Dr Hollet post that ws deleted from our members BB

[COLBY]

What happened is this"

1.Management did not perform to it's committments

2.Management did not communicate to the full Board
that the assumptions on which the 06/07 budget was
based could no longer be met

3. Management did not offer a plan to either come back
to budget, or offer a revised projection of what they
could achieve under new assumptions

4. The full Board was not privy to nor allowed participation
in the solution to the shortfall problem

5..Those left out, requested a special meeting of the Board,
held Nov 27, 2006...at which time your retroactive increase
was reaffirmed by a vote of 5/3, with one absent.

6. This was explained to the Members present on Nov 28th
If you know someone who was here & present, please
ask them their perceptions

Respectfully, Cy Holley, Retired Chairman of the Board

[GregW]

Dr. Holley is one of the Board Members at the Costa Linda that is telling it like it is.
If you ask him a question he looks you in the eye and gives you a straight answer.

Several other Board Members I met don't even have a clue on what's going on.

An example is that there is supposed to be a $800,000 deficit and $475,000 of it (over 50%) was from Room Sales. When I asked them what the Budget was they didn't even know, just kept saying that tourism is down in Aruba, Nathalie caused it, new immigration laws, so the whole Island is down 10%.

It looks like the budget for Room Sales Revenue was $600,000, therefore we were 25% of budget or down 75% compared to the Island's 10%.

Board Members Steven Berger and Keith Walker, on the Finance Committee too, only answer was to raise Maintenance Fees.

Cy, without even reading any notes had about a dozen action items on what he'd do with the sales office to rectify the situation. Good management and direction is what we need now.

[dwippies]

thanks for clarifying that greg. when we got out notice we almost laughed. having spent a bit of time with people in the know concerning tourism in aruba, their excuses definitely left me cold. i hate liars.

something is wrong when you go from in the black to deep in the red in a matter of a few months. poor management is the key.

Originally Posted by GregW

Dr. Holley is one of the Board Members at the Costa Linda that is telling it like it is.
If you ask him a question he looks you in the eye and gives you a straight anser.

Several other Board Members I met don't even have a clue on what's going on.

An example is that there is supposed to be a $800,000 deficit and $475,000 of it (over 50%) was from Room Sales. When I asked them what the Budget was they didn't even know, just kept saying that tourism is down in Aruba, Nathalie caused it, new immigration laws, so the whole Island is down 10%.

It looks like the budget for Room Sales Revenue was $600,000, therefore we were 25% of budget or down 75% compared to the Island's 10%.

Board Members Steven Berger and Keith Walker, on the Finance Committee too, only answer was to raise Maintenance Fees.

Cy, without even reading any notes had about a dozen action items on what he'd do with the sales office to rectify the situation. Good management and direction is what we need now.

[dwippies]

this is all of dr holley's deleted posts from the costa linda board. it is a disgrace that they were deleted. they are now here for any costa linda member to review.

Removed postings from Costa Linda Members' Form BB:

Nov. 29, 2006:

"What happened is this:

1. Management did not perform to it's committments

2. Management did not communicate to the full Board
that the assumptions on which the 06/07 budget was
based could no longer be met

3. Management did not offer a plan to either come back
to budget, or offer a revised projection of what they
could achieve under new assumptions

4 The full Board was not privy to nor allowed participation
in the solution to the shortfall problem

5 Those left out, requested a special meeting of the Board,
held Nov 27, 2006...at which time your retroactive increase
was reaffirmed by a vote of 5/3, with one absent.

6. This was explained to the Members present on Nov 28th
If you know someone who was here & present, please
ask them their perceptions."

December 02, 2006...in response to David Tucker's questions:

'As a preface to my answers to your questions following my previous posting,
first I'll quote exactly from what I wrote in my Convocation letter, dated March 2006.

"We are holding the 2-bedroom fees at the reduced rates orf $ 610 per week. This
is the 8th year of constant or reduced rates. We are increasing the 3-bedroom fees
5%, as we told you last year, consistent with our market strategy of recognizing
competition and costs to serve (please do not forget we kept them the same for the
last 6 years, and they are still below competition.)

But we must also alert you ! We cannot keep the 2 bedroom units at this level forever,
and the 3 bedroom units are not yet equitable, so beyond this next fiscal year of 06/07,
you can expect increases. The amounts will be influenced by market condition, cost
impacts and facilities needs--necessary to maintain the quality of your "home away
from home". Having said that, we are committed also to continuing to be the "best buy
in town", and maintaining your competitive resale value"

Now then, that was written in March, following our Feb Board Mtg, at which time the
Board UNANIMOUSLY approved MANAGEMENT'S recommended budget, which was
also included then in your Convocation.

The fundamentall assumption in that budget, also with the budget in the convocation,
was that we would:

Sell inventory units acquired from the developer and those repossesed, increase rentals
of those we haven't sold, plus finish leasing our available space, plus sell sufficient parts
of the new propose luxury tower...to support the maintenance fees recommended to the
Members for 06/07.

We have a Board Meeting prior to the Annual Meeting...for dealing with other current
business, reassessing what we sent out with the Convocation, and decide if we want
to "stick with" what we told you in March, or if something changed significantly enough
to change our assumptions and therefore change the projected budget.

Because we were then behind in sales, rental & lease goals, I thoroughly questioned
Management about whether or not they could still achieve the 06/07 assumptions.....
the Board participated fully in those discussions Management said they still could, &
the Board UNANIMOUSLY agreed to go forward to you with the Convocation as mailed.

Over the summer, the sales budget was not met...the rentals were not increased to
offset the sales, the space was not leased as planned, the tower was not sold, but we
kept spending on the planned capital items.

None of this was communicated to me, as I retired as Chairman of the Board last June
due to my health. For the upcoming October Board Meeting, I was sent a draft Agenda
out of courtesy, and there was absolutely NO mention of any proposed increase in
maintenance fees, nor was there any disclosure of the increasing deficit. In addition, my
doctors forbid me to go to the Dominican Republic, the site of the meeting, because of
island fever, which with my condition, I must not contract. (Aruba is low risk)

Management has been required to send a Board Packet to all Directors, 2 weeks before
each meeting. I didn't get one this time. I thought that strange, but since the draft sent
to me was routine business, & I had my doctors' instructions I chose not to go, & didn't
push for my Packet. WRONG . Two of us, however, who couldn't go...asked to participate
by phone conference, which is allowed under the Articles. That was denied.

So, the 3 of us who were not there never had a say in the decisions made. And one of
those there voted NO. Thus your maintenance fees were raised in the manner they were
because of the majority of those present (5/1), with no input from the other 3..

Now the issue is NOT whether or not to raise the fees..the issue is 1) how much 2) when,
over what period, 3) how to communicate it properly to the Members and 4) how to bridge
the financial gap in the meantime..eg..stop all the discretionary spending.

I fully realize that this is longwinded, and you may get bored, but the background you
should have to understand my answers to your questions:

The Members elect the Board from those running, the Board selects its Officers, the
Chairman appoints those to head the Operations, Finance & Personnel Committees,
who are to oversee those respective areas performed by Management.

The General Manager is hired by the Board, the General Manager recommends her
staff, the head of all Depts, with first approval of the Personnel Committee & then by
the full Board.

So, in this case, the "Management" is Joy Viapree, GM & Pearl Peters, Financial M.
The responsible oversight is Directors Steven Berger & Keith Walker. The Chair is now
David Schepps.

Thank you for the opportunity to communicate with you, & I will be glad to answer any
further questions you might have to the best of my knowledge & ability

[andrea j.]

Sherry KUDOS to you for putting up this information.

On one of the other Aruba bulletin boards, the webmaster/moderator said that the Costa Linda Deleted Posts from Dr. Holley were not appropriate for his bulletin board and then locked the thread.

Glad that this board is taking the higher road and providing the information of those that need to be informed of the goings on.

Andrea

[Carol]

I agree Andrea. Sherry (and this BB) is providing an invaluable service to all Costa Linda owners. Since the Costa Linda BB is being not only monitored but also censored, it's important to get the full information out to as many owners as possible.

I love Costa Linda, and know we can get the operation back on track with all of the owners working together. Part of being able to get the owners working together is to be able to share information. We already appreciate Sherry for the great job she does on this Board, but this is just another example of how she always goes the extra step.

I really am getting tired of the "other Board". Some people are mean/nasty, and that's allowed to continue. However, other posts are edited or locked for no apparent reason. I just can't make sense of it, and I no longer try. I'm just grateful that we have the BB, which really is like "home".

Keep up the great work Sherry!

[dwippies]

thanks andrea and carol. the premise is simple on this board. we censor things that need censoring. those things are insults to our member, foul language, sales pitches, spam and blatant lies.

andrea and all of my other personal friends know that i champion causes and so do corrine and kevin. the day the webmasters don't allow honesty on our board is the day they would be without moderator. in the case of mark and daphne, our webmasters, they are the most honest two people i have ever met so this thread will remain open.

now keep providing information for us people. we need to turn costa linda back to where it belongs.

also remember, this applies to any other timeshare. we need to protect timeshare members. we are too often outnumbered by big money. our voices need to be heard.

[BigPapa]

Originally Posted by andrea j.

Sherry KUDOS to you for putting up this information.

On one of the other Aruba bulletin boards, the webmaster/moderator said that the Costa Linda Deleted Posts from Dr. Holley were not appropriate for his bulletin board and then locked the thread.

Glad that this board is taking the higher road and providing the information of those that need to be informed of the goings on.

Andrea

Not to try to defend the other board...but to give credit....it was locked, but not deleted. It was left for people to still read.
JMO

[LynnS]

Originally Posted by BigPapa

Not to try to defend the other board...but to give credit....it was locked, but not deleted. It was left for people to still read.
JMO

and there is another thread with the same post and it is still open.

[LynnS]

also remember, this applies to any other timeshare. we need to protect timeshare members. we are too often outnumbered by big money. our voices need to be heard.[/quote]

Thanks Sherry- My fear is that this is what is going to happen at the Aruba Grand/Riu. At least the CL has a board to post on- we have never been able to get that started and names and contact info for club members was kept VERY confidential. Riu will not even communicate with us and the email address on the site comes back as not valid.

[Carol]

Originally Posted by BigPapa

Not to try to defend the other board...but to give credit....it was locked, but not deleted. It was left for people to still read.
JMO

Dan, what I don't get is the post Richard made when he locked it:

This is not an appropriate posting for this Bulletin Board. The thread is locked.

Richard

If it's not an "appropriate posting", why not delete it? If he just didn't want other posts added to it, he could have said there's already a thread concerning this, directed everyone to the other thread, and then locked it. The way he handled it just didn't sit well with me.

It's just another example of why I've become disenchanted with the "other board". One of my posts was edited, and I can't figure out why. There was nothing that should have led to it being edited. I stated an opinion, it was clear that it was an opinion, it did not contain any bad language, did not defame anyone, and there are other posts that I would consider to be much worse. However, I think one of the "friends" didn't like it, complained, and he removed my opinion.

I still participate in the "other board" because they do have a large membership, and due to that you can get a lot of information, as well as reach a lot of people with your information. However, my participation has been curtailed from what it was, and if my disenchantment grows, I don't know if I will continue. The same thing happened with the aruba.com BB, and I finally dropped out and haven't been back in over three years.

I really appreciate the "home" we have here, and Sherry, Corrine, and Kevin do a fabulous job as moderators.

[dwippies]

lynn, unfortunately i agree with you. there are too many ways for timeshares to 'go wrong'. that's why owners need a board that gives voice to the problems. it also gives anyone associated with the timeshares a chance to chime in. one timeshare (who's name will go unmentioned) has a great salesman working for them that has taken the time to communicate with me. i am not mentioning his name because most of what he has said isn't ready for publication. it is not one of the timeshares people are complaining about and maybe that's the reason. their representatives do communicate and take the time to read these boards.

i might suggest that anyone who knows people in management at the timeshares let them know we have forums here and will add one for their timeshare if they wish. we want both sides to be represented.

Originally Posted by LynnS

also remember, this applies to any other timeshare. we need to protect timeshare members. we are too often outnumbered by big money. our voices need to be heard.

Thanks Sherry- My fear is that this is what is going to happen at the Aruba Grand/Riu. At least the CL has a board to post on- we have never been able to get that started and names and contact info for club members was kept VERY confidential. Riu will not even communicate with us and the email address on the site comes back as not valid.[/quote]

[dwippies]

for you who may think that we suddenly did a bunch of editing of these posts, we did...you must not laugh at our attempts to be proper.

at the top of this thread is the title. it is dr hollet post that ws deleted... uhm, the gentleman who posted that is a great guy but a bad typist. dr hollet is actually dr holley. now, we couldn't seem to change it in the overall title but daphne (or someone in the office representing her) was able to change it in the mini titles that appear above our posts.

we did not change any content of the posts themselves.

[andrea j.]

Awww, to He** with being proper.
Let's get to the good stuff.
What did Murray get you for an anniversary gift?

And if he gave you the receipt for his paying the CL maintenance bill as your gift-in your honor, please clock him on the skull once or twice.

Proper hahahahahahaha :-)

[dwippies]

yeah, well we try to be well behaved. just didn't want anyone to think we were doing what i swore we wouldn't.

and to get off topic for just this one moment. he got me a palm pilot with all the goodies for it and tickets to spamalot which is coming to baltimore in march!!!! if anyone recalls, it is the one show i really wanted to see. he did good!!!

ok, now, back on topic

Originally Posted by andrea j.

Awww, to He** with being proper.
Let's get to the good stuff.
What did Murray get you for an anniversary gift?

And if he gave you the receipt for his paying the CL maintenance bill as your gift-in your honor, please clock him on the skull once or twice.

Proper hahahahahahaha :-)