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Re: Timeshare Points vs. Weeks

[Q=charlest66] Sunterra Sun Options have more value and are much more flexible. A week at a Sunterra Resort in prime time any time full week is only 5,500 - 6,000 points. You get your exchange more readily with II (not through RCI - we always had bad luck with RCI and switched to II - they are more quality Resorts. No exchange fee through Sunterra and your free II Membership gives you the same choice to swap a week or a few days at a minimal amount of points. You always have too many points to use. It is the greatest way to go economically more sound for your money to stay in First Class Resorts$ You pay for what you get![/Q] AGREED! Sunterra is now Diamond Resorts International with 120 resorts in their network of "The club" w/ NO exchange fees within the Club sytem. That was a huge value to us! We can stay at any of the 120 resorts around the world and they have the most gorgeous properties in Europe! The Club membership is only available through the developer and we purchased 10,000 pts and can get 3 weeks out of that amount of points. We can book short notice of 59 days or less and pay HALF the point values for any given resort within the system if its available. Studios' are almost always available and in Diamond Resorts the studios are equivalent to a luxury suite in a Hilton or Hyatt or Westin. We trade within Interval International and ALL of cream of the crop resorts are there. Westin's, Four Seasons, Hyatt, WorldMark, Disney and more... I personally loved Westin and Four Seasons, but did not want to pay that huge intial cost for those properties and and their maintenance fees, and did not want a fixed week! but now I can stay there anyway!! just pay the $139 fee when I want to stay there! I also loved Hyatt, but did not want their price tag for a peak season 2bdrm for two weeks at $54K! but with our Sunterra/Diamond points package! We took a Vacation at the Hyatt Highlands in Carmel exhanged through I.I. and the rack rates for the rooms were $785/night! We also stayed at the Hyatt in Tahoe also, it was fabulous! we stayed in a huge luxurious 1bdrm for 6500 pts and had 3500 points left over which will give us two weeks in a studio anywhere in the Diamond system if booked 59 days or less! often we are short notice travelers anyway and have found it fabulous and fun to find a few places we want to go and see what is available, book at half the point values and zip off to a 5 star $500-1200/ night resort for a week for 1650 points! I cannot say enough great things about it!! I personally like the ease and flexibility of the points! I have a friend who also purchase/upgraded her old RCI gold crown resort at Diamond with a 'Club Select" that turns their fixed weeks in to points in the Diamond system and be rewarded back with 6000-8000 pts if their week is a Gold Crown resort! My friend did this with her fixed week with her older time share she purchased 10 yrs ago, and got 7000 pts back with a point package purchase of only 5000 pts. She actually got MORE value back in points than she originally paid for that product 10 yrs ago! it was fabulous, she flipped! She now has 12,000 pts, so she can take a trip to Europe in France which she was not able to get with her older product in an RCI exchange. Now she is planning a 3 week trip through Europe and she is using all the Diamond resorts to stay at and is thrilled to have no exchange fees, AND she is able to go this year! The xchange fees are not a huge amount, but she felt it "nickled and dimed" her too much! She said that alone saved her $600 on that one trip! Love it!! she also was upgraded into Interval International which she felt had better selection of a much better quality of resorts and no banking and hoping to go! Just book and go! We both agree that points and Sunterra/Diamond and I.I.is the way to go in the 21st century! the GPS of Vacation Ownership!