Board of Directors

Is anyone else bothered about the Asst General Counsel for Sunterra Corp running for the VOA Board? I know none of the people running for the two positions; but if we all vote for the same person we could possibly insure that a Sunterra official does not get elected. If you follow the timeshare news, you know that Sunterras ability to run a business is questionable.... at best.

Any thoughts?

John

I agree, I would like to talk to you. I can be reached at 808-546-5555.

Chris

If a person runs for and then is elected to the Vacation Owners Association board, what is covered in their travel and lodging to support the annual owners' meeting (1st Friday in March)? Or would this require the use of our owned vacation week(s)?

Thanks!

First, considering that not many of the owners are able to travel to Hawaii for the annual meeting, it results in the owner's voices not being heard.

What I would like to hear from the Board of Directors is what they intend to do to reduce costs. The information that went with the increase in maintenance fees discussed freight and gasoline costs, labor costs, administrative costs, etc. all showing increases, but I didn't see anything regarding how they were going to reduce to try to remain within budget.

--lisa

I agree. As long as Sunterra, now Diamond controls the Board, fees will only go up. Self interest is in control. Unless the actual owners gather, we will never win control since Diamond owns a big chunk of the units with their trust and will vote them as a block for their employees. I have submitted a request to be included on the ballot. One issue is that if too many independent candidates run, we dilute the vote and they will win again.

I would like to find an owner who will be physically at the annual meeting and supports the interests of the owners.

Seems there are a few people on the ballot that specifically state that they are owners and are concerned about maintenance fees. Can vote for one for VAO director and 3 for AOAO directors.

Thoughts?

--L

I am one of those candidates. The problem is that Diamond via the trust controls a significant number of the votes and you know those will be going to their employees. The other candidates are going to split the votes of the other owners who actually do vote.

I was there last week, the property is looking better, but considering the increase in the fees, it should be still better than that. Diamond is simply increasing the amount they charge the Association without any controls.

So, vote for me, Robert Halem and perhaps I will get enough votes to make it to the board.

I am in support of doing whatever is needed to limit control of the board by Diamond Resorts or Sunterra any way possible... Not only do the costs rise faster than any industry inflation including health care, they misrepresent and actually lie to prospective members in their sales presentations. I am a relatively new member having bought in Nov 2007 (sorry I did) and paid cash.. I was lied to outright, not even a question about it, lied to about the very simple fact that there are owners of specific weeks, and that all units were available under the points system... I am going to file a complaint with the State of Hawaii and if not satisfied maybe file a lawsuit... In any event every member is getting shafted by these unethical business practices. Feel free to call me at 503 643 9816 Michael Lets get at least one member of the board to hold them accountable...

When is the next owners meeting... We are going to be on Kauai from 2/18/2009 until 3/19/2009... We could not use any of our points and had to rent a condo to visit the island... What good is a membership that you cannot get a reservation for... We do not have the freedom to reserve a year in advance, we made that clear when we were being sold this membership, and were told that was not a problem, they actually promoted that as the best way to use your membership and promoted bonuses for using it that way.... IF there is an OWNERS MEETING during the period we are there we will attend and report here what we find.. But I have not been notified of any meeting.... Please advise... Michael 503 643 9816

If I understand its the first week in March, I will be there during that time and will attend... Anyone that has question that they want asked give me a call... Michael 503 643 9816

According to the materials I received via email today, the annual meeting will be Friday, February 20 at 2PM Hawaii time, followed by the AOAO meeting.

Meeting location: Grand Hyatt Kauai, 1571 Poipu Road, Koloa, Kauai.

Wonder why they aren't having the meeting on the premises... seems to me like it's an unnecessary cost to have the meeting elsewhere.

--L

The Annual Meeting of the Poipu Point Vacation Owners Association (VOA) and Association of Apartment Owners of Poipu Point (AOAO) will be held on Friday, February 20, 2009. VOA at 2:00 p.m. Hawaii Time immediately followed by the AOAO at approximately 3:30 p.m. Hawaii Time at the Grand Hyatt Kauai, 1571 Poipu Road, Koloa, Kauai, Hawaii, 96761. A Diamond Resorts International® Specialist will be available one hour before the meeting to meet with you one-on-one and answer any questions or discuss any issues you may have pertaining to your ownership. We encourage you to attend this session if you have questions specific to your ownership. A cocktail reception will immediately follow the meetings.

I also think we need to all vote for only one, Which one? Come on folks lets get together!!!! Unless I hear otherwise, Robert Halem gets my vote.

John Williams 520-247-9665

I think it is a gross conflict of interest for anyone who is directly connected with Diamond Resorts or the management to be running for a Board Seat of the Vacation Owners Association, their bias is clear and would be a violation of their Fiduciary Responsibility to the owners to represent them and not the management. Yes lets all promote one candidate, I will be their and make a point to challenge any one running that is connected with the management... Michael Doolittle 503 643 9816 call me if you have something to ad

The Diamond argument would be that as holders of the "Trust", they represent the owners of a significant number of the property units.

But there is clearly a conflict of interest.

YES, they will argue anything and everything to keep that board from ever making a majority critical to its management, but it is a clear conflict of interest and further evidence of their violation of Fiduciary responsibility to protect the minority interest... I for one am keeping score, adding up the conflicts and at some point will file a complaint with the State of Hawaii and its Attorney General for what is an apparent violation of their legal responsibility... If it gets to the point of no return, I will file a lawsuit and through the discovery process will look at every record that Diamond Resorts has, the paper trail is there...

There is a similar discussion going on at the Diamond property at Maui. There is a gentlemen leading the effort that is actually getting threatening letters from the Diamond legal department. They really don't want anyone interfering with their control.

I've heard that Diamond only owns about 5% of the Point at Poipu, but they act like they are the majority owner. Robert Helem is getting mine vote, too. We individual owners need to vote together, or we will all loose. If anyone doesn't understand why you don't want the manager (Diamond International) on the Board of Directors (for Point at Poipu or any other resort), please read "The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism" by John Bogle, former CEO of Vanguard mutual funds. Bogle states that it is like having the fox in the chicken house. We need our Board to quickly and permanently change the by-laws to limit any one entity to no more than one position on the Board. That would keep the manager (Diamond) from ever getting control of our resort.

We go every year. This year Feb 7 -14. The Point has an outstanding location and excellent architectural layout. Unfortunately, it is not as nice as when it had Embassy's logo on it. Although there have been recent minor exterior improvements (I suspect for show to help sell timeshares), the buildings are falling into costly repairs from water leakage. Diamond is sucking the life out of it by high pressure selling of virtually worthless points; so you can trade time at one of their lessor quality locations. Just imagine what the place would look like if all that money went into a resort makeover...we'd all owntimeshares worth a whole lot more. Either we all band together and get Diamond under control, or we will be selling our timeshare.

So, how do we get a list of all owners @ Poipu Point Resort, and do this right?

I called and spoke with Real Property division at County of Kauai (808) 241-6222. They only have on property record the name of the Association, not each of the 1/50th unit owners. I'm guessing that there are very roughly 13,500 weeks at this complex (10 buildings x average of 3 floors x 9 units per floor x 50 weeks/unit); and likely over 12,000 Association owners. Our Association has the names of all unit owners, but how you get access to them from the Association I don't know short of litigation.