DRI Has A Bunch of Whiners & Complainers

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

I am just so through with all of the people who whine and complain about DRI. The more I read these forums, the more I realize that people just like to complain just to complain as if they are so perfect. Unfortunately, the people who are happy do not feel reason enough to write about there unhappiness and those who are miserable like to have company.

DRI inherited a mess. I know. I was with Epic and watched those properties go down the tube. I used to love that Lake Havasu London Bridge Resort. It was right on the water in a great location and have fond memories of it. However, Epic got into financial difficulties and it just was not the same place. Sunterra took over and it was a little better but then they went into financial disarray and then came DRI.

I am looking at DRI as a new owner who has bought a house "as is". What you saw was what you got. We who have been with Epic and Sunterra have to admit that the places were not up to snuff. I loved the Point at Poipu but it needed to be updated. I loved the Marquis Villas in Palm Springs, but it became a dated property and needed a major face lift. The Scottsdale Links in Arizona has such great potential. It's in a great location, but again needed refurbishment.

DRI has taken on this challenge. I don't like paying more money just like anyone else, however, I like for my place to be nice and clean and functional. I like the occasional upgrades in my home too. Those of you who have invested in flat screen televisions would fall into that category too. These things cost money and a lot of it. Yes, I hate maintenance fees especially when they go up in price. I have 30,000 points and it hit me right in the mouth just like the rest of us. It was a jump that I did not anticipate. I was saved only because I had a deal for no maintenance fees for this year, but next year I will be out of pocket again. However, my Marriott maintenance fees went up too. I had to pay those. They have gone up every year. When I read the posts from these forums on other developers' properties,they too have increased with no other added features. In fact, many people love Marriott's (me too) but they have not added anything new to their repertoire except devalue the points.

People need to stop badmouthing DRI. Stop whing and complaining and learn how to best use your property/points. I am truly seeing signs that this company is trying. I am seeing options that were not there before for us owners. I get emails about using points to go to China, Austrailia, and recently South Africa. I am reading these posts and seeing people write about refurbishments at various DRI properties that I know for a fact were dumps. I see options to use our points for tours and attractions. Yes, I know that using your points for things other than accommodations may not be the best use of your points, but heck, it's an option instead of losing them.

My point is that DRI is trying. I know that the recession has hurt many of us financially and jobs are being lost. However, just like your mortgage on your home is still due, so is your maintenance fee. If you had one of those ugly mortgage loans well they have jumped up too. We need to keep some perspective here. DRI has only been on the job with what they took over for about 2 or 3 years. We are starting to see some results. Yes, they are not perfect, but what company is? People need to own up to the responsibility that they signed at that impulsive moment that they bought. Stop whining and be responsible. These are probably the same people who bought homes they knew they couldn't afford in the first place and want to blame it on the banks, the realtors and the mortgage companies. They paperwork was sitting in front of your faces for you to read. Stop blaming everyone else and learn to use your membership and stop so much whining and complaining.

I plan to post this on TUG too. I just get so irritated by it.

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

The problem is value for the dollar

The problem is that the rise in fees is NOT equal to the rise in property value OR service levels. A mid-year hike in base fees - then ignoring that to declare "only a 5% hike" the next year is NOT quality management or good value for the money. The resorts DRI directly operates as management seem to have even worse increases and then there are the totally unwanted increases for things like "Gold Preferred" II membership that gets us nothing of value but more cost. DRI simply isn't getting the most out of every dollar of maintenance, but rather seems to raise fees to meet THEIR costs & profits - then the resorts / clubs. Owners have virtually no say unless they are lucky enough to own at an independent affiliate resort. I am so happy that my only exposure is on the voluntary Club - a couple hundred $ per year - nearly 50% higher than the same service under Sunterra - that I can drop at anytime by simply not paying the annual dues. I feel sorry for those in the Trusts or tied to a resort with DRI management as they simply aren't getting the value for the maintenance dollar they should IMO.

I'm glad you're happy but coming from EPIC you're level of service / quality was very low. Those of us who are used to the original level of Argosy / Sunterra and other top quality resorts like Marriott, Wyndham, Hilton, etc know it can be done for far less than DRI seems to charge. Yes they inherited a mess from Sunterra but they are asking way too much to fix it from owners - where is THEIR investment? They seem to want the cream and the milk and leave the owners that pay with only the curd. There wouldn't be so many complaints if they operated at better cost/value ratio and allowed clear path for resale of points to new owners.

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

The problem is that the rise in fees is NOT equal to the rise in property value OR service levels. A mid-year hike in base fees - then ignoring that to declare "only a 5% hike" the next year is NOT quality management or good value for the money. The resorts DRI directly operates as management seem to have even worse increases and then there are the totally unwanted increases for things like "Gold Preferred" II membership that gets us nothing of value but more cost. DRI simply isn't getting the most out of every dollar of maintenance, but rather seems to raise fees to meet THEIR costs & profits - then the resorts / clubs. Owners have virtually no say unless they are lucky enough to own at an independent affiliate resort. I am so happy that my only exposure is on the voluntary Club - a couple hundred $ per year - nearly 50% higher than the same service under Sunterra - that I can drop at anytime by simply not paying the annual dues. I feel sorry for those in the Trusts or tied to a resort with DRI management as they simply aren't getting the value for the maintenance dollar they should IMO.

I'm glad you're happy but coming from EPIC you're level of service / quality was very low. Those of us who are used to the original level of Argosy / Sunterra and other top quality resorts like Marriott, Wyndham, Hilton, etc know it can be done for far less than DRI seems to charge. Yes they inherited a mess from Sunterra but they are asking way too much to fix it from owners - where is THEIR investment? They seem to want the cream and the milk and leave the owners that pay with only the curd. There wouldn't be so many complaints if they operated at better cost/value ratio and allowed clear path for resale of points to new owners.

Carlos do you believe this post is just a bunch of whining? I personally do not, I believe it is a post on value and accountability. DRI will maximize profits if they match quality with fees, look at any company if their products are over/under priced the company suffers. Since we are tied to this company, most being either trust members or deeded owners at DRI managed resorts, we too will suffer with higher fees to make up for a lack of new sales and dead weight owners.

Carlos however I appreciate your view and I'm glad your ownership provides you with value, however lets not disregard other views that see value slipping away.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

So who's whinning here ? Carlos !

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

The problem is that the rise in fees is NOT equal to the rise in property value OR service levels. A mid-year hike in base fees - then ignoring that to declare "only a 5% hike" the next year is NOT quality management or good value for the money. The resorts DRI directly operates as management seem to have even worse increases and then there are the totally unwanted increases for things like "Gold Preferred" II membership that gets us nothing of value but more cost. DRI simply isn't getting the most out of every dollar of maintenance, but rather seems to raise fees to meet THEIR costs & profits - then the resorts / clubs. Owners have virtually no say unless they are lucky enough to own at an independent affiliate resort. I am so happy that my only exposure is on the voluntary Club - a couple hundred $ per year - nearly 50% higher than the same service under Sunterra - that I can drop at anytime by simply not paying the annual dues. I feel sorry for those in the Trusts or tied to a resort with DRI management as they simply aren't getting the value for the maintenance dollar they should IMO.

I'm glad you're happy but coming from EPIC you're level of service / quality was very low. Those of us who are used to the original level of Argosy / Sunterra and other top quality resorts like Marriott, Wyndham, Hilton, etc know it can be done for far less than DRI seems to charge. Yes they inherited a mess from Sunterra but they are asking way too much to fix it from owners - where is THEIR investment? They seem to want the cream and the milk and leave the owners that pay with only the curd. There wouldn't be so many complaints if they operated at better cost/value ratio and allowed clear path for resale of points to new owners.

Please note. I do own at Marriott's Ko Olina and have stayed at several of the high end resorts. I do understand what high level of service is and what quality of resorts are. My maintenance fees are over $1500 and have gone up every year I have had them.

My point is the DRI is trying to improve the quality of its resorts but it will take time. They have only been there for about 3 years. I agree that the service is questionable at times. However, DRI is responsive. We may not always get everything we want or not get the answer we want but they do respond. Sometimes you do get the help that you need. I can tell you now that Marriott is not perfect either. There are people who sometimes complain about their maintenance fees, service, and salespeople too. The difference is that Marriott started out with really, really high grade resorts. Marriott gets their share of complaints too. All is not perfect in that world. Diamond is trying to transform some of their resorts that they have inherited. That takes time and money.

I will admit the Gold Preferred may not be a great upgrade. However, when I am going to certain places to eat I will look to see if there is a place on list to get a discount. I allow family members to use the Getaways and any money saved is a plus for my twentysomething kids.

Value for the dollar depends. In the Marriott world, it is often discussed if getting Marriott Rewards Points is worth buying from the developer or not. It depends on what people see as value.

I feel DRI owners can get great value from their points even trust owners. I can stretch several vacations over months with my points. I use 2 bdrms now but when I retire, I plan to scale down to 1 bdrms with my wife and take more advantage of stays at places. Again, it depends on how you use it. Send DRI suggestions instead of whining. I have read on this forum and TUG about complaints regarding the reservation system. DRI brought back the system to America (which I personally am glad they did) and updated the online reservation system. These were things owners requested and they did. Perfect, no but it is responsive.

I just think we need to be patient and keep sending them suggestions and guest improvement forms so that they know what we want. Again, they have just started.

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

Please note. I do own at Marriott's Ko Olina and have stayed at several of the high end resorts. I do understand that level of service and the quality of resorts that can be had. My maintenance fees are over $1500 and have gone up every year I have had them.

My point is the DRI is trying to improve the quality of its resorts but it will take time. They have only been there for almost 3 years. I agree that the service is questionable at times. However, DRI is responsive. We may not always get everything we want or not get the answer we want but they do respond. Sometimes you do get the help that you need. I can tell you now that Marriott is not perfect either. There are people who sometimes complain about their maintenance fees, service, and salespeople too. The difference is that Marriott started out with really, really high grade resorts. Diamond is trying to transform some of their resorts that they have inherited. That takes time and money.

As an owner in Argosy/Sunterra for over 15 years I can tell you the Sunterra resorts did NOT start out at the low quality levels they were allowed to deteriorate to under the "watch" of Sunterra / DRI. And those that weren't under Sunterra management seemed to recover much quicker and with lower fees than those that remain under developer control. Again, value for the maintenance dollar spent isn't there. No argument that the resorts need upgrades but are they getting the best value for every dollar collected? In my view no, they are not.

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

I prefer to think of it as DRI having a bunch of concerned owners rather than a bunch of whiners.

All one has to do is compare DRI's Polo Towers to either the Marriott or Hilton properties in Las Vegas to see the difference in quality vs MF. Polo Towers has been a DRI resort from the very beginning. No blaming a previous management company for that one.

[julieab Member Find all posts View Profile Close julieab]

I wouldn't liken myself to one of those people that signed up for a sub-prime mortgage and bought more house than they could afford. I also wouldn't consider myself a whiner. I'm an average joe that's being taken on a wild ride. Maybe that's how the cookie crumbles because Sunterra, who I bought from - not Diamond, went bankrupt so now I have to deal with what's left.

But I'm no Marriott kind of girl, nor do I want to be. Can't afford it and never could, that's why I bought Sunterra. I'm a $50 motel kind of girl. I bought one small week when the maint fees were around $350 and club dues were $150 in 2002. THAT I could handle. Now they're up to $680 & $225.

While I can appreciate Diamond wanting to upgrade and I guess compete with the likes of Marriott, they leave people like me in the dust because I can't afford those kinds of upgrades. When you talk about fixing up your house that you bought, well, the sensible thing is to save up before you remodel. And in a horrible economy like this, you'd think Diamond would think twice before taking on a remodel on the backs of their owners. Sure, they're adding more value to the club membership with these new affiliates, but they've priced the new resorts out of my range. There's no added value to me if I don't have enough points to go to them and can't afford to buy more points.

This is not whining, it's just facts. And because of these facts, this will be the last year we are Diamond owners. Diamond wants to go places that I can't afford to follow anymore. Sucks to be me, I guess!

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

Or what about the poor saps at Wychnor Park Country Club in the UK? There, the DRI thugs sent out a letter and said that they were going to use their voting control of the HOA to make the resort all points and force the deeded owners, some of whom had owned since the original developer back before Sunterra / DRI took over the resort, to choose between points in ''The Club'' or two deeded weeks at a lesser resort (and probably lesser season).

Those people have a right, indeed a duty, to not only complain to anyone who will listen but to fight like heck against the DRI mafia's ''offer they can't refuse''.

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

Perhaps if the sales office would switch from high pressure sales to honest sales they would recruit more points owners such as ourselves, thus allowing those of you who are already members more members to share the expense!

We were ready to convert to DRI until we got the paperwork with hidden expenses, and told them to forget it - then the price suddenly was going to go down! So we said no thanks, leaving your club with one less member!