# Breakdown of DRI THE Club fee's - Deeded week owners



## dougp26364 (Dec 8, 2014)

Here is the breakdown for THE Club fee's for 2015

1. $79 charged for Vacation Guard insurance. You may opt out of this fee BUT, you have to physically opt out vs select the option to purchase. IMHO this is backwards. Owners should have the option to purchase the insurance IF they want it, not have DRI automatically add the charge in and owners be required to opt out.

2. THE Club base standard assessment of $270

3. THE Club point base assessment, which appears to be 0.009 cents per point. In my case $238.50

I see NO benefits the would require this sort of increase in my fee's. I own with Marriott Vacation Club International and Hilton Grand Vacation Club International. Both of which provide similar services at a MUCH lower cost.

IMHO, this will have a negative impact for DRI owners and for DRI as a timeshare management company. Starting in 2016 I predict many deeded week owners will either opt out of THE Club, sell or give away their timeshare or, in a worst case scenario, become so disgusted they elect to walk away from their deeded weeks, leaving DRI with the unexpected mess and expense of more foreclosures than normally anticipated.


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## johnrsrq (Dec 8, 2014)

dougp26364 said:


> Here is the breakdown for THE Club fee's for 2015
> 
> 1. $79 charged for Vacation Guard insurance. You may opt out of this fee BUT, you have to physically opt out vs select the option to purchase. IMHO this is backwards. Owners should have the option to purchase the insurance IF they want it, not have DRI automatically add the charge in and owners be required to opt out.
> 
> ...



ok,  the small number of points which I had to buy to achieve silver when I "joined" the club was 3,500. So, in regasrds to the fee's for the club and these points (not the cost increase on the other points from .141 to .1458 US collection  both deeded and resale points I own)

my club fee's didn't increase much in the last three years.

                           2013          2014           2015

Base Standard       205            215              215
Points Standard     437            423              215 
Club Fee               299             204             235

Total                     872             842             887


The .141 to (I think) .14598 per point is 3.53%.  Are your other clubs under these levels in terms of increases?


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## pedro47 (Dec 8, 2014)

johnrsrq said:


> ok,  the small number of points which I had to buy to achieve silver when I "joined" the club was 3,500. So, in regasrds to the fee's for the club and these points (not the cost increase on the other points from .141 to .1458 US collection  both deeded and resale points I own)
> 
> my club fee's didn't increase much in the last three years.
> 
> ...



Question to the OP do you belong to DRI Trust Fund ?


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## johnrsrq (Dec 8, 2014)

pedro47 said:


> Question to the OP do you belong to* DRI Trust Fund ?[/*QUOTE]
> 
> lol, what trust fund?
> 
> ...


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## RuralEngineer (Dec 8, 2014)

*Club Fee*

2014   2015

$204   $250


wonder what is the difference -  $235 / $270  vs   $250


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## pedro47 (Dec 8, 2014)

johnrsrq said:


> pedro47 said:
> 
> 
> > Question to the OP do you belong to* DRI Trust Fund ?[/*QUOTE]
> ...


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## dougp26364 (Dec 8, 2014)

I think what we're seeing is DRI answering the objections at the sales interviews where deeded week owners like myself object to having to pay THE Club dues + Trust fund management fees + MF's. So what it appears they've done is arbitrarily increased fee's on deeded week owners to equal the fee's trust owners pay.

Regardless of their motivation, $508.50 is FAR to much to pay for any internal exchange system.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 8, 2014)

pedro47 said:


> Question to the OP do you belong to DRI Trust Fund ?



I own deeded weeks in THE Club. We do not own any trust points nor do I have any desire to own trust points or pay DRI to convert our deeded weeks into a trust ownership interest.


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## pedro47 (Dec 8, 2014)

Thanks Doug for your help. I am very upset as a deeded owner and a Club member.


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## johnrsrq (Dec 8, 2014)

*attached my DRI Club bills 2013-5 and resale 2015*



RuralEngineer said:


> 2014   2015
> 
> $204   $250
> 
> ...



my CLUB fee for 2015  $235.

Doug,

      To me these fee's are nothing new. The Club offers more Global Access if you may use it. For the $235, it's ok to me. If they add more places and we can use our global points then that is the benefit of the club as well as some other things too.


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## winger (Dec 8, 2014)

dougp26364 said:


> I think what we're seeing is DRI answering the objections at the sales interviews where deeded week owners like myself object to having to pay THE Club dues + Trust fund management fees + MF's. So what it appears they've done is arbitrarily increased fee's on deeded week owners to equal the fee's trust owners pay.
> 
> Regardless of their motivation, $508.50 is FAR to much to pay for any internal exchange system.


 Marriott's version of the Club still only charges *$175* after about three years of life.  And, you would think DRI being more 'experienced' in this Club arena, would be more skillful in managing/keeping costs under control.  Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case.  Marriott seems to have DRI beat hands down here.  Also, Marriott's offerings (aside from TS stays) are way more attractive than DRI's from what I can see, but again I have not had a chance to use them in either system.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 8, 2014)

johnrsrq said:


> my CLUB fee for 2015  $235.
> 
> Doug,
> 
> To me these fee's are nothing new. The Club offers more Global Access if you may use it. For the $235, it's ok to me. If they add more places and we can use our global points then that is the benefit of the club as well as some other things too.



If my club fee's were $235, I'd agree with you. Instead they're $508.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 8, 2014)

winger said:


> Marriott's version of the Club still only charges *$175* after about three years of life.  And, you would think DRI being more 'experienced' in this Club arena, would be more skillful in managing/keeping costs under control.  Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case.  Marriott seems to have DRI beat hands down here.  Also, Marriott's offerings (aside from TS stays) are way more attractive than DRI's from what I can see, but again I have not had a chance to use them in either system.



With Marriott we're premier owners. We pay a whopping $215. That's a little less than DRI's $508.50 for Silver Elite status.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 8, 2014)

I wonder what the percentage of deeded week owners who are members of THE Club compared to trust owners? I wonder what the percentage of deeded weeks are in THE Club? More importantly, if there's a mass exodus of deeded week owners who leave THE Club, how will that affect DRI's system if it loses that inventory for the remaining members? If a significant amount of owners stop paying THE Club fee's and opt out, how will that affect the amount of fee's paid by everyone who remains?

I feel like a shift it likely immanent in 2016. I just wonder what the underlying affect is going to be on those who have come to rely on THE Club for their vacation reservations. Maybe there's not enough deeded week owners remaining to matter. Maybe the majority won't opt out. Maybe they'll join one of the trusts.


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## RuralEngineer (Dec 9, 2014)

*difference*



johnrsrq said:


> my CLUB fee for 2015  $235.




your club fees are labeled silver mine are labeled gold.  so the different loyalty tiers pay a different amount based on benefits.

thanks.

stephen


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## dougp26364 (Dec 9, 2014)

RuralEngineer said:


> your club fees are labeled silver mine are labeled gold.  so the different loyalty tiers pay a different amount based on benefits.
> 
> thanks.
> 
> stephen



I guess it doesn't matter how one might want to spin it, going from $319 to $508.50 is outrageous IMHO. For that matter, it was questionable in my mind if the value was still there at $319 when we started out at $139 maybe 5 or 6 years ago. 

Trust owners have, from what I've been told, always had three fee's. MF per point, a trust management fee and THE Club fee. THE Club fee has always been optional as I've understood it if you wanted internal exchange privileges throughout the DRI system. 

Deeded week owners only had to pay THE Club fee, which has risen 225% since we joined, which I believe was 6 years ago to the now astronomical fee of $508 (apparently more or less depending on points owned and status). In approximately 7 years that's a whopping 365% increase for something that's a pure fee. I only wish my income had risen at that rate.


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## kalima (Dec 9, 2014)

*interesting*

How are the fees for Non Club weeks owners? I just 'bought' a resale week but resort hasn't transferred it quite yet (even though Title has been changed etc through closing company)...TYI....oh I will own 1 DOV week EEY at KBC Maui.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 9, 2014)

If you bought a deeded week, you won't be a member of THE Club and will only pay the MF's associated with your resort. If you bought trust points I'm assuming you'll pay the trust based MF's plus trust management fee's associated with that trust. I do not believe you'd pay THE Club fee's as resale trust ownerships are not eligible to belong to THE Club.


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## kalima (Dec 9, 2014)

*Wow!*

That is an insane increase! ($319 last year to $508.50 this year)...are you sure that isn't including something they have just slid in there? Like the Travel Insurance of $79 that they are charging regular points members? It is of course optional.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 9, 2014)

kalima said:


> That is an insane increase! ($319 last year to $508.50 this year)...are you sure that isn't including something they have just slid in there? Like the Travel Insurance of $79 that they are charging regular points members? It is of course optional.



The $508.50 is AFTER the voluntary insurance was removed. If I want something, I'll request it thank you very much. I don't like companies that just add an extra to my bill. Thats like a department store automatically adding an extended warrenty to every product you buy or a car rental agency automatically adding the damage waiver to every rental, forcing you to be smart enough to opt out to avoid Buying something you didn't want or need.


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## artringwald (Dec 18, 2014)

*Unethical deception*



dougp26364 said:


> The $508.50 is AFTER the voluntary insurance was removed. If I want something, I'll request it thank you very much. I don't like companies that just add an extra to my bill. Thats like a department store automatically adding an extended warrenty to every product you buy or a car rental agency automatically adding the damage waiver to every rental, forcing you to be smart enough to opt out to avoid Buying something you didn't want or need.



Every time I book a reservation online, by default the site checks the boxes to pay extra for vacation insurance, telemedicine service, and a legal protection plan. It's annoying, but at least it's obvious that they're OPTIONAL. The listing voluntary insurance on the Club statement says nothing about it being optional. The fact that it's optional is buried in the FAQ. It's deception, pure and simple. I'm sure many owners will pay for it without realizing that they had a choice.


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