Update: Treetops Resort now reports $430,000 in damages
Sorry to poke a finger in a black eye, but this story just gets worse. If you don't want to reiterate, move along.
I can only imagine the pressure inside this frat and the finger pointing, the divergent needs to cover one's own ass and rat out a fellow "brother" versus the wish to circle the wagons. The stereotype says that these kids have a "rich parents" who can easily dole out the money and get their kids off the hook. I'm not so sure about that. And anyway, this is some serious coin we are talking about.
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/02/treetops_resorts_…
I don't know how $ damages can be quantified and even then, how is it enforced, and who ultimately pays? Depending on who mediates all of this, I can see a strong argument for claiming damage to the brand. Would you want to book this place next New Year's for your family vacation?
I'm calling bullshit on the "brand" damage. Unless they think people will quit going to Treetops for fear of another frat gone wild. Fix your shit, figure out how much the repairs cost, income that was lost during repairs and send the bill to the little freaks parents.
I think you hit the nail on the head with your second sentence. I know I'd be wary of staying at Treetops now that I know that 120 frat kids might be there. Although something tells me that frats won't be enjoying the renovated Treetops facility any time soon.
I'd have to think so. There's no way they willingly let any group of Greeks rent a room for a while.
I read that the person who rented the rooms used a NJ license. Worst part is, some condo owner is now calling for Treetops to never rent to anyone from the city of Ann Arbor, which is ridiculous.
fraternities and sororities from renting blocks of rooms, or is discrimination alive and well in Michigan?
I'd love to be a fly on the wall when the parents laugh at the bill which has been sent to them for something for which their adult children are liable.
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that level of damages is total b.s. you can nearly build the entire hotel for that amount. it is the quiet season up here, places are not full. what the kids did was wrong, but the hotel is totally piling on and trying to gouge those kids.
I'm sure Treetops is rounding up wherever they can, but you cannot call it the "quiet season". Those northern Michigan resorts do quite well between New Year's Day through March, especially on the weekends and during winter and spring breaks. Lots of alpine and cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. That's a lot of bookings lost.
it hasn't been much of a snowmobiling season because the snow has been only okay, and the cold has been epic, beyond records in most places. treetops is a summer place more than winter. not to say there is no business, but it's one part of their hotel that needs fixing, not the whole thing. meanwhile they can rent out the rest.
as for loss of reputation, that is the ultimate irony. treetops could never, under any circumstances, have paid $100K or even $430K to be known nationwide - but it is now a place that most of our country has heard about. between the kids' insurance, their parents $, and treetops' own insurance they are going to cash in for free or even make a windfall.
and lastly, the crime victim's rights act (CVRA) doesn't allow for some of the damages they are claiming.
again, the kids did bad, very bad, but two wrongs don't make a right and this is turning into possible extortion.
Piecing together info from their website, the property appears to include five golf courses, twenty-three ski runs, 238 rooms, two restaurants, a bar, a spa and wedding/meeting space. Their media page claims they spent $2.5m on replacing two thirds of their golf cart fleet and buying new golf course maintenance equipment in 2014.
I'm not a hospitality management guru or anything but it seems like we could easily be talking an extra two zeros on the 430,000 figure (and maybe significantly more than that, as well).
I'd like to see the plans for your $430,000 hotel.
Wow I can build a hotel for $420,000? Take me back to 1908 sir.
and just roll the dice....
Well they still have their May unlimitted golf package like every year so thats all I care about. Treetops is awesome.
the hell is "brand damage"? Payments for hurt feelings?
More like potential customers who thought about going there but decided not to because of the thought of being next to a bunch of drunk, destructive college students.
Publicity, yes, but not the kind of publicity that they're looking for. Sure, more people will know about Treetops, but think about the kind of people that Treetops is trying to attract. Their customers are looking for a fun weekend or vacation. The thought of being surrounded by loud, drunk students isn't the kind of image customers want in their heads when planning a trip.
It's exactly the kind of publicity they want. It's free advertising for renovations, and anyone thinking about going there will realize that there's no way in hell Treetops will ever host large groups of college students again. For a place that declared bankruptcy in November, this is a Godsend.
They have received tons of, at best, mediocre publicity. All people have seen is a beaten-down hallway and damaged rooms. If I'm considering "resort" hotels in upper Michigan, I'd be leery about a place that was so publicly trashed and apparently allowed it to happen with minimal intervention at the time.
I'm frankly embarrassed for those involved (if my kid ever did this, I would not be so quick to bail him out) but "brand damage" sounds like a legal contrivance to me. Lawyers getting creative.
So how are they really going to get away with not paying this back?
Though I do think it's a bit much for Treetops to start making calculations about things related to lost business. Make the kids repay for the physical damages. Anything else is conjecture.
Lost revenue should be fairly easy to calculate based on number of rooms unavailable to rent and average utilization rates during this time. However, once news got out that the property was trashed during an alcohol-fueled bender, can't imagine many people wanting to book new rooms. Doesn't really give the imagine of a nice family place even though management had nothing to do with this.
Given how Treetops is handling this, they're going to be milking this for all it's worth.
Don't get me wrong--the frats and sororities and these absolutely dumbass college kids who embody every negative stereotype about Greek life should be positively chokeslammed to the extent of the law, university policies, fraternity/sorority policies, etc.
At the same time, the city of Gaylord asking these kids to come and do community service, Treetops acting like this is the ruin of their business when it's in fact given them more publicity and press mention than any promotional advertising they've ever paid for... It's physical damage to a private resort. Fix it, make the kids pay for it (just like any other damage done to a hotel by a guest), and move on. The sheer drama being applied here is getting absurd.
Would the press be talking about this, and would the same demands be made from all parties involved, if this were a huge bachelor party gone wrong?
But isn't this what part of the chokeslamming is all about though? I don't have a problem with there being a punitive aspect of the consequences. Kids shouldn't have to be warned that shit behavior like this will be *severely* punished. All of these kids should be booted from school.
Right. Because that's exactly what I said. Please go away.
Peter, you're back....
Well, part of it probably stems from the fact that the frat involved is apparently becoming unwilling to pay the full damages, and knowing this will go to the courts it is only good business to make your opponent look even worse and your side even more damaged than previously mentioned.
Yes, I'm sure that Treetop is getting a bit of publicity from this, though I'm not sure how "good" it is. But it's the resort that is currently holding the bill for all these repairs (well, them and their insurance underwriter), and if the Greek organizations and the University are seemingly going to make this a protracted "hey, don't look at me. These guys are no longer part of us" situation, I don't fault the hotel for using the press to shame these idiots into making restitution.
They rendered at least part of the place unusable. Why would they not be calculating lost business?
another fine mess you've gotten me into.
On a completely unrelated but maybe kind of funny note, both of those guys were Greek.
I know how we can get money. We'll rip off COLLEGE KIDS!!!