Points Fee 2009

[johnsorg Member Find all posts View Profile Close johnsorg]

I was just told by a sales rep that the points fee for 2009 will be .1004 per point. This is an appoximate 25% increase over 2008!!!!!!!!!

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

I was just told by a sales rep that the points fee for 2009 will be .1004 per point. This is an appoximate 25% increase over 2008!!!!!!!!!

That's the generic increase I've seen this year across all their resorts.

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

what's a 'point fee' ?
Posted via Mobile Device

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

what's a 'point fee' ?
Posted via Mobile Device

I assumed that it was the maintenance fee per point for the most common DRI Trust, Florida Trust/CSV1. This does not include the Club Fee of $235 for 2009 or any ~$200 Base Fee for a Trust based Club membership.

[Y-ASK Member Find all posts View Profile Close Y-ASK]

The Ridge on Sedona went up 25%.

Y-ASK

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

Hello everyone,
The raised fees aren't a surprise. They keep going up and up. My guess is that new sales are really down due to the economy. The TS companies have budgets to meet and they have to raise money somehow. We're held hostage if we want to keep our TS. So far, my family is lucky that we've been able to afford the MFs. We have 11,500 DRI points. I would love to purchase more points or buy another TS. However, even if I buy more points or another unit at a steep resale price, the extra maintenance fees would be quite an extra burden on us. Those of you who have multiple TS - how on earth do you pay all the fees?

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

Hello everyone,
The raised fees aren't a surprise. They keep going up and up. My guess is that new sales are really down due to the economy. The TS companies have budgets to meet and they have to raise money somehow. We're held hostage if we want to keep our TS. So far, my family is lucky that we've been able to afford the MFs. We have 11,500 DRI points. I would love to purchase more points or buy another TS. However, even if I buy more points or another unit at a steep resale price, the extra maintenance fees would be quite an extra burden on us. Those of you who have multiple TS - how on earth do you pay all the fees?

There are multiple revenue flows and raised fees for maintenance have little to do with the sales end of things except that the company, and most TS companies, attempt to hold down fees to make MFs seem more attractive to the new buyers, often to the detriment of the condition of the resort. Most often it is done by shorting the capital reserve funds, a special assessment then becomes necessary which is easier for the sales team to 'hide' when trying to make sales!

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

Can we calculate our Club Fee then for 2009 as follows, using 10,000 points as an example?

$235 Club Fee + $200 Base Fee + 10,000 x .1004 or $1004 = $1439 ????

Thanks!!

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

Hi Spence,
Thanks for the reply. Sorry if I sound like I'm down on the high cost of MF. Actually, although I'm disappointed in the high cost, the fees are still a bargain compared to the standard weekly rental for a 2 to 4 BDRM unit (though we would never pay full price for that either). I am trying to make the best use of my points and get the most value for my money. I'm happy I have found this forum because I have gained alot of insight in TS use, even though I've been an owner for many years. My husband and I didn't make our purchase decision lightly. We went to many presentations and talked to many different people - including other TS owners - to find the system that worked best for us. It's very sad that so many people are unhappy with their TS purchase. There were many times when I felt like I was the only person in the world who loved TS. Thanks to all the folks in this forum for the support. I hope to learn even more ways to make the best use of my TS. Perhaps someone could start a thread on tips for others to make the best use of their system. You'd probably have to divide it into those who own points and those who have deeded or dedicated weeks. I think much of the negative feedback by TS owners is that they really don't know how to use what they have. The sales people get their contract and, except for the annual bill or special assessments or annoucements, owners never hear from the companies again. The more owners that can be educated about how to make the best use of TSing, the better the overall reflection of the industry. I think in the long run, a more positive approach will make TS more valuable and provide even more of an incentive for companies to keep properties up to date and their individual owners happy.

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

Is there a common reason?

The Ridge on Sedona went up 25%.

Y-ASK

Some may find it interesting that at resorts in the DRI system but not managed by an arm of DRI (they have independent management and usually an owner controlled Board of Directors) the fees don't seem to be going up anywhere near as much. In fact at some of those resorts the increase is in the very low single digits.

So what common factor(s) seem to be in play at the non-owner controlled, DRI managed resorts that would cause nearly all of them to have the same range of increase in fees? What does that say about lack of owner control, input and what can be expected in the future? What are the overall conditions at those resorts vs the resorts with much lower fee increases?

The answers, from what I see, aren't favorable to being an owner in the non-owner controlled system/resorts. Worse is that getting out will cost those buyers big time. Not a pretty picture.

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

Has anyone gotten their 2009 bill yet? I usually get it so late - sometimes not until mid-December. I like to have a rough idea of what the cost will be so I have enough money set aside (we seem to have a lot of extra bills in Dec., so I need to budget through the year to be able to pay them all). Nothing is posted on my DRI account page yet.

[JoeMid Banned Find all posts View Profile Close JoeMid]

Has anyone gotten their 2009 bill yet? I usually get it so late - sometimes not until mid-December. I like to have a rough idea of what the cost will be so I have enough money set aside (we seem to have a lot of extra bills in Dec., so I need to budget through the year to be able to pay them all). Nothing is posted on my DRI account page yet.

If you own at a DRI managed resort you should already have it and you can expect a 23-25% increase.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

Some may find it interesting that at resorts in the DRI system but not managed by an arm of DRI (they have independent management and usually an owner controlled Board of Directors) the fees don't seem to be going up anywhere near as much. In fact at some of those resorts the increase is in the very low single digits.

So what common factor(s) seem to be in play at the non-owner controlled, DRI managed resorts that would cause nearly all of them to have the same range of increase in fees? What does that say about lack of owner control, input and what can be expected in the future? What are the overall conditions at those resorts vs the resorts with much lower fee increases?

The answers, from what I see, aren't favorable to being an owner in the non-owner controlled system/resorts. Worse is that getting out will cost those buyers big time. Not a pretty picture.

WorldMark went up by 4.5% this year and 5% last year. No owners own any deeds and the resort developer manages the resorts. Did your independent board manage to bring in fees that low over the past 2 years?

So, you can't make a blanket that all non-owner controlled boards are bad. It simply isn't true. There are many independent boards that are driving their resorts into the ground. Then, when professional manage needs to come in to bail them out, owners get huge special assessments.

I think in the DRI case, they have 3 bad things going on at the same time. One, Sunterra was probably in terrible financial shape already when it was taken over by DRI. Two, DRI must have increased its cost structure significantly given how many press release they made regarding all of these high powered executives. Three, they had to take on a ton of debt to acquire Sunterra. All those contribute to higher costs. It appears that DRI is passing on a lot of those increased costs.

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

If you own at a DRI managed resort you should already have it and you can expect a 23-25% increase.

I'm in the trust, so I don't have ownership at any particular resort. Does that make a difference as to when the bills go out?

[Schooner Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schooner]

Longtimer, I read somewhere that the bills for Trust members usually go out about mid-December which is leaving it quite late given payment is due by Jan. 1

I have deeds at four different Diamond resorts and have been able to see the total charge for fees for each property (no breakdown) on line for about six weeks now. Still nothing showing for US Collection trust. I have yet to see an itimized paper invoice but will be asking for one if they don't arrive soon.