Is DRI enhancing your holiday experience ?

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

I was getting worried that I was the only one seeing it from that perspective, thanks for your reply. Just where we differentiate between renting for profit and renting to cover your MFs is a fine line though.

We've gone through several presentations with salespeople trying push us to buy extra points. No one has ever brought up the subject of renting points for a profit. Instead, they try really hard to emphasize the use of extra points for MFs and the newer points "benefits." IMO, these really aren't a wise use of points. Awhile ago, there was talk of instituting a fee for guest certificates. I think that was DRIs way of limiting renting for profit. So far, nothing has come of it, so I don't know if this is still in consideration.

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

DRI is trying

I must say that I have certainly seen that DRI is trying to improve. I have stated on this forum and TUG that it would take time and we should look and see. Overall, I am very happy with my membership. I don't like the maintenance fees increases and the condition of some of the resorts. I want the maintenance fees that I am paying which are as high as the MF's I pay with Marriott to reflect a higher standard. I truly believe they are trying to do that.

I am at the Grand Beach in Orlando as I type this. I like this property. I have 2 3 bedrooms as I have family and friends here. I stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista last week. I must tell you that although the pools at the Marriott were bigger and fancier and you have a golf course and restaurants, I can actually say I like it at the Grand Beach better. I did not think I would say that. The reason is Grand Beach has larger rooms and there is a lake here where my father in law loves to fish. He can fish all day and that's what he is doing. He came in last night and scaled and cut up the fish for cooking and it tasted good.

I have been to the Cypress Pointe, Marquis Villas, Lake Tahoe, Scottsdale Links, Scottsdale Village Mirage, and now Grand Beach and have seen the improvements over the last two years. The rooms are being remodeled and refurbished. I like that. I went to a presentation yesterday. I saw the remodeling here at the Grand Beach for the 3 bedrooms. It is very, very nice. I would say that the rooms are equivalent to Marriott's but bigger (at least the model was). That is improvement. They are doing this in a very weak economy too.

I don't like paying for internet service. It was free at Marriott for all computers. This is a big minus. My son plays his video games with my older son in Japan and now had to pay $30. That is not very owner friendly.

I do like the additional locations throughout the world. That is what I am about. I like to travel. I plan on going to South Africa in 2011 with my son for his high school graduation present. That makes the Club worth it to have those options.

The reservation system being upgraded has been nothing but a plus. Being an gold elite member, I plan on making reservations and putting my name on the lists when necessary.

I don't think much of all of the other uses of the points for other stuff because it loses value. However, I prefer to use them for those items than to lose them. I have in the past used them toward air miles as opposed to losing them all together.

I also love using the points for the Club Select program and the II exchanges. DRI has made me pretty happy. I just notice that people get very unhappy because they feel the financial pinch. I read the forums here an on TUG and it seems to me, except for the reservation system which now is really not going to be an issue as we try to learn how to maximize it use, that cost is really the only real and legitimate concern that owners have. However, owning is an expensive luxury. It is like a house and when my property taxes go up, I don't complain to everyone under the sun. When my pool needs repair I don't complain I get it fixed. It costs money to have stuff like this. We have to make sure that the complaints are valid. I just want to make sure that there is responsible management of the properties.

I sat in on an "owners' update" yesterday. My sales rep was very nice. They offered a nice price to go platinum. I respectfully declined. I have enough points. However, if there is not enough difference between the different tiers of elite to make me want to buy more points at the price they have. I needed two bedrooms before with my kids. Soon it will just be my wife and I so I will be looking for one bedrooms in the future, thus, less points. Platinum offers the unlimited upgrades, but it's not worth it to me.


I like my membership and have gotten a lot from it. Just keep me informed about club specials and new locations and property updates and don't devalue points so much with upgrading the properties and you will find me as happy as a lark.

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

Too soon to call

As a UK member since GVC and Sunterra days I can say that the holidays we have taken have always been good with excellent service from the resort staff. For us its too soon to call on DRI because the last two years have seen huge increases in fees that have been very hard to budget for.

We were told at a recent meeting in Tenerife that any future increases in fees will be modest we hope this turns out to be the case.

The other concern we have as European members is the Clubs assertion that we are locked into membership until 2054. This is not what we were told but its a complicated point because our agreements seem to give us the right to resign but the company says if we do so we still have to pay fees. As this is a public forum we would say for the record that along with many other members we do not agree with the companys interpretation of the rules. For us selling points is very difficult as at this time we can only sell to another member.

For our part we hope to be members for many years to come but the club does have to be affordable and members must see value for the money spent on fees. At the moment it seems non members have the cheapest way of enjoying the clubs resorts by buyiing up the bargains on the internet.

So as I said for us ( thats myself and my wife ) we wait to see what next year brings. We hope that the powers that be will listen and that the club will thrive.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

I believe the Club is quite strict regarding prohiting rentals, to the point where Club rules construe any listing of a Club reservation for rental on any website as a prohibited rental.

Reservations that are made outside of the Club would be presumably be subject only to such restrictions as are imposed by the timeshare program rules for that particular resort or trust collection.

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

I was getting worried that I was the only one seeing it from that perspective, thanks for your reply. Just where we differentiate between renting for profit and renting to cover your MFs is a fine line though.

I have sympathy for those that bought on the expectation of making a profit. I have read post from a couple of people who, under Sunterra, would buy up tens of thousands of points at a time on the resale market, then buy the minimal amount required from Sunterra to bring all those resale points back into SunOptions with the intention of using them as a vacation rental club of their own. Sunterra sales people often encouraged this sort of activity. I know the one we spoke with was selling us strictly on buying to rent for profit. But, the rules as far as I understand always prohibited that activity. Sunterra just didn't enforce that rule.

Now comes DRI with a different mindset and I've read posts from at least one very disgruntled owner that had his THE Club membership suspended. He owns several hundred thousand points and he was using those points strictly to reserve and rent for profit. It was a nice business for him while it lasted.

Now he feels betrayed and cheated. The salesmen knew what he was doing and encouraged his actions. All of the sudden, he's cut off completely from THE Club, has reservations canceled, is looking at huge MF payments and can't reserve/rent prime weeks anymore. I can see his point in that he felt he was playing by the rules and Sunterra/DRI KNEW what he was doing. He didn't hide it and he had been encouraged. If I were him, I'd be ticked off as well.

Personally, I'm happier if everyone either uses their points, gives them as gifts to family/friends/co-workers or rents them to family/friends/co-workers to cover MF's.

Personally, I never started out to own any points at all. I bought weeks from DRI long before DRI bought Sunterra. I was after the purchase that I converted my DRI weeks into THE Club points. Those weeks converted to 26,500 points. I don't need nearly that many points so, each year I have points left over. I can sell them back to THE Club at 5 cents per point, use them or, rent them to family/friends/co-workers for closer to what they cost me. I'd hate to completely lose that option.

[hercules24 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hercules24]

Having reviewed comments

Sadly thde post drifted a bit from the intention onto a debate on renting out points which is covered in another thread, anyway, what do I feel that DRI have done to enhance our holiday experience

Firstly invested a lot in resort improvements

Secondly expanded our choice via affiliation (sad not through DRI expansion)

Are more accessable and listening at top management level that either Sunterra and GVC - I believe they want to deliver a product that the members want.

Expanded DRI selections and DRI select and II exchanges for points.

What have they not done to enhance our holiday experience

It would be fantastic in my opinion to have one club with one set of rules for all with equal booking rights across all groups and affiliates.

Equal rights for points whether purchased new or sccond hand after 9/1/08 (1 Sept 2008).

After two years of high fee increases we now need to see some years of stability reflecting the economy we live in.

With regards to relaxation simplified - well relaxation - but not simplified - very very complex in my opinion.

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

Benefits for owners

Longtimers suggestion that members should get some benefits that are not available to those from outside of the club is a good idea. Some of the money the company makes from renting these weeks out should find its way back to club members otherwise what is the point of paying huge sums to join followed by large annual fees not to mention the cost of leaving when age or illness, or unemployment catches up and you just cannot travel!

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

Is Diamond Top Tier? Unfortunately, no.

Sadly thde post drifted a bit from the intention onto a debate on renting out points which is covered in another thread, anyway, what do I feel that DRI have done to enhance our holiday experience

Firstly invested a lot in resort improvements

After reading the various threads regarding Diamond Resorts and fees I realized where the problem seems to lie. Based on the pronouncements, slick catalogs, pricing and fees Diamond seems to feel they are in the top echelon of resort groups. But even as a relatively satisfied Diamond Club member (non-trust - deeded week owner) and owner at the resort that was the basis for what has become the Diamond resort system I find that assumption to be off the mark.

Does anyone really think that if you compare the various resorts in the Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, DVC even Starwood groups that Diamond has resorts equal in quality? One or two maybe but as an overall system it isn't even close. In fact I'd find it hard to say Diamond resorts overall are at Bluegreen, Wyndham or other considered to be mostly second tier to those top few brands again on a system rather than individual resort level. The old Sunterra / other resorts that make up the Diamond Group tend to have lesser locations, less amenities, more variation in unit quality than the top or even high middle groups like Wyndham.

Yet the pricing for annual fees are more representative of the very top group than the more middle of the road units. That is the basic issue with Diamond overall and one that seems to be getting worse rather than better. The value for the annual dollar just isn't there. Again I know of an individual resort or two that are outstanding and may represent a good deal for owners but as a whole the Diamond offerings tend to be on the low end of quality/ value but the high end of cost. Not a good ratio and not one I'd be looking to buy into. Add the issues with resales (tough to understand what is available and what systems it can or cannot be part of and at what additional expense) as well as deeded vs trust type purchase and the associated limitations on rights of the buyers and it isn't an owner friendly system nor does it seem to represent a good value for the dollars spent.

They seem to suffer from delusions of grandeur they are unlikely to meet anytime soon, if ever, and meanwhile the "valued member" pays through the nose for a product that falls far short of the best out there- especially for that level of annual cost.

I hope the rumors that the unwanted and costly Plus membership in II really will be an option for 2010 but that's just one of many far too costly parts of being part of the Diamond system IMO. If I had to drop any one of my points systems it would be DRI that got the axe without a doubt. Too bad as overall I've been pleased with the options it gave me, but at way too high a cost. And I'm not even into the expenses for the Trusts or other fees those members pay on top of resort fees.

[hercules24 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hercules24]

Great post timeos2

I agree with a lot of your statements/points raised in your post timeos2 and I am certain that many other UK DRI EU members would support your views, yes generally I like the system but the cost, availability, overall quality and locations of many of the EU resorts leave a lot to be desired.

As for resale well points are worthless and devalued by DRI taking out use of affiliates and as our only acquisitions in Europe seem to be via affiliates this makes second hand points worthless.