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Greetings from
Pointe Estero Resort:
Here are a few updates on what is
happening at Pointe Estero:
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The Board of the Pointe Estero
Condominium Association had their scheduled meeting
on March 13th, 2009.
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One of the discussions
concerned the possible removal or moving of some
of the beachside palm trees that partially
blocks the view of some of the lower units.
After talking with the environmental specialist
with the City of Fort Myers Beach, it was
determined that these trees were protected,
therefore our situation would not meet the
requirements that would allow for a permit to be
approved allowing these changes.
-
Another discussion
concerned the length of terms of Board Members.
The State of Florida passed a law which mandates
that all board terms are limited to one year in
length, unless a condominium’s Bylaws allow for
a two year term. Our Bylaws call for three year
terms which make this part of our Bylaws
obsolete. The Board agreed that two year terms
would be a better scenario to allow some
continuity. The Board then motioned for a
Special Meeting to be held on June 25th, 2009 to
give the Membership the opportunity to vote to
change our Bylaws. We would have to receive the
state law requirement of a majority of all
voting interests, along with meeting our Bylaw
requirement of 2/3rds of the voting interest
present or by proxy at a special meeting to
implement this change. We will be sending out a
notice of special meeting, along with the
necessary proxies.
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On the resort side, the economy
continues to challenge our business plan and we
continue to diligently manage both the revenue
stream and the expense lines. We have seen a
slightly lower occupancy level compared to last year
and have had to respond by discounting our rates,
resulting in lower revenues.
Although the month of March is
one of our busiest times of the year, Easter fell in
April this year, compared to being in March last
year. This resulted in a lower March revenues than
last year. The good news is that April revenues are
projected to be higher than in 2008.
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We have incorporated a new
software package that increases our marketing
abilities, along with giving us the opportunity to
correspond more efficiently with our guests before,
during and after their stay. This system includes a
database management system that handles our
communication needs such as sending out confirmation
and thank you letters along with the ability to
receive immediate feedback and comments. It
includes the ability to for our guests to rate their
stay on a scale of 0-100 and we received a 96.23
rating for March. Some of our recent comments
include:
“We thoroughly enjoyed our stay
and found the office staff always eager to help us
with directions, restaurant advice and activities”
“We really enjoyed our stay and
will return for sure!”
“Everyone was great and very
helpful a wonderful place to stay”
“Impressed with the
friendliness of the entire staff and the cleanliness
all around.”
Another module of this software
package allows us to offer to our past guests
special offers or other information to help us
promote our property. For example, if we have an
approaching period where reservations are lagging
behind, with one press of a key, we can send out
over 20,000 emails offering a 20% discount or other
offer to help attract some additional business
during this time. The system is also smart enough
to not send an offer to a guest that has already
booked a reservation at our regular rate.
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We are implementing an action
plan to obtain the Green Lodging Certificate
sponsored by the State of Florida. This includes
switching to green-rated cleaning products,
installing energy saving devices such as low flow
plumbing fixtures and efficient lighting and also to
educating guests and staffs of ways to help the
environment here at the resort and at home. As we
slowly implement this program, any decision we make
still needs to make economical sense before we go
forward. We have been able to make good forward
progress without affecting the bottom-line.
The whole staff is committed to do
whatever is needed to get us through this recession. If
you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at
239-765-1155 ext. 7005, or by E-mail at
BrianS@Sunstream.com.
Sincerely,
Brian Schomacker
General Manager |
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