? about parents' Hawaiian DRI Timeshare - need help, please!

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

My parents have a timeshare at the Point at Poipu (oceanfront 2 BR) for Jan 29 - Feb19 that they've enjoyed for the past 15 or so years. My mom's health has deteriorated & they are unable to go this year, and my dad is worried about what to do with the timeshare... I said I'd look into it and thankfully found TS4MS.

I've been reading threads about selling/renting points, etc. but I'm lost - I have no idea what the best move for them is at this point & would appreciate any guidance as to whether this TS is worth anything, whether it's better to sell, rent the points, or even if that's a possibilty/reality. I'm going to call DRI but thought I should get guidance here first & find out what questions I should be sure to ask them/info to get.

Acc. to the statement from DRI from Jan 2010:
Points used: 34500:
Current year balance: 22000
Next year balance: 23000

My dad says that oceanfront during this time period is really hard to get and thinks that renting the points should be worth something & should be doable.. after reading a lot of threads about people stuck with TS I'm not so sure...

Advice & info desperately needed & greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks~

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

Need a little more information.

My parents have a timeshare at the Point at Poipu (oceanfront 2 BR) for Jan 29 - Feb19 that they've enjoyed for the past 15 or so years. My mom's health has deteriorated & they are unable to go this year, and my dad is worried about what to do with the timeshare... I said I'd look into it and thankfully found TS4MS.

I've been reading threads about selling/renting points, etc. but I'm lost - I have no idea what the best move for them is at this point & would appreciate any guidance as to whether this TS is worth anything, whether it's better to sell, rent the points, or even if that's a possibilty/reality. I'm going to call DRI but thought I should get guidance here first & find out what questions I should be sure to ask them/info to get.

Acc. to the statement from DRI from Jan 2010:
Points used: 34500:
Current year balance: 22000
Next year balance: 23000

My dad says that oceanfront during this time period is really hard to get and thinks that renting the points should be worth something & should be doable.. after reading a lot of threads about people stuck with TS I'm not so sure...

Advice & info desperately needed & greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks~

Hello,

I have an understanding of what you're asking, but from what you have posted I am a bit confused. Not knowing from that Jan 2010 statement if he had reservations made already for someplaces makes it difficult to determine how many points he actually has. He could have 23000 points for 2011 but he could have a reservation on the books? If he used 34500 points that means he could have carried some points over from the last year. So I would need some more information.

If your father has a those weeks already booked and you can't go, you could try to rent the time to someone else. You can try to rent it on this site, Timeshare User's Group or Redweek or even Ebay or Craigslist. You need to see what the market is going for to rent it and place a competitive ad. The Point has 2 bedrooms and is a nice property that could help in finding a renter.

I am not sure if your parents have points or not. Sometimes that account may show points but your parents could just own the weeks purchased at the Point. I am not completely sure if they bought additional points as well as keeping the deeded property.

Selling points with DRI is hard. Only they can sell the points. You can sell your points back to them but you must not have any loans on the points and all maintenance fees must be paid off and you must pay DRI about $250 to take them off your hands.

Find out if your parents have deeded weeks or points. It sounds though as if they may have points. Also, you should be getting information about maintenance fees soon. You can get more up to date information. However, if you are calling DRI, they can give you all the information you will need as to what your parents own.

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

Hi Carlos,

Thank you so much for this info!

RE: the points - when I talked with my dad last night he said that they'd bought points at 4 different times, adding weeks each time until they ended up owning 50,000+ points. He said that they paid them off up front so that there would be just the MF due after the purchase (which he said used to be $500...just got next year's bill & the MF are over $7000... that seems huge to me!). He said that they didn't owe anything on the points. Also, they already paid the maintenance fee for the 2011 rental for the upcoming 3 weeks, so that the bill they just got is actually the $7000+ less the amount that they already paid.

He said that the points for next year (2011) represented the points that were left over after they reserved the three weeks at the Point at Poipu... there are left over points now because they used to stay longer, using up all of their points. He said the current year ballance represents points left over from this year that they didn't use (points roll over?). This is his understanding... I will confirm this with DRI.

With RE: the rental - we can't use it, and Dad said that there's a stiff penalty within 60 days/30 days if you cancel or change a reservation, so it sounds like renting the points to someone else via the sites you recommended would be the way to go - thank you very much for those recs!

RE: selling - I think this would be the ultimate goal, so that they don't have the MF to pay every year & the worry about what to do with their points. So to get out of owning this timeshare they have to sell the points back to DRI... when you say you have to pay them to take the points, does that mean that this is kind of a commission/sales fee, which would be deducted from the amount DRI would pay for the points? Plus my parents would pay the balance of the maintenance fees on top of this commission?

With all the points they have, they would get something for them and not walk away empty-handed or owing anything, would they? My dad is worried that he made such a huge "investment" and I think is only now starting to realize that it probably wasn't a good investment at all.

Thank you again so much for your insight - it's been a huge help!

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

Hi, I don't know anything about DRI, but if the penalty on cancellation starts at 60 days, couldn't you still cancel the second (if you act today) and the third weeks reserved without penalty? Maybe later in the year your folks or you could use the points. The first week, if that one is too late to cancel, could be dealt with separately. Trying to rent the week is a good idea, or you/they could use an exchange company such as sfx-resorts to deposit the week and in the future go somewhere else as an exchange.

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

Hi, I don't know anything about DRI, but if the penalty on cancellation starts at 60 days, couldn't you still cancel the second (if you act today) and the third weeks reserved without penalty? Maybe later in the year your folks or you could use the points. The first week, if that one is too late to cancel, could be dealt with separately. Trying to rent the week is a good idea, or you/they could use an exchange company such as sfx-resorts to deposit the week and in the future go somewhere else as an exchange.

Hi Calgal,

That's not a bad idea - I thought we were inside the 60 day cancellation not realizing that we could just cancel the 2nd & 3 weeks. Thank you for the suggestion - I'll check into it!

[philsfan Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close philsfan]

I don't know anything about DRI either but if you can't cancel wouldn't you be able to rent the reserved units (and not the points)? Most renters don't jump until a couple of months before check-in anyway so you really aren't behind as far as renting goes.

[PortableTech Member Find all posts View Profile Close PortableTech]

Perhaps you can trade them into a third party group like SFX. I am unsure if that is a resort they accept, but you could always check. They have some good deposit deals going on now as well.

-- PortableTech

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

Thanks for the replies!

philsfan - Yes, you're right. I called DRI today to ask about that; we're already inside the "cancel w/in 60 - 14 days and lose 50% of the points" period so it looks like renting/renting (not sure what the correct term is!) the 3 weeks that my parents already have booked in the oceanfront room at the Point is the best option for now. Thanks!

Portable Tech - thanks for that recommendation! I'd never heard of SFX; checked them out and they have one garden view room available at the Point, so that might also be an option.

I'm also glad to hear that this isn't as last-minute as I was thinking it was & that finding someone else to go for those weeks is an option.

Again, thanks very much!

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

Options

Hi Carlos,

Thank you so much for this info!

RE: the points - when I talked with my dad last night he said that they'd bought points at 4 different times, adding weeks each time until they ended up owning 50,000+ points. He said that they paid them off up front so that there would be just the MF due after the purchase (which he said used to be $500...just got next year's bill & the MF are over $7000... that seems huge to me!). He said that they didn't owe anything on the points. Also, they already paid the maintenance fee for the 2011 rental for the upcoming 3 weeks, so that the bill they just got is actually the $7000+ less the amount that they already paid.

He said that the points for next year (2011) represented the points that were left over after they reserved the three weeks at the Point at Poipu... there are left over points now because they used to stay longer, using up all of their points. He said the current year ballance represents points left over from this year that they didn't use (points roll over?). This is his understanding... I will confirm this with DRI.

With RE: the rental - we can't use it, and Dad said that there's a stiff penalty within 60 days/30 days if you cancel or change a reservation, so it sounds like renting the points to someone else via the sites you recommended would be the way to go - thank you very much for those recs!

RE: selling - I think this would be the ultimate goal, so that they don't have the MF to pay every year & the worry about what to do with their points. So to get out of owning this timeshare they have to sell the points back to DRI... when you say you have to pay them to take the points, does that mean that this is kind of a commission/sales fee, which would be deducted from the amount DRI would pay for the points? Plus my parents would pay the balance of the maintenance fees on top of this commission?

With all the points they have, they would get something for them and not walk away empty-handed or owing anything, would they? My dad is worried that he made such a huge "investment" and I think is only now starting to realize that it probably wasn't a good investment at all.

Thank you again so much for your insight - it's been a huge help!

Ok. This helps me a bit. First, your dad has left a lot of points on the table for the 2010 year if he did not use any of those points. 22000 points is a large number of points. One could stay quite a few weeks in the DRI system if the points are used correctly. You parents are platinum elite members with DRI. The get unlimited free upgrades which can bring great value. They also belong to the DRI Club which has a lot of benefits such as airfare redemption, cruises, travel packages,safaris and a host of other opportunities. The Club is an option that you could have taken advantage of instead of losing all of those points but you had to have done that by September 30th. At the very least you could have saved the points into 2011 and then used them. By not using the points you have basically wasted that $7000 especially if the trip to Hawaii cannot be taken. You must save any points by the end of June otherwise you must use them by December 31st.

Your options for next year could be to try to give the points back. DRI will actually take them away from you if you don't pay your maintenance fees since your parents have paid for them already. You cannot sell points in the Club. Only DRI can sell the points. Yes, you can make a reservation and rent out rooms, but know that that is against the Club rules unless you are doing it with family and friends. They don't want you just renting to strangers like you're in business for yourself. This is in the Club rules.

I would advise you to go to the DRI website and login.(your parents should have the login and password.) You will see what the updated points for 2010, points used and your 2011 points.

More importantly, you will see all of the Club benefits. If you are going to pay $7000 your parents and maybe even your own family can take advantage of the Club membership. There are many, many benefits that you can use even if you don't travel. For example, you can even send flowers on Mother's Day or something. There are just so many things you can do with your points.
The Club Benefits can be found after you log in on the left side of the page after you log in. Please note that you get the most value for your points by using them for accommodations. Anything else is giving you less value for your points. However, using the points for something is better than losing them altogether.


Basically, your dad would walk away empty handed if he gives away the points, but he would not have to pay maintenances fees anymore. For some that is a big savings each year because they go up every year.

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

IMO, the extra "benefits" of club membership are not worth it.
As far as the 2010 points go - remember they can only be used in 2011, so you won't be able to carry those into 2012. (You can, however, carry over your 2011 points into 2012 if you save them by the end of June.)
Look at DRI's website and see if there are other places you can go to use the points. If a full week is out of the question, DRI will allow you to stay for a minimum of two days. You can also stay for 8, 9 or more days. The advantage of points is that you are not committed to a full week's stay. DRI provides a gold membership with II for exchanges. You may find something there to use your points.
$7000 is lot to pay for MFs every year, so I can understand your concern about being able to keep up with the annual MFs (which will increase every year). Keep in mind your parents can sell the points, but they can't sell the membership in the club. All new owners must buy into the Club (if they want it).

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

IMO, the extra "benefits" of club membership are not worth it.
As far as the 2010 points go - remember they can only be used in 2011, so you won't be able to carry those into 2012. (You can, however, carry over your 2011 points into 2012 if you save them by the end of June.)
Look at DRI's website and see if there are other places you can go to use the points. If a full week is out of the question, DRI will allow you to stay for a minimum of two days. You can also stay for 8, 9 or more days. The advantage of points is that you are not committed to a full week's stay. DRI provides a gold membership with II for exchanges. You may find something there to use your points.
$7000 is lot to pay for MFs every year, so I can understand your concern about being able to keep up with the annual MFs (which will increase every year). Keep in mind your parents can sell the points, but they can't sell the membership in the club. All new owners must buy into the Club (if they want it).

The Club's benefits at least give you something as opposed to nothing for unused points. He is about to lose 22000 points for 2010. It's not a question of if the extra benefits are worth it. His parents own over 50,000 points each year.

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

The Club's benefits at least give you something as opposed to nothing for unused points. He is about to lose 22000 points for 2010. It's not a question of if the extra benefits are worth it. His parents own over 50,000 points each year.

I agree with you that at least it's a way of using all those extra points. What I meant to say was that it wasn't worth it to purchase so many points just to be able to use them for club extras. Sorry - should have been more clear with that.

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

Carlos & Longtimer, thank you very much for that information! I called my Dad & asked more questions...am slowly starting to figure out what their situation is.

The good news is that he is pretty sure that the 22000 points were saved into next year; he's also going to find his login/password info for the website so that we can confirm what the current status is. If it turns out they weren't saved, at least we have a little time and can hopefully use them for something before the end of the year.

Also, DRI told me that they points my parents have for Hawaii are ones that DRI might buy back, so I'm going to call and find out about that.

I think now what I need to do ASAP is figure out what a fair price is for the 3 weeks in Jan/Feb in Kaui and try to rent those weeks out. I'll check out other ads from the suggestions given here and go from there. Hopefully someone will want to be oceanfront and will rent... win-win situation for us all.

Again, very much appreciate the replies & help!