# New Sales Pitch To Hawaii Collection Owners



## singlemalt_18 (Oct 28, 2013)

We heard a rather surprising sales pitch during our Sampler meeting in Sedona earlier this month, and it is no surprise that DRI owners and Club members continue to feel apprehensive and frustrated about their ownership and membership.  Why they continue to sabotage the goodwill of existing owners by 2nd rate sales tactics is truly puzzling, but they have found a way to turn the Poipu SA into the latest sales gimmick for Hawaii Collection owners.

Anyone with a bit or residual anger, frustration, or even confusion about the costly assessment levied on owners due to the water intrusion issues, beware.  They will stoke your fears and tell you that if you do not take action – convert your Hawaii points to U.S. collection NOW by purchasing additional points – you could be subject to another such surprise at any time!
The main bullet points of the pitch included the following statements offered here without additional comment or opinion:

 - The Hawaii collection only has two properties and insurance companies have strange rules that prevent payment if lava from a volcanic eruption doesn’t come close enough to the resort.
 - You do not need 13 month booking rights if you do not plan on spending Christmas or New Years in Hawaii.
 - The U.S. collection has a $50 million reserve fund to prevent future SAs; it can’t happen in the U.S. collection.
 - You can save money because maintenance fees are lower in the U.S. collection.
 - They added 10 units from Sedona and 10 units from Polo Towers into the Hawaii collection to lower the cost of the Poipu SA.
 - THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT ANOTHER HUGE SA WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN IN THE HAWAII COLLECTION.
 - As a Hawaii collection owner you have this one time opportunity to convert your points to U.S. collection points and eliminate the risk of paying another large SA.

There you have it!  It is also rather amazing how many times they position their statements in terms of _“now that we are a publicly traded company …blah, blah, blah.” _ The more things change, the more they stay the same.  I question what the impact would be for HC owners if this tactic were to truly move a sizeable portion out of the trust?

I’m still not sold on whether it will be advantageous for us to purchase some additional points to make Silver, but at least we managed to lock in some pricing from 2010 for another two years in the event we change our minds.  In this case we played the Polo Towers team against our experience in Sedona.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Oct 28, 2013)

singlemalt_18 said:


> We heard a rather surprising sales pitch during our Sampler meeting in Sedona earlier this month, and it is no surprise that DRI owners and Club members continue to feel apprehensive and frustrated about their ownership and membership.  Why they continue to sabotage the goodwill of existing owners by 2nd rate sales tactics is truly puzzling, but they have found a way to turn the Poipu SA into the latest sales gimmick for Hawaii Collection owners.
> 
> Anyone with a bit or residual anger, frustration, or even confusion about the costly assessment levied on owners due to the water intrusion issues, beware.  They will stoke your fears and tell you that if you do not take action – convert your Hawaii points to U.S. collection NOW by purchasing additional points – you could be subject to another such surprise at any time!
> The main bullet points of the pitch included the following statements offered here without additional comment or opinion:
> ...


Thanks for sharing. 

In each area they spin it differently.  At the "updates" in Hawaii they're all about how superior the Hawaii Collection is to the US Collection.

The way they work the public offering into the pitch in Hawaii is that the outside investors demanded that they eliminate the model where the offering price was the same in $/point across all collections, and that the pricing be adjusted to reflect the "true demand".  And since the Hawaii Collection is the most desirable it has the highest price.  If they hadn't made that adjustment there wouldn't be any Hawaii Collection inventory available because US Collection owners would be acquiring every bit of it as they converted their US Collection holdings to Hawaii Collection holdings. But you, lucky owner, still have outstanding all of these previous offers that were made to you at sales meetings past, so you can upgrade at those older lower rates.

I also like how they spin that the Collection provides protection against SAs.  While it does lessen the impact of any single SA, it conversely increases your exposure to being exposed to an SA because you'll get whacked by any SA at any of the resorts in the collection.  I got a very blank look when I explained to my salesperson how spreading the risk that way is like purchasing insurance, and the annual trust maintenance fee you pay to get that protection is a pretty hefty insurance premium to pay to spread that risk.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 29, 2013)

It's been several years since we took the full owners update (I'm thinking 4 or 5). It was shortly after DRI purchased Sunterra, we had joined THE Club and I thought I'd see if they could tell me anything I didn't already know (they didn't). 

The pitch was similar. Convert our deeded weeks to trust points by purchasing more trust points. When I didn't bite the closer attempted the scare tactic of potential SA's at Polo Towers. She even went so far as to allude to an as of yet unannounce SA that owners hadn't been told about but she had heard through the grapevine was about to happen (it didn't).


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## csalter2 (Oct 29, 2013)

*Hawaii is hard to get, yeah right!*

I remember one summer about six years ago going to an owner's update at Ka'anapali Beach Club and they were trying to convince me to buy there. They kept telling me and my wife, how we would never be able to stay there during summer if we were not owners. This lady was saying this with a straight face after I had told her we were staying in an oceanfront room and it was in JULY. 

No I did not buy more points. I am wondering what they are going to say when they find out I am going there in JULY next summer and I now have a 2 BEDROOM?  I feel like going to the update just to have a laugh.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Oct 29, 2013)

dougp26364 said:


> It's been several years since we took the full owners update (I'm thinking 4 or 5). It was shortly after DRI purchased Sunterra, we had joined THE Club and I thought I'd see if they could tell me anything I didn't already know (they didn't).
> 
> The pitch was similar. Convert our deeded weeks to trust points by purchasing more trust points. When I didn't bite the closer attempted the scare tactic of potential SA's at Polo Towers. She even went so far as to allude to an as of yet unannounce SA that owners hadn't been told about but she had heard through the grapevine was about to happen (it didn't).



Ahhh ... the grapevine information.

I remember sitting in a presentation about five years ago, when the sales person said that DRI now owned Bluegreen and Raintree.  I challenged him (politely, I think), on those statements.  I countered that DRI did have purchase agreements with both entities, but the deals hadn't yet closed.  

He insisted they were done deals, and when I didn't concur he called over his Sales Manager, who did admit the deals weren't closed, but that all that was holding them up was a few details.  I said the lining up financing isn't a "detail", and we ended up agreeing to disagree.

Then in our next presentation, we were assured that Diamond was in the process of closing on a resort on the Big Island, near Hilo, that they were going to convert to timeshare, and that by the time we were back next year there would be a DRI managed resort on the Big Island.


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## singlemalt_18 (Oct 29, 2013)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> ...Diamond was in the process of closing on a resort on the Big Island, near Hilo...



That must be the one in danger of damage from lava!


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## Rent_Share (Oct 29, 2013)

lava  Clooberg​ 
Pick your poison​


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Oct 29, 2013)

singlemalt_18 said:


> That must be the one in danger of damage from lava!





What we were told this summer - and which I am inclined to believe - is that Diamond has seriously looked at purchasing existing properties on other islands.  But when they have been ready to pursue the deals the county governments have said they will not approve a change from resort to timeshare operation.


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## kalima (May 4, 2014)

*why?*



singlemalt_18 said:


> We heard a rather surprising sales pitch during our Sampler meeting in Sedona earlier this month, and it is no surprise that DRI owners and Club members continue to feel apprehensive and frustrated about their ownership and membership.  Why they continue to sabotage the goodwill of existing owners by 2nd rate sales tactics is truly puzzling, but they have found a way to turn the Poipu SA into the latest sales gimmick for Hawaii Collection owners.
> 
> Anyone with a bit or residual anger, frustration, or even confusion about the costly assessment levied on owners due to the water intrusion issues, beware.  They will stoke your fears and tell you that if you do not take action – convert your Hawaii points to U.S. collection NOW by purchasing additional points – you could be subject to another such surprise at any time!
> The main bullet points of the pitch included the following statements offered here without additional comment or opinion:
> ...



What I don't understand is WHY were they trying to get you to 'ditch' your Hawaii Collection? Are they short on units or something in Hawaii?..is it so that they can sell the points that you are leaving kinda thing?


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