Another Diamond Improvement

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

I knew we would agree eventually on something! LOL!

I don't disagree, but with a username like Bulldog, what can you expect . Just because I disagree doesn't mean it shouldn't be discussed, your discussion or ideas are not moderated.

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

I don't disagree, but with a username like Bulldog, what can you expect . Just because I disagree doesn't mean it shouldn't be discussed, your discussion or ideas are not moderated.

I chose the name bulldog as an expression of my britishness not to be aggressive, I would have chosen pitbull if that was the case!
Thanks for your reply, it is appreciated, I did not join for confrontation just to discuss and debate in a friendly manner to further our holiday/vacation experience. i love my dri holidays although there are some things I think dri could improve on, hopefully they will.
see the new thread I have started I would be interested in your views.

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

I feel that many recent initiatives introduced by DRI are geared to trying to generate new sales, namely;

The advanced booking facility in this thread
The silver, gold and platinum tiers (only new points count towards levels)
The reduction in access rights for second hand points (those second hand points acquired after 1/9/08)
The introduction of affiliated resorts which can only be booked with new points, these affiliated resorts tend to cost more points to book because they are according to DRI in better locations, better quality and in higher demand.
DRI selections which can only be used with new points (not secondhand)

So there goes if you want to maintain access to all areas of the club you need to maintain and build up a healthy quota of new points.

NB : The second hand points I refer to are those registered after 1/9/08 when the rules changed with regards to their stature in the club, those purchased before 1/9/08 count as full new points.

It is all down to marketing and sales expansion, there again all companies try to maximise sales don't they ?

I don't know that much about the details of the European side of things. It's supposed to be ONE Club but differences in the past sometimes make it hard to come to common terms.

The silver, gold and platinum tiers (only new points count towards levels)
This is really wrong, if true

The reduction in access rights for second hand points (those second hand points acquired after 1/9/08)
can you tell us more about this?

The introduction of affiliated resorts which can only be booked with new points, these affiliated resorts tend to cost more points to book because they are according to DRI in better locations, better quality and in higher demand.
Affiliated resorts are just fluff anyway. In most cases availability is limited and they're just there to add to the 'list' to make you think you get great access. Some affiliated resorts come like Raintree appear to come from a trade of inventory (I've seen the Raintree presentation and they hawk four of the DRI resorts) while some affiliated resorts appear to be rentals by DRI and because cash is involved they up the points to cover their exposure, in my opinion.

DRI selections which can only be used with new points (not secondhand)
always a bad deal anyway, you're not missing much


We welcome Herc and Bull to TS4Ms and value your input, although that doesn't always mean we agree and there's nothing wrong with not agreeing, put your thoughts and ideas out there. We need more information about your end of things as they are still different.

[hercules24 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hercules24]

Back on track

Some sensible debate in the last few posts

I feel we are back on track, I believe we all agree that DRI must make a reasonable profit to exist and expand; I think we agree that reinstating full privilidges on second hand points would hopefully help promote transfers of points between members at a small price (again) and for members with these transferred points they would feel that they are getting full value for their fees. This seems to be a matter that is hotly disputed and debated in the UK and has stalled members transferring their ownership and being put in a position of not being able to pay their fees, therefore the members feel disappointed and DRI suffer with lack of funds from those points.

There has always been an incentive in buying more points in so much that all members only pay one fixed membership charge so the higher the points holding the lower the cost of overall points charge over the total points holding.

I am not against the company offering privilidges to higher points holders as long as second hand points and new points count towards the qualification for these benefits (unlike at the moment). I am not a wealthy person but do have a large points holding but with both my daughters who are now at an age to holiday alone with there partners they contribute towards my fees when they holiday and help keep my overall cost of holidaying with DRI reduced.

Overall DRI have introduced some good incentives and some poor incentives but it is for the member to decide how to spend their points, one real plus is that you can exchange apartments for points in II and generally those apartments are at reasonable points values.

How do the members across the pond view the value of points for the quality of apartments in locations like Hawaii and LV? I would also like to know how you over there in USA view the ease of booking and availability? Sorry I have gone off subject of thread here the moderator may with to open a new thread for this last para?

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

In my opinion sales people would project a better image and possibly sell more points if they did not promote an image of elitism and promoted a product where everyone was treated the same and valued the same regardless of what level of points they susequently purchased.

A huge amount of marketing is based on elitism, favouritism, exclusivity - call it what you will. Airlines with frequent flyer programmes are a good example. The customer has given more to the airline therefore the airline gives them more by way of reduced costs via FF points, preferential seating choice etc.
The danger of a 'one size fits all' approach is that it can end up having the Ryanair model which seems to be to treat the traveller like dirt and then screw them for every penny you can get. Most timeshare companies at least pretend that the customer is actually valued.

[hercules24 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hercules24]

Further feed abck to clarifications requested

Yes only new points purchased and second hand points purchased before 1/9/08 (1 sept 2008) count towards the tiered benefits silver, gold, etc.

Any points acquired from another member after 1/9/08 (1st Sept 2008) can now only be used to book resorts in that collection of resorts so in our case EU collection resorts or to book II exchanges. They cannot be used for booking outside the EU collection or affiliated resorts or DRI selection items.

One worry with the affiliated resorts if what DRI say is true and that is that they are valued higher points wise because they are more luxurious, in better locations and in higher demand, thus how will we be able to book just 10 months in advance into these resorts. Also we have acquired these bed nights by exchanging rooms with the affiliate so this must result in a reduction in availability in DRI resorts. One thing I find worrying is the total lack of investment in new DRI resorts and the rumoured talk of sell off of certain prestigious resorts in the UK - not saying this is true just newspaper talk. A lot of members state that they agree with affiliates as it gives DRI an indication of demand in the areas these resorts are located in, I am not sure about this I would have thought that our partner II could have provided those statistics to DRI. Another observation I made was when the Australian resorts came on line there was no availability at all September to end March - the Australian summer.

I am not trying to be negative just some observations I have made or seen publicised in newspapers and on the internet.

I would imagine that it is very difficult for our American friends to book into DRI owned UK resorts (as you can only book 10 months in advance), experience has shown that the UK resorts book up quite quickly, especially this year while sterling has been having a troubled times against foreign exchanges (Euro and dollar) - Nice to see that sterling has strengthen a little in last two months.

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

A huge amount of marketing is based on elitism, favouritism, exclusivity - call it what you will. Airlines with frequent flyer programmes are a good example. The customer has given more to the airline therefore the airline gives them more by way of reduced costs via FF points, preferential seating choice etc.
The danger of a 'one size fits all' approach is that it can end up having the Ryanair model which seems to be to treat the traveller like dirt and then screw them for every penny you can get. Most timeshare companies at least pretend that the customer is actually valued.

I guess that's just one we will have to agree to differ on!