Annual Fees

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

I am a new owner with Diamond Resorts and i am concerned about the annual fees. When I purchased they said the annual fee was $1300 but upon my return home I started looking at the Internet posts and now I am not sure what the total annual costs are? Can anyone please advise as to what the history has been for all of the annual charges? maintenance, club fees, assessments etc.

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

There are various fee structures, depending upon what you own and where you own. There are also fees for the club and trust if you bought into either of those. Do you own a week or points? If points, how many?

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

Annual fees Diamond Resort

I bought 10,000 points

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

I have 11,500 annual points, club and trust memberships. Last year, our MF was just under $1300. So the estimate you were given is about right. I believe it was close to a $200.00 increase between 2009 and 2010 dues. Hopefully we won't get socked with a big increase this year - but given the state of the economy, I wouldn't be surprised to see another $200 increase this year. It's alot of money to pay out at the holidays.

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

thanks the information is helpful...

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

MF increases were huge

The increases in MF were huge when DRI took over. However, last year was not too bad as it was in the previous two years. DRI has been doing a lot of work on the properties. I think they won't be making those great increases in MF next year.

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

The increases in MF were huge when DRI took over. However, last year was not too bad as it was in the previous two years. DRI has been doing a lot of work on the properties. I think they won't be making those great increases in MF next year.

There was, IMHO, a vast difference between what Sunterra was collecting and what they should have been collecting just to maintain the resorts. I remember reading threads complaining about the poor maintenance or complete lack of maintenance. The one unit we stayed in while Sunterra was in control was so unimpressive and had enough maintenance issues we had decided to avoid exchanges into Sunterra resorts from that point forward.

DRI had the unenviable task of getting the maintenance done, paying for it and upgrading the resorts to their standards. That took money. They could have waded into it with a 10 year plan or, they could go after it and get it done in a much shorter timespan. The first way would have probably been easier on the owners but, the later got the resorts up to speed and gave the sales staff a quality product to sell.

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

the later got the resorts up to speed and gave the sales staff a quality product to sell.

Maybe I've had bad luck with the rooms I have been assigned recently, but 2 of the last 3 rooms I stayed in had maintenance issues.

My room in the Marquis Villas had problems with hot water, electrical outlets, and a parking garage gate was broken.

My room at Sedona Summit (Studio Mesa) had loose floor tiles in the bathroom, a leaky shower head, and mildew in the shower. The Mesa units look pretty, but I suspect that Sunterra went cheap on the construction. Those units aren't that old - the ceramic tiles shouldn't be lifting off the floor. On the other hand, I stay at Sedona Summit quite a lot and this is the first issue I've had, so maybe the problems with that room aren't indicative of Mesa rooms in general.

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

Palm Springs Beware!

I don't like the Palm Springs property. I love its location, but I thought DRI was fixing it up. I know when I visited there two years ago, DRI was remodeling and refurbishing rooms there.

I am said to hear there are still maintenance issues there.

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

Maybe I've had bad luck with the rooms I have been assigned recently, but 2 of the last 3 rooms I stayed in had maintenance issues.

My room in the Marquis Villas had problems with hot water, electrical outlets, and a parking garage gate was broken.

My room at Sedona Summit (Studio Mesa) had loose floor tiles in the bathroom, a leaky shower head, and mildew in the shower. The Mesa units look pretty, but I suspect that Sunterra went cheap on the construction. Those units aren't that old - the ceramic tiles shouldn't be lifting off the floor. On the other hand, I stay at Sedona Summit quite a lot and this is the first issue I've had, so maybe the problems with that room aren't indicative of Mesa rooms in general.

I'm hoping that those things were reported to DRI. When they know about situations they tend to act on them farely quickly.

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

I'm hoping that those things were reported to DRI. When they know about situations they tend to act on them farely quickly.

I totaly agree. Though I'm disappointed that DRI housekeeping are not more proactive in noticing maintainance issues and shortages. While at Sedona our kitchen was missing several items, we reported the problem and got them replaced extremly quickly but without an inventory who knows what should be there!

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

I certainly hope the maint fees do not keep increasing at the current rate, although last year was not as big as when Diamond first took over for Sunterra.
I stayed at the Marquis Villas in Palm Springs this spring and was very disappointed in the overall condition of the property and the kitchen fixtures/tools. I will not return there anytime soon.
The rest of the Diamond resorts which we have seen have been very well kept and upgraded to current standards.