Buying Additional Diamond Points?

[thunderball027 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thunderball027]

Hello, I'm thinking about buying some additional Diamond International points from Diamond to use for additional vacationing in the coming years. Does anyone have advice on if this is a good/bad idea? I've heard and read so many horror stories, I want to be sure I'm not spending more money than I need or getting something I can't use. Diamond quoted me about $3 per point, but I told them I was looking at about $2 a point. They politely wished me good luck, and then called me back twice and left messages that they're spoken to the manager and have good news. I have yet to call them back. Advise/counsel is welcomed. Thank you.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

My personal feeling about DRI is that you should buy US collection points resale and save yourself about $10,000. They will not be in the club but they will get you into the 19 resorts in the US collection.

If you absolutely must have them in the "club", then buy a resale week at some super cheap DRI, then buy just a few more points direct from DRI with the condition that the resale week be brought into the club. This should cost you no more than $5000.

PS never, for any reason, buy into the California collection. It cost the same as the US collection and get you 17 fewer resorts.

[thunderball027 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thunderball027]

Thanks, Bill. Here's some additional information. Diamond called back a third and fourth time yesterday and left a message that they'd sell me 4,000 points for $2 each, but I had to do the deal yesterday (yeah, right!). As I'm a novice at this whole thing, I should tell you I bought from Sunterra in Hawaii in 2004 and bought at Lake Tahoe (California) on the resale market in 2005. The issue of 19 resorts (not in the club) in the U.S. collection is a new wrinkle for me. I'm not sure what that means. I did use points from the Hawaii purchase to travel to Ireland this year and that was fantastic. So, my question, after this long prelude, is if I purchase additional points straight from Diamond are those points good at just the 19 resorts you mentioned, or would they be good for other Diaomnd properties in the club (and how many properties are in the club)? Or, as I'm staying at Tahoe next week and will go through the sales presentation, is there an advantage for me to bring the Tahoe week I bought on resale into the club and what would a resonable cost for that be and how many points might that give me? And is there an advantage for me to bring that resale Tahoe purchase into the club? Many thanks again to you for your reply to my initial query.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

Thanks, Bill. Here's some additional information. Diamond called back a third and fourth time yesterday and left a message that they'd sell me 4,000 points for $2 each, but I had to do the deal yesterday (yeah, right!). As I'm a novice at this whole thing, I should tell you I bought from Sunterra in Hawaii in 2004 and bought at Lake Tahoe (California) on the resale market in 2005. The issue of 19 resorts (not in the club) in the U.S. collection is a new wrinkle for me. I'm not sure what that means. I did use points from the Hawaii purchase to travel to Ireland this year and that was fantastic. So, my question, after this long prelude, is if I purchase additional points straight from Diamond are those points good at just the 19 resorts you mentioned, or would they be good for other Diaomnd properties in the club (and how many properties are in the club)? Or, as I'm staying at Tahoe next week and will go through the sales presentation, is there an advantage for me to bring the Tahoe week I bought on resale into the club and what would a resonable cost for that be and how many points might that give me? And is there an advantage for me to bring that resale Tahoe purchase into the club? Many thanks again to you for your reply to my initial query.

BOY,

DO NOT buy anything right now no matter what offer you get.

First, you need to find out alot more info about DRI before you go forward.


Any purchase from DRI get you points in the club but unlike your first purchase from Sunterra, when you bought a week in Hawaii and also got the right to use your week as "points in the club", now DRI will try and sell you points in the trust ( most likely the CA collection) which will also be in the "club"


DRI is now mostly selling what are called "trust" points. Instead of selling you a week at one of their resorts, they sell you points in one of the collections or trusts. There are three collection/trusts. The oldest and best has 19 resorts in it and even on resell you can use the points from that purchase to go to any of the 19 resorts ( all resorts in this collection are in the "club" too (Lake Tahoe is one of the resorts)) . They also have the Hawaiian trust, which mainly lets you go to the Hawaii resorts, and then they have the California collection which is completely a rip off since the resorts are just 2 resorts in CA and both resorts are also in the US collection. So there is no reason at all for anyone to buy the CA collection.

The thing is that if you buy resale, you'll pay $0.50 or less for US collection pts, then if you want all those points to also be in the "club" if you buy just $4000 -$5000 worth of more points they (DRI) will let all your resale points ( both the new one you just bought and the ones from Lake Tahoe) be used in the "club"

My concern is that you're still buying from DRI, maybe if you want to expand your TS portfolio, you should think of buying a different TS system which doesn't treat the owners, who buy resale, so badly.

[thunderball027 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thunderball027]

Thanks again, Bill. Looks like I have some homework to do before I buy anything. I'll just do intake at the presentation next week and then more study. As bad as the economy is right now, I imagine that there will be plenty of opportunities to buy the right thing for me in the months ahead.

[kexueli Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kexueli]

Diamond Resorts (DRI) Collections

I think I understand from your post that you already own in the Hawaii collection with DRI. If you are interested in purchasing more points, you may want to stick with getting additional points from the Hawaii collection. The way that Diamond breaks out the maintenance fees is the following:

Club fee: every member of Diamond Resorts "The Club" pays a flat club fee.

Collection base fee: you pay a collection base fee for each collection you have ownership in, another flat fee no matter how many points you own. Incidentally, Sunterra did not have this "collection base fee", the only flat fee they had was the club fee.

Collection per point fee: a fee per point owned in the collection.

Here's where I made a mistake:

I already owned in the US collection. I paid the Club fee, a collection base fee, and a per point fee. Recently I was in Lake Tahoe, and purchased more points. These additional points were in the California collection. This was a big mistake, because now I pay that Collection base fee twice (it happens to be $180 for the California collection and the US Collection, I think it is a bit more for Hawaii). If I had purchased the additional points in the US collection I would have saved myself $180/year on maintenance fees. Incidentally, I had specifically asked if I would pay extra maintenance fees by purchasing the points in Lake Tahoe vs. in the US collection, and I was told no. I don't know whether the sales staff were lying or if they were just unaware of how the maintenance fees are structured.

[stippy52 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stippy52]

Newbie here. I know this question has been aked about a thousand times but....Our family recently purchased additional points while vacationing at Sedona Summit (loved it there). We currently own 15,000 points. I believe they are all CVS US COLLECTION. If we were to purchase additional points on the secondary market, could the secondary points be used the same as the original points? Is there any specific detail I sholud be looking for?
The family loves to travel and scuba dive so we will be exchanging thru II once in awhile.

Thanks

Great site for info!

Stip

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

Newbie here. I know this question has been aked about a thousand times but....Our family recently purchased additional points while vacationing at Sedona Summit (loved it there). We currently own 15,000 points. I believe they are all CVS US COLLECTION. If we were to purchase additional points on the secondary market, could the secondary points be used the same as the original points? Is there any specific detail I sholud be looking for?
The family loves to travel and scuba dive so we will be exchanging thru II once in awhile.

Thanks

Great site for info!

Stip

As long as you buy US collections points (resale) they can any of the US collection resorts just like your DRI purchased points.

The big difference is that they can't be used at non US collection resorts.

[thunderball027 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thunderball027]

Well, here's the update. My wife and I went to the Diamond Resorts International presentation at Lake Tahoe last week and the offer is this: to bring our Tahoe property (which we bought on the resale market) into the club, we'd need to buy additional points. Diamond would sell us 3,500 points and "give" us the 5,500 points they assign to the resale we bought for a total of 9,000 new points for $12,000. This would be in the California collection. They said this was mandated by the state of Ca. Adding these new points to our Hawaii points would give us 15,000 points a year and elite status (is elite a big deal?) (Question: Can we use these 15,000 points for any of Diamond's properties anywhere, or are there restrictions?) Told them we couldn't do it now. Then they had someone come over and sell us a mini vacation that, if purchased, would lock our pricing in for a year. We signed up for that as it buys us time to research the deal and, as we'll be wanting to travel anyway, the price didn't seem out of line. Any thoughts, recommendations, insight is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

If we were to purchase additional points on the secondary market, could the secondary points be used the same as the original points? Stip

No.

As long as you buy US collections points (resale) they can any of the US collection resorts just like your DRI purchased points.

The big difference is that they can't be used at non US collection resorts.

and if they're not joined with your present account you'll then be paying TWO operational Fees!

They said this was mandated by the state of Ca. Adding these new points to our Hawaii points would give us 15,000 points a year and elite status (is elite a big deal?) (Question: Can we use these 15,000 points for any of Diamond's properties anywhere, or are there restrictions?) Told them we couldn't do it now. Then they had someone come over and sell us a mini vacation that, if purchased, would lock our pricing in for a year. We signed up for that as it buys us time to research the deal and, as we'll be wanting to travel anyway, the price didn't seem out of line. Any thoughts, recommendations, insight is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

mandated by CA, really?
The 13month and 10month rules apply to each type of ownership you end up with.

[Bill4728 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Bill4728]

Well, here's the update. My wife and I went to the Diamond Resorts International presentation at Lake Tahoe last week and the offer is this: to bring our Tahoe property (which we bought on the resale market) into the club, we'd need to buy additional points. Diamond would sell us 3,500 points and "give" us the 5,500 points they assign to the resale we bought for a total of 9,000 new points for $12,000. This would be in the California collection. They said this was mandated by the state of Ca.

Adding these new points to our Hawaii points would give us 15,000 points a year and elite status (is elite a big deal?) (Question: Can we use these 15,000 points for any of Diamond's properties anywhere, or are there restrictions?)

IMHO, the real question is how often you you want to go to any of the resorts you owe?
-If you want to go to Hawaii with your sunterra purchase, you can do that now without buying anything more.
- If you want to go to the other DRI resort (outside of the ones you own) You can use your club points from Hawaii to do that.
-If you want to go to Tahoe, you can do that now without buying anything more.
-If you want to go to the 19 resorts in the US collection, buy the points resale and save yourself $11,000

BUT if you want to go to the non US collection resorts and you don't want to waste your Hawaii points to do it. Then I'd first ask at any other DRI resort about buying developer points in the US collection ( maybe at vegas) and getting my tahoe resale into the US collection. If they also say no way, I'd sell the tahoe TS and buy resale US collection pts and only then buy more developer points. BUT I would never buy into the CA collection.

PS if you can get out of the mini vacation package you bought, locking in the price is a completely worthless benefit.

[thunderball027 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close thunderball027]

So, here's some more info: The reason for acquiring more points would be to travel to other destinations, most likely in Europe. I did go to Ireland in February with my Hawaii points. Yes, I know I can go to Hawaii now, and Tahoe now, and stay at other places with my Hawaii points.

But, our youngest son is now a senior in college so it looks as if my wife and I will be able to travel more in the years ahead. This is definitely something we'd like to do. So, we want to expand our portfolio so that we can travel more, the kids can travel (perhaps with their families down the road) somwe, and we'd have greater flexibility to travel, especially abroad.

When we bought in Hawaii directly from Sunterra we got 6,000 points a year for roughly $17,000. The offer we have now is bring our Tahoe property into the club (5,500) points, plus purchase 3,500 points. That's a total of 9,000 points for $12,000. So, we'd get 50 percent more points than our original Hawaii purchase for 25 percent less money than we spent then. So long as we can use those points for anywhere Diamond has interests in property it looks like a viable deal.

Again, I'll state plainly that I'm a novice at this, so I welcome input from those of you who've been doing this longer than I. Your counsel is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[PeelBoy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PeelBoy]

I am not goint to add anything further regarding types of ownership, since there are too many and they are too confusing.

I am a Club member, meaning when I bought from the developer 12 years ago, the price included the membership fee, i.e. $2995. Every year, I have 10000 points to use.

I bought from Sunterra because of Europe, and I have been to some of them which are not disappointing. Given the high rental in Europe, I consider my investment wise and worth every cent or penny.

A few things to remember though:

1. Not every resort in Europe is the same. UK in the summer is more difficult, and so are Tuscany, Paris and Nice. Others are doable.

2. Resort quality is average according to North American standards. They are not bad, especially those in Spain.

3. If you are more flexible, like traveling in shoulder season or last minute, Diamonds Europe are excellent deals.

I would support Club membership if you plan to go to Europe very often, like every or every other year. Also don't forget II; the corporate account can help you squeeze more juice from your ownership during pink/blue/white seasons.

[madmitch Member Find all posts View Profile Close madmitch]

DRI system programmers have fixed a "GLITCH" and now us Regional Owners (the original 19 Resorts, aka The Florida Trust, aka CSV-1) can no longer access OnLine Access for bookings, reservations and more.
My calls and emails of complaint has only generated sympathy calls and an 888 number to ring for Owner Enhancement. (and after listening to Steven J Fuc*ing Cloobecks message I get moved to voice mail, and the return call is when I'm never at home)
I find that without being able to check points and book on-line DRI is a useless program for me.
After much research I find the following options available:
1. See what Owner Enhancement offers to upgrade me from the club into THE Club.
*** I have asked about my annual the club fees paid and what the difference is in price and service/options from those in THE Club. Will they provide the info... so far the answer is No!
2. Sit through a Dog and Pony Show at a resort and see what THEY bottomline at for adding points in their collection while rolling in my existing points... all while making me feel lucky I had the opportunity to get reamed and belittled as a 2nd class citizen.
3. Sell to an existing lucky THE Club Owner for $1 (who wants 27,500 points?)
4. Pay $250 per contract (plus incidentals) to return my points so DRI Sales has the right to ream some unsuspecting fool into buying them at $$$ per point and trying to make them feel good about it by popping a $3 bottle of bubbly.
Any options I'm missing?
(I can't afford a class-action suit, although I feel the situation warrants one)

Oh, did I mention my initial ownership was an EPIC Resort that was purchased by Sunterra and converted to points and Grandfathered into Club Sun? I've been fighting for that "Grandfather" every year but apparently lthe old codger lost his will to live. (Did DRI hire Dr Kevorkian?)

[Carlos Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Carlos]

Please clarify

DRI system programmers have fixed a "GLITCH" and now us Regional Owners (the original 19 Resorts, aka The Florida Trust, aka CSV-1) can no longer access OnLine Access for bookings, reservations and more.
My calls and emails of complaint has only generated sympathy calls and an 888 number to ring for Owner Enhancement. (and after listening to Steven J Fuc*ing Cloobecks message I get moved to voice mail, and the return call is when I'm never at home)
I find that without being able to check points and book on-line DRI is a useless program for me.
After much research I find the following options available:
1. See what Owner Enhancement offers to upgrade me from the club into THE Club.
*** I have asked about my annual the club fees paid and what the difference is in price and service/options from those in THE Club. Will they provide the info... so far the answer is No!
2. Sit through a Dog and Pony Show at a resort and see what THEY bottomline at for adding points in their collection while rolling in my existing points... all while making me feel lucky I had the opportunity to get reamed and belittled as a 2nd class citizen.
3. Sell to an existing lucky THE Club Owner for $1 (who wants 27,500 points?)
4. Pay $250 per contract (plus incidentals) to return my points so DRI Sales has the right to ream some unsuspecting fool into buying them at $$$ per point and trying to make them feel good about it by popping a $3 bottle of bubbly.
Any options I'm missing?
(I can't afford a class-action suit, although I feel the situation warrants one)

Oh, did I mention my initial ownership was an EPIC Resort that was purchased by Sunterra and converted to points and Grandfathered into Club Sun? I've been fighting for that "Grandfather" every year but apparently lthe old codger lost his will to live. (Did DRI hire Dr Kevorkian?)

Hi There Madmitch,

I am not sure of what you're saying so please clarify. I like you was an Epic owner. I too was tranferred to Club points from Epic and was not charged to become a member of The Club.

Are you saying that DRI is not honoring your membership into The Club anymore? I am not sure why you are having that problem? Have you kept your initial paperwork. I have just in case there is any question, but I am not sure why you would even need it once you have been in The Club.

Is it possible that you did not join The Club initially? I do recall that there was some confusion when Sunterra took over Epic. First, we had a certain amount of time to join for no charge. Then they were charging. Then they changed again and let people from Epic come at no charge again. I did not buy additional points in the beginning but did later and the all were a part of the Club.

I must say that I just looked at the Club benefits and did not find anything that states the online reservations are for Club members only.