DRI questions

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

Hello group,
I am new to this forum and have been going through some of the posts to get better educated on using the timeshare we own.
I just traded our deeded week in Gatlinburg through RCI to get to Orlando at Cypress Pointe. While there we did the meeting to get info on the property when we saw they were part of the DRI system which seems to be the group that took over Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg was Sunterra, then Summer Bay, now Diamond.
In the meeting they were selling points which were in a "trust" and said Gatlinburg was club affiliated so they could convert our week every year into points by request but the week would not be taken back and converted one time into points to become one single package. They wanted to sell a package of points to get us into their system while the maintanence fees remained separate for each location.
My question is about the trust. Is it the better way to go than the deeded weeks? I feel better with the week I own on paperwork being an actual unit that we return to which kept me from upgrading to the Sunoptions on a previous tour. The tour guide was saying the trust offered more protection so you wouldn't lose a timeshre in situations like bankruptcy but for me it sounds like you are losing the deeded stake you have in a location. I also read that if you were behind on a payment at sometime they could take your part of the trust back. Would that be true? I would like to know which options are looking to be the best choice at this time.
Thank you for your time and responses.

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

LaTravelers welocme to TS4Ms

Hello group,
I am new to this forum and have been going through some of the posts to get better educated on using the timeshare we own.
I just traded our deeded week in Gatlinburg through RCI to get to Orlando at Cypress Pointe. While there we did the meeting to get info on the property when we saw they were part of the DRI system which seems to be the group that took over Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg was Sunterra, then Summer Bay, now Diamond.

The GBurg resort is currently managed by Summer Bay although some of the inventory there is in THE Club because of prior management arrangements.

In the meeting they were selling points which were in a "trust" and said Gatlinburg was club affiliated so they could convert our week every year into points by request but the week would not be taken back and converted one time into points to become one single package. They wanted to sell a package of points to get us into their system while the maintanence fees remained separate for each location.
My question is about the trust. Is it the better way to go than the deeded weeks?

Most don't think so. One of their 'selling' points is that you are 'protected' from MF hikes and special assessments at your one property but if you really think about it, in the long run, you pay more with the Trusts because over time it all averages out and you pay Trust management on top of all that!

I feel better with the week I own on paperwork being an actual unit that we return to which kept me from upgrading to the Sunoptions on a previous tour. The tour guide was saying the trust offered more protection so you wouldn't lose a timeshre in situations like bankruptcy but for me it sounds like you are losing the deeded stake you have in a location. I also read that if you were behind on a payment at sometime they could take your part of the trust back. Would that be true? I would like to know which options are looking to be the best choice at this time.

Tour Guide AKA saleswoman is full of bull. Yes, if you miss payment(s) they can just cancel you, no long foreclosure process where you have a chance to make up.

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

I agree with the answers given by Spence, but I'm curious what type of unit and week do you own. Points work out really well for some units and weeks and not good at all for others, same could be said for exchanges. The difference I've seen is some holiday weeks at locations not really in demand for holidays are quite overvalued in the DRI points system versus traditional RCI/Interval Exchanges and ofcourse sometimes the mini-system works against you. This is totally unrelated to your concerns however. Did they try to sell you on the club also or just converting to the trust? Because you could keep your deeds and join the club and still have the benefits or points and the protection of your deeds (you ask to retain your deeded weeks), but again this is only a good deal if you don't own a trash week/unit by the points definition (high fees and little points).

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

First off, Thanks for the quick response Spence.

Mace, I own red time 2BR lockout in September. The tour this time just tried to get me to buy a package in the DRI trust system with the cost of 3.55/pt. I asked about having the 2 accounts together to reduce the confusion and cost for me but they said it would remain separate but I could get 5500 points for the GB week. It was mainly aimed at getting me into the silver point range of the system. I am also dealing with a separate system (Bluegreen) at this point and didn't want to add to the systems I had to understand. We went to the meeting to here their side of the story concerning the talks with BG. I think we will just have to wait till the Nov 15 deadline gets closer.

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

That saleswoman had absolutely no idea on what is/was going on with BG which got as low as $3.50 yesterday!

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

3.55 a point is way too much!

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

I agree I believe I would wait to join the system, but I would never pay $3 per point. Read the conversion sticky before you do anything, I converted into the club and paid around $1.30 for 8000 points and conversion of 4 weeks, and was able to keep my deeds quite a few have done much better than I did.

If BG comes into the system, I suspect they will get overvalued as far as points as an enticement to get those individuals into the Club this is a guess however.

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

3.55 a point is way too much!

maybe the salesperson is confused btwn price/pt and BG stock price???

yes too much vs. resale but the direct-dri price/pts seems to keep going up since we converted approx sept 2007

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

The 3.55 is from the final offer I was given (2500pts for $8875). They showed the point sheet with price and maintanence fees listed. I almost choked when I saw prices in $5 range to start. Their final offer deal was in the $3 range.
Thanks for the info on checking the conversion sticky. I had missed that one.