Contempo headed for bankruptcy

[thatdavieguy]

Saw something on FB last night about Contempo running into money troubles and heading for bankruptcy in the US.

Haven't been able to find anything about it online to back it up but noticed that the number of villas on offer from Virgin have reduced significantly.

Anyone heard or seen anything online?

[claireyfairy8]

I saw an email from an owner who used to have them as their MC.

"With immediate effect, Contempo Florida Holidays Ltd Inc and Contempo Property Management have ceased traading and are closed for business."

That was yesterday.

Today I've heard that IPG Florida Vacation Homes is a preferred supplier to Love Florida who now hold the Virgin contract.

I don't have anything to back that up though.

Pretty bad for the industry.

Contempo have been simmering for a long time on the brink of this, so I am not surprised. I feel for those who may be left in the lurch, owner and guests.

[Lumiona]

Oh ≈≈≈≈ really, we fly this month to a villa with Virgin/ Contempo.

[thatdavieguy]

Just managed to get connected to live chat with virgin and they're saying Love Rentals has bought Contempo and that if there are any changes to our booking they'll be in touch, we're lucky that we've got a few months but for other's i'd be looking to contact them just for peace of mind.

Virgin seem to be down to 2 villa options at the moment for new bookings until it's all sorted out on their side.

[angelbabe]

Originally Posted by Magnificent

Sadly, it's no surprise to me that the number of villas on offer would fall.

There are at least two, and more often three middlemen in there. Owners probably only receive about half of what it actually costs to run a villa, and then the owner's management company, Contempo (or similar, if they are not the direct management company) and Virgin (or similar) pocket the difference. If they're not going to pay owners a fair rate, then owners will ultimately take their villas elsewhere. It's just not a sustainable business model, there is bound to be problems somewhere in the chain.

I hope anyone booked with Virgin is offered a replacement villa. Peak times like Christmas and New Year would worry me most, where even in normal circumstances the travel agents regularly take bookings they can't fill, they don't have enough villas on their books to meet demand (as an owner it is quite predictable when the likes of Contempo send you a desperate email a few days before each major holiday), and then they have to put the guests they can't find villas for up in hotels instead.

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Before we lived here, we used to rent out and our management company were looking into being a supplier for Virgin. We had a meeting with them and the restrictions they placed on what could be in the villa (tv's etc), the couple of weeks we could actually use the villa ourselves and the pitiful rates by the time everyone had taken their cut was a no brainer for us and we told them not in this lifetime in no uncertain terms.

[Gryff]

Contempo haven't paid any of the smaller management companies
They source villas from since September owing 4&5 figure sums to them which of course has a knock on effect to their villa owners
Owners who were with Contempo haven't had their utility bills paid
If they had that option with Contempo either
Contempos inventory of villas which was around 650 homes has fallen
To under 200 which left them having to source more and more
Villas from elsewhere and as others have said if no villa Virgin guests
Needed to be put up in a hotel
A previous MC we had sold out to Contempo believe me we had 6 weeks in a very dark place trying to ditch them and find a new MC
And get the money our MC held in escrow a common practice
To cover anything from unpaid management fees or repairs to homes etc Love Holidays / IPG will more than likely just bought the remaining villas they have owners accounts not the business per say they also buy MCs and sell then on as franchises so it's going to be a stressful few weeks for guests ,owners , and MCs alike
im told the Contempo office yesterday there were several MC owners
Trying to get answers till they shut the doors

[floridapete]

Deleted due to poor quality image. I will try again.

[floridapete]

Sorry about the quality but it's from someone else's screen shot.

You will notice that there is a not a hint of apology or explanation of how to get all the money owed to owners. Only a vain attempt to keep those owners within the group of Contempo Franchised management companies who are probably also owed a lot of money themselves by Contempo/Virgin ! What a mess !

[f1girly]

Originally Posted by Lumiona

Oh ≈≈≈≈ really, we fly this month to a villa with Virgin/ Contempo.

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How do you tell if a villa you have booked through Virgin is with Contempo please?

[Lumiona]

Originally Posted by f1girly

How do you tell if a villa you have booked through Virgin is with Contempo please?

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It was in the documents of the booking that we needed to head to contempo office if arriving out of hours. I've since contacted Virgin who have advised our villa has been taken over by Love Rental so I'm not sure what will happen when we arrive ?