# Diamond Resorts International - should I purchase?



## sagarwal (May 30, 2008)

I am being offered 3,000 pts for $11K (membership in The Club is included).  They have also approved me being able to take my timeshare week in Vacation Village Bonneventure (2 BR lockoff) and depositing it in the club to give me another 5,500 points a year, brining my total to 8,500 points.  There is a $119 fee to deposit this week into The Club yearly.  The maintenance fee is $629 and my ownership will be at the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort and San Luis Inn (they have joint ownership into these properties).  Should i be purchasing?  What is the quality of the resorts within the DRI family?  Are exchanges easy, and is availability good?  I like the fact that there are no exchange fees within DRI (even if we use only 2 or 3 days).  Also, they have not really allocated me any particular week or unit for these 3,000 points even at the home resort?  Is that OK?


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## winger (Jun 2, 2008)

I will only take a shot at answering a couple of your questions, being a new DRI Club member myself.

*First, quality-wise.*  I will include staff, location, and the 'hardware' (cleanliness, asthethics, furniture, kitchen, etc.)

We have been to both San Luis Bay Inn (about 4 nights a few months ago) and just came back from a Memorial weekend getaway at Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort. We have a Maui trip next spring break (2009).

SLBI is in a great location, is an older resort although may units are being redone (or have been redone within past 5+ years).  We stayed in a corner 4th floor 1BD. Overall resort quality I rate it a 6.0/10.  

LTVR - we stayed in the newest wing (completed just late last year) 1BD and saw the studio older wing (friends stayed there).  I rate this resort 7.5/10.

As comparison quality-wise, I would rate Marriott's Ko Olina a 10.0/10, Marriott's Newport Coast Villa a 9.5/10, Marriott's Timber Lodge (9.0/10).  

*Location-wise* DRI offers decent locations throughout the states and abroad, although we would welcome more California destinations since we are in California (San Fran area).  We are bummed that DRI (some time back) lost a good San Diego bldg).


*Value* Overall, the DRI Club offers what I consider a CostCo of timesharing.  Sort of like the Worldmark brand.  You get a good amt of value for your money, but you are not paying an arm/leg (it sure feels this way in down economy like today) to own a top end resort like Marriott's Ko Olina.  You will not regret getting into DRI and the Club.

One thing nice to mention before I forget is the point system, which DRI Club uses.  This system is highly *preferable *versus fixed week systems (like Marriott).

Note that we own both Marriott and DRI/Club.  We have built up our ownership over many years and now can enjoy the best of both worlds !


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## timeos2 (Jun 2, 2008)

sagarwal said:


> I am being offered 3,000 pts for $11K (membership in The Club is included).  They have also approved me being able to take my timeshare week in Vacation Village Bonneventure (2 BR lockoff) and depositing it in the club to give me another 5,500 points a year, brining my total to 8,500 points.  There is a $119 fee to deposit this week into The Club yearly.  The maintenance fee is $629 and my ownership will be at the Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort and San Luis Inn (they have joint ownership into these properties).  Should i be purchasing?  What is the quality of the resorts within the DRI family?  Are exchanges easy, and is availability good?  I like the fact that there are no exchange fees within DRI (even if we use only 2 or 3 days).  Also, they have not really allocated me any particular week or unit for these 3,000 points even at the home resort?  Is that OK?



3000 points in the Club usually isn't even a 1 bedroom!  What exactly is what you are looking at worth? $119 is 1/2 of the new annual Club fee - is this a 1/2 unit or an every other year? 

Unless the value of points changed dramatically 3000 simply isn't enough for anything you'd want to do.


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## dougp26364 (Jun 2, 2008)

In a word *NO*! $11,000 is far to expensive for 3,000 points. Right now I'm not convinced that older Sunterra resorts won't be getting whacked with large SA's and larger than normal increases in MF's. I won't know if I'm right for another 2 or 3 years but I surely would not pay $11,000 for only 3,000 points with this company. 

At the moment, I consider the quality of DRI resorts to be middle of the road at best. They do not seem to be consistant across the board. I.I.'s rating system even show that as some resorts are premier and some are select. This could change but, it will take several years and a lot of owners money (MF's and SA's) to get it done.


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## nightnurse613 (Jun 3, 2008)

There has been plenty of discussion in these boards about DRI/Sunterra ownership. IMHO the way to go is buy (resale) at Sunterra resorts and then get 2,000 of their Florida Trust Sun Options (figure $5K with MF about $500) and have them convert your nonClub weeks into SunOptions until you have at least 15,000 points every year.  If you didn't follow this continue to read the Discussion Forums.  This is the short and sweet of it.


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## JoeMid (Jun 3, 2008)

timeos2 said:


> $119 is 1/2 of the new annual Club fee - is this a 1/2 unit or an every other year?


$119 is a fee for the OP to 'deposit' into _THE Club Select_   , a non-DRI week that they own into the system in exchange for an annual allotment of points.  This is over and above any MFs, Club fees, Trust base fee, etc.  Diamond Select deposits are available to the general public at  http://select.diamondresorts.com/    and for Club Members for half the price shown or for points. http://select.diamondresorts.com/


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