Club Orient - Resort Update

I received an email this morning from ClubO. Not good news but at least they are communicating, even if they don't know anything...

"Dear ,
I'm sure you have been following our updates following hurricane Irma and the tremendous damage which it did to Club Orient and all of St. Martin. We know you are waiting for definitive information about a projected re-opening date for the resort. At this point we have nothing concrete or even an estimate on a date for the resort to once again welcome you back.

Of the units which remain standing, we must have them inspected by a structural engineer to make sure they are safe. In addition, Club Orient made all of our own electricity, water and serviced our wastewater. Some of this was destroyed and some of it appears to be intact. But, until we get an outside expert to certify these things, we cannot give a date.

How quickly will this happen? We are hesitant to even give an estimate at this point. But, we are working diligently to move as quickly as we can and awaiting even a preliminary insurance payment and the promised disaster aid from the French government. Nothing ever moves as quickly as we would like, but it is moving in a positive direction.

Right now there a very few hotels on the island that can accept guests and most of those a filled with local residents whose homes were destroyed.

Please do not plan on visiting until you have checked with us. When the time comes, we will be post it immediately on Facebook, as well as send out emails to everyone on our mailing list.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue on our path to recovery. We'll get there as quickly as we can thanks to all of you help and support.

Thank you.

Florence BERNARD
Rooms Division Director
Directrice de l'H?bergement
CLUB ORIENT RESORT
1 Baie Orientale, 97150 St. Martin, French West Indies
www.cluborient.com"

I got the same e mail and sent it privately to Carol.

The news certainly clarifies many things. The island is not ready for visitors to stay in resorts. If the resorts that are livable are being occupied by residents of the island who are now homeless...and they are asking us to stay away until they tell us it is ready...then i think many of us made the right decisions to cancel our upcoming trips.

We certainly don't need to be a burden.

The ships coming in don't require resort rooms....and they drop much needed dollars...although i believe many will stay on the ships.

As I said to you privately, I don't think that it is UP to Club Orient to tell anyone to come or not, unless they are talking about the owners of the individual units there at Club O, which that does make sense to me.

well at the end of the day...if flights are going and you can find a place to stay ahead of time...then they cant keep you from coming.

But they certainly can paint a realistic picture of the situation so you know what you are stepping into.

I have always thought the french side was impacted worse than the Dutch side...and perhaps the Dutch government is doing a better job assisting its folks. I don't know.

I see places reopening on the Dutch side...folks throwing up canopies along the beach and calling it a bar. Hopefully when the cruise ships return...they will buy those drinks and snacks and spend some money.

But i don't believe those cruise folks will venture to the french side...the restaurants are gone...the beaches are uninhabited...and while many hate the nakedness on the beach...it drew thousands of tourists there everyday that the ships came in.

The whole situation makes me sad...but i really am glad...we cancelled our reservation...and we will wait for the welcome sign to be hung out to return.

It sounds as if they are telling people not to expect to come to Club Orient and painting a realistic picture of the situation on the island. Doesn't sound like they think it is UP to them to tell people what to do if they want to take their chances and go elsewhere

Sounds like basic utilities may be the big challenge. Building a chalet is easy compared to making a power plant, water plant and sewer treament plant.

Have no idea where the electric, water utilities end along Orient but I,m sure they should consider tying into the grid. The little shops had water/electricity. At least as a backup.

I couldn't even count the times over the years we had water and electricity at CO while it was dark all up the beach, solely because CO was independent of those unreliable systems.

Very well said, Cathy! Sad to see that common sense seems to have become common dense!

I'm not exactly sure who that comment was aimed at, but if it implies that board members are dense, it is not appropriate. People are perfectly free to disagree with each other but insults are not welcome.

Carol, as I stated my comment was aimed at Cathy. Not sure how I implied that board members are dense. Hell, I don't even know any! I happen to think that she is exactly correct in her assessment and showed good common sense, which is all too often missing today. One only has to look at all of the youtube videos to see that the island we all love is not ready for an influx of visitors. The government on that island has it's hands completely full without additional people putting more of a drain on their resources. Those few businesses that are open would love to have more business and you certainly can't blame them, but that will come in time. Common sense will tell us when that time comes!

OK, regarding your statement.

Regarding returning to the island right now, reasonable people I think can disagree on the wisdom of that. I do not think that visitors are a drain on the island at all. There is plenty of food and water and gasoline. The CONDITIONS are such that very few people are interested in going right now, but those that are, have good reasons for being there.

We've been going to SXM for over 30 years after honeymooning there at a house on Plum Bay. We love the island, bought a townhouse on the French side after 9/11/2001, sold eight years later, and have now bought again and are thrilled that we had minimal damage from Irma. We were on the island the Sunday before Irma hit on Wednesday. We are keeping our reservations to return, have friends on the island, and are eager to go to the stores, restaurants, beaches and on a boating outing or two. We're looking forward to seeing friends living on the island and other friends we meet there each year. We'll be supporting those on the island in spirit, with our prayers, with our dollars, and we're open to helping in other ways when there. Our friends as well as future friends living there are inviting people to return, and are looking forward to folks returning when possible. For those who choose to wait or make other arrangements to other destinations, that is the right decision for them. With the desires of those on the island, matching my desire to return, returning soon is the clear correct decision for me, and others who also wish to return. I've seen much change in over 30 years, understand there is more change after Irma, but home is still home, and I'm eager to get back!

I too have been supporting our friends on SXM with thoughts and prayers and money. I can't keep my reservation because the mini suites that i stay in are GONE. The restaurant is GONE. The power plant is GONE. The office is GONE. The water plant is gone.

I am not asking anyone else to do as I do...I am not trying to change anyone's mind about what is best for them.

This thread is about club orient. The letter was written by club orient. It isn't about any place else on SXM.

I have not been going 30 years...I have only been going for 18 years...I have never purchased property there. You are much more invested than I am. I am very happy that you are able to return. I pray someday Club Orient will be back and i will also return.

this letter was pretty informative...and i am not trying to read anything into it. I am taking it at face value.

Reality is this...they are hoping to arrange the funds to begin to rebuild...but they are still in the very beginning stages of doing that...and there is a whole lotta stuff that has to happen to proceed from that point.

this is going to take time and no matter how badly i want it...I am not in control of anything accept my own decisions. Had I not cancelled my reservation...club orient cancelled it for me...and then they asked to keep the deposit that they would apply in the future to my next stay.

that letter along with this letter makes it pretty darn clear....We have a LONG wait.

Cathyg, I’m with you. We’ve stayed at Club O 40 times over the last 23 years. I’m hoping that the salvageable accommodations, with the appropriate support structures (i.e. Papagayo/front office/housekeeping/ security) are ready for partial use in about a year. It would appear that perhaps about half of Club O’s rooms may be salvageable. The rest can be rebuilt after re-opening as was done following Hurricane Luis in 1995. I HOPE this timetable is realistic.

SXMdoc...For us...the bottom line is...we wait for the updates directly from club orient instead of listening to people speculating. So far...it appears that club orient is trying to keep us informed as much as they can. It is a lead pipe cinch...we cannot go back until they send us the welcome home. I am praying for April 2019...but who knows? For folks that are good with staying at other resorts...they of course have many more options. There is only one club orient and unfortunately...it was destroyed. Since it is a self sufficient resort...I.E. supplies its own power and water etc.....it only makes sense that these things are going to take a longer period of time to rebuild. I am willing to wait...however long it takes. It is worth the wait to me.

Sadly... Steve and I were talking about this the other night...and even if they completely rebuild...it will be a different club o...what was in the past is gone. That's not to say the new club o might be better than ever. It will just be different.

I saw on the Jeff Berger Facebook sight pictures of horses grazing on the club o property...and i asked the question are they the horses from bayside...but no one answered me. I have so worried about those horses and the dogs and cats that made us all feel like we were at home. Did they survive? Who is taking care of them? All the little special things that endeared club o to our hearts.

How is the wait staff? Did they get the money we sent? Are they able to survive until club o comes back? Do they all have homes to live in?

So many questions and so few answers....and then i feel guilty becasue to me it is two weeks a year out of my life...so now i have to choose another place to go...big deal. These poor people are living this 24/7.
Anyway...feeling melancholy today...thinking about how much i will miss it...and grateful to have spent the last 18 years of my life enjoying those 2 weeks a year.

This was posted on the club orient Facebook page tonight

Dear Friends
We’ve been busy since we last updated you. We’ll try to cover some of the most important events which have occurred in the last few weeks,
The good news is that on Monday afternoon the employees were finally able to receive your generous donations. You have no idea how much it was needed and how grateful the people were receiving it. It took much longer than expected to get it into their hands, due to a huge amount of red tape and the difficulty in giving out cash, which because of tax liabilities could not be seen to have had any involvement by Club Orient. In addition, security concerns needed to be addressed to do our best to insure everyone’s safety.
Most of the staff is back on the island even if staying with friends, family or in houses with only temporary roof fixes. In addition, much of the French side is still with sporadic utilities. Phone and internet service remains spotty.
But, as a group we remain positive and have even leased a space for temporary offices in Orient Village starting (we hope) on November 15 and will then have access to land line phones, our servers and the files we were able to salvage. Most importantly, Anne the Finance Director, Florence the Rooms Division Director, Gaelle the Human Resources Manager and Stephen the Resort Director will be in one place for the first time.
A special thank you to all of you who donated your advance deposit. This was a huge help and once we are re-opened we have made a note of everyone who did this and will do our best to reward you for your help when we needed it. For those of you who could not do this we understand and as soon as the insurance money is in our hands we will begin crediting your cards.
Progress on the island with clean-up has been slow, but steady. The roads are open and even with so many of our cars being severely damaged, the traffic is heavy during the day.
Part of this is because with so many of our businesses still closed, especially hotels and restaurants there are many who remain without a job. But, some of the hotels, particularly on the Dutch side which were not destroyed, have begun to re-open, even though some amenities are limited. There are a handful of restaurants on both sides open with limited menus.
Near Club Orient, Rancho del Sol is open for lunch on a limited basis where you order when you walk-in on the steps and they bring your food to you outside. The Italian restaurant, Al Dente suffered almost no damage and is offering a mostly complete menu.
With the supermarkets which were not destroyed, they’re open but with limited choices and availability for the most part. Most of the beaches have been approved for swimming, by the health department.
So, it’s a process we are having to go through and it will be some time before the island is what it was pre-Irma. So much of the French side, especially Grand Case is almost totally destroyed.
Please do not plan a visit to the island without checking with us first. Services of any kind are extremely limited, especially on the French side. While we appreciate the offers to help clean up, it is not realistic. It would be like offering to clean up after the World War 2 bombing of Dresden. In addition, with so many out of work, it is important to hire locally.
Club Orient has had representatives of the Copropriété (similar to an HOA) and the OBC (the resort management company) visit over the last 10 days and both are committed to bringing Club Orient back as quickly as possible.
We have submitted all our insurance claims and are awaiting payment from them, which will allow us to move more quickly. We are also awaiting French Prime Minister’s visit and his plans to assist us. We along with other French side hoteliers have been in meetings with his representative and we have also met with him one on one. At the moment, they have not committed to anything, so we shall see.
Finally, we await the decisions from Paris on the new building requirements and how they may affect us rebuilding. There have been many suggestions put forward by them at various meetings, but nothing definitive has yet to emerge.
Thank you again for your kind emails and concerns about our Club Orient family. Many of you have commented in your notes, how special all of the staff are at the resort. We would say that we have the most special and caring guests in the world!

From that, I have to assume that the Perch is NOT open yet.

I would assume so

My husband had a wonderful dinner at AlDente last week with a neighbor. I am in NY having decided not to go to SXM right now. Here is AlDente website. The restaurant was full and reservations are appreciated for large crowds.

http://www.aldentesxm.com/

Also my hubby said Perch would be open starting November?
I will see if I can confirm that rumor.

Exchanged messages on FB with Club O and they said that they could not give estimate of when Perch would be open to the public.

OK, thanks for the info. I thought that info on that one website could not be correct, that they were already open. If they had been open, it would have been in this update.

We love Al Dente and go there several times a trip.

the menu sounds delicious! We've always wanted to go there, but haven't made it yet.

Per a posting on Club O's Facebook page today:

"While we’re not yet ready to welcome back our resort guests, life is still sweet in SXM! If you're on the island, please join us on our still beautiful beach at the newly completed "Perch Lite" this Sunday, November 5th, from 11am to 5pm. Enjoy beer, BBQ and music by DJ Speed, while you dream or dance away the day in this idyllic Caribbean setting!"

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the note.

That is good news about the Perch. We have a cruise stop in St Martin in January and plan to spend some time at the Beach at CO. I hope the beach chair rentals will be available with the opening of the Perch.

I'm sure they will be. Chair rentals are easy.

We are also on a cruise with a stop there in late January so hope to be able to spend a day there.

so glad to see perch light has opened

I imagine it will look so different with the rest of club orient destroyed

I guess as long as you have a place to sit and a drink it might be ok for some who are just there for the day

For those not staying at Club O and just coming for the day, it won't be that different. A yellow umbrella and a couple of chairs, and our own cooler, looking out at Green Key, that would be fine with me! The only thing I wonder about is whether there are working bathrooms at the Perch now. My guess would be no.

In the one photo of orient it looked like the bathrooms behind Pedro's was still standing. Maybe they will be able to get that working? Just wondering.

It wont?

Do you you think the view will be the same? Do you think there will be no vegetation and trash and debris everywhere?

When you walk down the beach...what will you see?
when you look out at green caye...what will you see?

How about pinel island?

or look toward papagauyo...what is the view like now?

or toward pedros? where will you find a place to eat along the beach?

sitting at the perch light...under a yellow umbrella...holding a drink in your hand...reading a book...for some may feel or look no "different"

but for folks who know what was...and what has changed and what has been lost....they will certainly notice the difference.

i guess if there are no working bathrooms you can pee in the ocean

I would HATE to think that the only thing you might notice is different is if you have a place to pee... if you are only there for the day

I would Hope and pray you are more sensitive and compassionate toward this island than a damn bar and an chair and umbrella.

Sorry, you need to stand down. We have been going to the beach at Club Orient longer than you. We were there 5 months after Luis.

To follow up on Carol's comment: Indeed.

I first washed up on Club O's shore in 1984. The whole beach was totally different then. We were multiple times, and definitely back after Luis (my parents staying up the beach but spending the day under yellow umbrellas). My family owns at Club O now. We care about the staff who we have known over the years and who have become friends, and we've seen the cycle of storms and rebuilding before.

We're so sad about the devastation. We're optimistic about the future.
Do not mistake that optimism for callousness, or make assumptions about our devotion to the island.

This one is a bigger challenge than we've dealt with before, but one we are looking forward to taking on with our island partners and friends. We will put money and effort into rebuilding not only a vacation home for ourselves, but a stable work environment for the staff what we feel a distinct responsibility towards.

And yeah, if that means peeing in the sea for a while, we'll do that too. And we won't do it with a ridiculous holier-than-thou attitude.

Where did your parents stay after Luis? We stayed at L'Hoste. It I guess was pretty much undamaged, as the complex seemed pretty normal -- other than vegetation -- in February 2006. There was nothing left of Papagayo and they were serving drinks out of a cooler from a building behind there, and had some kind of a kettle grill they were cooking on.

I hope you get a chance to try it. Not that we have been to a vast many restaurants there, but it is also some of the best service we've received also!

You almost had me there for a bit. But sadly, I guess I got lost in the discussion.......

You see, I am one of those extremely fortunate people here who knew Orient Beach long before it’s Coney Island-like atmosphere of the last few years......and long before Club O became what so many know it as today! or at least, what it was before Irma wreaked her havoc on it.

My heart aches for the people who lost their businesses and their livelihoods but having known this particular beach when there was nothing along the beach but seagrape and the occasional sun worshipper until you actually were able to find what there was of the original Club Orient at that time, and the one lonely entrepreneur who grilled the only food stuffs along the beach in an original island lolo, there are still some of us out here who won't miss all that some need to make them happy on that beach.

Count me among that number. But time passes and things change and I’m glad there are still some undeveloped spaces for that special kind of Island enjoyment.

Like you, we cancelled our next two island trips and we are eagerly awaiting our return to ALL THAT IS ST. MARTIN - the people, the beaches, the wonderful dining ops.......SXM is so much more than just an opportunity for people to strut their stuff along a crowded beach where it is totally accepted and many of us would be just as happy to be able to go there without the hype and the gawkers and just enjoy its natural state.

I guess my age is showing here but I’d happily go right back to the seagrape and sun bather days and let the few Club O members enjoy their undiscovered heaven without all the extraneous development that so many seem to need today.

Now! Can we get back to appreciating the Orient Beach true updates as they become available?!.............. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

It will not take long before all the umbrellas are placed every morning down the length of the beach touching each other. The parking wars will begin and fees to park, rent concessions chairs and not allow coolers will start again. I have lost my appetite for Club Orient and the power trips that go on and on and on. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Umbrella.gif" alt="" />

As always pat, well stated. A lot more to SXM, and while I go back a long way it is not as long you but I too remember Orient before it was developed like recently. While the devastation is sad and has impacted people in many different ways, it is in no way the end of the world as we know it.

Yep, L'Hoste as well. Mom still talks about that cooler and grill set up. That's Caribbean life; storm blows you down, you get back up and rebuild. The day after Irma we were wondering which slab they'd set up this time around. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

I like Pat's comment "Now! Can we get back to appreciating the Orient Beach true updates as they become available!"

We hope and plan to be on the island in March or April. We know we will see some devastation but we want to support. Even today, there are enough businesses up and running, including Perch Lite, Sunsets, Toppers, Rancho Del Sol, etc. that is enough for us. We love many who won't be open but we will take Orient for one trip, or even two, with or without other bars, restaurants, etc. Not to say that we won't miss Kakao, La Piment, Calmos Café, Yellow, etc. we will enjoy Orient regardless of the negative/cautionary comments online.

We can't wait to be on St. Martin and Orient next spring!

Ah, we may have seen them then at L'Hoste, or on the beach under a yellow umbrella.. Or perhaps we saw them for the millennium when we stayed at a studio at Club O.. One of our best memories, on the beach with the fireworks, on December 31, 1999... Life goes on.