Humber Valley Resort - Holiday Chalets

Humber Valley Resort is very much still open for business! The summer, whilst of course quieter than previously, partly due to the lack of direct flights and the current uncertainty, is actually busier than one might expect.

Visitors are still blessed a beautiful landscape, culture and authentic experience. It still all about the people - and there are plenty of opportunities and activities to try out.

Humber Valley Resort chalet owners are now working with a variety of partner companies to promote their chalet vacation rental. The challenge for everyone involved with the resort is the need to maintain the standards that are expected.

The HVR Chalet Owners are now promoting their chalet and their partner company via the CrazyAboutNewfoundland.ca website.

Check out www.hvrowners.com/rental to see what is available.


There are also a growing number of local families now living on the resort, and there is a lot of interest regarding real estate opportunities, looking for owners with their chalet for sale ... again these are promoted direct by owners at www.hvrowners.com/forsale


Everyone involved is CrazyAboutNewfoundland.ca ... Are you?

Golf is back at Humber Valley Resort

Just a quick blog to say Well Done to those involved in getting golf operations working again at Humber Valley Resort, Western Newfoundland, Canada. The River Course is truly a fantastic course and worth every effort to get to ... Have a look at what's there at www.crazyaboutnewfoundland.ca/hvr

Here are a few pics from Gary Kelly's recent visit to check it out.

Gary's full blog is at www.garykelly.ca/blog

I'm looking forward to getting out there as soon as possible!! (Jul/Aug)

Runway extension for Deer Lake Airport

Good news for Deer Lake Airport, with the announcement of a $9M investment in a 600 metre runway extension.

See the announcement on the link below:
www.deerlakeairport.com/files/newsRelease_Files/newsR43.pdf

And while we're at it, the airport has a new MUCH BETTER website ... www.deerlakeairport.com

Deer Lake INTERNATIONAL airport !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At last !!!! Deer Lake Airport is declared as an international airport. Shame it didn't happen when British airways was looking for an airport to land prior to going on to New York (direct from City Airport).

Anyway ... its great news - and we all hope that the airport and its management can attract the international traffic the area desperately needs!

Lets ALL hope this will make the difference!!!
DG
_______


Western Star release:


The Deer Lake Regional Airport now holds Airport of Entry status.

The pronouncement of the status, along with $670,000 in new federal funding for the “enhancement of border services” at the airport, was made this morning at Deer Lake Regional Airport’s international arrivals lounge.

The news was delivered by Senator Fabian Manning on behalf of federal Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan.

The immediate impact of the announcement, according to airport manager Jamie Schwartz, will be an increase in the airport’s ability to market itself for international flights.

“It gives us the opportunity to go out and pursue other new routes and other international traffic,” said Schwartz.

For more details, see Tuesday's Western Star.

HVR Assets get broken up - Strawberry Hill sold!!

The assets of Humber Valley Resort have been up for sale by tender for the last few weeks, and the resulting bids have now been evaluated by the court Trustees Ernst & Young.

Known bidders were the resorts original founder Brian Dobbin, and a chalet owners consortium led by Mike Ward- both bidding for the whole resort, and each with differing business plans. Dobbin's was associated with being granted further crown land and so based on selling more land and chalets to new owners, whilst Ward's Team were driven by developing the exisiting resort and attracting a big name brand to build a hotel to act as the central piece to the resort and drive new marketing efforts.

Well, the news is that neither have won, and the assets are being broken up!

Strawberry Hill and the Beach House are both being sold (to different purchasers).

Not sure what happens to the other remaining assets, particularly the golf course and the club house. However importantly there are other assets that can't be forgotten, including the water supply system, the resort roads, utilities, office block, and the bridge etc. These are all key to the resorts future, let alone its future success. Add to that the fact that the golf course will loose money for the next few years, until there are sufficent resort visitors (local and international) to make it pay.

The business plans for any tenderer will need to handle all these asset liabilities, whilst also producing enough income to make a successful business - and now it has to do it without two of the key assets that would have been successful at an early stage!

In making the decision to split up the assets, what is the motivation of the Trustee?

It's an easy answer - simply to recover some cash as quickly as possible.

Does the Trustee have any compulsion to ensure at least it leaves the resort and its chalets as a working concern? No, not at all - the Trustee is quite within its rights, in fact within its instructions to get maximum monies and then close the case. In fact one quote I've heard is, if (for example) the water supply service is not sold - it will simply be turned off!!

But where does that leave the resort, and those that are passionate about it? No-one can be really sure at this stage. But for sure, as the assets get split up, the chances for a successful future deminish.

The future is uncertain, and there is a lot for everyone to think about - but now it doesn't include Strawberry Hill nor the Beach House!

Fingers crossed.

ARTICLE: Group has bid for resort assets

Article on Western Star (Corner Brook) by Gary Kean

A management group led by a chalet owner has confirmed it has made a bid to buy Humber Valley Resort’s assets.

The deadline for the tender call for the bankrupt resort’s properties — including the golf course, restaurants, land and other holdings — closed Friday, and the resort’s trustee in bankruptcy now has until March 16 to decide what to do with the bids. The trustee, Ernst and Young, won’t say how many bids have been received, but a bid has been made by a group led by Brian Dobbin, the man who founded the resort that went into bankruptcy in December.

At least one other bid has also been made. A management group that includes Mike Ward and some other owners, in a prepared statement to The Western Star Tuesday, said its plan recognizes the “misguided focus” and the problems of the previous management teams, and knows what is needed to turn the resort around.

Previous plan failed

The previous failed business model of selling land at high prices, said Ward, clearly hasn’t worked and any plan with that as its short-term model will also fail. Ward said an operation which welcomes incorporating local residents is crucial. That would include less expensive green fees and special discounts for locals on the resort’s golf course, he said.

Even in the early days of his investment, Ward said he took exception to the fact there was no hotel in the resort’s plans, noting that is a common, central element to almost any other resort he’s been to around the world. He even disclosed his group has met with a major hotel chain he expects will set up shop at the resort if his group’s bid is successful.

Last fall, hotel chain Marriott told The Western Star it was “interested” in the Humber Valley, but would not confirm if anything was in the works.

Dobbin’s original plan included expanding far beyond the resort’s current footprint with more chalets and another 18-hole golf course. In a letter to the owners last week, Dobbin said the provincial government is still willing to discuss leasing that expansion land back to the successful bidder.

The expansion property was taken back by the province before the resort went bankrupt because the resort had not paid the annual rental fee on the land and had also not lived up to other conditions stipulated in the lease.

The owners’ group, however, plans to take things much slower.

“Building more properties in the expansion land is clearly not a focus in the short term, however there are several plots of land on the edges of the development which have no access,” said Ward. “Clearly, something would have to be done to bring them services and accessibility.”

When asked to comment on the situation at the resort, Tourism, Culture and Recreation Minister Clyde Jackman deferred to Justice Minister Tom Marshall, who represents the Humber East district where the resort is located.

Marshall would not comment on the specific bids, but did say the province was willing to enter negotiations with the successful bidder about the Crown lands the resort had wanted to expand into.

“People are entitled to apply for Crown land, but that’s not to say they would get that land,” said Marshall.

Ward did not want to comment about any others bidding for the resort’s assets, but did say the majority of chalet owners do not want those responsible for Humber Valley Resort’s downfall to be involved again.

“Their credibility has been ruined and the history will make it hard for them to be trusted again,” he said. “This would be a disaster and I’m not sure where it would lead — they should not be allowed to bid without an investigation into the dealings at the resort. Sometimes you have to just look at the bigger picture and do what is best for the resort and the local community. This might mean withdrawing from the process and wishing another bid the best of success — it takes somebody who is magnanimous to do this.”

Ward said the previous management teams don’t seem to accept responsibility for the consequences of the resort’s downfall. The owners left in the wake of the bankruptcy, he added, and now want to control their own destiny when it comes to the operation’s future.

Owners consortium bid to buy HVR assets ...

The following "bid news summary" is from the HVR bid consortium led by Mike Ward:

On Friday 6th March a bid was submitted by Mike Ward and his team of Owners at Humber Valley with a view to buying the resort assets and running a successful commercial business.

The plan recognises the problems of the previous management teams and misguided focus, and what is needed to turn the resort around. The previous failed business model of selling land at high prices clearly hasn't worked and any plan with this as the short term model will fail.

The resort needs to implement a successful operational model to bring in local people which in our view is absolutely key to the success of the resort. The golf course would be run by a professional golf course resort management team and would ensure that the green fees would not be at the previous high levels. The golf course is exceptional, won many awards, and we would want to ensure that local people benefit from this experience. We intend to encourage local golfers to play more on the course with special discounts for locals.

Many Owners felt the original HVR strategy was failed by the lack of a planned hotel operator for the resort in the early days. Many successful resorts around the world have the common theme of having a hotel at its centre, and it being the heartbeat to the resort. This would often include restaurants, fitness centre, swimming pool etc. This is key to the success of the resort and the team has already had positive meetings with a large professional chain and would expect to sign contracts with the group if successful with the bid.

When asked about building more properties on the expansion land Mike Ward explained that there were many properties on the original land that needed to be finished first, adding "Building more properties in the expansion land is clearly not a focus in the short term, however there are several plots of land on the edges of the development which have no access. Clearly something would have to be done to bring them services and accessibility"

Asked about the other bids on the table he preferred to focus on his bid which is clearly what is needed at the resort. A professional hotel chain, potentially with a conference centre and a golf course operator is needed to give people the experience so they want to come back again and again.

Asked about other people who have been involved in the failure of the resort coming back he said "Their credibility has been publicly ruined, and the history will make it hard for them to be trusted again. This would be a disaster and I'm not sure where it would lead - they should not be allowed to bid without an investigation into the historic dealings at the resort, sometimes you have to just look at the bigger picture and do what is best for the resort and the local community. This might mean withdrawing from the process and wishing another bid the best of success - it takes somebody who is magnanimous to do this".

The vast majority of the owners would like the owners-led bid to succeed. In our opinion the owners feel strongly that they were badly let down by the previous management teams at HVR and now want to take control of their own destiny. The previous management teams do not seem to be accepting responsibility for the bankruptcy of the resort, and the severe financial consequences for both the owners and trade creditors.

Asked about his motive to get involved he said "it's a case of having too. I have several properties and numerous plots of land. If this resort fails then everything I've spent the last 30 years working for is lost". When making a decision to bid it was not a difficult one because he is so passionate about the people and the area. Asked if he could see himself living in the area the answer was "yes that was always the long term plan. It just seems it might happen quicker than planned"