What Does the Price of Beach Chairs Have to Do with Illegal Overnight Rentals? Everything....

We have all gotten rather spoiled with the free beach chairs these past 2+ years. As we all should have been aware, during the pool closure the hotel took it upon themselves to fully subsidize the costs of beach amenities, offering this benefit to Roney owners at no charge. This was done as part of the Hotel's continued commitment to its relationship with the Roney community. This was an amazing perk and to the Hotel, we say thank you!! During this time, the Hotel generously paid for the many thousands of Roney GUESTS all the while being aware, through third party booking sites, that many of them were illegal overnight guests.

Now that the pool has reopened—we all knew this day was coming—paying for beach chairs is going to be a thing again. We have just been made aware that the Hotel has negotiated a $15 rate for beach amenities for owners, residents, and legal tenants. Of note, though, is that for the first time, this benefit is no longer being extended to guests. To me the Hotel's message to the Board is loud and clear—the Roney open-door guest policy will no longer be tolerated or enabled by our neighbors. Nor should it be.

This is just the latest example of how the Board’s seemingly willful failure to enforce 30-day minimum rentals, coupled with their self-imposed impotence to effectively deal with the overnight rental scourge as evidenced by the lack of a fining committee, and the resulting inundation of illegal overnight guests, results is major losses for the rule-abiding majority.

In June, we have a chance to replace this Board. If we replace this Board with dedicated owners who serve the majority and adhere to the rules, perhaps the Hotel will be open to revisiting the beach chair subsidy for guests. For now, though, as one who has banged her head against the wall for months with this board, I welcome the efforts of the Hotel to support Roney owners, legal tenants, and residents in our shared priority of ensuring the safety and well-being of our community.

I am sure the Roney Board members are mounting a defense as they ponder the impact this will have on their own rental businesses and the rental businesses of some of their constituents. I imagine they will continue to champion the experience of guests who have no vested interest in our community over those of us who do.

If you are new to all this and are confused by the Board’s seeming obsession to prioritize the guest experience over unit owner well-being and safety, I refer you to their guest card consumption. The three sitting board members have had a rough total of 1,200 guests for 2023/2024. Given these cards counts it is probable that over the last two years alone the Hotel has provided their guests alone in excess of 3000 free beach chairs over the length of each guest’s stay. The individual breakdowns are as follows:

• For Lynn Nunes the Hotel subsidized free beach amenities for roughly 815 of his guests for his seven affiliated units for the duration of their stay.

• For Daniel K. the Hotel subsidized free beach amenities for approximately 300 guests for his two units for the duration of their stay.

• For Andres Lizerralde the hotel subsidized free beach amenities for roughly 70 of his guests on his one unit for the duration of their stay.

A small faction of unit owners with egregious guest card use benefit similarly. This group, some of whom have more than 100 guest cards per unit per year, is also suing the Roney for free guest cards. My guess is that this beach chair issue will cause them to expand their legal crusade to explore coming after SLMA and the Hotel. Any such self-serving actions of some unscrupulous owners and property managers can only hurt the Roney.

When I ask what is being done by our elected Board to protect rule-abiding unit owners from being collateral damage to these bad actors, they have no response.

We need to be wary of the Board's penchant for fomenting friction between the Roney, SLMA, and the Hotel. They use this strategy to distract unit owners from examining the motives behind their actions. I strongly encourage everyone to not take the board’s bait and look at the facts, which are everywhere on this website. As this beach chair drama unfolds, we will pay close attention to how the Board responds and we will be very vocal should they try to point fingers, spin the facts or offer half truths.

For now we are wondering.....

• Will the Board finally convene a fining committee and begin enforcing 30 day minimum rentals? Or will the Board attempt to abdicate responsibility and blame the Hotel for a situation the Board has created?

• Will the Board prioritize rule abiding unit owners or will they fight to prioritize “guests”, who have no vested interest in the Roney Palace?

• Will the Board finally respond with transparency or will they continue to hide behind Association Counsel?

• Will they take responsibility for their actions or take action against unit owners who try to shed a light on their activities?

All this remains to be seen. We will continue to post information as we get it. As always, we encourage you to reach out with questions and draw your own conclusions. Thanks for reading.