FRP acquired by Northwynd
July 4, 2010 by Lynn Knell
Filed under Business, Fairmont Hot Springs, Local news, Recreation
On March 30, 2009, Fairmont Resort Properties Ltd. was made subject to creditor protection under the Companies Creditor’s Arrangement Act, allowing them to be able to present a plan to restructure their obligations.
Readers can access an earlier CVNews article at http://columbiavalleynews.com/2009/04/13/fairmont-resort-properties-restructures-debt/
Now, through a court-approved sale process, newly-formed Northwynd Resort Properties Ltd. has acquired Fairmont Resort Properties (FRP) in Fairmont Hot Springs, BC. FRP properties include Fairmont Vacation Villas and Lake Okanagan Resort in British Columbia, along with Makaha Resort and Golf Club in Hawaii, Costa Maya Reef Resort San Pedro in Belize and Fairmont Rancho Banderas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The purchaser will hold Fairmont Vacations Villas through Northmont Resort Properties Ltd. and will hold Lake Okanagan Resort Vacation Timeshare Properties through Lorwynd Resort Properties Ltd.
Patrick Fitzsimonds, CEO of Northwynd Resort Properties Ltd., has been involved in the capitalization and development of residential and resort-based real estate in the US and Canada for 30 years. Mr. Fitzsimonds is committed to delivering the highest standards of accountability and management services to vacationers, and in order to do so, he is enlarging the company’s executive team of industry professionals to assist the management of Northwynd and subsidiary resorts in the execution of their business plan.
The court approved the purchase on June 22, 2010. Legal title to the timeshare units will remain registered in the name of Carthew Registry Services Ltd. (the trustee), which is independent of Northwynd. So the timeshare rights that are, and will continue to be registered with the trustee, will remain fully protected from third party action. All timeshare agreements that are currently registered with the trustee will be assigned to either Northmont or Lorwynd, whichever the case may be, enabling the continuation of the resorts’ existing affiliations with Resorts Condominiums International.
Another Northwynd subsidiary, Resort Villas Management Ltd., will continue to manage Fairmont Vacation Villas and will soon begin to manage the timeshare operation at Lake Okanagan Resort as well. Their promise is to exceed the quality of management services that timeshare owners have experienced in the past.
The first part of the new plan will be to introduce a home owners’ association for both Fairmont Vacation Villas and Lake Okanagan Resort to promote good communication between timeshare owners and the management company, ensuring that owners will be consulted in the operation of their units and also be encouraged to provide input regarding the annual budgets.
A new website is presently being created to further the open communications policy of the company. They are also promising employees of Northwynd at both resort locations and also at the corporate offices in Calgary, the information and training they need in order to be able to give timeshare owners and guests the excellent service they expect and deserve, embodying the company’s mission to provide an exceptional vacation experience.
In a letter to all timeshare owners, Mr. Fitzsimonds says:
“Our goal is to earn your confidence and participate together with you in our various capital and operational initiatives to significantly improve our properties and your vacation experience. I sincerely hope that you share our enthusiasm, and I look forward to a positive future together.”
You must honour the contracts written up on the new building @ Lake Okanagan Resort a few years ago or there will be a class action lawsuit!
Fairmont Resort Properties no longer has any assests left in it so you would be suing a company that will eventually disappear, so I have been told, as unfortunate as it is. I am just happy that my timeshare is registered with a trustee unlike the unfortunate folks that owned at the Banff Gate that lost everything . I am also glad that Northwynd has taken over and something was finally approved by the courts about whole company and as a shareholder we will have a board of directors now looking out for our intrests, in my opinion this is a step in the right direction, and with added benefit of a Home owners Association we will have a voice now.
The only way to win the confidence and improve our vacation experience is to honour the contracts that were written up with options to buy in the new building at Lake Okanagan Resort!
This place is a joke. We purchased with the option to buy into the new building as well. Now we have no chance of getting back in this new building. The other 3 bedrooms are crappy compared to the new one. When we checked in this week we were put in these older units the first night. Sinking more money into a sinking ship like this is retarded at best. The whole rci points system is fine but charging thousands to convert is just them grabbing more of our hard earned cash. Thank god we got our moneys worth with the great trades we have don in the last 9 years.
did anyone sign up for their “information session”? Was it just a sales pitch or did they actually give up any info?
Our maintenance fees went up significantly at Fairmont Riverside/Hillside in 2010 because of the many defaults they are experiencing. They stated they would put the deliquent accounts in the hands of a collection agency. The way the lease is written, they do not seem to have that right. The only consequence of a default in payment of maintenance fees is a suspension of the use of the timeshare unit. If the default is not remedied in 16 months then the developer has a right to buy back the timeshare unit according to a preset formula (Clause 13). There is a risk that the there will be a cascading of defaults as the maintentenace fees increase to cover more delinquent accounts. When will be the right time to bail out?
What we were told by another owner is that since Northwynd took over the purchase contracts we signed are basically useless and they don’t have to honour anything in the agreement. We thought of just walking away as well and purchasing somewhere else. We’ve had many great exchanges and paying $750 in maintenance fees for a 3bedroom at lake okanagan is nuts since we won’t be in the new villas we purchased. They are selling the 2 new buildings as private condos and sending those owners to the older 3 bedroom units. Not likely that one penny will go into the maintenance cost of those buildings. They are nothing like the new buildings and require a lot of work. My opinion-don’t give them anymore money, and go to http://www.tug2.net for more info in the canadian section.
I would urge all the timeshare owners and investors to get out, this company and its new management team will sink this company into the ground within the next 12 months, they do not care about the timeshare owners, there is a group of 6 people who only care about themselves { Pat F.,Eleanor F, Corrie G, Chris V, Manu D, Leanne T} these people have no clue.
The new management of the Fairmont Resort Properties (FRP) needs to honer the time share options to upgrade to the new building (Pointe Beach Villas). When a company buys the assets of another company, they also buy the liabilities and are they are obligated to honor all the previous contracts. Yes, we, the time share owners with the upgrade option, can sue the new management of the FRP. We can sue the trust company that manages the time shares (the trust company should not should have ensure timely transfer if the Pointe Beach Villas to the time share). We can sue the previous management of the FRP which borrowed money against the Pointe Beach Villas building and did not transfer in to the LOR vacations. The new management must deal with the time share owners. Otherwise, there will be many law suit filed against them and all other involved parties.
The new company was able to skirt around the liabilities of FRP through the CCAA process. They have left the debt on FRP and taken all the assets to Northwynd, thus putting FRP into bankruptcy, all unsecured creditors are pretty much done. Beware of wolves in sheeps clothing. This is not new management but a group of ex-FRP employees greedy and power hungry. Their huge salaries and egos will soon sink the ship and unfortunately, collectively they do not have the knowledge or skill to pull this off.
We too have been frauded by this company, we were promised the new building at Lake Okanagan, only to be kicked out! We as owners need to ban together and get a class action suit started. These guys can not get away with this!!
If anyone out there is contemplating a class action suit regarding the fraud at the Pointe Beach Villas at Lake Okanagan Resort, please email me directly with the information. Send to: rbnairne@shaw.ca