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Ka'anapali Beach Owners Check Here (by Michael D.):

charless345 wrote:

Hello,

I am a member of Diamond Resorts (DRI). I have been since 2002 even before Diamond took it over. I have stayed at Ka'anapali Beach Club (KBC) and really loved that resort. I am a gold elite member which means I have a lot of points (30,000). I tell you this to let you know that I am heavily invested in the Club.

First, you will not be able to join the Club by buying a resale. You will be able to use the KBC unit, rent it and trade/exchange it through Interval Internatinal (II). However, it will not be able to be a part of the Club. DRI will require you to buy points and charge a fee to join the Club. How much that fee is and how many points you will have to buy will depend. It's been negotiable in the past.

The biggest concern that people will tell you about buying into DRI's system is the high maintenance fees. Maintenance fees increased a lot in a short period of time. In addition, there are some very angry owners at DRI's other big Hawaii property in Kauai because they had a special assessment of nearly $6000 that they had to pay because of water intrusion damage. This made owners very, very upset and they are trying or in the process of suing DRI. There are owners in the UK who are also upset with DRI because of the increasing rates of the maintenance fees. They UK owners have some different rules than we do in the US. However, one thing is sure. Now matter what side of the Atlantic you are on, people don't like increasing maintenance fees.

My take on it is this. Maintenace fees did go up significantly for about 3 years and then leveled off the last couple of years and the increases have not been as significant. I was disturbed by this myself especially since I do have so many points. I pay nearly $4000 each year in maintenace fees. However, I also own a timeshare with Marriott and their fees went up too. I also have read from on other threads from various forums that maintence fees have increased. This is the nature of the beast.

The other point that needs to be stated is that when DRI took over, many of the resorts were in great need of upgrading and repair. Units needed to be refurbished. From the beginning that DRI took over I noticed this beginning to happen and it's continued. DRI has added more properties that are in trouble and then fix them up. This causes some owners of these recently bought properties to get upset because of the maintence fee increase. However, their resort gets a badly needed facelift.

Now I have stayed pretty much where I have wanted to during my years in the system and it has nothing to do with my gold status. However, to get the most out of the Club you need to be a planner. If you can make reservatins a year to 10 months out you will be able to get most of the vacations you would like. This is particlularly important when you want to go places during prime time like Hawaii in July or during Christmas or Thanksgiving. Those are peak seasons and the points usage is higher and availability shrinks quickly. If you can travel anytime you desire then you won't have much trouble as some profess. Like I said, I have rarely have had problems making reservations because I have some flexibility and I plan about a year out. I actually stayed in both Hawaii properties during July. I was at KBC for almost 2 weeks during July. It was easy to make a reservation. I will say that some properties that are DRI affiliates are harder to get into. For example, the Coronado Beach Resort is an affiliate. It is on Coronado Island which is across the bridge from San Diego. It is a great location right across the street from one of the US's nicest beaches. It is hard to get in there, however I did for a week in June. My point is that planning and flexibility is essestial.

The Club also offers the usage of points for airfare, tours, cruises (which are hard to book because there are so few cabins per cruise) and other goodies. However, just understand that it is when you use your points for accommodations is when you get the most value for your points. You are losing value when you do those other things, but it's good to have the option in case you may lose those points. You can also save points up to one year and use them the next.

As for KBC, I like the resort. The rooms are spacious. i have stayed in an Deluxe ocean view and ocean front. A lot depends on where they put you with the delux ocean view. With the deluxe ocean view you could have what some consider a ocean front or you could have a partial ocean view. I had a deluxe ocean view unit but I was facing square front to the ocean. The ocean front is suppose to be that and only that ocean FRONT which is square front on the beach where you can see and hear the ocean all day and night. I like that for no more than 2 weeks, then it drives me crazy.

I will share with you that I have been a happy owner with DRI. Yes, I have not liked the maintence fee hikes like everyone else, but since I see all timeshare companies doing it as well I don't fret about it because there is a cost to doing business. People are defaulting and have lost jobs and income and there are empty units that need to be paid for. Also, I must share that right now because maintence fees have increased so much over the years, people are cosidering the wisdom of purchasing timeshares because you can rent them right now for less than maintenance fees. Why buy and pay higher maintenace fees when you can rent on Redweek for less than them and not see an increase each year. People are saying that to themselves and that is a good question.

My advice to you is to make sure that Hawaii is a place you want to visit every year. Make sure you really like KBC. I know Maui is a great place. Take into consideration the escalating air fares too. Know that Hawaii timeshares cost more than continental US timeshares. My other timeshare is on Oahu at Marriott's Ko Olina and is $1700 per year. That's a lot of money granted that I can rent it for $2400 during the summer. It is still pricey.

If you are buying what you really like, then go for it. If you are buying it resale then that is better. If you decide to join the Club be sure you let us know before you buy from DRI. There are different collections of resorts that you can buy into. You don't want to buy into the Hawaii collection today and then want more points in the US collection later because you will have two different collection fees. If you buy into the Hawaii collection, that would be your home collection and you will have priority booking at 13 months out. I have the US collection but cannot book Hawaii until 10 months out. Thus, you will have a booking advantage. However, the Hawaii collection does not have as many resorts in its collection as the US collection. These are just a few things to consider.

I hope this helps. I have tried to give you a fair and objective summary of what is happening currently in the timeshare word of Diamond Resorts. I am sure there are others who will chime in and give their opinions as well.

This sounds so much like a sales presentation that I have heard many times