A world of unhappiness

By Hilbert Haar

For those who have no clue why the Caravanserai Beach Resort was rechristened as the Alegría resort – and what the hell that name means, here is a pointer. The resort’s name is displayed above the entrance and underneath, in smaller letters it says: A world of happiness. And that’s exactly what the Spanish word alegría means: happiness.

To all those who have squared off with the resort in a courtroom in Philipsburg ever since the take over in 2014 that must come across as some sort of sick joke – and we get that. To those people Alegría stands more for a world of unhappiness than for the opposite.

So what is going on here? I wrote in the past about Alegría’s legal struggles with Marty Dijkhuis, who operated the now defunct pool bar at the resort. Alegría lost all lawsuits against Dijkhuis, but according to the latest docket we saw some time ago, the company is still after him.

We also remember a court case against the Dunes Casino. That was an attempt by Alegría to have the casino license revoked of GN Entertainment, the company that operates the gaming house. Alegría lost that one too. Its argument was entertaining though: the resort told the court that is feared damages to its reputation because the casino belongs to Francesco Corallo.

And Corallo, Alegría argued, has a bad name. The court shot down that argument, ruling that it is based on “unsubstantiated assumptions.”

Another assumption – we’re just making one up here – could of course be that Alegría wanted The Dunes out of the way so that it could operate a casino of its own on the resort.

The latest court battle was with the home owners of the A-building, an apartment complex on the resort’s grounds that is not a part of Alegría. In this case, the resort makes trouble about the electricity and water supply to that building.

The judge who handled the case had trouble refraining from shaking his head over such a situation. He thought that parties could very well come to an agreement without the court stepping in.

Needless to say, Alegría let it come to a ruling – and it lost again.

One may well wonder – and I certainly do – what the point is of running to court with every self-imposed conflict. If the point is to make sure that local attorneys live well, the resort is absolutely successful.

But it would be much nicer, and also more productive, if the resort made an effort to be nice to its neighbors and all those it is entangled with on the business level.

Have a good glass of Guavaberry and talk to each other. You may find common ground at no additional cost. Is that an idea, Ray?

Related news:
https://stmaartennews.com/?s=alegria