphire accepted our 2 weeks back
with no charge.
That nightmare is over!

Lucky You !!

Another option to get rid of your Belair week is to sell it for $1.00 and for you to also agree to pay the $575 transfer fee. Someone will snatch it up. I bought all my Belair weeks that way. It is a great place with a wonderful beach and pool, decent restaurant, long time caring staff, and loyal following. Being able to move your week for a nominal fee is also a plus.
Good luck.

I think the point was that ronwald didn't want to pay anything to give it back. Can't say that I blame him.

I'd give it away and split the transfer charge with anyone who would take it !

Just don't pay the MF or the turn in charge and walk away. What can the Belair do? Their hands are tied not being a US company.

Yep, that's the next step. Attorney's I have talked to all said the same thing.Just trying to avoid the hassle and bad feelings, because we really do love it there. Just can't do the trip anymore for a few reasons.

Ronwald1 and I have corresponded via PMs. We bought TSs from Belair a year or 2 before they did for the same time period. I cannot imagine why Belair would not want to take back week#1 for no charge since that's about their busiest time of the year.

My take.....totally unfamiliar with timeshares. You have owned the lease on the unit for your weeks for a long time. The maintenance fees can basically go up at their discretion (only thing limiting the fees is the marketplace of turning owners/future owners off), the release fee is totally made up and the justification of such a fee is two fold: as a deterrent to leave so that you keep paying maintenance fees AND if you do end up leaving and pay a money maker for the resort. I'd walk away and wouldn't feel the least bit bad about it.

It is not at all like walking away from a mortgage. If your maintenance fees and this made up fee were locked in on your original contract way back when then there could be an analogy but I would assume that the maintenance fees always have a tendency to go up and that this made up release fee is a new trend and wasn't even around back then.

Maintenance fees were $240 when we bought, now about $1100

Sounds about right. When we bought Flamingo in 1999 our two bed was 540. Now its around 1350-1400.

And I can understand that the maintenance fee should go up with the cost of labor, utilities, products purchased for the property, insurance, etc but I doubt they share the total number of dollars collected per unit or as a property as a whole OR where the money was actually used (other than profit margin)...zero auditory transparency...I just feel like some timeshares have your wallet on a leash and only market conditions dictate how tight they tug at it.

Just to clarify. Maintenance fees are paid to a New York City address for Belair (Paradise Beach Hotel). The key point is that it is a Sint Maarten business, governed by Netherland Antilles law.

Yep,states right on the lease "This lease will be governed and construed according to the laws of the Netherland Antilles."

Looked at the Belair web site and the nightly rental rates for Jan 2016 are 1 bdrm $359 and 2 bdrm $419
If you pay $1100 per wk MF, if I was the Belair and I could rent your unit I would want it back!
J&B

sent you a PM

$1,400??? You're sure?
That's what mine were in 2013. $1,425.77 to be precise.
$1,524.62 in 2014 and 2015.
The 1st year we paid them, in 2001, they were $598.70.
I just went through the MFs bills since day 1 to reply to your post.
Same 2BR/2BA lock-out unit as yours.

I think your right. I just pay all four of them all at once and don't put too much thought to it. It is what it is. Matter of fact I already paid all of next years just to get it out of the way. One studio and three two bed units adds up.

DRI gave you the amount of the 2016 MFs yet ?

No. I just paid what they charged last year. They said there would be no increase but if they do I'll just pay the difference. I wanted to pay early for the miles and a promo for 50,000 AA miles on a new card if I spent $3.000 in three months. My wife did the same so we picked up 100,000 AA mile between us plus the miles for the payment charged to the acct. Couldn't pass it up.

Many timeshares have low mf to start, to make them more attractive to purchase. As facilities age the low fees are not adequate to maintain the property, then they rise or in the case of Diamond buying Flamingo and RP, there were inadequate reserves, insurance etc., so they were increased significantly. At least that's the company line. I can't say they haven't improved a lot since Diamond took over, but it is a little pricey.

Works for me. I have no regrets. Love the Flamingo and the weeks units we have.

I'm with Scuba on this one.
I'm actually more upset with airline fees than TS fees. We just booked our flights and they cost now as much as the MFs for a 1 week stay.
I will add that the MFs at Flamingo increased but the amenities and service improved noticeably. It's the complete opposite with the airlines. We pay more every year for less options (# of flights) and less service.

Ditto!
And don't forget LESS SPACE! Crammed into smaller and smaller seats, so uncomfortable. Used to be you had to be able and willing to open an exit door to sit in exit aisle....now you just pay.
My hubby is 6'2" and for our upcoming trip, they want to charge for regular aisle seats too! All For priveledge of being able to occasionally stretch a knee, and to have everyone else in your row disturb you going to/from potty, and every single person walking the aisle doing the same....along with the beverage cart. He'd rather suffer than give them more money.

Yep! And to add insult to injury, you're not even guaranteed to arrive not only on-time, but even the day you expect! We missed 2 days of vacation one year due to bad weather, problem with the crew having already worked enough hours, technical problem etc.... You think we got a discount for arriving Monday PM instead of Saturday PM? Nothing!

Airline should have done something. When things go wrong on my flights I call the airlines, get a customer service supervisor and always get something. Usually a chunk of miles that I end up using. Last year I got 5,000 just because my ear jack didn't work on my seat in First Class for one flight that was on miles to begin with.

Scuba, no free mileage will compensate for 2 lost days in SXM, maybe for you but not for me.
Even without taking into account this unfortunate ordeal, the fact of the matter is airlines nowadays cost way too much for the service they provide, compared to what it was not too long ago.

"Scuba, no free mileage will compensate for 2 lost days in SXM, maybe for you but not for me."

Since you didn't get any compensation, miles would have been something. That is providing the airlines has a miles program. In my case it was US/AA on a USair flight with AA miles. In any case the airline should have done something.