# Any divi resort owners out there



## karentrimmer (Dec 22, 2012)

Aim looking into purchasing a 2 bedroom at the village resale and have some questions about the ability to swap for another divi resort.  Is it hard to do?  Also if I buy a 2 bedroom and would like a 3 bedroom one year is that possible within divi for a fee?


----------



## stmartinfan (Dec 22, 2012)

We've owned at Divi Little Bay in St. Maarten, so my answer is based on our experiences there, but I believe their policies are the same across the chain.

We have exchanged within Little Bay almost every year, changing time of year and/or size of unit, and have never had a problem.  We have also exchanged into Aruba at the Phoenix property.  You can request a change no sooner than 6 months from the date you wish to arrive, and we're always diligent in calling with our request the first day we can.  We've also talked with people at Little Bay who have exchanged into there from Aruba properties, and we're usually there during spring break season, so they've been successful then, too.

Of course, there are fees  There is a $96 administrative fee to exchange your unit for another one, if you don't do any upgrade to size or season.  Divi has several different "seasons," i.e., platinum, gold, etc., which divide the calendar based on demand.  There's a $335 charge to upgrade one level in season, double that for a 2 season upgrade.  There's also a $335 charge for each upgrade in unit size, i.e., studio to one bedroom.  While those fees are relatively high, for us it's turned out to be cheaper to pay the lower maintenance fee for our smaller unit and then pay the upgrade fees only when we needed more.  Since these exchanges are directly within Divi you don't need an RCI membership or have any RCI fees to do them.


----------



## stmartinfan (Dec 22, 2012)

One additional note:  I don't know who you're considering purchasing from, but there is a Divi owners group on Yahoo groups.  The manager of that list compiles a listing of Divi timeshares for sale or rent, so you could use that to compare the unit you're considering with what's available from other owners.  

You need to request to join the group, and to get the list.  Sometimes people list units on the listserve as well. I suspect there are people listing with an over inflated view of their value, but some have are simply interested in getting out from ownership.  

If you're interested in trading within Divi, it's helpful to have a unit during the highest season, since that doesn't really affect your maintenance fee like unit size does, and it could save you some exchange fees.


----------



## wptamo (Dec 22, 2012)

Hiya Stmartinfan,

This may be a bit off topic...
But I also own a week a little Bay, but have used points and home resort to get into different Times and units sizes and locations Ie Arub.... Would using points and paying the exchange fee be a bit less cost? 
But if I understand , I could just trade my week (12) and go at a different time easily?
Sounds like a nice option? I see to go from one bedroom to one bedroom is only $96 vs Rci exchange cost...

Cool.? Still learning.....

Thanks.

Paul


----------



## stmartinfan (Dec 22, 2012)

We don't have points so not sure how that system works and what fees apply.  Our original contract was "weeks" and since we rarely trade via RCI and were always successful swapping within  Divi, we didn't see any reason to pay Divi more to "upgrade" to points when they were trying to sell that.  

The customer service department in NC seems to be decenbtly helpful, so you could probably call and get more details from them.


----------

