Target dates for RP and Flamingo opening

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Real rough and disappointed with them.

Many people are and I fully believe there are reasons, other than construction, they are taking so long.

Absolutely. I am one of them. Can't imagine being one of those timeshare owners..

Yes they are up to something fishy !

They are absolutely starting from scratch. New everything right down to the bare walls. I see nothing fishy about it. I own there and have been following this and understand the difficulties they have. Everything and I mean everything has to be shipped in. All counters custom made. Its not like Divi that just painted over the mold and now has ongoing odor problems. Having to move people or telling them to spray airfreashener to cover it up. I'm willing to wait for the resort to complete becoming a real gem on the island.

Not to mention trying to get rid of some "whole owners", some of the leased space at Royal Palm and probably some employees. No, nothing fishy there. While I will agree, some of the leased space could be much better used, they (I believe) are dragging this out for more than construction reasons.

Awww,,was hoping for Jan or Feb 2020,,,guess not. But,,my cup is half full,,,,maybe just maybe they will have good luck and get all done earlier than planned. Loved the resort, loved the location. Fingers crossed for Royal Palm.

I know the size and situation is different and it's a whole resort re-do but...the upper B building at SBR has over 100 units and an elective complete re-do (exterior, new roof, units stripped to the bare walls, floor tiles ripped up and replaced, counter tops and all internal furniture replaced, new elevators installed) in 6-7 months.

Elective renovation definitely goes much smoother than a crisis created mess BUT nearly three years to date of completion is a bit much

Yup, you got it, boucharda! Three years is a LOT much. Too much. Ulterior motives.. It is crazy. They STILL haven't finished re-doing the roofs???? It's now one year and three months after Irma and roofs still not fixed?? BS...

Lesley==what do you think is going on with Diamond? My feeling now is that Diamond has decided they could make more money if they basically get rid of almost all the timeshare people, by staying closed this long, and then jacking up the AMF's even more, and then just renting out as a hotel for the most part.. In addition to getting rid of the Royal Palm whole owners and the restaurant and bar leaseholders at Royal Palm.

Getting the restaurant and bar leaseholders out would be a positive based on my past experiences of many years.

That's for sure!! Any other Diamond owners out there? What do you all think about this??

July 2020??!

Carol,

We were on the island for 2 weeks in October and went to the Royal Palm to see for ourselves what was happening. We are time share owners at the resort. Not a bit of activity nor a nail being pounded. We saw no one working and it looked deserted. It was absolutely quiet and very eerie.

The recent communication from Diamond told us nothing relevant and I find it hard to believe they think we are gullible enough to accept from them there is construction activity at the resort. Looks like we'll be banking our 2nd February week waiting to see what happens next.

Sorry to hear that, for your sake.. There was NOTHING going on when we were on island in June either. Don't know what Diamond is doing, but it is BS...

Thats funny you say that because we were there the last two weeks in May and the first week of June and there was plenty of activity with roofing and jackhammering of all the rooms and buildings at Flamingo.

Could be they were working at Flamingo, I have no idea. Nothing going on at RP the last half of June, and also two weeks in October.

That is what we saw also at the end of October there and at the Flamingo. No activity.

Flamingo just received containers of Windows doors and other structural supplies this last week. Lots of plumbing and electrical work was being done over most of last month. Something you don't see from the street. Friends on island close to the resorts report frequently to me. Occasional pictures too.

I was staying at the Villas at SBR and did see some activity at both Royal Palm and Flamingo nov3 to nov17. The activity was not very active I saw 3 or 4 workers at each location my last week and heard some hammering. At the RP I saw someone cleaning the pool which for some reason is full and several others doing landscaping. There were more workers at SBR expanding the beach bar and finishing the roofing of la Patrona restaurant along with the slate flooring in the marina area. I wonder how a resort that is up and running at almost full capacity has more construction workers than both those closed resorts combined.
I walked the beaches of each resort a half dozen times and snorkeled RP entire beach and went halfway to the bridge and very limited activity. I also snorkeled Flamingo beach around the rocks.

No reason to maintain the beach if they are closed. They maintain the pools for two reasons. One for the workers to use and the other to avoid major problems down the road.

The property could have been rebuilt from the ground up a couple of times by now. That place has all sorts of "legacy" issues that go back to the original development; clearly, Diamond is trying to squeeze out existing fixed week owners and start fresh.

But the first thing that popped out to me in all of this is, why are RP and Flamingo reopening dates linked at ALL??? Yes, they could want to do them exactly the same inside but RP is ONE building, with virtually all the units, except the few one bedroom and 3 bedroom units, all exactly alike. Flamingo is spread over a bunch of different buildings, with a bunch of different room figurations and more rooms. Many more roofs to do, much harder to finish several buildings, and different types and configuration of units. Yet, RP and Flamingo reopening dates have been linked from the beginning, even up to now. Interesting that places like Grand Case Beach Club re-did their whole units, from top to bottom and have half of their units open now. Sorry, Scuba, you are the ONLY one that doesn't think there's something rotten in the state of Denmark.

Actually its on the Dutch side <....rimshot...canned laughter...>

Wasn't the Flamingo part of Pelican (now SBR) originally? Perhaps they are waiting to put the property up for sale. Perhaps Royal Resorts wants the properties. (100% speculation) Keep in mind SBR was looking to build a private beach the whole length of water front in front of the Marina building. Would they want that entire area? Also make up for the lost units. Again 100% speculation.

"Keep in mind SBR was looking to build a private beach the whole length of water front in front of the Marina building."
Sorry but that was originally discussed to be put in front of the Villa Building. Not the Marina Building.

Right, and I don't really think this has anything to do with Royal Resorts.

I really don't care what their end motive is but I do believe they are working to make these first class destination resorts. Whatever the end result is I welcome the completion and what ever time it takes. I have my 4 weeks at the Flamingo and will continue to rent a villa until they reopen. People like you who have no vested interest, other than available rental space, should be happy with them going through this complete rebuild and upgrade with not just a bandaid as some other resorts have done. Stripping and rebuilding take much more time and effort than original startups on a bare lot does. It's easy to sit back and criticize and analyze without any direct knowledge of the internal decisions and direction of the management and resort owner.

Why directed to me? I never implied that it did.

Nothing new here. Other timeshares in the past collected moneys and took there time fixing. This is to there benefit. Why should they be in a hurry? And the poor timeshare owners get the shaft once again... Nope I hate the thought of timeshare on this Island, too much bad history... So many folks walked away from there units, because they just could not, or would not pay up... I do not have all the facts, but yes!!! More than fishy.

Whoops. Correct the Villa building not the Marina.

Like I said speculation.

Years and years ago...we chatted with a SBR sales rep At the time still Pelican) about the fate of the property, foreclosure etc. During the conversation he gave us all the things they were working on...some were tangible and real (building renovation etc.) others were not: Hard Rock Casino etc... At one point he did mention RR interest in the Flamingo or at least partnering with them.....

Again this was a long time ago and not worth anything now. But it makes me speculate. Why are they not up and running ASAP? Do they not have the funds to finish a full renovation? Looking for a buyer?

Freezing out owners and leaseholders is one thing, but why would you deliberately delay a revenue stream for over two years?

.....Call me an idiot... you have my permission...(just not now ;-) )

Scubaman--You have to believe whatever they tell you, I guess, but people who are looking from the outside and have no vested interest can often see more clearly. Regardless of whether you want to believe it or not, there are other factors at work, and it suits their purpose to NOT reopen for a couple of years. Why that is, is unclear at this point, but they have reasons. You really think, based on what you see on the internet, that you are privy to the internal decisions of management and the resort?? If they were working like mad on the property and said it was going to take until 2020 to do, someone might believe it. But when there is virtually no work going on, and over one year after the hurricane they STILL don't have the roofs finished, they are not in any hurry to get the place completed.

Our timeshare maintenance fees were waived last year for the fixed week owners at Flamingo. I expect the same for this coming year too. I see nothing "fishy" as a money grabbing thing. Points owners had to pay their fees, which is understandable, as they belong to a large group on Diamond timeshare resorts and can use their points at any resort.

wabid--My personal feeling is that their longterm goal is to become basically a hotel. They can make a lot more money out of hotel properties than timeshare. Timeshare is the past, at least in SXM. There have been too many problems over the years with various resorts going under, trying to scr*w the timeshare owners out of their units like Alegria, hurricane damage, etc. It is so much easier to be a hotel. Timeshare owners in SXM in general are getting to be a little long in the tooth, in general. There are not many younger people who want to buy into timeshare in SXM. They stay closed for three years and the vast majority of timeshare owners get out, so they don't have to worry about them. They also get rid of the whole owners at Royal Palm, as well as the restaurant and bar leaseholders at Royal Palm, which they literally have been trying, both in court and out, to get rid of ever since Diamond took it over.

"You really think, based on what you see on the internet, that you are privy to the internal decisions of management and the resort??"
I never said I was privy to any inside information from management do do get first hand information from people on island witnessing what's happening.

"But when there is virtually no work going on,"
Don't see how you can say that since you have not been there since June. Much is being done from the eyes of people that live on island that I know and communicate with. Some of which are prior employees. You have your opinions and I know what I know. Let's leave it at that.

You ignore the people who have posted here on TTOL that they have been there in the past MONTH and observed no work. IF there was lots of work going on, you would see LOTS of people around. LOTS of people. There is just NOT lots of work going on. It would be seen by even casual observers, cars in the parking lot, people working on the ROOF, which they say is not finished yet--there is not a lot of work going on, if they haven't even finished the ROOF. There may be dribs and drabs of work going on, but if they wanted to be open any time soon, there would be a TON of workers there. There just aren't.

The only part of the roof at the Flamingo they are working on are the little sections between the buildings of building 7 which have the larger studio/one bed units which is minor. All the other roof work is completed which was imperative prior to and interior electrical work could get started. All wiring was water damaged along with ceilings and walls. I have read many if not all of the negative postings of people saying they see no work being done. That is what they saw and I won't argue that. A lot is being done that the casual observer doesn't see by just driving by and or looking through a fence. I have my contacts and I trust them. They have no reason to feed me false information or doctor the pictures they have sent me of the progress. Now that this Hurricane season is almost over the next phase can be started as the roofing was imperative to get done to protect what remained inside. Take it for what it is.

I was just quoting from their press release, that they expected the roof to be completed by NEXT month..

Yes. Finishing up the small details that need to be done to ensure water tightness.

I agree that timeshare is definitely past it's prime on SXM (though I'm an owner of eight weeks at SBR, which I continue to enjoy). However, if Diamond doesn't charge annual maintenance fees to their owners for the full time they are closed, the majority may not get out since there's really no advantage in just walking away when it's costing you nothing to stay. Having said that, I agree with you that Flamingo has some motive.

I drove by there today and talked to the security guard. There is definitely work going on at Flamingo but nothing much happening at Royal Palm right now.

Will the motive serve the owners? Or will it serve flamingo? Timeshare for the most part has been a night mare for alot of folks, as they have no recourse. Nothing really protects owners Glad that some are happy with there time bought, but have known alot that have had a nightmare... this is a pure example of none control. Hope I am wrong, but not sure they are thinking about people that bought.

Yep. Motive is to have 2 great resorts in st maarten.

You seem to know alot!!! And I hope past history does not come into play here.

Good point....

Yep. I try to keep informed with reliable sources.