Original Message:
Diamond Resorts International (DRI) "THE CLUB" Points Program & Converting your Week to Points (by Mona S.):
When Sunterra had the time share, Interval International Gold was an option. If you wanted it, you paid an additional $65 or $70 for it. It's been a long time ago, so I don't remember the exact fee. When DRI took over, they made Interval International Gold mandatory and added this fee into the maintenance fees. We don't use it, so we wanted to drop it. Can't do that. Have to pay for something we don't need or use. I gather from your comment you must be a newer owner. We owned with Sunterra for over 7 years before DRI took over, so we have something to compare it to. Once you have been with DRI for a while, you will find out it's not as good as it could be. We get calls to come to an Owner's Update, as I'm sure you do as well. When we go, and we have gone to many, sometimes just for the $300 mf credit, if we don't buy, the sales rep has told us we shouldn't come if we're not going to buy. We should call when we are ready to buy, so we don't waste their time. This really irritates me, as they invited us and basically bribed us to come, to an "Owner's Update". One time they actually called us and told us we were invited to come to Sedona for an "Owner's Complaint Session"! They offered us $300 off our maintenance fees if we drive from Mesa, AZ, to Sedona, AZ. It's at least a 2 hr drive, usually closer to 2 1/2 hrs, but we like Sedona. I love the Havalina Cantina Restaurant there! I would go for just that. Guess what? When we got there, the salesperson apologized profusely for the misinformation. It was just an "Owner's Update". My husband and I had stayed up and gone over complaints we had and questions we wanted answered since we were told it was basically "a ***** session, to see what our owners feel are wrong and not working". So of course we couldn't voice our complaints, because we needed to go over all the new information, because, alas, it is supposed to be an Owner's update to advise us of all the new changes in the past 6 months. If we decide not to spend $10,000 or more, we get told don't come unless you're buying! Eventually you also will be told to not come. This has happened to us about 3 times in the past 2 years. We usually do buy additional points because we intend to use it for retirement. At the rate the maintenance fees are rising, however, by the time we retire we will not be able to afford the maintenance fees. RCI had us come in for their point presentation. They tried to get us to buy their points. We could rent them out, pay off the mortgage for their points, their maintenance fees, and pay the maintenance fees for DRI as well. When I asked how we could pay the DRI mf by renting out their timeshares, he asked us what are you paying? When we told him $7,635.00, he almost fell off his chair!! He said it shouldn't be over $1000.00!!!!!!! I must also admit I have been told this by other timeshare sales companies as well. When Sunterra started the point system, we loved it because we could go away for a long weekend many times a year. With a week, that's it, and with both of us working, it's very hard to get a week off together. The point system was a godsend for us! DRI has managed to change that, though. Another lie you will find out about if you go for a short stay with a friend, instead of your spouse, is that your spouse doesn't really have to be with you for the Owner's Update. My sister-in-law and I went away for a girls only weekend last May. Guess what?!!!!! At the Sedona Summit, they tried to get us to commit to going to a sales pitch, even though our spouses weren't there! Imagine that! Yes, I am pissed off at DRI. Why? Because the last Owner's Update we went to in Sedona, AZ, I ASKED IS THE POINT VALUE FOR REDEEMING POINTS FOR MAINTENANCE FEES GOING TO CHANGE FOR 2011? THE ANSWER? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! , WE CAN'T CHANGE THE POINT VALUE!!!!!!!!!!! BUT THEY DID!!!!!!!!! Last year, we turned in 50,000 pts for $2,500.00 toward our maintenance fees, this year it was only worth about $2,200.00. And the higher amount of points for redemption wasn't even worth wasting the points for fees! I was so upset, I didn't redeem any of them for mf. DRI doesn't care about it's members!!!! They have you!!!!! You have to pay them no matter what!!!! I have seen it deteriorate since DRI took possession of it. If you only have 12,000 or 15,000 points, you might be able to get away for a week during red time in a 1 bedroom, but it depends where you go. Also, the free upgrades aren't what you expect. Just because you see that a one bedroom is available online doesn't mean customer service can find it! I went through trying to upgrade from a studio in Sedona to a 1 bedroom. This is one of the options they use to rope you in to buy more points! Both were available online, so no problem to upgrade right? But customer service couldn't see the 1 bedroom that was available! You still can't upgrade online, even though this has been promised for over 2 years! YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH CUSTOMER SERVICE STILL, AND IF THEY DON"T SEE IT, YOU CAN"T UPGRADE! YES, I AM PISSED, ANGRY, UPSET, MAD, WTF, WHATEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just want to prevent anyone else from going thru this BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!