Friday, October 21, 2005
Becoming a Timeshare Veteran
In June of 1979, Paul Flory started with The Mariner Group. One of his first objectives there was to create a data-processing system. “I started with one staff member, bookkeeper Gloria A. Brown (now the firm’s senior accountant), and 1,000 timeshare sales, mostly from Casa Ybel Beach and Racquet Club, waiting to be closed. In 1990, when I left as president of Mariner Property Management, Inc., we had 150 employees.”
Flory set up the necessary accounting programs and systems with the help of Tom Matthews, CPA, then-manager of a Fort Myers accounting company that is now part of Coopers and Lybrand, and Dick McKinely of Guardian Title, a former Mariner Group company.
Flory’s Mariner Group responsibilities grew and changed over the years. “My job was to help Mariner’s subsidiaries make money,” he says. “Mariner’s philosophy always has been that each subsidiary had to be self-supporting and show a profit.”
In 1982, Flory was named vice president, administration. “My responsibilities grew to include typical corporate accounting, administrative, and financial aspects, including budgets, financial analysis and infrastructure, forecasting, and tax planning for the Mariner Group subsidiaries.” Flory functioned as an internal consultant to Mariner Group’s subsidiaries and served on the board of directors of Mariner’s furniture and design subsidiary, Robb & Stucky, Inc., and VIP Realty, Inc.
In late 1985, Flory became president of Mariner Property Management, Inc., a standalone firm responsible for Mariner’s timeshare projects and for whole-ownership projects that formerly were part of Marquis Hotels and Resorts.
Reginald D. “Reg” Billups, who started with Mariner about a year before Flory, managed the timeshare owners’ associations and Kim Kreiger (now in Orlando with Hilton) managed the whole-ownership condominium associations.
“In July, 1990, as Paul prepared to leave Mariner to join Island One in Orlando, he wrote a very personal open letter to his Mariner co-workers,” recalls Billups. “Paul wrote that he thought that Mariner Property Management was one of the best management companies in the timeshare industry, and that we were the ones that made it happen. He was proud of each individual MPM staff member. Paul encouraged us no matter what obstacles we faced to continue to operate MPM with honesty, truth, and high ideals.”
At Island One, Flory was president of Island One Resort Management, a management subsidiary responsible for a total of 654 timeshare units at four Orlando-area resorts: 350 at Isle of Bali, 144 at Parkway International, 116 at Orbit One, and 44 at Bryan’s Spanish Cove.
Later he became treasurer of Island One, but continued to participate in owner relations. “Sulyn Stumbras-Sanchez succeeded Paul as president of Island One Resort Management. She so valued Paul’s advice that she asked him to continue attending our four association board meetings,” says Toby S. Smith, director of administration at Island One Resorts.
Flory set up the necessary accounting programs and systems with the help of Tom Matthews, CPA, then-manager of a Fort Myers accounting company that is now part of Coopers and Lybrand, and Dick McKinely of Guardian Title, a former Mariner Group company.
Flory’s Mariner Group responsibilities grew and changed over the years. “My job was to help Mariner’s subsidiaries make money,” he says. “Mariner’s philosophy always has been that each subsidiary had to be self-supporting and show a profit.”
In 1982, Flory was named vice president, administration. “My responsibilities grew to include typical corporate accounting, administrative, and financial aspects, including budgets, financial analysis and infrastructure, forecasting, and tax planning for the Mariner Group subsidiaries.” Flory functioned as an internal consultant to Mariner Group’s subsidiaries and served on the board of directors of Mariner’s furniture and design subsidiary, Robb & Stucky, Inc., and VIP Realty, Inc.
In late 1985, Flory became president of Mariner Property Management, Inc., a standalone firm responsible for Mariner’s timeshare projects and for whole-ownership projects that formerly were part of Marquis Hotels and Resorts.
Reginald D. “Reg” Billups, who started with Mariner about a year before Flory, managed the timeshare owners’ associations and Kim Kreiger (now in Orlando with Hilton) managed the whole-ownership condominium associations.
“In July, 1990, as Paul prepared to leave Mariner to join Island One in Orlando, he wrote a very personal open letter to his Mariner co-workers,” recalls Billups. “Paul wrote that he thought that Mariner Property Management was one of the best management companies in the timeshare industry, and that we were the ones that made it happen. He was proud of each individual MPM staff member. Paul encouraged us no matter what obstacles we faced to continue to operate MPM with honesty, truth, and high ideals.”
At Island One, Flory was president of Island One Resort Management, a management subsidiary responsible for a total of 654 timeshare units at four Orlando-area resorts: 350 at Isle of Bali, 144 at Parkway International, 116 at Orbit One, and 44 at Bryan’s Spanish Cove.
Later he became treasurer of Island One, but continued to participate in owner relations. “Sulyn Stumbras-Sanchez succeeded Paul as president of Island One Resort Management. She so valued Paul’s advice that she asked him to continue attending our four association board meetings,” says Toby S. Smith, director of administration at Island One Resorts.
# posted by John @ 6:57 AM 
