Dear GullWing Beach Resort Unit Owners, 

Happy New Year from all your friends down here in Fort Myers Beach!  It has definitely been a busy and exciting time for us over the past couple of months.  We’ve had several projects underway in addition to the Holidays, and the Associations Annual Membership Meeting.  Our refurbishment projects are moving along nicely.    While some exterior projects for the association are completed, maintenance has been busy working inside the units.

In the last newsletter I mentioned we were going to have the stainless steel elevator panels refinished.  Since then, the work has been completed, and the doors now look great.  Several people have commented on how nice the elevators and the landings look now.  We are very pleased with the results.  The picture below shows the inside of the main elevator after it was refinished.

In addition to the elevator project, we also had our annual window washing completed, had a fresh layer of mulch put down throughout the property, and repainted the covered parking lines.  It has really helped to freshen up the property and get it ready for our busy season, which is fast approaching. 

Resort operations were a little slower then we like to see them for the 4th quarter of the year.  Although owner distributions are slightly less in comparison to 2006, they were still in line with the previous years’.  This was primarily attributed to Pointe Estero being closed through most of November last year and the compression which took place from that. 

Reservations have started to slow a little for the first quarter of this year.  March still looks to be a very strong month, with a January and February reservations slowing a bit.  We are currently working with our third party internet sites to boost internet bookings.  We are also offering specials to repeat guest only, through a direct mail piece.  Just lately, we have started to see our booking pace picking back up a little, so we are still very optimistic for a good first quarter.

Before the refurbishment project got under way this year, the maintenance team did an excellent job refinishing the refrigerators in each unit.  The pictures above show the work in progress on each refrigerator.    

As previously mentioned, this years refurbishment projects are progressing.  The new mattresses have been installed in each unit, and guests have seemed very happy with them. 

The new hot water heaters have now been installed as well, and not a moment too soon.  During the installation process, another hot water heater failed.  Fortunately it happened during the day and maintenance was able to resolve the problem immediately, replacing it with a new unit that was delivered and ready for installation.  The pictures below show the old unit, and how badly it had rusted over the years. 

In addition to the mattresses and hot water heaters, we are anticipating delivery of the new safes this weekend.  The new fabric for the dining room chairs is also ordered and we are awaiting delivery. 

As you can see, we still have a lot of things going on around the property, and are anxiously to start our busy season.  It was great to see many of the owners here for the Annual Meeting, or for the holiday week.  It was especially nice to hear those positive comments that were shared with me about the property and the staff.  We look forward to seeing you soon.

Sincerely, 

Curt Brenner
General Manager