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Club O


Does anyone have news of Club O?
I hope everyone is safe. Would love to know what we can do to help. If it is a rebuild then I would think those who love the Club would book now to get a revenue stream going and or prepay our stay.
Let's hope everyone at the club and all employees (friends ) are safe.
doctorj
Replies

I got the same email. Sounds slightly encouraging.

Life's a beach!
Here is the latest email from Club O. I received it this morning:

WE GOT KNOCKED DOWN, BUT NOT OUT! WE ARE GETTING UP AGAIN!

We were dealt a vicious blow by Hurricane Irma, but it wasn?t a knockout?and it?s not the end of Club Orient ? not by a long shot!. Of course, our first priority had to be taking care of our wonderful staff, who has taken care of us and our guests over the years. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and generous donations that will allow us to take care of their critical needs, in the short term. Thank you all so much for allowing us to do that!

Looking forward now, we are already beginning the process of rebuilding our hotel in paradise, in order to provide for you, our Club O family. Some of our staff has already been busy gathering up beach chairs in order to begin serving food and beer on the beach.

Our President Bob Wilcox and our Managing Director, Stephen, are meeting with banks, insurance companies and disaster relief fund managers in the islands and even in Paris ? but it is a slow and painful process?and we are very anxious to begin rebuilding the resort immediately!

Over the past week, many of you have offered to donate all or a portion of your deposits or pre-paid stay funds to help us recover, and we couldn?t be more thankful! This will also help us get started right away with planning and procuring materials to rebuild the hotel.

This is absolutely crucial for us. As even if we had the ability to return all of the money immediately, we have only limited access to things like internet, our reservations, records and most importantly, the banks. Until we can get our insurance claims processed and the government relief funds, we are operating on a shoe string at the moment.

We realize that forgiving your 500 Euro deposit or your pre-paid stay is a lot to ask when money is tight for so many, but we are keeping a record of all the deposits and pre-paid amounts forgiven and upon re-opening, we will be happy to apply it to your stay at that time. Please email Florence (who was evacuated with her kids to Guadeloupe) at: reservations@cluborient.com. Please include your reservation number, if possible, and she will acknowledge the kindness and make sure to enter it for your future stay.

If you cannot afford to do that, we understand, but please bear with us until we can at least get access to our accounts, insurance, and disaster relief funds. In addition to the deposits that many of you have already offered to contribute to this effort, we have set up an online account, to make it easy and convenient to make a contribution through atpay.com. If you prefer to send by mail, please address it to:

Orient Beach Club
C/O Bob Wilcox
President
9188 Marovelli Forest Drive
Lorton, VA 22079

As mentioned in a previous post, we intend to reward all who help us now upon our re-opening, to show our deep appreciation for your generosity! We have been very humbled by all the offers of help and assistance that we have received ? and we look forward to welcoming you to a new and improved Club Orient Resort as soon as possible.

***
Follow us on Facebook for additional updates
We got the same one.........That sounds a little encouraging!...... Go Club O!

Life's a beach!
Excellent!!
I got this yesterday:

The new “Perch Lite” Rising!
==========

Paradise is not lost, and one of the best parts of our little piece of paradise here at Club Orient – is already returning! Some of our maintenance staff have been busy resurrecting the Perch Bar & Grill which was swept away by Hurricane Irma a few weeks ago. They have gathered up around 200 beach chairs from their far-flung locations and, as soon as this weekend or early next week, we will begin serving cold beer and tasty burgers from our “Perch Lite” location on the once-again beautiful beach. These workers are doing this purely on a volunteer basis to ensure that we honor our commitment to you to rebuild the resort and bring back “Club O!” **Please stay tuned for more updates on our rebuilding operation – and enjoy the sunshine wherever you are!**
This drone video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWOd1ck_syM
shows Club O at around the 2:20 mark. Hard to see the south end where the destruction was apparently the worst but it does look a lot better than the earlier pics that I saw.
Is it just me or does the beach look a little wider?
The beach is wider.

The Simpsons
We received the below message just now. As expected, next season is basically cancelled.

From: Florence Chiffre <florence@cluborient.com>
Sent: Monday, October 23, 2017 8:42 AM
To:
Subject: Update on Club Orient Reservations








Dear Christa,

I'm sure you have been following our updates following hurricane Irma and the tremendous damage which it did to Club Orient and all of St. Martin. We know you are waiting for definitive information about a projected re-opening date for the resort. At this point we have nothing concrete or even an estimate on a date for the resort to once again welcome you back.

Of the units which remain standing, we must have them inspected by a structural engineer to make sure they are safe. In addition, Club Orient made all of our own electricity, water and serviced our wastewater. Some of this was destroyed and some of it appears to be intact. But, until we get an outside expert to certify these things, we cannot give a date.

How quickly will this happen? We are hesitant to even give an estimate at this point. But, we are working diligently to move as quickly as we can and awaiting even a preliminary insurance payment and the promised disaster aid from the French government. Nothing ever moves as quickly as we would like, but it is moving in a positive direction.

Right now there a very few hotels on the island that can accept guests and most of those a filled with local residents whose homes were destroyed.

Please do not plan on visiting until you have checked with us. When the time comes, we will be post it immediately on Facebook, as well as send out emails to everyone on our mailing list.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue on our path to recovery. We'll get there as quickly as we can thanks to all of you help and support.

?

Thank you.
Florence BERNARD
Rooms Division Director
Directrice de l'H?bergement
CLUB ORIENT RESORT
1 Baie Orientale, 97150 St. Martin, French West Indies
www.cluborient.com

Last edited by Christa November 20 2017 11:23
Please go to the Club Orient Facebook page and check out Perch Lite.
Carib cheers,
doctorj
Progress is slow, very slow.
Island time is very slow.
I'm hoping to have a birthday party for myself and two friends who have milestone birthdays on three consecutive days in March of 2020. I expect club O to be open by then, but I'm glad it's not sooner.
If I can find a villa near Club O that will house us in the spring I would go and just hang out on Orient.
Need my Orient fix.
Carib cheers
doctorj
Good idea, Doctor J. If you find one please let us know as we will be ready for it as well.