Undercover boss

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

I have seen about 10 other undercover boss episodes. I found this one to by a bit different than the rest. I really saw it an entire show for him to show off all he has and not much to do with the actual company itself. Hey...give him credit - he built his empire. But, there have been many, many other CEO's on this show that have and none of the episodes were about them. Thumbs down for me.

BTW - at the end when we got the shot of him half naked from that back. Was anyone worried that he was going to be sitting in an old claw bathtub. Just like the Cialis commercials! Both my DH and I looked at each other and said "hope that's not a tub"

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Yes, we got a survey immediately after to win an iPad so why not? At the end they asked if we wanted to be contacted or not. We are done with timesharing for sure with so many changes lately so filled out "no".

They also ask for your income and your assets and if you didn't answer that it would not let you go any further so we gave them the smallest figures so will not qualify and be left alone.

[madmitch Member Find all posts View Profile Close madmitch]

I watched the show. I took the survey.
Undercover Boss has changed since the first shows when it started.
Remember when they had large groups of employees together at the end to catch the highlights and listen to the Boss promise to be different.
I'm a DRI owner, my initial ownership was Epic which was bought by SunTerror.
I added points contracts via resale and one 5000 point takeover, rolled them all in with a final points buy through Diamond.
I like what SJC has been doing, he has been upgrading and adding potentially good properties. Juts hope they do more West Coast Resorts!
(Why add Los Abrigados when they have Sedona Golf Resort and Sedona Summit? Why add Mystic Dunes when they have CP, CPGV, GB and Poly Isle? Why not add something in Anaheim, Calif Coast, Wash/Oregon?)
Our M&T pays for the updates and renovations, don't they?
Now, about Steven J Cloobeck... I was NOT impressed with him on this show. His disguise was horrible, he seemed to be a spoiled ass, and he had to break character when the phone rep wasn't directing the member to BUY more points. (couldn't they borrow from next year to do the Hawaii vacation? How about one-time points buy/rental?)
One of my biggest peeves of this show has been how a select few are shown sympathy and given gifts, while others just get dragged along.
How about, as one example, the PAINTERS GROUP gets to split $10,000 amongst themselves? The selected person gets his perks but his co-workers get a share too.
Overbooking? What is this an airline? What are they going to do to make that better with a bit of advance notice, especially if the person has flights they can't change? Extra vacation certificate and rebate, a vacation week paid for in Hawaii or Ireland?
How about the phone rep unable to book the week for a points owner do research and CALL The Owner Back with viable options?
One last thing, my place of employment was just purchased about 10 days ago ($143mil for the group) and the new CEO made his visit to our site today. He said one difference between the previous ownership and him... he doesn't have an airplane! He had 3 others with him and not one was a former Special Ops Body Guard!

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

(Why add Los Abrigados when they have Sedona Golf Resort and Sedona Summit? Why add Mystic Dunes when they have CP, CPGV, GB and Poly Isle? Why not add something in Anaheim, Calif Coast, Wash/Oregon?)
Our M&T pays for the updates and renovations, don't they?

To have an almost total sales lock on all visitors to Sedona.

That's right. DRI is not paying for the upgrades to your ownership, you are.

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

DRI announces that CEO Stephen J. Cloobeck recently went undercover with CBS in the U.S. and will be appearing on the season premiere of the emmy-nominated reality series UNDERCOVER BOSS. Tune in on Sunday, January 15 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET/PT to follow his journey.

those those dieing to see this
Undercover Boss: Undercover Boss - Diamond Resorts - AT&T U-verse Online

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Honestly I was a bit disapointed in the show. I had for some dumb reason that we were going to see Spence on TV,

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

Personally, I liked the show because the CEO has now raised that mind set level of expectation for guests that all Diamond International Branded Resorts will be some day on the same high level of standards as Marriott and Hilton Resorts.

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

Personally, I liked the show because the CEO has now raised that mind set level of expectation for guests that all Diamond International Branded Resorts will be some day on the same high level of standards as Marriott and Hilton Resorts.

At what cost though? Many of the members of the club cannot afford enough points for many of the resorts. My wife and I have been lucky in that we have enough points to enjoy 2 or 3 weeks a year. We are happy with the improvements that have happened in the last few years. The most notable improvement in our opinion has been in customer service. Two years ago my wife was in tears after leaving an owner update. The person we dealt with was rude and a liar. She told us that some things we were promised in our previous update were not going to happen and we could not do anything about it. Several calls to Diamond headquarters also did us no good. We decided to dump Diamond and go with another company and bought into their points system. Last spring we went to Greensprings Plantation for a long weekend. We went to a presentation for discount tickets. The people we talked to were so different from the previous people. They resolved our issues to our satisfaction and did not high pressure us. We were so impressed we upgraded our points. If they had improved cutomer service earlier and dealt with our issues fairly from the start we would have spent the money we used to get into the other program to upgrade with Diamond. We regret getting the other points as we now love how we are treated at the Diamond resorts. Marriott and Hilton should be concerned.

[madmitch Member Find all posts View Profile Close madmitch]

So you were happier with Diamond Resorts but dumped them for the other plan.
Is that what I'm getting out of your message?
Many have considered divesting themselves of Diamond/Club Points, so your insight could be crucial to changes.

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

So you were happier with Diamond Resorts but dumped them for the other plan.
Is that what I'm getting out of your message?
Many have considered divesting themselves of Diamond/Club Points, so your insight could be crucial to changes.

I think what he is say is he WAS a member, then based on his bad experience at an owners update, he left DRI for another system. He has since had positive experiences with DRI and regrets leaving DRI in the first place.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

I applaud the move to upgrade the former Sunterra (and other brand) locations to new, higher standards. But realize that the improvements are being done on the owners dime - not Diamond's (except for the time they actually own & pay the fees for). Nothing inherently wrong with that IF that is what the owners desire. If they don't want it then the upgrades may raise fees to the point that they want to get out. That is not a good outcome.

[deb335 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close deb335]

Cloobeck looked like a total egotistical idiot!!
And did ANYONE notice the poor sales girl he was berating for lack of training was unable to find a single vacation for her callers because either there was not availability at the resort the caller requested or no availability for the dates the caller requested?
We almost bought into DRI as former Sunterra owners and I am SO glad we passed. As a matter of fact we paid a company to take our timeshare off our hands - no more maintenance fees, extra assessments, "no availability"!! From now on we can pay for the vacation we want, where we want to go, when we want to go, and not feel shackled by our timeshare! If any of you search the resort where you own a timeshare you may just find you can book a vacation there through places like Expedia and Orbitz!

[hummmm67 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hummmm67]

If you watch this episode with Mr. Cloobeck and are tempted to buy a Diamond Resorts International (DRI) timeshare property or points in their “Club” make sure you do your homework. Skyrocketing maintenance fees and tremendously high assessments have been part of our experience as owners at the Point at Poipu in Hawaii. When you buy, expect to have it for life and your children will be saddled with it because you won't be able to sell it. We haven’t been able to even give it away. This could be you. In my opinion, buyer beware of Diamond Resorts International. See COPP Home Page and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pointatpoipu. Also, do a search of Diamond Resorts International complaints and see what you come up with.

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

I applaud the move to upgrade the former Sunterra (and other brand) locations to new, higher standards. But realize that the improvements are being done on the owners dime - not Diamond's (except for the time they actually own & pay the fees for). Nothing inherently wrong with that IF that is what the owners desire. If they don't want it then the upgrades may raise fees to the point that they want to get out. That is not a good outcome.

IMHO, this is simply the part of timeshare where change is constant. The landscape is always changing and sometimes it's difficult to stay ahead of the power curve.

In the past I've seen a lot of posts about buying cheap and trading expensive. IOW, buy something like an inexpensive South African week (or Sunterra points) and use it to trade into the Hyatt's, Marriott's, Westin's, DVC's and Hilton's of the timeshare world. Let the suckers pay the high MF's for the right to book first while the smart timeshare consumer pays the cheapest fee to get the most out of their ownership.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that plan but, you have to have an exit strategy to execute it perfectly. You'll always need to be thinking about selling what you currently own and exploring ownership in other resorts. Things change constantly. What was once a good inexpensive exchange week may no longer get what you want or, in the case of Sunterra properties, it might not be inexpensive anymore.

You've got to be able to read the tea leaves and jump before the hand is dealt. Some are good at this, others are asleep at the wheel. In this case, I think the economy played a part and some who would have dealt their old inexpensive ownerships got stuck holding the bag as the resale market came to all but a stand still.

While I still hold to the idea it's best to own what you can use (modified from own where you want to go to include the proliferation of points based programs). It can be tricky if you own a low cost, low maintenance timeshare that gets gobbled up in the consolidation of timeshare management companies going on since the economic collapse.Try to jump after the consilidation and you're likely to be stuck as others can see what's happened and stear clear. Think of it like picking stocks before they become popular choices. It's NOT an easy thing to do.

I doubt many saw this coming. There's been a major upheavel of sorts with the poorly run companies running aground in these tough economic times. strong timeshare companies have decided it's easier to buy and upgrade the weaker companies vs building new resorts of their own (DRI and HGVC are prime examples of this).......resulting in higher cost for those who were content with the low cost/low maintenace timeshares they owned.

These are tricky times for the frugal timeshare owner bent on buying low and trading high. You'd better be paying attention and move before it's obvious. Otherwise, you'll be one of those complaining about a takeover and new, higher MF's to go along with the new shinny upgrades at the old inexpensive resort you once owned.

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Doug - You hit the nail on buy to use (not necessarily buy where you like) now. The better points systems are the only way to get value from trades.

The other option, used carefully, is buy where you want to go. Less flexible but if you really like it a good choice. Buying a location just planning to trade is a losers game now for certain.

If you aren't in a good points system then renting is the best way to "trade" (and you don't even have to own if you don't want).