Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club President’s Letter
October 2023 Dear Owner:
I appreciate the opportunity to share directly with you a summary of our Fall 2023 Board of Directors’ meetings and the Annual Meetings which were held at our resort on October 26 and 27.
The horrendous fire that destroyed much of Lahaina on August 8th weighed heavily on everyone present. All our associates were deeply affected and 69 lost their homes. This is a somber time on Maui, and our hearts go out to these wonderful people who have become like family to us at Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club. While we know it will take years before the area begins to significantly recover, there is a palpable desire on the island to start the process and move forward.
Our Boards and the Marriott Vacations Worldwide (MVW) management team are working closely together to do what we can to assist all our associates put their lives back together. More on that later in this letter.
You are members of two separate legal organizations. One is the Association of Apartment Owners of Maui Ocean Club (AOAO) and the other is the Maui Ocean Club Vacation Owners Association (VOA). The AOAO is responsible for everything outside of the villas including the landscaping, pools, hardscape, and exterior of the buildings (the roofs, lanais, and hallways).
The VOA is responsible for everything inside the villas includes furniture, fixtures, appliances, wall coverings, flooring. Additionally, the VOA handles housekeeping and the front desk. For convenience and clarity, I am going to talk about our two organizations as if they were one.
Also, we refer to our buildings as MOC 1 and MOC 2. MOC 1 is the original set of connected buildings surrounding the main pool. MOC 2 is the term we use for the two sequel towers on either side of MOC 1.
Maintenance Fees for 2024
One of our Board’s most basic responsibilities is to be financially prudent. This requires us to balance maintenance fees with the desire to keep our resort a place you want to visit every year. After a thorough discussion extending over several months, we voted to increase the average annual maintenance fee for 2024 by 9.8%. The major contributing factors for the increase are property taxes (up $2,263,000), management fees (up $1,913,000 mostly to cover the plumbing work), insurance (up $1,302,000), and operating contingencies (up $596,000). Together these four items account for almost 90% of the increase.
Additionally, as we have discussed in several letters over the past few years, there will be an additional billing for plumbing reserves averaging $600 for 2024 and, likely, another of the same amount in 2025. For a complete discussion of the plumbing project please refer to my prior
President’s letters. These can be found on the MarriottVacationClub.com website. Log in to your account and from the home page select “Resources” and then “Owners Association.”
The chart below shows the 2024 maintenance fee and plumbing reserve amounts by unit type:
You will receive a bill from Marriott Vacations Worldwide in the next few weeks for your 2024 maintenance fees plus reserves.
Resort Update
There are several updates we would like to share with you.
Occupancy Statistics – Our resort is historically over 96% occupied throughout the year. After the fires, occupancy dropped to near zero. Over the last several weeks it has gradually come back. This week the resort is over 40% occupied. We expect over 90% occupancy by Thanksgiving.
The Governor of Hawaii and the Mayor of Maui have recently announced that all hotels in West Maui may reopen to tourists on November 1st. West Maui covers the coast from Lahaina to Kapalua, including Kā‘anapali Beach. We should note that many of these hotels are housing significant numbers of displaced residents, so it may be months or even longer before all of them hotels fully reopen to tourists.
Timeshare resorts are not hotels and hence our resort is not covered by the governmental closure mandates. We have been open for our owners since September 8th and all owners are welcome and encouraged to use their weeks.
Our Resort Amenities – As of this week the Beach Walk, Starbucks, Longhi’s and the main pool bar are open (some with limited hours). Most of the shops on the lobby level are open and all are expected to be open in the next few weeks. The website hub.vacationclub.com maintains a current list of what is open at our resort. Click on the link and then search for Maui Ocean Club.
Kā‘anapali Beach Amenities – Almost all of the stores and restaurants at the Whaler Shopping Center are open. Since many of the hotels in our area are housing displaced
residents, their restaurants and shops may not be open. For example, the Hyatt Hotel has no restaurants or stores open to the public.
Local Information Website – There is a website devoted to the Maui fires. It has a lot of information and is updated frequently. A link to it is MauiRecovers.org.
Associates Relief Fund
MVW sponsored relief fund for the Lahaina fire (the Fund) which has raised over $1,300,000. We thank all our owners who have so generously donated. The Fund covers all MVW associates on all their properties in West Maui. Initial payments to all associates who lost their homes have been made and additional payouts are in process based on applications from impacted associates. Additionally, more than $1 million of MVW assistance has been provided to associates through disaster/inclement weather pay; food, water, supplies, temporary housing; and on-site counseling. More than 460 associates have also donated about $970,000 in Paid Time Off through MVW’s Leave Sharing Program.
If you would like to contribute, the link to the website is: DonorBox.org/MVWReliefFund
100% of all contributions collected go to deserving associates from all MVW properties in West Maui.
Timing of Resort Renovations
There will be significant construction activity at the resort over the next two years. The current timing is projected to be as follows:
Electrical Switch Gear Replacement – This is the first major project. It involves replacing all the main electrical components bringing power to MOC 1. The current timing is March through May 2024. We will have generators supplying temporary power and do not expect there to be any power disruption. While the dates have been set for some time in coordination with Hawaiian Electric, the Lahaina fire may cause it to be delayed. Hawaiian Electric may not have the people or equipment to complete their part of the project on time.
MOC 1 Suite Refurbishment and Plumbing Project – This will be the largest project we have ever undertaken. It will last for thirteen months and touch every suite in MOC 1. The work will occur sequentially so only a minimum number of suites will be out of service at one time. Construction is slated to begin on June 1, 2024, and continue through June 30, 2025. This timing is subject to the availability of contractors and housing for them.
MOC 1 Roof Replacement – The entire roof on all three MOC 1 buildings will be replaced starting in early 2025. This project’s timeline will be somewhat dependent on the work mentioned in the previous section. The re-roof is anticipated to take about a year to complete.
MOC 2 Soft Goods Renovation – The last major project is a soft goods renovation of the MOC 2 Villas. We have done a lot of these over the years and there are fewer unknowns. The timing is currently scheduled for the last half of 2025.
As you make your reservations over the next couple of years you will be notified of any construction work being done during the weeks you are booking. Hopefully, once these projects are completed, our resort will be good to go for quite some time.
Sand Replenishment Project
Finally, no letter from us would be complete without an update on the sand replenishment project. Our political and community outreach efforts to get this critical project back on track have been delayed by the Lahaina fire. We are working with a coalition of resorts and state and local associations, all of whom, understand the project is imperative and simply must get re- approved and completed.
There have been high tides and unhelpful swells over the last two weeks which once again took out significant vegetation on our property. In places the sand has gone away right up to the beach walk. We are doing what we can to save the beach walk, but time is not on our side.
We hope to have updated news of our progress in the next President’s Letter. On behalf of the entire board,
Larry Wolfe
President
Association of Apartment Owners of Maui Ocean Club and Maui Ocean Club Vacation Owners Association
