DRI Platinum Members Value

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

Hello,

I am not a platinum owner but a gold one. When I sent DRI a letter a year or two ago, I let them know that I thought they needed to spice up the benefits for Elite owners. It is nice to see them make a stab in that direction.

At one time I strongly considered going to platinum, but as the maintenance fees spiraled out of control, I knew I was going to be in trouble. Also, just having the points I have are hard to use. 50,000 points are hard to use. I wonder how do people who work use 50000 points. As I at how many points are needed for various resorts in the system, it is clear to me except for some of the Hawaii properties that you would be hard pressed to use that many points in a year. You would really have to be traveling and getting multiple units and/or going on several vacations and bringing lots of people. I can easily see getting a few months out of that many points.

If you are are Platinum member, how do you use your membership to get the most value for you? Are you vacationing a great deal? Are the unlimited upgrades really worth it? For the $5 grand or so that you pay to have that membership level, would you suggest that others who like to travel a lot buy that many points?

[sheilaanthony Member Find all posts View Profile Close sheilaanthony]

Carlos, those are excellent questions you'll get better answers to here than at any sales presentation. If it weren't for learning so much here, we would just be deeded owners of week 52 at Powhatan. We couldn't figure out the benefits from salespeople who seemed too concerned with their bottom lines.

You are correct it would now be about 5K to take your gold to platinum. We did that twice. Once to get to silver, and then again to get to platinum. It was worth it to us to have unlimited free upgrades which we use a lot.

We are platinum with just over 50K with 3 grown children who like to travel, snowboard, and scuba. They can usually use our surplus. This year one travelled LA to NOLA and stayed at several DRI's enroute.

We have a family reunion planned for June and have reserved 4 units in one resort, and last year, for the first time, used DRI in Europe and it was wonderful. We have not traded with II and have not used club select nor any of the travel such as airlines, cars, cruises, etc. We're in driving range of Palm Springs and San Luis Bay and go to each at least once a year. This of course would all be impossible without flexible work or retirement. I doubt if it is the right vehicle for the average owner.

We always bank our surplus by the end of June, and end up borrowing back before the end of the year. Borrowing forces us to pre-pay contracts but at least we never lose points.

We would like to use Club Select but in 2 years never found anything of interest to us, but we keep looking. I'm curious, and it was asked in another thread, but how many platinum members are there in US?

Let us know what you decide, one way or another. We learn much from each other this way.

[hercules24 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hercules24]

They have just started offering Platinum memberships in EU and one of the benefits is free upgrades, I am not sure how you go about securing the free upgrades are these just offered by DRI upon arrival at resorts or does the member know in advance ?

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

Carlos, those are excellent questions you'll get better answers to here than at any sales presentation. If it weren't for learning so much here, we would just be deeded owners of week 52 at Powhatan. We couldn't figure out the benefits from salespeople who seemed too concerned with their bottom lines.

You are correct it would now be about 5K to take your gold to platinum. We did that twice. Once to get to silver, and then again to get to platinum. It was worth it to us to have unlimited free upgrades which we use a lot.

We are platinum with just over 50K with 3 grown children who like to travel, snowboard, and scuba. They can usually use our surplus. This year one travelled LA to NOLA and stayed at several DRI's enroute.

We have a family reunion planned for June and have reserved 4 units in one resort, and last year, for the first time, used DRI in Europe and it was wonderful. We have not traded with II and have not used club select nor any of the travel such as airlines, cars, cruises, etc. We're in driving range of Palm Springs and San Luis Bay and go to each at least once a year. This of course would all be impossible without flexible work or retirement. I doubt if it is the right vehicle for the average owner.

We always bank our surplus by the end of June, and end up borrowing back before the end of the year. Borrowing forces us to pre-pay contracts but at least we never lose points.

We would like to use Club Select but in 2 years never found anything of interest to us, but we keep looking. I'm curious, and it was asked in another thread, but how many platinum members are there in US?

Let us know what you decide, one way or another. We learn much from each other this way.

You were asked to guess. DRI is now claiming something like 400,000 owners, not all of which are THE Club members. So guess.

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

They have just started offering Platinum memberships in EU and one of the benefits is free upgrades, I am not sure how you go about securing the free upgrades are these just offered by DRI upon arrival at resorts or does the member know in advance ?

You can see online what's available and if the next better view or the next larger size is available (depending on DRIs interpretation du jour) you just ask for it. This is by far the ULTRA BEST benefit there is, period, no matter how they interpret it today or tomorrow.

Oh, yeah, I'd heard that upgrades would be available online in March. Hey, that's tomorrow!

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

You were asked to guess. DRI is now claiming something like 400,000 owners, not all of which are THE Club members. So guess.

If I were to guess I'd have to guess somewhere around 1% of all owners are Platinum. That would be 4,000 Platinum members based on 400,000 owners. If I were to guess a range I'd put it between 1% and 5% or, between 4,000 and 20,000 platinum members.

In reality I would think the number closer to 4,000 and, since many of those may have renting for profit and, since DRI has choosen to enforce the rules against renting anything other than to someone you know personally (renting to unknown persons is prohibited) I would almost bet that number has declined over the past year or two.

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

Carlos, those are excellent questions you'll get better answers to here than at any sales presentation. If it weren't for learning so much here, we would just be deeded owners of week 52 at Powhatan. We couldn't figure out the benefits from salespeople who seemed too concerned with their bottom lines.

You are correct it would now be about 5K to take your gold to platinum. We did that twice. Once to get to silver, and then again to get to platinum. It was worth it to us to have unlimited free upgrades which we use a lot.

We are platinum with just over 50K with 3 grown children who like to travel, snowboard, and scuba. They can usually use our surplus. This year one travelled LA to NOLA and stayed at several DRI's enroute.

We have a family reunion planned for June and have reserved 4 units in one resort, and last year, for the first time, used DRI in Europe and it was wonderful. We have not traded with II and have not used club select nor any of the travel such as airlines, cars, cruises, etc. We're in driving range of Palm Springs and San Luis Bay and go to each at least once a year. This of course would all be impossible without flexible work or retirement. I doubt if it is the right vehicle for the average owner.

We always bank our surplus by the end of June, and end up borrowing back before the end of the year. Borrowing forces us to pre-pay contracts but at least we never lose points.

We would like to use Club Select but in 2 years never found anything of interest to us, but we keep looking. I'm curious, and it was asked in another thread, but how many platinum members are there in US?

Let us know what you decide, one way or another. We learn much from each other this way.

I am glad that you are able to use most of your time. The key seems to be retirement and flexible work. I have flexibility at work, but too many years to retirement. I love to travel but as I get older I find that I enjoy staying at home more. You live in Southern California too so you may realize how hard it can be to leave home for long periods of time. I love being at home.

I went to the Grand Beach in Florida this summer and used 2 3 bdrms and still had points left over. I bought the additional points for flexibility in adding days for convenience when making airline reservations as sometimes you have to wait another day to get the flight you want or to get a cheaper flight. Also, when I retire I wanted to stay in Hawaii longer than a week. In fact, what I am finding is that one week at a place is no longer enough especially if I have been there a couple of times. I like a slower pace where I am not running everyday to see the sights.

I have used Club Select. They often have nice properties there. I have used it to stay at a Marriott property in Palm Springs and in Florida. It is a great option. If you are heading some place that just happens to be when you want to go, it is great. Sometimes it's hard to get that combination. So what I do sometimes is look to see what's available and make a vacation based upon the property and location. What is really nice is when you wait for under 60 days and there is a place in Palm Springs available and you can grab it for almost nothing. That's a deal.

The DRI flexibility options is really good. I have not had to use the upgrade option yet. I just don't like paying even more money. Plus you have to be careful, because the upgrade in not necessarily the next size room but the next type of room. One must be careful and know what the next type up is when they are upgrading.

I will let my kids use my points that I have left over too. I planned on that at some point. I have thought of letting them use them. The problem I am having is that they can almost rent the properties in many places for less than our maintenace fees.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

One other way to use points is to think about short trips rather than full week long trips. Of course you can also extend that 7 night vaction into 9 nights by starting on Friday and running your vacation through the next Sunday. Although we're not Platinum members, we've been known to tack on an extra day, say Sunday night with a Monday check-out. This way, when we leave on Sunday, we can leave whenever it's convenient for us. Makes for a more relaxed departure.

[hercules24 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hercules24]

Agree 100% with you dougp26364.

The ability to juggle around arrival dates and departure dates gives more flexibility with cheaper flights (less popular days and times) and a more relaxed check out as we sometimes book till say Tuesday but check out late on Monday for example this allows us to keep on the apartment (guaranteed) and adds to a more relaxed vacation experience.

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

What it Would Take to Go Platinum?

For the money that DRI is asking to go platinum in maintenance fees, I think I would want a whole lot more. I would want to be able to check in before 3. A newspaper and internet is now fine, but maybe even complimentary gathering for platinum members that had hors d'ouerves and beverages. Maybe even have someone check specifically on my room after the first day to make sure everything is in working order and stocked to make me feel special. How about luggage brought to the lobby. What about a two week advance reservation window before everyone else.

Except for the gathering with some refreshments, the other things did not really cost extra, but they would make me feel special and more valued. Maintenance fees would not even have to go up for these things to happen.

I know the upgrades are a big deal. However, I just don't see how to use them all the time. Once my son and I stayed at Scottsdale Links. The units there are a nice size. Well, we were given a 3 bedroom as we upgraded as they did not have any smailler rooms. That room was waaaaaay to big for the two of us. A smaller room would have been really good. It is like buying a house that is 5000 square feet for two people. It's a bit too much. At least for me anyway.

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

For the money that DRI is asking to go platinum in maintenance fees, I think I would want a whole lot more. I would want to be able to check in before 3. A newspaper and internet is now fine, but maybe even complimentary gathering for platinum members that had hors d'ouerves and beverages. Maybe even have someone check specifically on my room after the first day to make sure everything is in working order and stocked to make me feel special. How about luggage brought to the lobby. What about a two week advance reservation window before everyone else.

Except for the gathering with some refreshments, the other things did not really cost extra, but they would make me feel special and more valued. Maintenance fees would not even have to go up for these things to happen.

I know the upgrades are a big deal. However, I just don't see how to use them all the time. Once my son and I stayed at Scottsdale Links. The units there are a nice size. Well, we were given a 3 bedroom as we upgraded as they did not have any smailler rooms. That room was waaaaaay to big for the two of us. A smaller room would have been really good. It is like buying a house that is 5000 square feet for two people. It's a bit too much. At least for me anyway.

When you don't NEED the space the size upgrade is of no value while the view upgrade at places like Flamingo Beach or Hawaii resorts is, but if you're traveling with more than two people, a size upgrade from Studio to 1BR or 1BR to 2BR gives everyone a touch more privacy. Think more than two people.

Again, guess how many Platinum members there are, it could be a very lonely complimentary gathering for platinum members that had hors d'ouerves and beverages.

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

I considered...

...a couple of years ago when I did an upgrade to my deeded week and joined THE Club at the same time. I upgraded to Gold, but since I have my Marriott, I am finding it difficult to: 1) find time to travel (yeh, right) and 2) paying all them seemly-fast rising M/Fs (both Marriott and DRI).

Now, IF we did not have out Marriott, we would have considered platinum (we love to travel and points flexibilty is something we have been looking for for many years), but again, the M/F issue may have still stopped that. M/F's are an absolute drag to TS ownership as it keeps increasing and it seems we (owners) have no control over it. Not a good thing to hang over your head when considering increasing your TS ownership.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

For the money that DRI is asking to go platinum in maintenance fees, I think I would want a whole lot more. I would want to be able to check in before 3. A newspaper and internet is now fine, but maybe even complimentary gathering for platinum members that had hors d'ouerves and beverages. Maybe even have someone check specifically on my room after the first day to make sure everything is in working order and stocked to make me feel special. How about luggage brought to the lobby. What about a two week advance reservation window before everyone else.

Except for the gathering with some refreshments, the other things did not really cost extra, but they would make me feel special and more valued. Maintenance fees would not even have to go up for these things to happen.

I know the upgrades are a big deal. However, I just don't see how to use them all the time. Once my son and I stayed at Scottsdale Links. The units there are a nice size. Well, we were given a 3 bedroom as we upgraded as they did not have any smailler rooms. That room was waaaaaay to big for the two of us. A smaller room would have been really good. It is like buying a house that is 5000 square feet for two people. It's a bit too much. At least for me anyway.

Actually, at ~10 cents per point, DRI's MF's aren't all that far off everything else we own of comparable value. We own 7 timeshare weeks with a grand total of $6,500 in MF's. 50,000 DRI points would be ~$6,000 including MF's per point, THE Club dues and trust membership fee's if these were trust based points. It would take 52,500 points to get seven 2 bedroom exchanges through I.I. So for us, DRI's fee's are about average for what we own.

Now I could go into a lot more detail and explain that 5 of our units are lock-offs and, as the exchange system stands now I can manipulate those lock-offs using different trade techniques to obtain more value from what I own but, that would be an entirely different converstation. Of course there are trade off's between points and weeks exchange programs and we could debate until the cows come home which is the better system. On the surface at least, DRI's MF's are in line with the other resorts we own.

[hercules24 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hercules24]

Yes DRI fees do seem to be pretty much aligned with other time share companies but the advantage of points is the greater flexibility to book at different times of season and for full or part weeks and at different resorts without paying exchange fees plus the added value of DRI Select which is just starting to evolve. Also now Platinum members get 50% extra on trade in value to book holidays such as cruises, etc outside the club (was 4p per point now 6p per point in UK) this saves money on booking third party holidays by trading in your points for such holidays. I as a Platinum member am extremely delighted how things have evolved in the last 12 months.

[sheilaanthony Member Find all posts View Profile Close sheilaanthony]

How many Platinum Elite? 1,600

We made some reservations via phone today. The phone rep was very nice, offering to recommend restaurants, things to do etc. in his home town where we reserved. Also confirmed that there will be 13 representatives working around the clock beginning in April to serve the approximately 1,600 Platinum Elite members. Also said that we can save all our points by June 30th, and then borrow back to use points towards the end of the year without having to pay 75% of the contract in advance. That's a big enhancement, and I don't recall seeing that in writing anywhere. Maybe I missed it, but would love to have that confirmed.