Notice Board

May 21, 2013 Update on new Entertainment System

We have recently signed the agreement to progress with our new cable television system. This will eliminate the need for multiple remotes in the cottages and removes the cable box from each unit. It also makes it easier in the future to expand the system and add new televisions in the rooms as appropriate. We have some other features that will also become available in the future including perhaps Pay-per-View and our own channel for The St. George’s Club. The installation will commence in early June and take no longer than a few weeks. Some cabling work will need to be done to consolidate the three feeds coming into the property into one. This will also assist us deliver more internet capability into the cottages.

We are pleased to welcome Interval International (II) to the property this week as they conduct training for our staff on their systems. They will also be in contact with each of you by early next month to introduce themselves and their company.

Our shuttle bus developed a water leak this week and has had to be taken out of commission while we fly in the spare part needed. In the interim we are using a small SUV to provide the service but we hope to have a temporary repair made to allow us to give business as usual. If it takes a little longer for transportation please bear with us. One of the trials of living in the middle of the Atlantic! The original part delivery estimate was 6 weeks!

April 17^th, 2013 Apologies for not updating sooner

Someone at The Club asked why there was no update since January and asked was there no updates! The real truth is that we have been all very busy and this one just got missed. Facebook has already been updated but our intention is to also keep the Noticeboard updated for people that do not use social media. We will also put out our regular Newsletter shortly with updates on all the changes we have made in 2013.

Restaurant Outsourcing As planned we have handed over these facilities to Piero Casalicchio and his team effective February 2013 with some fanfare. We have had a grand opening last month with all members on property and local business people invited. Griffin’s Bistro is open on Saturday, Monday, Thursday and Friday for breakfast, lunch and dinner until further notice and The Beach House opened for the season on March 28^th for Lunch and Dinner seven (7) days a week. These new hours have been put in place by Piero and his staff based on historical data and when members used the facilities in the past. Obviously these are always under review to allow change when warranted.

Griffin’s Bistro also hosted a terrific “black tie” gala charity event to commemorate the ties with the Furness Bermuda Line flagship the Queen of Bermuda and recreated a menu from their restaurant dated 1937. It was a huge success and we hope to replicate this in the future as we now have another menu from 1933.

MAC Meeting in February. We attended several meetings with the MAC when they met in Bermuda as is required and while we did not resolve all of the issues we did make a start. We met with the new auditor, Deloitte and it was good that the MAC were informed that The St. George’s Club were not different to many of the hotels on the island struggling with a recession that has lingered in Bermuda a little more than in the US. In fact the week the MAC were on-island another property went into receivership. We are continuing to work as we can and always making improvements at The Club (see below).

We also met with the Bermuda Department of Tourism and the Minister to seek some input into how the term “advisory” could be defined. They stated that it was a the word meant and that while any advice given by the MAC was in fact only that they hoped we would take good advice and use it. This definitely gives us both a clear understanding of how we can relate going forward and while the intention was to put out a joint release after the official MAC meeting showing a new level of cooperation that unfortunately did not happen.

Refurbishment at The Club. We have engaged a local interior designer to assist update the look of the interior and we have nearly finished updating our two (2) show cottages (3 and 100). Cottage 100 was badly in need of some work as it was the oldest unit on the resort. We have replaced the windows and updated the interior. We will post pictures shortly when we can on this website but our immediate feedback is very positive.

The golf course is looking a little overgrown and we have prompted the Department of Tourism to intervene and see if it can be cut again and we are awaiting a response. It is indeed sad that the previous government closed it with no concrete plans to have it reopened. The benefit of hindsight perhaps but we are encouraged that St. George’s is a real focus of the new plan and the new Tourism Authority. More to follow on this topic.

We have also been working on some new and exciting ways to provide additional value-add to all the members and also attract a completely new demographic of visitors. We will also update you on this as and when we can.

We will undertake to ensure that we do not go another three months before updating this page but if you are a user of Facebook our page is at this link: Facebook and liking it will give you automatic updates to all of our posts on the goings on at The St. George’s Club.

January 7^th, 2013 Refurbishment in full swing

Happy New Year from us all at The St. George’s Club!

Contrary to some information that has been circulating, The Club staff is not all on holiday! Indeed as we have done for the past few years we have beefed up our Maintenance Team to cope with additional and some project work that can only be done when the resort is closed. Most of Housekeeping and all the Restaurant staff when the annual kitchen cleaning is completed will be able to have a short rest until we reopen at the beginning of February. Some willing staff members will be used to touch up some painting for our annual inspection but the complete maintenance is hard at work in several areas. Because of the unseasonably good weather we are able to continue to address the balance of the roofs and with the arrival of the rest of the new drapes we will be addressing that unfinished project. Our first major job was to divert the sewage system so that we connected to the main Corporation system without the need of a pumping station and two pumps which will save energy usage as well as repair/replacement costs on new pumps. We are pleased to advise that this work has been completed on time and the main Club House is now on our new route. It could not have been completed without the cooperation of St. George’s Corporation and their outgoing and incoming mayors.

We are also progressing with the installation of the new television system, augmenting the wireless internet, as well as addressing some electrical issues in the laundry to allow us to cope with our new laundry machines that are on order. Cottage 3 has had a new ceiling installed in the guest bedroom and we have selected this unit to be one of the two concept/demonstration units with our new look for the future (along with Cottage 100). More details to come in our Newsletter.

Rose Hill: January 2013.

December 24^th, 2012 HMS Limited sign leases for both restaurant facilities

The St. George’s Club announced today that they had outsourced both restaurant facilities to HMS Limited moving them out of Club Operations for the first time for many years. This means the responsibility of the rent and the F&B staff moves to the new company effective on reopening in the New Year. Griffin’s Bistro and The Beach House will be operated independently effective then but as both operations are somewhat intertwined there will be continued administration work carried out by Club Operations at the expense of HMS. While the processes are defined there will be some refinement of these over the next few months to ensure efficiency. We will keep the members notified and updated on future plans.

This will positively impact The Club in several ways but it was one area that was not operated effectively since The Club’s inception and materially contributed to the annual loss. Club Operations management have been trying to find a suitable person to take them over since they took over in 2008.

The Management and Staff of The St. George’s Club would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing you soon.

December 18^th, 2012 Bermuda has a new Government

The sun rises over Bermuda this morning with a new Government about to be sworn in for the first time since 1998 when the PLP were voted in for the first time. This means it is all change and new Ministers will be sworn in shortly after the new ruling OBA elect their Cabinet.

One of the major campaign promises was that a new independent Tourism Authority would be formed to drive this very important sector of the economy.

Another notable outcome of the election was that (former) Mayor Kenneth Bascome was elected for St. George’s North constituency. He has always promoted St. George’s and as an MP we do not see him changing this position.

The other two major questions are who will be given the portfolio of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Tourism.

For news on all the results we recommend the Royal Gazette or BerNews websites.

December 17^th, 2012 RCI Award Gold Crown to The St. George’s Club for 2013.

The Club is delighted to announce that it has been awarded RCI Gold Crown status for the next year. We are not complacent however and will continue to make changes and improvements.

November 8^th, 2012 New Auditor appointed at The St. George’s Club

The St. George’s Club need to announce that the current auditor Arthur Morris & Company has resigned effective immediately. They stated that the issues that have arisen between Management and the MAC have intervened in their ability to continue to perform the task. The MAC has been in contact with the Auditor directly both by visiting them and by various e-mails this year. We are not party to all of these interchanges.

While this is unfortunate and completely unexpected we have to deal with it and move on. We informed our licensing authority the Department of Tourism immediately and have sought the services of an alternative auditor. We wish to advise that The St. G Club Ltd. has appointed Deloitte as the auditors for The St. George’s Club, Club Operations effective November 2012.

We will make the transition to them over the next few weeks and they will perform the audit for the year ending December 2012 in February/March of next year.

We have thanked Arthur Morris & Company for their past services

Regards

Sally-Ann Kyle

President & CEO

The St. G Club Ltd.

November 2^nd, 2012 Golf Course

The Throne speech made today at the opening of Parliament stated that Government will come up with a concrete date for the re-opening of the St. George’s Golf course. This is good news for both the old town and The St. George’s Club. We will keep you informed when more details are available. We are informed that the long awaited announcement of a General Election will be made soon with the actual date being prior to December 18^th, 2012. Watch this space for developing news!

October 12^th, 2012 Update and Assessment Draw Winners

This week has brought some much needed rain and with it The Club has turned very green! The landscapers are busy working to get the grass in order but we have had several visitors from around the world and they have all commented on how well The Club is looking with most (but not all of the roofs painted), most (but not all) of the Air Conditioning sleeves replaced and with new plants starting to flourish in the gardens. John Dishinger from RCI was recently on property for a visit and having not been here for some years, he was very impressed by the work done and going on around The Club. A small portion of your assessment fee goes to this task every year and we try to use those funds wisely to make the changes necessary to benefit everyone while also updating the individual cottages. This is an on-going process and we will be putting out a newsletter shortly as usual to outline our plans in more detail.

As part of this we do request your support in paying next year’s Assessment Fee as early as you can and we can then plan a little better on what we can do in our closed and lower occupancy season. That said please find below the draw results for early Assessment Fee payment. We would like to thank everyone who paid early to allow us to plan the refurbishment program. We appreciate their support in our efforts to improve The Club for everyone. We will be in contact with them shortly and refund their Assessment for 2013.

October 3^rd, 2012 The St. George’s Club awarded Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence

We are pleased to advise that The Club was awarded a Certificate of Excellence from Tripadvisor for our exceptional traveller ratings over the past year, 2012. This is awarded to businesses that consistently earn top ratings from Tripadvisor travellers. With a rating of 4 (out of 5), The St. George’s Club has earned a place among the very best.

NOTE: AMPLE HAMPER LAST DAY OF BUSINESS IS OCTOBER 24^th, 2012.

September 11^th, 2012 Ample Hamper UPDATE

At a recent meeting between the Ample Hamper principals (Supermart) with respect to re-opening after our normal closure from November until April. They have decided not to continue the operation of the Ample Hamper on premise convenience store but will still take and deliver orders to the units when ordered. We are looking at all the options as we go forward but the business according to the principles is not self-supporting.

We will keep you updated as to the plans but please note we have already been approached by an individual to take over the operation.

We wanted to advise everyone as it seems to be now public.

September 10^th, 2012 Hurricane/Tropical Storm LESLIE Update

Everything is getting back to normal after our windy and wet weekend. The Royal Gazette reported today that Weather Channel celebrity, Jim Cantore (shown at Elbow Beach over the weekend) said: “Bermuda got a hurricane party without a hurricane but the Island scored high marks for a great fire drill”.

We are pleased to announce that there has been no damage at The Club and guests who could not get in are arriving over the next few days for a shortened stay. All our staff worked well to secure the resort and make sure the guests and the property was prepared for the worst that thankfully did not arrive!

Figure 1: Photo from Royal Gazette (10/9/2012) – www.royalgazette.bm

September 5^th, 2012 Club Update

The weather looks as though it is going to get a little windy at the weekend with Tropical Storm Leslie heading for the island and scheduled to start affecting Bermuda as a Category 2 hurricane on Saturday morning. We are making our normal storm preparations but the plan is to close The Beach House at Blackbeard’s for Saturday and Sunday and keep Griffin’s Bistro open on Saturday and Sunday depending on the wind. If you are scheduled to fly to or from the island on Saturday we suggest you contact the airline to establish their plans. We will put out bulletins to the on property guests via the telephone as often as we are updated. We are distributing our normal storm bulletin to every cottage. Our resort has survived many storms for the last twenty-eight (28) years so they are very well constructed. We have a supply of bottled water for everyone should we lose power and candles for lighting. Please let us know how we can be of assistance at any point by calling or visiting Front Desk or the Concierge in the Membership Office.

August 20^th, 2012 The St. George’s Club REFURBISHMENT UPDATE

In an effort to update and solicit input on our plans for 2013 updates we have outlined our current projects and some we are considering for the next year. We would appreciate feedback on these and any additional suggestions you have for consideration in all forms.

Note: PENDING is waiting the full costing of the project and REVIEW is waiting the full budget amount to allow us to allocate funds and determine scope of the individual projects.

July 19^th, 2012 News from the “Far East” of Bermuda

Good news from The Club in that Mr Brangman is back and looking well. He is making a very good recovery and we hope he will be with us for some time to come.

Summer has kicked in in the last week with temperatures soaring to the nineties, cloudless blue skies and crystal clear seas. If you are lucky enough to be coming down soon pack swimming attire and lots of sun screen as we suspect the summer is going to be a hot one.

Our renovations are on-going with Phase 1 of our drapes project nearing completion in the two bedroom units. We are awaiting an additional shipment to complete them all but we are in daily contact with the supplier to encourage them to deliver on their commitments. One of the issues of dealing with suppliers remotely that we are very well used to and always negotiate payments based on the delivery of all the goods. We are sure you will like the new décor and we will include some photographs of a completed cottage in our Newsletter next month.

We continue to get positive feedback from the vast majority of members on all our efforts including the new options at both Griffin’s Bistro and The Beach House at Blackbeard’s. Piero is doing a great job as part of our management team ably assisted by Perry who as well as assisting in the transition and also is overseeing our cottage and resort updates.

Our new Club Hour social format on a Monday evening is a big hit and our Operations Managers are there every week to interact with the members and guests to answer any questions or give advice as to what to do when on the island. It gives everyone a chance to give direct feedback on the resort as a whole in a very low key and informal manner. Of course particular issues with any cottage are dealt with immediately by placing a call with Front Desk where it is logged and passed to the appropriate department. The good news is that our problems because of all the work we have done are becoming less and less giving us time to focus on the more project oriented task to make further improvements.

The golf course has now reverted back to the new Developer of Park Hyatt and also its upkeep. We know he has been trying to organise grass cutting but nothing has been done as yet. The Club have asked what the plans are for the course and there are other people pushing to re-open it in some fashion. We will keep you informed of anything we do hear on that topic but we have to declare our effort to open and operate it with the Chamber of Commerce as a failure with little support from the community as a whole. With that said we must focus on our core business and let someone else take up the challenge of re-opening the course, something all of us involved with The St. George’s Club want.

June 8^th, 2012 Update from The Club

We are very sad to announce that Brian Kunz will not be returning to work at The Club. He left at very short notice to deal with a family issue and has decided that he cannot come back to work. We wish him and his family the best and our thoughts and prayers are with them. He, I am sure will keep in touch with the friends he has made throughout his time at The St. George’s Club. We will definitely miss him especially at Monday’s Club Hour.

May has not been a great month as Mr Brangman (Woody) was also taken seriously ill and is currently in hospital. We do not know the prognosis at this time but we will keep you informed. Mr Brangman has been a valuable member of our Maintenance Team for many years and always willing to assist members and guests when they have issues. We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to his return when he is well.

May 22^nd, 2012 Weather both actual and economic (Inflation Rate increases)

After some of the driest weather in history we have had a LOT of rain. This has replenished the tanks, turned all of the grass that fabulous green colour and given much needed irrigation to our plants and flowers. It has also brought with it the usual problem of cracks in the limestone roofs. We are current busy identifying the location of the new leaks in the half dozen cottages that have told us of ingress of water and we will address them when there is a break in the rain.

The inflation rate climbed to nearly 3% last month based on a significant increase in local utility rise of about 13.4%. Bermuda Electric Light Company’s request for a three year increase to allow them to build new plant was rejected because of the current economy. The island economy struggles to recover with a declining population contributing less in terms of tax and basic contribution to spending. The sectors most hit are hotels and guest houses, restaurants and bars and the retail sector. With elections in the US and in Bermuda scheduled this year (on island by March 2013), Bermuda’s economy is not going to recover until mid to late 2013 according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. The one positive piece of news for the island is that retail sales climbed for the second month in a row. From The Club’s point of view we seem to be doing quite well on the rental front with a slightly higher occupancy figure for the next few months with rental guests. This is good news as it brings more money into Club Operations directly and also via the restaurant facilities. With May 24^th and the official start of the Bermuda summer Griffin’s Bistro is starting with a lantern supper around the pool with a very nice menu. The Beach House at Blackbeard’s Hideout closely watching the weather to determine if it will pass quickly and allows us to be open for business.

The weather gods seem to be against us at the moment!

May 8^th, 2012 Food and Beverage Operations

We have solved most if not all of the issues and Chef Piero has now been on board for a week. We are up and running in The Beach House at Blackbeard’s and he has also been working with our new chef team at Griffin’s Bistro. Our Mother’s Day plans put in place initially by Perry are also going well and we are expecting quite a crowd. Reservations are advised if you are coming in this weekend and we intend sending you copies of the menus for both locations so you can make a choice. www.Table.bm makes it easy to reserve at the click of a mouse and you can reserve at most restaurants using that site. If your favourite place is not there let them know.

May 7^th, 2012 Club Operations Audit 2011

Some people have asked for the Club Operations Audit for last year and we have been asking the external auditor. They have prepared it and have passed it up their chain for a final review before releasing later next week. The current position is that there will be a modest profit for 2011 even after we spent a lot more on renovations and upgrades than we did in past years and also because of the supplementary assessment. We will release this to all members as it becomes available. We will also post the first quarter results February and March soon after.

April 25^th, 2012 The Beach House at Blackbeard’s Hideout Reopening

We have had some interesting challenges at the Beach House at Blackbeard’s Hideout but opened last Saturday in a limited fashion with the full bar and some snacks. The weather, immigration permits, and supplies all caused us to delay the full opening for lunch and dinner until next Tuesday, May 1^st. We are still awaiting permission from immigration for the new management so we will have to make some small adjustments until this comes through. We will post some photographs of the new layout as soon as we are able. The shuttle is also in full operation as of last week. Look out for the new beach service for drinks and food as well as the expanded seating and new menu. Griffin’s Bistro has also had some changes and our initial feedback is very very good. With The Beach House opening we have now got our new chef starting this week in Griffin’s Bistro and while it will take a short time for him to settle in we are sure you will see his influences on the dishes and the menu in the near future.

Please bear with us as we introduce new staff, new menus, new processes all designed to give you the best service possible because we do understand that you have a choice when visiting the island. There are several very good restaurants in the east end and we want you to experience all of them but we also want you to rate your Club restaurants highly and our changes are designed to facilitate that and also attract other residents to them to make them self-sustaining.

We also value your opinion so please let us know if you like the new changes or what further changes you suggest.

April 12^th, 2012 Update on Draperies, etc… for Two-Bedroom Cottages

We have just heard from the supplier and they are putting the final touches to them before they ship at the end of this month. We were slightly later than anticipated in ordering these but we should have them installed by the end of May and that will allow us to determine the way forward with the One-Bedroom cottages. We are bringing in someone from the factory to ensure they are done correctly.

When a cottage is completed we will post new pictures and advise you of the schedule and our progress.

We are also progressing with renovations at Blackbeard’s new Beach House restaurant and will post progress when we can. We plan on opening on or soon after April 21^st depending on arrivals of some inventory and work permit approvals.

April 10^th, 2012 Deficit Explained

Some people have asked questions on the Deficit that is being discussed and we thought we would lay it out in a short sheet for everyone to see more easily.

*1997 was the year when a Special Assessment was levied and some deficit reduced.

** 2003 was a positive year because The Club was hit by a hurricane and the insurance policy covered a lot or refurbishment and also business continuity loss covered the closure of the restaurants. The Club also won a most improved RCI resort that year.

***2010 loss includes $150,000 of debt written off dating back several years. This was after discussion with the auditors and in an effort to clean up the accounts and get them in the best state possible.

March 26^th, 2012 The Club Restaurants (copy of e-mail)

We are very pleased to announce that as of April we will have new management of both restaurants (Griffin’s Bistro and Bar and Blackbeard’s Hideout). As you can read in our Newsletters and also in the local press all of the eateries in Bermuda are struggling to compete for a smaller and smaller piece of the pie as both residents and tourist numbers dwindle. We have been working on this for some time and trying to come up with some way of differentiating our establishments and making sure we attract more than just the members and guests staying on property. We need to appeal to more than that to sustain and stop making losses. Griffin’s Bistro has consistently lost more than Blackbeard’s Hideout made over the time we have had access to the accounts and something radical needs to be done to change this trend especially in this current climate.

In our search for the solution and after discussions with many on-island restaurateurs we encountered Piero Casalicchio who was passing through on a visiting yacht and wanted to stay as he fell in love with the island. Mr Casalicchio (Piero) is a very talented gentleman with impeccable credentials in the industry. He has owned and operated many successful establishments in the East Coast of the U.S. and has worked on major projects like Planet Hollywood. In the first instance Piero’s company, newly established in Bermuda will act as manager for 2012 and at the end of this time has the option to exercise a lease on both premises and work with them independently of Club Operations while they will still service all the Members and Guests in the same manner as previous under their sub-lease.

We also intend to retain a small interest to enable us to keep involved and ensure that the Member’s and the Hotel’s best interests are maintained as part of the on-going lease.

We see this as involving someone who has a major stake in the results and some exciting ideas that I will leave him to address in a further communication.  One thing they will do in the near future is some work at Blackbeard’s Hideout at their expense to upgrade the facility a little before opening.

Everything is still Immigration pending but we envisage no problems in that area.

Perry Robinson, who has operated as an interim F&B manager since September has put in several new controls and improved both ambiance and service in Griffin’s Bistro, will continue to assist The St. George’s Club by managing the Room’s Division and focusing on the interior of the cottage units for both Housekeeping and also Engineering. This will allow us to continue and develop our refurbishment program and accelerate it with more attention to detail. Perry has hired a new Senior Chef for Griffin’s Bistro working with Piero and he should be on-board shortly as well as other staff required for the season.

We will as usual keep you informed of progress.

February 20^th, 2012 Update

The good news is that we opened to quite a high occupancy in early February and the bad news is that the weather and our outside contractors were not exactly co-operative achieving everything we wanted to prior to opening. Out two main tasks still undone was the repair of the heated pool and the main pool liners. This is a specialised job that only one company can do and they were tied up on another location until this week for the same reason. We will establish the order of taking the pools out of service when they are on site but everything is currently operational and we did everything else that was needed in our down month. It was interesting to establish a significant savings on our electricity by turning the property off for January. We are in the process of installing some pre-heaters to several cottages to reduce usage and determine some additional savings. We are also bringing in a hospitality lighting specialist to review our current usage and needs in mid-March. They will assist us to determine where we can make savings without compromising light delivered in terms of tennis courts, security lighting and individual cottages. We are assisting them co-ordinate with several properties on the island, through the Bermuda Hotel Association, BHA to keep our costs to a minimum for this exercise. It is the next step on the plan as we have addressed Air-conditioning, we are addressing hot water heating and lighting is the next on the list. The overall controls associated with managing usage will follow on as part of this exercise to reduce costs where we can.

While the weather here is not what I would say is semi-tropical, it is quite blustery today and wet! Roll on late March and April when the weather heats up that little bit. Until then I will have to be happy playing golf in a sweater, riding a scooter or sailing and boating in in a jacket.

It’s a tough life!

January 23^rd, 2012 The St. George’s Club Update

We are in the midst of cleaning and renovating and we will be publishing a Newsletter next week updating all of the items we have done and including these on the MARS system.

We also wished to advise everyone that the final installment of the loan was paid last week ahead of the time we outlined. We have several other positive announcements that we hope to share with the members in the near future that are quite exciting for the continued development of The St. George’s Club. [Watch this Space].

January 3^rd, 2012 The St. George’s Club (Copy of E-Mail to All Members).

As we go into the New Year, 2012 we wish all our Members and their families a healthy and prosperous one.

The Club like all hospitality business in the world has faced some challenges in the past eighteen (18) months but we do appear to be working our way out of them with an increased occupancy, better use of the restaurant facilities and also keeping our cost down as far as we can.  Our Q3 results for 2011 are good and we expect to make a small profit when the year is fully tallied next month. The Royal Gazette makes interesting reading with respect to the development plans for the island and how most of them are stalled based on lack of bank lending. A recent announcement by the Fairmont Hamilton Princess’ owners (GHI) that they are going to invest a substantial amount of money into building on to the property and also adding a marina is really good news for the island as they do have the funds available and the understanding of the island to make it a success. They clearly see the island as an opportunity as do the Cox family who have just announced plans to build a small resort on Hawkins Island in Hamilton Harbour. Again they have the funds to do this and it will proceed. We are hopeful that this year will mark a positive change in Tourism for Bermuda.

From a business standpoint we have had several new insurance companies set up this quarter and with that, comes other investment in terms of capital. Some recent movement in the insurance market will also improve premiums being injected into the local economy. 2012 looks hopeful as a turning point for Bermuda and with an election in the near future (next twelve months) we are hopeful of a Tourism Authority being setup to control marketing for the island and positioning it again for a sophisticated few who understand our high cost of living but the incredible beauty of Bermuda as destination of choice. That said we (the industry) need to deliver the level of service that goes along with that market and we realise this and are committed to doing so (understanding that we have not done so in the recent past). The St. George’s Club has already embarked on this improvement as can be seen by our actions over the past two years with the changes we have made in the Food and Beverage, Maintenance and Housekeeping areas.

Our recent successes in Tripadvisor and in regaining the RCI Gold Crown award is but a small part on our plans to improve the value proposition and our service at The Club. Look out for new curtains, duvets and bed linens in 2012 that will enhance each of the cottages (we plan on two phases with the Two-Bedroom being our first task).

Chris Smith’s illness was definitely a challenge for us but much much more so for him as he is on the heart transplant list in Scotland awaiting news. We are in contact with him through his father and he is in our prayers for a full recovery as soon as possible. We will try and post a status report occasionally on the Noticeboard. Changes in the restaurants were somewhat thwarted by this illness but they are now full speed ahead to catch up. New chefs, new menus and new service are already being pursued for the start of the New Year on February 3^rd, 2012. We will keep you apprised of these again via the web site but some of the new options are listed on www.Table.bm under Griffin’s Bistro and Bar. Look out for more!

We want and need you input on what you perceived when you were on property and what you saw as working or not and to that end we have compiled our 2012 Membership Survey to gather your very important feedback at http://members2012.surveyconsole.com. We need this input and welcome it both positive and otherwise as your perception is objective. We need to make sure that we collate all the issues and this is the best way to do so. It guides our actions for the future and obviously we select the most popular requests to action. e.g. a small number of people have requested we install TV’s in the bedrooms but not enough for us to action whereas a more significant number of people have asked us to improve the internet access and we have started a project to do so for Q1 2012.

The MARS system is used for individual cottage repairs and renovation and it is nearly up to date with respect to our past maintenance weeks in November and December showing only outstanding jobs in each unit. Please take the time to review it going forward. There is also a section on MARS that can be used for internal cottage exchanges. Already some people have listed some weeks that they cannot use but are interested in coming at a different time of year. If you are in that situation it is worth looking at.

We would also like to announce the result of our Membership Survey “Why Bermuda and why The St. George’s Club?” draw. The winner drawn randomly from our survey participants of the RCI Week anywhere in the world is Mr. Michael Brywka (ID#4885).

His responses were:

Why Bermuda?

• Short airplane trip from the east coast

Why The St. George’s Club?

• Unique resort on the island overlooking the old town of St. George’s
• Affordable in comparison with coming to a hotel every year
• Additional benefits of being a complete cottage unit
• Staff are very friendly and courteous
• Recent changes and upgrades have made a difference

And we thank him for putting it in his own words in summary.

• Ideal location. People are friendly and want to please the guests at every opportunity.

Mr. Brywka, congratulations we will be in contact to send you the certificate in the near future.

Please allow us to thank everyone that participated as it gave us significant insight into why you bought and continue to support The Club. We are going to share the results with the Bermuda Department of Tourism and the Bermuda Hotel Association as it is very relevant for the new marketing campaign the island is embarking on. We will use some of your comments in our own marketing drive in the near future so again thank you. Please note we are as always happy to take e-mails directly and respond to them as we can but the survey is a key element to our planning process and we ask again that you take a few moments of your time to respond to our questions.

Regards from us all at The St. George’s Club and we hope to see you again soon.