As you should know, we offered one free week´s accomodation for the best old photo submitted by an owner.

The winner is Douglas Johnstone, who sent us this photo of his son, Keith in 1990, when he was 7 years old. Keith is now a certified diver!

Here is a slideshow of a selection of photos sent:

Dear Owners,

Refurbishments
This weekend marks the beginning of the very exciting refurbishment projects in our reception, restaurant, and bar areas. You should have received an email from us in early April with images of what the final product will look like, if you haven´t, please have a look here. The new amenities will feature disabled-accessible toilets, WIFI access, baby changing facilities, and an exciting new menu in the restaurant.

Photo Contest

In with the new, out with the old? Not here at Pearly Grey! As much as we love to move forward with the times, we also know it is important to remember our past. For this reason, we are asking our owners to send in old photos that they might have of the resort, staff, and guests. This is a contest – one owner, out of those who have sent in pictures, will win a free week at the resort! Send your photos to elizabeth@pearlygrey.com before June 30th to take part.

Other works
Last week we began the re-tiling of apartment floors, which will continue throughout the year in the apartments where it is needed.

The outdoor Jacuzzi has been repaired and is fully functioning, and it seems that Mother Nature has decided that summer is here!

Promotions
We have some fantastic deals on car hire for the months of May and June, with a Seat Ibiza at 100€ for a week and a Seat Cordoba at 120€ for a week (two week rentals get an additional discount!)

Our new Ambassador Program has been launched, please email promotions@pearlygrey.com for more information.

For your Leisure
Sandie´s Sunday Cultural Tours have had huge success – she takes PG guests to see the REAL Tenerife. Make sure to reserve your seats on your next visit!

DJ Jazzy Jeff has taken over our evening entertainment – you probably know him just as Jeff, one of our reps. He has received tons of great reviews from guests so far, and I´m sure he´ll just keep getting better.

Staff News
Most of you are already aware that Ana-María from our gym (Dougie´s wife) is having a baby in June. Elizabeth, in our Admin department (the American who has probably phoned you at least once!), has announced that she is having a baby in November.

Jackie, in our contracts department, is getting married in July, and Gemma, our head receptionists and resident Ray-of-Sunshine, is now engaged!

They say that good news comes in threes – anyone want to guess who will get married next and who will have PG baby #3?

Dear Owners,

The information below was sent to us from OTE. If you are able to assist them in any way please follow their instructions below.
You can also forward the relevant documents to Elizabeth at Pearly Grey, elizabeth@pearlygrey.com.

Towards the end of January, the Spanish police raided the offices of Global Vacations Limited, a marketing company selling Club Class Concierge holiday club membership, arresting sixteen people on suspicion of fraud.
Victims of this alleged fraud will have been approached by resale company ETOO telling them that a buyer had been found for their points or week. They would have been told that the transaction would have to be concluded in person in Malaga. Once there the owners were met by Global Vacations Limited representatives who try to sell them Club Class Concierge membership. This may well have been alongside a cash-back offer through Cash Back Europe Plc.
To assist the authorities in Spain with their investigations, evidence is now required from timeshare owners and the purpose of this email is to call on OTE members to inform their staff, post messages on their websites or their newsletters to encourage as many victims as possible come forward. A case can only be built up if sufficient evidence is provided!

In this instance, rather than forwarding complaints to OTE’s enforcement team in Spain, we have been informed that evidence should be sent to the complainant’s local European Consumer Centre, details of which can be found on the ECC website http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/ecc_network_centers.pdf

Photocopies of all documents, a brief statement providing details about their case and photocopies of proof of payments made should be provided.

UK based consumers should send their complaints to:

European Consumer Centre
1 Sylvan Court, Sylvan Way
Southfields Business Park
Basildon
Essex SS15 6TH
Tel: 08456 04 05 03, Fax: 08456 08 96 00, email: ecc@tsi.org.uk

OTE is issuing a press release on Monday to coincide with a similar release issued by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading. We also understand that BBC Watchdog is planning to report the raids in its programme on Monday at 19h30.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Paul Gardner Bougaard
Chief Executive

Sue McNicol
Head of Operations, OTE UK – Timeshare Council
Direct dial: 020 8398 6192

Dear Owners,
First of all, on behalf of all STAFF and management at Pearly Grey, I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2009.

2008 has been a fantastic year for Pearly Grey.

Thank you to all the owners that have repeatedly sent family and friends to enjoy a memorable visit to our resort. Our active Ambassador program has proved to be very successful. We have created an Ambassador Program fan club on Facebook where you, as owners and new owners, can become a fan member. Become a fan of Pearly Grey on Facebook, it’s easy, free and an excellent way of social networking with our owners.

Pearly Grey Staff, 1998
We also have a photo album on Facebook with older photos from the resort, including owners and staff. If you have any photos from the past, we would appreciate it you would scan and forward them to elizabeth@pearlygrey.com or on your next visit we can scan them for you.

For any of you that have not been on Sandie´s cultural Sunday tour, I strongly recommend it. It´s lots of fun and it also give you an opportunity to explore the island.

We welcome Alain as a new member of our reception team. He is from Belgium, but has lived on the island for 12 years.

Look out for special promotions for 2009 that we will have shortly on the web.

Don’t forget that Razzmatazz Restaurant is available to cater for any special event; no celebration is too small or too big. Whether it’s a birthday party, anniversary or wedding, contact us for all your arrangements.

You will notice we have a new section, the Pearly Grey Hall of Fame, on our webpage. This is for owners that have been members for at least 20 years. If you would like to be featured, please contact us.

We have installed a remote operated gate and fencing at the entrance of the resort, along the children’s play park.

As we are very health and safety conscious, we have placed flower pots along the restaurant terrace to prevent guests from entering this area from the pool with wet feet.

Staff

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Jayne Barford to Assistant Restaurant Manager.

Simon Cartwright has joined our sales team.

Resort news

We have persuaded the local town council to place three recycling bins in front of our resort, opposite the exterior of the restaurant. For the environment, we encourage you to make use of it.

The plants and flower beds located at the pool area and the big palm trees at the square have had an irrigation system installed.

Black Cove Dive Company has joined us - they are English speaking with years of experience.

In the next few weeks we will erect a fence and gate adjacent to the kids´ public play park, from the entrance down to the square where the road ends. Photos to follow….

For all you fitness fans, we have had two brand new pieces of gym equipment installed; one treadmill and a cross trainer.

Owner Referral Ambassador Program
Over the past three years, many Pearly Grey owners have greatly benefited from our very successful Ambassador Program. As an owner, you can recommend your family, friends and work colleagues to come and spend a week with us here at Pearly Grey and not only will your guests experience a fantastic holiday at our resort; you will receive incentives from us for every successful booking! Some of our owners have sent over so many people that they have had their maintenance fees covered for many years! We have also released numerous special friends and family weeks, exclusively for owners.

At Pearly Grey, we truly believe that we have the best owners in the world. However, we realize that we have to attract more like-minded people to our Resort, in order to keep building the unique, friendly, home-from-home atmosphere that our guests experience here, stay after stay.

Contact Wendy at referrals@pearlygrey.com for bookings.

Restaurant news
Do not forget… if it’s your birthday and you are physically staying at the resort and you can prove it to us, we will offer you a free 3 course meal on our A la Carte evenings.

We are changing our lunch and dinner menus to suit your needs. Monday evenings have been popular, offering you either a Mexican or a typical Canarian food selection, alternating weeks.

Keep an eye out for the Christmas and New Year´s menus that will be published on the PG blog soon. The theme for New Years party will be Chinese. So all of you partygoers start digging out for those party outfits. There will be great prizes for the best dressed.

The Razzmatazz Restaurant is available for parties and events, with a complete list of options to suit your needs. Contact Adrian at restaurant@pearlygrey.com to make your booking.

Other news
Don’t forget to attend the Monday owners meeting with Ryszard Majewski (Ricardo) our General Manager. He would like to see you again.

The topic of the beach at Callao Salvaje is often mentioned. To give you some insight to it; in March this year there was an official government article published in the local newspaper informing who will finance, the budget and administer the project. Now, by Spanish law, this project has to start 365 days before or after the public announcement. So my recommendation to you all is that once we see some bulldozers, etc, actually working on the beach, that’s when we can all get excited. Until such time it is a project that is necessary and will boost the community of Callao Salvaje. We have seen some amazing plans of this project at the local town hall, which will consists of a sand beach, a walkway to Playa Paraiso, lots of vegetation, a bar/restaurant, a jetty and plenty of parking.

John Beckley, brother of James, the resort developer, has become the proud father of Vicente Enrique recently. If you would like to congratulate him, his email is john@sortedsites.com. Vicente Enrique is shown above with this big sister, Gabriella.

Become a fan of Pearly Grey on Facebook
As many of you may already be aware, online community network sites such as flickr, youtube and facebook are fast becoming the preferred media for people to keep in touch, share photos & videos with family and friends and also find those friends who for one reason or another you have lost contact with. Facebook is growing at a phenomenal rate as more and more people are being invited to view and join by existing members. Pearly Grey Ocean Club now has its own facebook page where we are helping our owners & guests to keep in touch and share their holiday experiences at Pearly Grey, from here existing facebook members can sign in and become a fan of the Pearly Grey facebook page or new members can sign up and register and instantly become a Pearly Grey fan. Please click here to view our face book page. Once you are a member it is entirely up to you which photos you want to share with the Pearly Grey community, you don’t have to share any at all, you can just view those photos uploaded by other community members. You can even chat online with other fans of the community, either by accepting an invite ‘to become a friend’ or by asking other members to ‘become your friend’. We have designed our facebook page to directly link with our recently redesigned Pearly Grey blogsite, so that all the popular news and information articles that we post on the blogsite will appear on the facebook page, all in all we are offering our owners and guests a fully integrated online community which we hope you will be happy to participate in. We look forward to seeing you online.

Entertainment News:

Tuesday Evenings we are now featuring an In-House Show with Heather, starring the most theatrical of our PG guests. Heather also has a new Summer Program with lots of great activities for the youngsters in the evenings, in addition to Tracey´s daytime offerings.

Resort Improvements:

A new handrail has been placed at the front entrance to facilitate access.

No more evening glare in the restaurant! The restaurant doors have been tinted for your comfort.

We have replaced the palm trees in our front courtyard.

Staff Changes:
Pauline, our Office Manager and Button Up Officer, is leaving us at the end of this month.

Isabelle, from our accounts office, is moving back to mainland Spain, also at the end of this month.

Wendy, in referrals, is on sick leave.

Gina, who started training in early June, will be taking Isabelle´s place.

Paola has joined our reception team.

We have a new Guest Liason Officer, Sandie, who will greet you with Mimosas on your Friday arrival and who will be your guide on our newly offered Sunday Excursions.

Owners´Meetings:
The Monday Owners´ Meetings will not be held during the summer months, however, owners are encouraged to arrange a private meeting with our General Manager, Ricardo.

Don´t forget:
Our AGM meeting this year will be held in Leeds on Saturday, October 11th.

Ambassador Program:
Give your friends and family a chance to see what you´ve been raving about! Send them to Pearly Grey for a free week - as a bonus, you can come with them and you will also receive a referral fee of £100!
Subject to availability. Contact us for more details.

Contracts & Fly buys, Rentals & Internal Exchanges - Trina Taylor
Trina is an owner and you might recognize her from the sales team. She now has joined the admin department.

New receptionist - Maria del Mar
Mar joined us recently as receptionist. Originally from Madrid, she has decided to experience the better quality of life and weather in Tenerife.

Front courtyard wall
As per the attached photos you will notice as part of the fire and safety plan requirements we had to raise the wall. Unfortunately we had to remove some palm trees that were infected by an Asian beetle plague (you will notice along the coastline many palm trees has suffered due to this). Therefore we cannot plant more palm trees in these flowerbeds. We are sourcing specific plants and flowers that can resist the harsh climate.

Streets of Callao Salvaje

The road passing by the resort and going down towards the beach area and the main road has been tarred.

Catering for special occasions
Whether it´s a birthday, anniversary, wedding or baptism, we can cater for you. We have launched a choice of menus with the venue on the lower deck combined with the stunning view of La Gomera Island. For further information contact anthony@pearlygrey.com

Special promotions
Don´t forget to take advantage of our special offers for 2008.

2007 has flown past very quickly and so much has happened here at Pearly Grey. On the 10th of December many owners and staff were privileged to be present at Dougie and Ana Maria´s wedding. It was wonderful. The venue was obviously at PG and the reception was brilliant. They both looked amazing (soon photos will follow). Dougie will definitely update you more in detail on this event in Dougie´s Diary soon after he returns next week.

We celebrated our staff Christmas party on the 4th of December. There we nominated the Employee of the Year, and the winner was Siona, from housekeeping. Her prize was 500€. By the way she is Nati, the Housekeeper´s mother, and has been with us for 22 years! 2nd runner up was Stuart from the bar. He is contesting it for next year of course. Also the room maid couple of the year was chosen, and again it was Siona with Maria. They won a trip to a resort in Europe, fully paid for.

If your birthday is during your stay at Pearly Grey we will offer you a FREE 3 course dinner provided that you can prove it´s your birthday. Please make your birthday dinner bookings to adrian@pearlygrey.com
This offer is not valid for Christmas & New Year events.
Watch out for our special half board prices and special evenings in Razzmatazz restaurant. The food is absolutely excellent and great value for money, especially for those with £ to spend.

We are pleased to announce that once again we have achieved RCI Silver Crown status. Next year, we´re going for Gold!

Finally our fire and safety plan has now come to an end. A final inspection will take place later this month and this means we are now fully equipped in all areas. You will notice in all the apartments there are fire evacuation plans.

For those of you that own on the sea front, for years now you have encountered the endless vibrations of the water smashing against the rocks in the cave beneath you. This should now be much quieter! What we have done is to drill four holes of 14m each in the cave, which forces the water to enter with a suction effect and often there are times that it pushes the water out by another 6m.

Also currently taking place are some structural changes in the gym, one of them is the installation of new wooden flooring.

As we are a safety conscious resort, we have now covered the entire area of the children´s pool with an anti slip surface.

Something new in your apartment you will notice on your next visit is the new apartment directory. This gives you ALL the information you need about the resort and other diverse general information.

Unfortunately our loyal and friendly guard, Pedro, has left us for personal reasons, less hours and an easier lifestyle. His substitute is almost a clone of him, name is Gonzalo.

Soon you will receive the AGM pack, which includes an Owners Referral Program leaflet .This program has worked brilliantly over the past years at PG. Should you need to receive more information detailing how you too can take part, the contact details are included on the back of it.

For all you owners that are in a need of a rented car whilst on holiday, don´t forget we have our own rent a car fleet of 20 vehicles with very competitive prices. You can view our rent a car section and information on our webpage. There are always specials on offer or contact serge@pearlygrey.com for your next booking.

Finally, after a few teething obstacles we have finally selected a permanent compere, she is English and her name is Heather. She is very lively and will definitely entertain you!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2008.

We now have a pool service, where your food and beverage orders are taken from 11-17h00. Take advantage of our cool cocktails at the poolside…………………

The long awaited non slip surface outside the kids playground has been installed, for the safety of your children……..

The weather forecast for your holiday is now available, next to the luggage room…………………..

There is a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section available on the home page, in the column on the left; should you want to suggest additional items to be included, please contact ryszard@pearlygrey.com.

We have started and will continue over the next few weeks to replace the new furniture as part of our refurbishing program for 2007 in the following apartments:

In the bedrooms only:
B5, B6, B7, 105, 106, 107, 202, 205, 206, 207, 214, 215, 306, 313, 314, 406, 511, 512, 513, 514 & 515.

In the bedrooms and in the lounge:
S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S9, S10, B3, B4, 103, 104, 111, 114, 203, 204, 208, 301, 303, 304, 403, 404, 408, 503 & 510.

In the lounge only:
S1, S2, S8, S11, S12, S13, S1-1 & S1-2.

I have attached some photos of the new furniture, we hope you enjoy your new look apartments on your next visit.

In addition (below) there is also a photo showing the new safety rails recently installed.

FRIDAY EVENING ENTERTAINMENT
Also, from this Friday (6th July) we will be having evening entertainment starting at 9pm.

SUNDAY DAYTIME ENTERTAINMENT
In addition to the new Friday evening entertainment we will also be providing daytime entertainment every Sunday.

Regards,
Ryszard Majewski
General Manager