Yesterday on 30/11/24 there was a Club AGM.
We were told 40 owners on zoom and 22 at Stirling.
All of committee were present either in person, although 2 seemed to hide away or on zoom.
On the nominations for committee, each nominee got 150 votes.
I remember the days not so long ago, there were results of over 700.
We have apparently circa 2500 owners so only 2.4% of the ownership appear to want to show an interest in this Club which is a massive concern.
If this reluctance to be involved continues it could create a future problem for the Club and it's members.
Can owners please comment on this thread why they do not get involved?
DO OWNERS CARE ABOUT THE CLUB.
I think for many older owners commenting on the Forum is difficult. I've taken part in many Forums and LRHC Forum is not the least user friendly. One has to attempt to sign in, no easy task unless you sign in permanently if you finally manage to get access, personally I get locked out every few months and spend weeks trying to get back in. You then have to drill down into the Board Index to find the Subject your looking for and then drill down again to read latest postings, by which time many have given up!
A short video Admin could post on to any owner locked out as to how they can change their Password as the usual system just doesn't work!
I think Owners could be encouraged both at the Owners Meeting and AGM to share info on Club Forum; Lodges; Restaurants; Trips from Rannoch; Fishing; Walks etc
Ronnie
A short video Admin could post on to any owner locked out as to how they can change their Password as the usual system just doesn't work!
I think Owners could be encouraged both at the Owners Meeting and AGM to share info on Club Forum; Lodges; Restaurants; Trips from Rannoch; Fishing; Walks etc
Ronnie
Hi Ronnie,
Totally understand your frustration about the forum
Also agree there should be more " signposting " at owner Monday meetings and at AGM.
Where I feel is the bigger concern is the lack of participation in the running of the club by owners.
As a club we have to ensure the owners are involved, feel included not excluded and club officials, who in the main, do a lot behind the scenes, ensure policies are proactively managed to encourage and inspire voting.
At a point in time, not so many years ago, this club had personality and charisma. The staff were individually superb at communication and owners reacted to that in a positive way.
Do we have that now?
If only 150 vote, where is for example the other 2350?
Most owners receive the AGM pack by email and i believe not many now get in the post which is a cost saving and we definitely need to save money.
In the old days staff from all deparments got involved in this to ensure everyone got their pack.
Now it is not labour intensive.
Do the staff verify email addresses as I'm sure they can monitor who and how many open emails?
Do we actually have that many owners or is there more club owned lodges than announced?
Is there a lot more owners got their lodge up for sale?
Is there now more term owners unable to vote?
Is there more owners in debt than we realise that can't vote?
Are there a lot of owners on direct debit and because the last payment was after AGM were they allowed to vote?
Or do owners just not care?
If this continues reducing every year then there is a massive issue.
Would any committee member or club management wish to make a comment on above?
Totally understand your frustration about the forum
Also agree there should be more " signposting " at owner Monday meetings and at AGM.
Where I feel is the bigger concern is the lack of participation in the running of the club by owners.
As a club we have to ensure the owners are involved, feel included not excluded and club officials, who in the main, do a lot behind the scenes, ensure policies are proactively managed to encourage and inspire voting.
At a point in time, not so many years ago, this club had personality and charisma. The staff were individually superb at communication and owners reacted to that in a positive way.
Do we have that now?
If only 150 vote, where is for example the other 2350?
Most owners receive the AGM pack by email and i believe not many now get in the post which is a cost saving and we definitely need to save money.
In the old days staff from all deparments got involved in this to ensure everyone got their pack.
Now it is not labour intensive.
Do the staff verify email addresses as I'm sure they can monitor who and how many open emails?
Do we actually have that many owners or is there more club owned lodges than announced?
Is there a lot more owners got their lodge up for sale?
Is there now more term owners unable to vote?
Is there more owners in debt than we realise that can't vote?
Are there a lot of owners on direct debit and because the last payment was after AGM were they allowed to vote?
Or do owners just not care?
If this continues reducing every year then there is a massive issue.
Would any committee member or club management wish to make a comment on above?
Hi Stuart
Just as there has to be accountability over the Management Fees/Accs etc I think there should be accountability twice yearly on ALL of the Weeks within Units ie :-
How many Units/Weeks within them are there
How many are owned on Perpetuity Contract?
How many are owned on 5 year Contract?
How many are Bad Debtors' Defaults?
How many returned through Death/ill health?
How many owned by LRHC?
ONLY when owners are made aware of these figures and in which direction they and subsequently the Club is heading can we plan for the future or not, as the case may be!I
Encourage Attendance at AGM:
A 'Carrot' could be offered to enduce Owners to attend AGM in person or online, perhaps a chance to add your name to a Raffle Draw, prize being a Long Weekend for FREE at Rannoch!
Just as there has to be accountability over the Management Fees/Accs etc I think there should be accountability twice yearly on ALL of the Weeks within Units ie :-
How many Units/Weeks within them are there
How many are owned on Perpetuity Contract?
How many are owned on 5 year Contract?
How many are Bad Debtors' Defaults?
How many returned through Death/ill health?
How many owned by LRHC?
ONLY when owners are made aware of these figures and in which direction they and subsequently the Club is heading can we plan for the future or not, as the case may be!I
Encourage Attendance at AGM:
A 'Carrot' could be offered to enduce Owners to attend AGM in person or online, perhaps a chance to add your name to a Raffle Draw, prize being a Long Weekend for FREE at Rannoch!
Term owners are now being treated like lepers with no rights whatsoever other than the right to occupy their lodge(s) .
Strangely enough term owners actually pay more for their week ( like for like) than perpetuity owners unless the maintenance fees rocket toward the end of the contracted term.
Not exactly encouraging for a term owner to renew to another term and I suspect that all will be glad to be gone, never to return
Strangely enough term owners actually pay more for their week ( like for like) than perpetuity owners unless the maintenance fees rocket toward the end of the contracted term.
Not exactly encouraging for a term owner to renew to another term and I suspect that all will be glad to be gone, never to return
The low voting turnout is indeed disappointing, and we share your concerns about member engagement. We go to considerable lengths to encourage participation. For example, at the Special General Meeting this summer, we noticed a low response rate and made phone calls to encourage voting. While some Members responded, many did not. Scaling such efforts would be costly; for instance, encouraging 1,000 additional votes might require calling 2,000 Members. At five minutes per call, this equates to 167 hours of staff time, costing over £2,000. Is this the best use of Members’ funds?
To improve the voting process, we revamped the voting page for the AGM to make it more straightforward and sent extra reminders. We are continually working to address feedback.
Regarding suggestions of understated Club Lodges or unsold weeks, we categorically confirm that the figures we report are accurate. If there’s a lack of trust in these numbers, further transparency may be counterproductive if it isn’t believed.
We welcome ideas on how to further enhance member engagement, including at AGMs and through the forum. Suggestions like making the forum more user-friendly or providing clearer instructions for access are helpful, and we’ll review these.
As always, our focus remains on improving the lodges, member experiences, and fostering a sense of community. We encourage constructive feedback and participation to ensure the Club continues to thrive.
To improve the voting process, we revamped the voting page for the AGM to make it more straightforward and sent extra reminders. We are continually working to address feedback.
Regarding suggestions of understated Club Lodges or unsold weeks, we categorically confirm that the figures we report are accurate. If there’s a lack of trust in these numbers, further transparency may be counterproductive if it isn’t believed.
We welcome ideas on how to further enhance member engagement, including at AGMs and through the forum. Suggestions like making the forum more user-friendly or providing clearer instructions for access are helpful, and we’ll review these.
As always, our focus remains on improving the lodges, member experiences, and fostering a sense of community. We encourage constructive feedback and participation to ensure the Club continues to thrive.
Hi Richard,
The member participation at AGM and other important voting decisions such as levy is indeed disappointing as are many other things at the Club such as a reluctance or refusal to answer questions posed by those who do care and participate.
Phone calls are not the answer and I agree this is a waste of man hours and money. It can also drain confidence.
I don't know if anyone on this post mentioned phone calls.
For me, it is engagement.
If you engage owners when they arrive, highlight the importance of being involved in the club, the difference they can make, the difference their vote can make, what the future can be etc.
It would appear to be neither the AGM or the forum is the answer to this for now.
All of this starts somewhere and where best to start other than when that owner first arrives in office.
It can then continue throughout the full break when they communicate with the people I feel can be and were the best salespeople at the club, maintenance and housekeeping.
Communication is key and that's why we should stop using AI.
We need to see a more personal approach.
Maybe more training is required for staff and management or maybe some inspiration as they are sadly lacking.
Sending emails continually is not always best method no matter when experts say repetition creates a reply.
Too often it has the opposite effect and annoys people.
I know all the emails I got re AGM after the original were deleted without reading.
Regarding figures, we have some, but not all and I totally dispute where knowing these numbers would be counterproductive.
To use the term " further transparency" to me and many others would appear to suggest information provided to owners is screened.
If we don't even know what the net profit is on club rentals would it not be fair to say, numbers appear to be a problem?
We know club owned lodges as announced, but do we know how many additional lodges are for sale by owners?
Prior to AGM, I counted 2254 on the website which is more than 50%.
Also did the owners who wanted to sell agree to take lodge off the market or just refuse to pay the fees to advertise? I have spoken with a few who did the latter.
Also why when it has been mentioned on numerous occasions is it so difficult to provide in the newsletter a monthly tally of NEW sales and whether they are in perpetuity or on term basis?
Questions should not be feared, but embraced and encourage debate.
If this is not the case, then it is cause for concern and creates a lack of trust.
Responsibility and taking responsibility is not a dark art.
I have again unfortunately witnessed at this club, when acceptance of responsibilities has been neglected, but I won't go into detail on this forum.
So let's make a new start and actually answer ALL the questions on this thread which are relevant to ALL owners and this is what I would call transparency as it hasn't happened yet.
It's all too defensive and deflective.
The questions on improving accessibility to forum and processes have been asked for a while so are not new but they should be easy to rectify whereas the tougher ones re figures have never fully been acknowledged.
I, in my whole career would never be anything but transparent even when things are not going well.
I can think of so many ways to improve this malaise, but one has to think outside the square and be imaginative or face the consequences.
The member participation at AGM and other important voting decisions such as levy is indeed disappointing as are many other things at the Club such as a reluctance or refusal to answer questions posed by those who do care and participate.
Phone calls are not the answer and I agree this is a waste of man hours and money. It can also drain confidence.
I don't know if anyone on this post mentioned phone calls.
For me, it is engagement.
If you engage owners when they arrive, highlight the importance of being involved in the club, the difference they can make, the difference their vote can make, what the future can be etc.
It would appear to be neither the AGM or the forum is the answer to this for now.
All of this starts somewhere and where best to start other than when that owner first arrives in office.
It can then continue throughout the full break when they communicate with the people I feel can be and were the best salespeople at the club, maintenance and housekeeping.
Communication is key and that's why we should stop using AI.
We need to see a more personal approach.
Maybe more training is required for staff and management or maybe some inspiration as they are sadly lacking.
Sending emails continually is not always best method no matter when experts say repetition creates a reply.
Too often it has the opposite effect and annoys people.
I know all the emails I got re AGM after the original were deleted without reading.
Regarding figures, we have some, but not all and I totally dispute where knowing these numbers would be counterproductive.
To use the term " further transparency" to me and many others would appear to suggest information provided to owners is screened.
If we don't even know what the net profit is on club rentals would it not be fair to say, numbers appear to be a problem?
We know club owned lodges as announced, but do we know how many additional lodges are for sale by owners?
Prior to AGM, I counted 2254 on the website which is more than 50%.
Also did the owners who wanted to sell agree to take lodge off the market or just refuse to pay the fees to advertise? I have spoken with a few who did the latter.
Also why when it has been mentioned on numerous occasions is it so difficult to provide in the newsletter a monthly tally of NEW sales and whether they are in perpetuity or on term basis?
Questions should not be feared, but embraced and encourage debate.
If this is not the case, then it is cause for concern and creates a lack of trust.
Responsibility and taking responsibility is not a dark art.
I have again unfortunately witnessed at this club, when acceptance of responsibilities has been neglected, but I won't go into detail on this forum.
So let's make a new start and actually answer ALL the questions on this thread which are relevant to ALL owners and this is what I would call transparency as it hasn't happened yet.
It's all too defensive and deflective.
The questions on improving accessibility to forum and processes have been asked for a while so are not new but they should be easy to rectify whereas the tougher ones re figures have never fully been acknowledged.
I, in my whole career would never be anything but transparent even when things are not going well.
I can think of so many ways to improve this malaise, but one has to think outside the square and be imaginative or face the consequences.
Engagement has proven to be a difficult hurdle for the management to achieve it would seem.
Why is it the simple questions are so hard to answer?
Avoiding sows the seeds of doubt.
If this continues I predict a lack of the "green shoots" this club is desperately seeking along with transparency.
Why is it the simple questions are so hard to answer?
Avoiding sows the seeds of doubt.
If this continues I predict a lack of the "green shoots" this club is desperately seeking along with transparency.