Indies Suites timeshare owners are networking through an Internet forum to consider their options now that it is known the property has been sold.
Rod Broome, the forum’s administrator, said 103 of the estimated 470 Indies Suites club members have joined the forum.
Club members were outraged to recently learn the property was sold to St. Matthew’s University School of Medicine on 27 January.
Ronnie Foster, the former owner of the timeshare hotel, said last week the proceeds of the sale went to pay the mortgage and that there ‘was nothing left for (the club members) to get’.
Mr. Foster said his insurance company told him he was underinsured.
He said he has been offered a final insurance settlement of only $500,000 more to go with $200,000 interim payment he received last December.
The interim payment was used to pay mortgage payments and employee severance payments, Mr. Foster said.
What will happen with any additional insurance settlement payment is unknown.
‘We have not gotten the insurance settlement, and if an when we do, (club members) will be notified,’ Mr. Foster said.
Distributing any insurance settlement proceeds to club members would be a difficult exercise, Mr. Foster indicated.
‘I haven’t been able to figure out a system to make any payments to club members,’ he said. ‘They all paid different amounts and they all had it for different time periods. Some had it 10 years and some had it three years,’ he said. ‘How do you prorate that?’
Mr. Foster has said he lost a lot of money with Indies Suites, not only as a result of the hurricane, but during its operation.
He indicated that he believes he should also receive some of any insurance settlement received.
‘Why should (club members) get all the money and I get nothing?’ he said.
Mr. Foster said anyone who purchased a timeshare week and never used it before the hurricane has had their money refunded.
Club member Lorri Peterson said she bought a timeshare week in 2004, paid maintenance fees on the week, and was never able to use it.
Mrs. Peterson said she and her husband bought the week, to go with one they bought in 1996 from another club member.
‘I have not heard that anyone was refunded money,’ she said.
Mr. Foster said last week that club members who used their timeshare weeks for five years got their money’s worth, explaining that the normal rack rate at the hotel was $280 per night.
Club members are not buying Mr. Foster’s reasoning.
‘And what does Ronnie Foster say if you gave him $16,000 and used it twice,’ said club member Al Sorrell. ‘We did. By his math, he’d owe us at least $12,080. I might even settle for that.’
Dan O’Malley, another club member indicated he did not make a deal to stay at Indies Suites for just five years.
‘I doubt any of us would have paid $10,000 to stay at Indies Suites for five years with the restrictions they placed on us,’ he said. ‘Ronnie sold us a 99 year membership and that is what he must abide by.’
Donna Marshall, who has been a club member with her husband since 1997, said there were other considerations for their purchase of timeshare weeks at Indies Suites.
‘We not only bought it for vacation purposes, but as an investment,’ she said. ‘Where does Ronnie get off taking all the profit?
‘This is criminal,’ she continued. ‘It is not for Ronnie to re-invent our contracts to suit his purposes.’
Club member Melissa West pointed out that in addition to whatever was paid for the timeshare, annual maintenance fees of $375 were also paid, as well as room taxes and other usage fees that added up to approximately $200 per week.
Several members have indicated that legal action is possible if they do not get some sort of satisfaction, from Mr. Foster.
The Indies Suites story is also picking up some international coverage, with an article in the daily on-line newsletter The Timeshare Beat this week.
Several of the Indies Suites club member suggested the situation could cause a lot of negative publicity for the Cayman Islands.
‘The Cayman Islands have always been portrayed as a beacon of trust in the world of finance and now that is being brought into question,’ said club member Dennis Davis.
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