The St. George's Club

St. Georges, Bermuda

Members' Advisory Council

 

 

To:

Mrs. Sally-Ann Kyle

General Manager, The St. George's Club

President & CEO, The St. G. Club Ltd.

The St. George's Club

6 Rose Hill

St. George's, GE05

Bermuda

May 25, 2010

 

Sally-Ann,

 

The Members Advisory Council (MAC) had a productive second quarter meeting in Washington, D.C. In our role as the advisory membership structure under the Bermuda Timesharing (Licensing and Control) Act of 1981, as amended, and The Club's Rule and Regulations, we would like to communicate the following suggestions to you in your dual role as both the General Manager of The Club and as the President and CEO of the developing entity, The St. G. Club Ltd.

 

As the minutes of our meeting will reflect, we spent a significant period of time during the meeting reviewing the results of the strategic survey that Mr. Kyle helped us prepare and communicate to the members. Several of our recommendations stem directly from the results of that survey. In addition, as both a representative sample of the members and as elected representatives of the members, we have provided additional suggestions related to the operation of The Club.

 

1.      Exchange System. A large portion of the respondents to the strategic survey supported a web based system whereby members could exchange weeks amongst one another. This system would not be for rentals or exchanges on other properties, but solely for exchanges between existing Club members. The MAC envisions a web site that would allow members to post which week(s) they would like to trade for, or to trade to, and a search interface allowing members to see what trade opportunities are available. It would be up to the club members to contact one another to finalize the trade, and then communicate that to The Club's reservations department. If The Club needs to charge a fee to defray the costs of verifying that both members are in good standing, and to record the results of the exchange, this fee should be nominal (e.g. less than or equal to $50 per completed exchange charged by a similar commercial exchange services).

 

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE: Exchange System - we have discussed this and thought the agreed approach was for the MAC to develop a working model as a pilot. The fee that was estimated as being commercially viable for Club Operations for the efforts involved was around $250 but we can review that when we establish the process. This approach would allow us to get the user end view of how it should work and we can either develop it from there later next year or modify it as appropriate. We await your activation of the service with keen interest and the process definition.

 

2.      Refurbishment of Units. A substantial majority of the members who responded to the strategic survey was satisfied with the current pace of the refurbishments and did not support a special assessment or acceleration of reserve contribution dues to increase the speed of refurbishment. Therefore, the MAC recommends that the refurbishments continue at the current pace.

 

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE; Refurbishment of units - No comment required.

 

3.      Financial Information. A large portion of the members who responded to the strategic survey thought that the purpose of the MAC should be to keep the maintenance fees down, or control costs or ensure our dues are well spent, etc. While the authority of the MAC is limited in this area since we are advisory and not a board of directors, the recommendation of the MAC is that The Club provide timely, detailed financial statements to both the MAC and The membership on a quarterly basis so as to better inform us and the members on the nature and extent of the costs that are being experienced in running The Club. This information would also assist the MAC in providing further suggestions on the operation of The Club, and would in turn help the MAC to communicate to the members how their actions affect their maintenance fees.

 

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE: Financial Information - The Club has provided these reports to the MAC (quarterly in arrears we owe you March and 2009 Audit) and indeed all the Members (annually) and will continue to do so. With respect to how the MAC can in fact facilitate a reduction of Assessment Fees, we are somewhat at a loss. Doing business in Bermuda is unique as it is an island and everything needs to be imported at considerable expense. Labour is also only hired at a premium much higher than in the US or UK. The fact that we (Management and Developer) also wish to keep Assessments as low as we can because it stimulates sales is also always overlooked. We need to keep them competitive to other properties on the island and we feel based on member feedback that we have done that. We also need to improve membership value and that is well underway also based on feedback. We are happy to address any questions on the financials as we have demonstrated in the past.

 

4.      RCI Gold Crown Status. It has recently come to the attention of the MAC from some other members that The Club may have lost its RCI Gold Crown status. If this is, in fact, true, then our recommendation is that The Club should promptly inform the general membership of the fact and of its understanding as to why it happened, and should define and execute the actions necessary to regain RCI Gold Crown status as expediently as possible. The Club should also then communicate any changes in status in the future to both The Club members and the MAC in a timely manner.

 

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE: RCI Gold Crown Status - The Club have always made this information available in a timely fashion both via Newsletters and our Web Site. As mentioned previously the previous Managing Agent lost the Gold Crown status and the MAC and membership was advised. Our commitment is to keep everyone as advised as possible. Our focus is not currently on getting this back but on addressing the needs of the approximately 85% of members that do not use their RCI exchange facilities by refurbishing the units. However by taking this course of action we will move closer to the Gold Crown status.

 

5.      Staff Training. Thirty percent (30%) of the respondents to the strategic survey commented that improvements could be made in the "attitude" or level of service and courtesy provided by the staff. Member comments recommended that a more friendly, welcoming attitude would be well appreciated and received by the Members. Based upon the personal experiences of MAC members who have recently stayed at The Club, we believe that you may have already started such training, and therefore the suggestion of the MAC is to continue investing in the staff training that has already begun to improve the "attitude," level of service and courtesy provided by the staff.

 

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE: Staff Training - this recommendation is completely in line with our own operational plan and it is an on-going process and as you point out we have commenced on this road.

 

6.      Internet Service. A large portion of the survey participants noted their experiencing problems with the Internet service in the cottages and around The Club premises. Additionally, this complaint is validated by the MAC members themselves having had personal experiences of difficulty with the Internet service. The MAC recommends that the general wireless Internet server be improved, that additional funds be spent on the infrastructure, and that The Club acquire additional "Business Internet" (3G WiFi hot spot) devices and better publicizes the "Business Internet" option as an alternative for visitors to The Club who require a higher level of service. Additionally, several survey participants indicated that the costs of the Internet service were too high, and therefore the MAC recommends a review of the pricing structure to determine if lowering the price would result in more users and therefore more overall revenue to offset the fixed costs of operating the wireless Internet service.

 

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE: Internet Service - we have spent a lot of time refining the internet service and we again will continue to evolve it. We have investigated alternatives but the technology in use is still the most economic. As a resort destination the use is not significant but the costs are in fact in line with other services both on-island and also overseas. We will continue to review this obviously on a periodic basis and make whatever improvements we can. As we have a technology company as our Managing Agent this puts us in a very good position to have the best solution for the money spent.

 

7.      Beach Service. One of the questions on the strategic survey dealt with club amenities. It appears from many responses that there is significant confusion over the amenities provided at The Club's beach, versus those that must be paid for, and how the distribution of these amenities is managed. The MAC recommends that the beach policies and explicit amenity pricing be communicated to all guests of The Club as part of the check-in process and/or the in-room club guide. For example, beach chairs are available to members at no cost if the member places the chair themselves, but a fee is required if the attendant places the chair.

 

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE : Beach Amenities - We will advise all the members what they have to pay for shortly to clarify the confusion. We discussed this yesterday and the GM will be visiting the site next week to talk to the current vendor to again establish the rules. Beach Chairs are Free to all Club Members and Guests and that is our policy. We have not had many complaints but we have had some so it will be addressed. We actually put out a Tender to the General Public (twice) at the start of the season for a Dive concession on the site but did not get the response we wished. We will be doing something about this but based on this not until next year.

 

We look forward to your feedback on, and implementation of these suggestions, and your attendance at our future meetings whenever possible. If you care to respond to these suggestions, we will be happy to include management's response along with our original suggestion when we communicate them to the general membership within the next week to 10 days.

 

As well as providing these suggestions to fulfill our obligation as the MAC, we all hope that in implementing these suggestions we will jointly continue to improve The Club, and the portion of members who would recommend to others to stay at The Club (currently 91.41% of respondents) and to purchase time at The Club (currently 70.55% of respondents).

 

Sincerely,

 

The St. George's Club

Members' Advisory Council

By: Roy Van Brunt, Chairman

 

CC:

The St. George's Club Members

Mr. William "Billy" Griffith, Director of Tourism, Government of Bermuda