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Re: Sunterra sold to Diamond Resorts LLC (by R. C.):

The specific words of the sales manager who said he was quoting Stephen Cloobeck who was in the sales office at the time was "when we have converted enough owners to the Club [points], any of the weeks owners who have not converted will not be allowed to book the high holiday weeks as you have done this time, so either take this one time offer, or look forwards to only using your weeks during the non-peak periods." This is the statement that sent my wife running from the sales office crying.

I suspect when you actually read the details of what you were sold when you spent the $$$$ to convert your weeks to points, you will read you put your deed into an "irrevokable trust" in which you can only transfer your deed via inheritance; you may NOT sell it on the open market to an outside party.

Based on the fact DRI is currently reneging on their next years $150.00 maintenance dues credit for 2008 (this was the incentive for us to sit through their hardball sales tactics for the "owners update" during Dec. 2007); and have suddenly sent us a "30 day final notice" that is attempting to repossess our deeded weeks (for which we paid our complete maintenance dues at the beginning of Jan 2008 to allow us to book our two weeks during Christmas 2008); despite their repeated phone reassurances that they were going to fix their errors on their incorrect $150 maintenance dues credit certificate for 2009 (attributed to our Scenic View rather than the Ocean View unit we stayed in when we sat through the 'Update') - I get the uneasy feeling DRI may be making deeded ownership a miserable affair that flies in the face of their motto of "Relaxation - Simplified".

I have sent Steven Cloobeck, the CEO an email explaining the misbilling situation, and am looking forwards to see if these are all part of a hardball strategy originating from the top to force the original deeded week owners to pay the extravagant extra $$$$ to convert our "gold standard' deeds into the "fluctuating point currency" of the Club; or just poor communication and coordination between their departments.

Further, when we spoke at length with the sales rep and the sales manager; when we asked if our current floating weeks for the standard Ocean View and Scenic View allocated points would allow us to book the same Christmas holiday weeks we are now capable of using with our floating weeks contract; they both clearly said NO; we would have to buy even more additional NEW points to add to that what they were offering - even under their "sweetened" deal. See item (2) of the my initial post.

So according to all my math, in order to have the "priviledge" of tranferring our timeshare ownership from the current floating week Owners Association to the Diamond Resorts Club Points Association, we would be paying them beaucoup bucks to give up our ability to make use of our weeks during the holiday time period. Given that the Club point currency is like any other floating currency around the world, the value of a point today may not be the same in the future for other resorts. I'd like to know how many people have actually successfully exchanged their 8500 (regular Oceanview) or 11,500 (deluxe Ocean View/Ocean Front) Club Points for the Maui Marriot or Westin resorts for only 5000 points (are these Club Points, or another currency of points requiring a conversion?). Given the shortage of weeks or Westin or Marriot Point rooms at the Maui Resorts; I would bet you may be on a long list of others attempting to do the same; as those who paid the $50,000 or more will necessarily expect to see their premium to allow them 1st choice to book into their home resort. NOT an outside timeshare owner who paid a fraction of what they paid.

This is the end goal DRI would like to achieve - controlling the supply of limited room availability of the Club Points Association to be able to drive up the price or number of points one has to buy at KBR so the same week will sell at similar high prices to the Westin or Marriott. They will be in the business of recycling those weeks or points that naturally turn back to them to continually resell at more and more inflated prices.

This is in comparison to the conventional timeshare model at resorts such as the Lawai Beach Resort on Kauai where there IS NO MORE DEVELOPER OWNED WEEKS; as the weeks have been fully bought out by the Owners. Any weeks that naturally become available are either resold through a foreclosure auction in February of each year at very reasonable costs; or the deeds are sold directly by the owners or the estate of the former owners to new purchasers at a market rate. At Lawai, the prices are NOT artificially elevated to achieve profits; as the Owners Association is a Non-Profit organization; and any appreciation of the properties go back to the individual owners when they sell their deed to another person on the open market. Try selling your Club Points - oh wait, you contractually cannot! And you paid how much for this "priviledge".

I think I'll wait for much, much improved terms before I convert; maybe if the current deeded week owners resist their pressure sales tactics, either DRI will improve their offers to the point they pay US money to convert; or get the heck out of the resort that would otherwise become a really nice fully Owner occuppied resort and we would trade point using Red Week points that we voluntarily contribute weeks year by year rather than entering into draconian Point Club contracts made with a Devil-like Profit-driven corporation whose profit model is entirely dependent upon the used-car sales paradigm.