DRI exchanges with Interval

[tonik Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonik]

Just bought DRI Resort week

Yes, I think the points would be nice but for me, I think the price is ridiculous. Maybe if they come down to $1,500 or so it might be worth it but my whole point of buying a timeshare for cheap is I guess to take advantage of traveling for the minimum amount.

Just received a post from another member on a thread and this is very concerning to me:

"Red time is Arizona is year round however demand is not.
You are limited to RCI unless you join the Club but to determine the best time to book your week you might refer to the Travel Demand Index in Interval International and that will tell you the highest demand during the year. The first ten weeks of the year are when demand is always high.
Diamond resorts may not let you deposit a high demand week even if you made a reservation for it.
For example if you booked the Xmas week and then tried to deposit it into RCI they would take the Xmas week back and give your RCI account another red week of their choosing."

Can't believe that DRI has the power to do this. I was planning on booking my vacation for a prime week from Jan-March and depositing thru RCI for a good exchange.

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

We've been with DRI since 1998. This hasn't been a problem for us. I've always been able to deposit the week I was able to reserve.

I have had to argue with reservations in the past when I called and told them I wanted to reserve my week and deposit for exchange. Without fail it seems they always wanted to deposit a weak week and would argue that all weeks were created equal when it comes to exchange. Of course, my responce was, if they're all equal, then deposit the week I tell you to deposit. It got to be enough of a problem that I quit telling them what I was going to do. I'd reserve the week I wanted, then deposit that week myself with I.I.

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

doug. now with the club, you would not really need to reserve and deposit your fixed / deeded weeks ans dep with II anymore, right? you would let dri/club do all thatt for you. this is how i understand it works. when you want an II exchange, II just takes the Club pts from your dri club acct. there is no distinction what weeks you own/trading with.

btw i called dri (really II) Friday. the rep had NO IDEA of the new changes in pt requirements to exchange into II resorts. i even had to tell her what page of the II/DRI book/catalog the point grid was on.

does this take affect jan 1st (2009) ?
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[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

doug. now with the club, you would not really need to reserve and deposit your fixed / deeded weeks ans dep with II anymore, right? you would let dri/club do all thatt for you. this is how i understand it works. when you want an II exchange, II just takes the Club pts from your dri club acct. there is no distinction what weeks you own/trading with.

btw i called dri (really II) Friday. the rep had NO IDEA of the new changes in pt requirements to exchange into II resorts. i even had to tell her what page of the II/DRI book/catalog the point grid was on.

does this take affect jan 1st (2009) ?
Posted via Mobile Device

With THE Club DRI has complete control over what is deposited with I.I. and what's isn't. I've wondered if this is the reason why THE Club points were recently devalued by I.I. if you want to exchange for a premium resort during high or peak season, and enhanced if you want lower demand times. There's not way to prove/disprove this but, my DRI points are worth more if I'm willing to accept less favorable travel times but worth less if I want to travel during times that are more desirable for vacation. So no, if I choose to convert my units to THE Club points, I no longer have control. But remember, 2007 was the first year I had that option.

I still have the option to NOT deposit my fixed week at Polo Towers into THE Club. It is automatically reserved for me each year. I have to physically make a call and tell them that I want it converted to THE Club points. So, I still have the option to deposit that fixed week with I.I. if I decided that THE Club points aren't worth it. And, with the new point schedule for DRI, if I ever need that unit for a high/peak demand premium resort, that could be what I choose to do.

Now with my floating week in The Villa's at Polo Towers, I don't appear to have that choice. That unit is automatically converted to THE Club points. I'm not certain what the difference is or whether I can call to tell them I want to use it for personal usage and not to convert it. When I joined THE Club ($2,500 back in late 2006 for both of my weeks BTW), I may have told them to autmatically convert it every year. Right now it doesn't matter. I'm set up to use both of my DRI weeks for exchange rather than personal use and I don't see that changing for at least a few years.

[tonik Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonik]

We've been with DRI since 1998. This hasn't been a problem for us. I've always been able to deposit the week I was able to reserve.

I have had to argue with reservations in the past when I called and told them I wanted to reserve my week and deposit for exchange. Without fail it seems they always wanted to deposit a weak week and would argue that all weeks were created equal when it comes to exchange. Of course, my responce was, if they're all equal, then deposit the week I tell you to deposit. It got to be enough of a problem that I quit telling them what I was going to do. I'd reserve the week I wanted, then deposit that week myself with I.I.

If that's the case, I will just call the resort like you and book it into RCI; however, according to a post I got, the exchange company would come back to you and say it didn't go through. Hopefully, that will not happen with RCI.

Now, I just discovered that I think the poster on E-bay made a mistake on his ad as it is advertised as 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 750 S.F. with a maintenance fee of $447.00. One of the members here told me either the MF is wrong or the size is incorrect so I will probably have the option for a refund. Not sure what will happen but will find out tomorrow. This guy sells hundreds of timeshares and has a good reputation, in fact I bought one from him before with no problems so we will see if I even keep the unit or back out according to what this guy does. It's unfortunate that I already paid for it but thank goodness for Mastercard.

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

...
I still have the option to NOT deposit my fixed week at Polo Towers into THE Club. It is automatically reserved for me each year. I have to physically make a call and tell them that I want it converted to THE Club points. So, I still have the option to deposit that fixed week with I.I. if I decided that THE Club points aren't worth it. And, with the new point schedule for DRI, if I ever need that unit for a high/peak demand premium resort, that could be what I choose to do.
...

Thanks for pointing this out. I have my weeks in the Suites and no one has ever explained (or maybe I did not understand when it was mentioned/explained). I will ensure to call DRI this week to confirm that I need to call to convert my fixed week units to points ANNUALLY and if so, WHEN (date) I need to call to convert my fixed week unit to DRI points.

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

With THE Club DRI has complete control over what is deposited with I.I. and what's isn't.

Not true, more than several times a year DRI and II negotiate what gets 'deposited' according to what II wants and what DRI wants to give up, a negotiation occurs.

Now, I just discovered that I think the poster on E-bay made a mistake on his ad as it is advertised as 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 750 S.F. with a maintenance fee of $447.00.

You just discovered this? There's NO WAY a 2BR SVM has a MF of $447.

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

Not true, more than several times a year DRI and II negotiate what gets 'deposited' according to what II wants and what DRI wants to give up, a negotiation occurs.

The point was, the member has no say in the matter. I could care less if II demanded certain weeks and DRI had to give up those weeks. The decision on which week is deposited is completely out of the hands of THE Club member who wants to make an exchange.

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

Thanks for pointing this out. I have my weeks in the Suites and no one has ever explained (or maybe I did not understand when it was mentioned/explained). I will ensure to call DRI this week to confirm that I need to call to convert my fixed week units to points ANNUALLY and if so, WHEN (date) I need to call to convert my fixed week unit to DRI points.

I was sent a letter a couple of months back stating that DRI had reserved my fixed week ownership for me along with the confirmation number. I called sometime after that to release the week, convert it to points and request a certain amount of those points be used to pay a portion of my MF's. My points were reduced right away but I'm still waiting to see my MF's credited on the DRI website.

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

The point was, the member has no say in the matter. I could care less if II demanded certain weeks and DRI had to give up those weeks. The decision on which week is deposited is completely out of the hands of THE Club member who wants to make an exchange.

I was only correcting what you said, your point was not obvious to me, sorry. Why would it matter that the member has no say in what is given up? What would matter would be if DRI gave up what 'you' happended to want out of THE Club before you got a chance to book it, in my opinion.

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

I was only correcting what you said, your point was not obvious to me, sorry. Why would it matter that the member has no say in what is given up? What would matter would be if DRI gave up what 'you' happended to want out of THE Club before you got a chance to book it, in my opinion.

With THE Club, it shouldn't matter and I don't think it does to most members. The discussion has probably wandered a little off course from the original post. Tonik had sort of highjacked the thread asking questions about a recent purchase with DRI and THE Club.