RCI/ Royal Islander update

After a handful of calls, RCI returned my points without charge. Their policy is you have to make travel plans within 30 days using your original transaction charge. (Not traveling in the next 30 days) It took sometime to complete because contact had to be made with Royal Islander, the resort is now saying it will be closed for one year. Could change of course, but that's todays info.

Where did they say they will be closed for a year? Did that include La Plage?

Their website says closed for 2017.

The closing for one year was from RCI rep who stated to me that they contacted RI. My reservation was from Jan 13th till Feb 12th.

Which Royal Islander are you talking about? La Plage and La Terasse have made no official statement other than the end of 2017, and that they are waiting for assessment before they give more specific dates. So I assume you are speaking of Royal Islander Great Bay?

Has anyone considered the possibility of confusing a statement saying "end of the year" vs "for a year"

I have no idea. I didn't hear it or read it but it is possible the statement may have been misread or mis-heard.

JMHO

I'm not a member of the RCI exchange. But I am a timeshare owner of week 41 at LaPlage. I just wanna know what happens going forward. Do we get credited for the maintenance fee money that we paid back in January? Or did we have to be RCI exchange members and then could have banked the week? Are we just out the 800 bucks now? If we knew we had to be exchange members in case of a natural disaster, we would have joined. But we thought it was only related to exchanging your week for a different place, etc. It appears its also an insurance policy of sorts, in that you can bank your week in case of such a disaster. Unless I'm thoroughly confused. And it's gonna be January again in just a few months and another maintenance fee bill will arrive, so more money just going down a rabbit hole?

David, I am in a similar situation at The Towers. We own 3 weeks. Only one of which is in the RCI pool. Thankfully I had already deposited that week.

However next month we were booked for the other two weeks. Maintenance fees paid and all. Not sure what will happen. And it's time for 2018 bills to be coming out. We will certainly not be happy to have lost this years usage, and have to pay for an uncertain next year. We are already discussing cutting our losses and walking away.

I believe the decision would be on a Resort by Resort basis.

If I remember correctly, in 1995 Pelican Resort did not reimburse any part of our AMF. That being said, most of Pelican's woes were a result of Luis. After that the resort went through a few iterations before becoming Simpson Bay Resort.

I hope it works out for everyone involved, no matter who your home resort is.

SBR announced they will give an extra week for every week that you couldn't use but they have to be used during 2018. I don't know how that will be possible since they are not opening until at least April. Just found out they withdrew that offer. You can bank your week and that is it.

And you can't use those banked weeks during high season!

which seems really unfair if the weeks that you are losing are high season weeks. And, having to use them by the end of 2018 makes it seem unlikely that many of us will be unable to use them at all since the resort will not open until April. I understand the business decision and the awful position they are in but...,

I was originally going to just bank them but I am now leaning towards depositing with Interval. At least that way you get two years to exchange them for a different resort...and maybe for a high season week

The two years is the clincher though

It will depend on the trading power you would have with a resort and island still in recovery mode.

Honestly, once some resorts open up, I figure there will be a decent amount of availability, as many people won't want to go, even though their particular resort is open.

I wrote to Nina from RI asking about those who are not members of RCI and she told me that my 2 week maintenance for 2017 would be carried over to 2018. Hoping that my home away from home can get put back together so that the people from SXM can return to their previous way of life, a lot will be changed. I think of this hurricane season which brought about widespread destruction throughout the carribbean and how and while most of these islands rely on tourism for their economy and employment handle these next 6 months and longer until their infrastructure can support a tourist return. Meanwhile doing what I can to support friends on the island.

To add to previous post, Royal Islander responded the same way when Luis hit and almost a year was lost to repairs. We owned several weeks at that time and all fees were carried over. Furthermore, no assessments, ever. All things considered, it is very impressive that the considerations remain beyond fair. That Nina was able to give owners comfort is so kind when the needs of the island are far greater than we can imagine. Kudos to the staff, once again.

HettieMaidman.....also see you are also from Boynton Beach!! We are also....moved from WPalm couple of months ago. I do agree with you about the Royal Islander staff.
RI Staff are the best anywhere!!!! From the front desk...to Nina and Lucy.....to the housekeepers....to the security....to the maintenance crew...to the towel hut attendant...and of course to Mr. Spaddarro. We have also owned almost thirty years...and hoping beyond hope, that we get to enjoy our second home again for the next thirty years. I would love to see some updated pictures of the place....and get a handle on the damage that was done.

I wrote to Nina at Royal Islander as well. Hoping to get an email back soon. I know they are going to credit 2017 maintenance fee payments for 2018, even if a timeshare owner isn't an RCI member, if the hurricane impacted the week someone was due to be there, based on their comments on their own facebook page -- however, I'd just feel better having an email from them to that effect for my own records..

Here is the answer I received

It will be transferred to 2018.



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------

To: Nina Persuad <nina@royalislander.com>
Subject: Weeks 44/45

Hi Nina, We are all so sorry of the devastation to SXM. I have made so many friends that live on the island and feel horrible about the loss of livelihood to those that live there.

Since I bought the 2 units, what happens to my maintenance for 2017? I am not affiliated with RCI.

I am anxious to find out about this .

Hettie, I remember you from the old St. Maarten Prodigy group that we belonged to back in the mid 90's when Luis hit. We waited for the owner of LaRosa to update us on the state of the island!

Pauline

hi pauline, still here. In a few words Irma has been way worse than Luis, just to give u an idea.

Hello guys. We visited SXM 7 years ago and fell in love with this wonderful island. We have reservations for 11 nights at end of Feb-to first of Mar 2018 via RCI exchange at Royal Islander Great Bay. I have avoided any cancellations yet due to urgency of all the devastation on island. I truly would appreciate all of your suggestions on what we should do. We purchased travel insurance and think we can cancel without penalty, but would love to come to SXM and help with input to the islands tourism livelihood. I just don't want to be a burden. It just seems so trivial to be concerned with our vacation while all the islands are trying to survive, but I need to make definite plans soon. Could you all help me with decisions? The members of this forum wonderfully helped me plan our last visit, so I'll say thank you in advance. Becky Lynn

Have you heard from Royal Islander Great Bay? I think it was posted somewhere that they still would not be opened by then. Best to check and then make your decision. Many people have cancelled their flights until summer 2018 and beyond as many accommodations will not be ready to receive guests.

Maho Group Sint Maarten has a website which has current information about all its properties. When I last checked it did indicate what properties would required extended dates for reopening. Maybe the information has been updated but worth knowing from that source.

Hi Enzo!!! It's so great to see your post. You were our link to SXM back then and we followed every update you gave!!! It's so nice to know you are still online!!! I hope you and your family are OK.

Pauline

I deposited eight Simpson Bay Villa weeks with II (February and March, 2018 weeks) and got full trading power. Obviously Simpson Bay worked a deal with II. In fact, when I called II, I knew that my II membership had lapsed. I told them I wanted to renew and they transferred me to the "Royal Resorts Desk". The Royal Resorts Desk allowed me to renew for three years for free, and the first three trades would be $89 each instead of $189. Overall, really hard to complain.

hi pauline yes i am still here in sxm. my mother now lives in italy. tx

La Rosa was the destination for us !! Great memories and one of my personal favorites, the veal chop. Years of memories. Off topic perhaps, but a reassuring that SXM can rebuild because of Enzo and the other resilient families who can make it happen again.

Has there been any information on the damage at Royal Islander La Plage? By some of the pictures it doesn't appear there was much damage other than the vegetation. Could they possibly resume operation by Jan. '18?

We had already booked two weeks at Royal Islander through RCI for next July/August. First week at La Plage 2 BR Sleep 6, second week at La Terasse 3 BR Penthouse. We did this far in advance (while we were still on the island in August) because we book as soon as it becomes available on RCI due to the need to accommodate our family of 6.
We just found out this week that RCI cancelled those two reservations and deposited our points back into our account.
We are concerned about this as (1) we had paid maintenance fees for 2017 but we also stayed there in 2017 on borrowed points, so our next maintenance fee would be 2018 which is not due yet, and (2) the points we used were paid to a third party (purchased) so that we would have enough points and are back into our account so there is no reason for the rooms to have been cancelled unless RI will be closed in July/Aug 2018. We had paid sizeable transaction fees for confirming both weeks, which have not been refunded. And now we are out that money, had already paid for the points to a 3rd party so we are out those funds for vacation if we cant use points to get our rooms. And we shouldn't have to pay transaction fees again!
I wrote to Nina but have had no response yet. But we don't understand why our rooms have been unilaterally cancelled (especially as RI owners) if the resort has not made the decision to be closed in July/Aug 2018 and has not told RCI to cancel rooms, and it seems to me that it is wrong for RCI to take peoples transaction fees and then cancel their reservations, leaving people without rooms AND out the transaction fees and RCI membership costs etc. This is a big problem, especially if it is happening to a lot of people! We were prepared for the possibility that Royal Islander might not be ready to have people come next summer. But it is not ok if they want people to come and are able to have people come, but peoples reservations were wrongly canceled (or prematurely canceled) by RCI! That is not right!

Hoping I get answers....we want to go back to SXM if it is ready and able to have us next summer. But right now we have a lot of spent funds, cancelled reservations, and a lot of questions. If RCI is cancelling reservations for next summer without the authority of Royal Islander, that is a huge problem as it hurts RI reputation as well as its ability to get tourists, and it hurts the tourists!! And given the size of our family it is not easy to find timeshare accomodations that accommodate all of us comfortably during the two weeks that we have for vacation (our kids are now all pretty much teenagers and not as easy to squeeze in like we used to! They are all 5'7" or taller and need beds!
And I am sure it will be even harder now due to the damage to the island.

Thank you for your post about your July/August 2018 RI reservations being cancelled by RCI. It prompted me to look at my RCI account and the same thing happened to me. I had my two home weeks in August 2018 reserved and now my account shows the reservation having been cancelled by RCI and the points returned to my account. I called RCI and was told that RI told them to cancel the 2018 reservations. I have not had any notification or communications by RCI or Royal Islander about the cancellations. Had I not seen your post, I would not have known about this situation. To anyone who has 2018 weeks reserved, I urge you to check your RCI account. You will most likely find that they have been cancelled.

Same thing happened to me with a La Vista exchange but I also was given a coupon by RCI in the amount of the exchange fee. Did you check to see if there is any refund (by coupon)?

I had no need for a refund because I reserved my home weeks so there was no charge.

As of 10/23/17, no official reopening date has been announced yet, as the Royal Islander is still waiting for the final report from the Insurance adjusters. They have a date in mind, which they are saying is Summer of 2018, but exact date will come out once the report is received. RCI is proactively cancelling all reservations through the end of 2018 just in case the date changes.

Hi. Posted here yesterday.