The Spirit Ridge Owners Association has voted to terminate Bellstar’s rental management agreement and to seek proposals from other companies. Bellstar can remain as rental managers until Jan. 27, 2016 and the company insists it’s business as usual for its other services at the popular resort. (Richard McGuire photo)
Property owners at Spirit Ridge have terminated a rental management agreement with Bellstar Hotels and Resorts and they’re inviting proposals from other companies.
“As an association, we felt that we were at a point where there was a fair bit of complacency,” said Kim Rudd, president of the Spirit Ridge Owners Association.
Over the past year, her association looked at what is being done at similar resorts elsewhere, she said. They also negotiated with Bellstar prior to the termination.
“But for a number of reasons, it didn’t work out,” she said. “So the decision was made to terminate. Then it’s a level playing field for other companies to come to us with good ideas and proposals, as well as Bellstar. As owners, we will choose what we believe is the best rental management company to take us forward.”
Spirit Ridge is approaching its 10th anniversary, Rudd said, and the agreements put in place nine years ago were up for renewal or termination. The resort is located on Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) land on the Osoyoos East Bench.
Because the agreement had an automatic renewal clause, the only way to stop it automatically renewing was to terminate it, she added.
In a vote taken at the association’s May 2 annual general meeting, more than the required 75 per cent of owners voted in favour of termination. Rudd said there are slightly more than 900 units with roughly 450 owners.
The decision affects Phases 1 and 2, but doesn’t affect Phase 3, which is still under construction and whose owners are not part of Spirit Ridge Owners Association.
For its part, Bellstar emphasizes that it’s business as usual at Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort and Spa.
“Absolutely no services at Spirit Ridge Resort have been terminated and there are no plans in the future for termination of any services,” said Dale Hodgson, chief executive officer with Bellstar Hotels and Resorts in an emailed statement.
“Bellstar Hotels and Resorts continues to be heavily invested in key resort facilities, which include the beachfront, main lodge, conference centre, Talons Restaurant, as well as the new Bistro restaurant by the main pool,” said Hodgson.
Bellstar will continue to invest in the growth of the resort with the development of The Residences at Spirit Ridge, he added, noting that this year is already shaping up to be a record-breaking year for revenue growth at Spirit Ridge.
Rudd agrees that it will be “business as usual” in the coming months for the resort.
The May 2 vote provides for a notice period of 270 days so that Bellstar can remain as rental managers until Jan. 27, 2016, she said. Bellstar can submit a proposal, along with other rental management companies, for services beyond that date, she said.
“I want to be absolutely clear that we do not expect any interruption of service during that period,” said Rudd. “We expect a very smooth, uninterrupted transition to a new rental management agreement once finalized.”
Some proposals from other companies have already been received, she said. These will be reviewed by a committee and then a recommendation will be put to owners for approval.
The original agreement, Rudd pointed out, was put together before there was an owners’ association. The original vision for Spirit Ridge was the OIB’s and Bellstar’s, she added.
“In the beginning, Bellstar was the developer, the property manager and rental manager, which is pretty well unheard of in the industry,” said Rudd. “The developer is usually one thing, sometimes they get things going, but rarely do you see the developer be the property manager and be the rental manager. So for owners, we found ourselves not really being able to delineate sometimes where one started and one finished.”
The owners decided last June to open up the property management role and Bellstar decided they no longer wanted to manage the property, so that role ended on January 1 this year, she said.
Property management has been under contract since then to MJC Hospitality, a company owned by Osoyoos Councillor Mike Campol.
The market has changed since the boom years in 2005 and 2006, Rudd said, and the whole sector has changed.
When the owners association looked at other resorts, it found that most rental management agreements were in the one-to-five year range.
“This allows them to incrementally become more efficient and address some challenges,” she said. “When you have a nine-year agreement, there is no opportunity in those increments to make it better… I think there was definitely a sense among the ownership that it was time for a shakeup, again going back to my word ‘complacency,’ because sometimes things have to be shaken up in order for there to be renewal.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
The Spirit Ridge Owners Association has voted to terminate Bellstar’s rental management agreement and to seek proposals from other companies. Bellstar can remain as rental managers until Jan. 27, 2016 and the company insists it’s business as usual for its other services at the popular resort.
