PO‘IPU — A timeshare management company has threatened a lawsuit against a consultant for making defamatory, false and “tortuously interfering” statements, but timeshare owners continue to push for reform. Diamond Resorts International Executive Vice President and General Counsel Elizabeth Brennan
PO‘IPU — A timeshare management company has threatened a lawsuit against a consultant for making defamatory, false and “tortuously interfering” statements, but timeshare owners continue to push for reform.
Diamond Resorts International Executive Vice President and General Counsel Elizabeth Brennan threatened a lawsuit against Janas Consulting Management Consultant Mike Givens via e-mail last week, taking issue with statements made in the Oct. 4 The Garden Island article “Point at Po‘ipu timeshare owners struggling with management.”
Las Vegas-based DRI is demanding that Givens and “his clients” immediately cease and desist from making any further comments regarding their company.
“The truth hurts,” Givens said Thursday. “In a court of law, justice will be done. I guess the judge will decide who’s right or wrong.
“You just tell the truth and it will never backfire,” Givens said.
Brennan countered that Givens and vocal owners are “interfering” with business, also confirming reports that all newspapers delivered to the Point at Po‘ipu Oct. 4 were “purchased by the sales team” to conceal the “inaccurate information.”
In that story, owners complained fees doubled from $695 per week in 2001 to over $1,400 in 2009 and that they have little to no say when it comes to maintenance and management fees, as the majority of Vacation Owners Association and Association of Apartment Owners board members are also employees of DRI.
Brennan said last week the board members were “duly elected” by owners and the election was in accordance with Hawai‘i law. There are three “developer reps” on the five-member board and the reason they unanimously voted to up maintenance fees, she said, was largely due to high operational costs and the need for the budget to cover expenses.
State law does contain rules pertaining to the management of condominium property regimes.
Chapter 514A of the Hawai‘i Revised Statutes states, “A director shall not cast any proxy vote at any board meeting, nor shall a director vote at any board meeting on any issue in which the director has a conflict of interest.”
The Hawai‘i Revised Statutes also states that “the number of persons constituting the board … shall have an elected board of not less than nine members” and that no single apartment should have more than one representative.
Brennan was “not in a position to provide” further information Friday.
Maintenance woes
“There’s nothing I can do but report the honest truth,” said Barry Smith, a former sales representative for the Point at Po‘ipu, when he expressed concern about owners Friday.
“I’ve got a heart because I had hundreds of owners I’ve sold to,” he said.
People are “intoxicated” with the beauty of the island when they’re here and are “promised a beautiful place” at a certain rate.
“Then all of a sudden things go up and up and they’re stuck in something they can’t afford, especially right now,” Smith said.
Owners have complained about the maintenance of the property, and while Smith said the resort is in “pretty nice shape overall” and “well-maintained,” he said furniture has not been updated on the inside of the rooms in about “13 years” and flat screen TVs have not yet been installed.
The silent majority
“Since Diamond took the reins, there has been a marked improvement in the condition and maintenance,” Kalaheo resident James Thompson wrote in an e-mail last week. Thompson is a DRI employee but specified that he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the company.
“Moreover, roughly 70 percent of sales currently being generated at The Point are to existing owners there. This is hardly indicative of an impending owner’s revolt, and more probably is a case of owners at The Point quietly endorsing DRI with their pocketbooks.
“To suggest that 250 owners out of 10,000 somehow represents a tidal wave of opposition may be a bit of an exaggeration,” Thompson said. “It might be interesting to know how many of those same owners were among the most vociferous in decrying (justifiably) the deteriorating conditions prior to Diamond’s arrival. A case, perhaps, of wanting to ‘have your cake and eat it, too’?”
• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com.
