Minutes of Part 2 of the Committee meeting held at 11 00 on Tuesday 14th May 2024 via Microsoft Teams
Present Committee members:
Andy Martin (AM) Chairman
Colin Rayson (CR) Secretary
Peter Barnes (PB)
Martin Binns (MB)
Crown Golf and St Mellion Management:
Paul Stephens (PS) Crown Golf Director
Nick Lawson(NL) Resort Director
Robbie Smith (RS) Finance Director
Kirstine Hitchcock (KH) Operations Manager
Stephanie Latham (SL) Time Share administrator
There was no agenda set for this meeting.
The purpose of this meeting was to update the committee on the progress of the consolidation process of the Time Share lodges. What action has been taken and to discuss where we are and what still needs to be completed following the Annual Meeting held at St Mellion on Friday 22nd March 2024.
(S L) Had emailed out the latest occupancy grid for everyone and also provided a copy of the financial figures for the year ending 31st March 2024.
(AM) Thanked (SL) for the occupancy grid and asked are we now in a position to reduce the existing 10 lodges down to the planned 6 lodges?
(SL) The occupancy grid shows that we have two owners who have been spoken to about consolidation and are considering their options. The lodges involved are Lodge 35 week 10 and Lodge 6 week 32.
(AM) Can we chase up these two owners as it will help us to proceed with the consolidation process. Lodge 6 only has two weeks owned, as we can see one week is considering their options and the other week is a debtor. When we look at Lodge 35 which is week 10 all of the two bedroom lodges that we are proposing to retain, numbers 1 to 5 are vacant for week 10 so I would have thought that this should be an easy move for the owner. However is there a reason that they do not want to move from a one bedroom turret to a two bedroom lodge without any increase to their annual fees?
(SL) I have not been able to get hold of Lodge 35 owners. Week 32 Lodge 6 will be sorted out for next year.
(SL) ACTION
To try to relocate the owners of lodges 6 and 35 as soon as possible to be in a position to return these lodges to the hotel stock and enable the Time Owners to reduce the number of lodges to 6.
(AM) Debtors, This should be a quick process if people are not paying. (KH) Debt is a tricky one to deal with.
(AM) Surely we get to a point where if people are not paying and we can’t contact them then we write off the debt and then move the lodge week back into either Time Share ownership or back into the hotel stock.
(SL) Lodge 8 weeks 32,33 and 34 have said that they still do not want to move. (AM) Can we go from 10 to 7 Lodges now?
(KH) Not at this point but we can go down to 7 Lodges from next year.
(PS) We should not let things stand in our way and try to resolve the outstanding issues as soon as possible, so that we know exactly where we stand with the number of Time Owners lodges and potentially how many lodges will be returning to the hotel stock.
(KH) Time to contact owners.
(PS) As a priority let’s try to get the owners of lodges 6 and 35 to agree to move which will help the consolidation process and will also free up those two lodges.
(SL) I have a plan in place to free up the lodges which it is proposed, will eventually be returned to the hotel. However the owners of the three weeks in lodge 8, weeks 32,33 and 34 have both stated that they want to remain in Lodge 8. One owner who has weeks 32 and 33 and the other owner has week 34, I am still trying to sort this out but the owner of weeks 32 and 33 did not signed a Deed of Variation when the option was first available.
(AM) Will we be able to make the changes to the Time Owners lodges this year?
(KH) No not in this holiday year, it will be in the 2025/2026 holiday year at the earliest.
(AM) What deadline are you working to to try and sort out the debtors?
(KH) I have given everybody the 31st May as a deadline and then I will take it to the next stage.
(AM) Can we get any additional income from the vacant Time Owners weeks in the short term without messing up the consolidation process.
(PS) We could look at the potential to sale vacant weeks in the proposed 6 lodges which it is planned to be the retained long term as owners lodges.
(AM) We need to set processes in place to to ensure that next year we get down to 7 Lodges maximum, preferably the 6 Lodges which has been our target to make the Time Owners section of St Mellion financially viable. If we can get the information as soon as possible we can then audit how we see the financial figures going forward.
(NL) We have started a full review of the urgent work that needs to be done on the Time Owners Lodges. This includes ensuring that all of the lodges meet all relevant health and safety standards, fire safety, what preventative maintainance needs to be done and what if any capital expenditure we need to make on the lodges.
(RS) We have also started the work we need to complete for the ten year review.
(AM) This is what is needed to ensure that the Time Owners lodges are maintained to the standard that owners expect and have been used to in the past, also to ensure that the Time Owners lodges are financially viable for the future.
The St Mellion Property Management Limited (SMPML) Profit and Loss figures for the year ended 31st March 2024 do not look good and are very concerning. This is why we need to complete the consolidation process as soon as possible and also complete the ten year review.
There is still bad debt of £13,439.25 showing on the Profit and Loss account for the end of 2023/2024, this needs to be sorted.
(RS) Debt is not written off, but will be sorted out soon.
(PS) Only book net revenue, we need the budget for this year and also the year after.
(AM) Can you do it for 7 lodges and also 6 lodges. (RS) It is possible.
(PS) How much of an inconvenience is that.
(RS) It can be done but extra work.
(AM) What are your thoughts on the 10 Year review?
(NL) We need to fully understand the numbers and build up all of the base information, so will need to do a full review to fully understand the history. We also as previously stated need to complete our review of the condition of the Time Share lodges.
(AM) It would appear that some people would be prepared to contribute to upgrading the properties. Also as we have stated we need to look at marketing vacant weeks. What is the market rate.
(PS) There should be a loyalty benefit for buying extra weeks, should be a difference.
(NL) Secondary opportunity, for owners to benefit from additional weeks holidays. (SL) All weeks are full now but there are some weeks availability coming up.
(PS) Let’s get a plan sorted out to see if there is an opportunity to market the vacant weeks.
(SL) I can get an email sent out to all Time Owners with the opportunity to rent additional weeks when we have decided what we are going to offer.
(AM) Would a 10% discount to owners be a good offer. (SL) would any additional sales go SMPML/
(RS) The financial system will allow the income generated to be allocated directly to SMPML.
(PS) Could 20% discount be a better offer.
(RS) Try 10% and review and consider 20% if no take up.
(NL) Lets go to market at a 10% discount and see what happens. Lets get it out there.
(PS) Are you happy with that Andy?
(AM) We are happy with that,
ACTION (SL)
To generate an email to all owners with the offer of additional weeks and a copy of the occupancy grid.
The meeting was closed, the next meeting date to be arranged.
Colin Rayson
Secretary