# Advice on going to platinum



## awa (Mar 30, 2016)

I know a lot of people just hate DRI and would always suggest staying away.  But let's just assume that I want to get from gold (30k points) to platinum (50k points).  I got to 30k by taking 20k points from owners who wanted to unload them and then buying 10k developer points to bring them all into the club.  I like the club benefits a lot.  The upgrades are so useful and valuable to us.  Platinum has unlimited upgrades, which is the main draw.  I'm certainly afraid they will take that benefit away, so I'd love to hear speculation on that if anyone wants to participate.
When we did this deal, the DRI corporate people "warned" me that 20k resale points is all anyone is allowed to bring in during a lifetime.  Kind of over the top language, but whatever.  I believe that there are no rules that can't be broken in a deal, but I also know that sometimes it's easier not to have to try to get an exception.
I wish I had looked more into deeded weeks from the beginning.  I'm thinking I can get the 20k additional points by taking on someone's deeded week (or two) that is valued at close to 20k points and then buying the remaining developer points needed to get there.  The problem is that I've never sat through a sales presentation where I've had a deeded week to discuss.  I don't know how those go at all.  I've looked in the marketplace and there are certainly lots of options.  But how can I know for sure how many points the week will translate to?  If it's a fixed week, is it safe to look it up in the reservations directory and take the value that shows there?  What if it's a floating week?  Which season indicates the value in points?  The lowest?  The middle?  The average?  I've read about the three options you have when you own a deeded week to a DRI property.  (Keep the deeded week, turn over control of it to DRI in exchange for pts, or completely convert the deed to points.)  I think we can save on MFs with option 2, so that would be my preference, but I'd also take option 3 if the negotiations make that easier.  How much do they ask you to pay for option 2?  Option 3?  Can I realistically expect to negotiate a deal where I bring in a deeded week and then pay only the cost of the remaining developer points to get to 20k?  I know that when I was dealing in points only, there was a commonly accepted rule of thumb that you buy half the number of points you bring in resale.  I suspect that I can do better than that with a deeded week.  I'm thinking that I can bring in a week worth 16k points and buy 4k and my willingness to walk away from a deal (and just use the deeded week as-is) will be enough incentive to make it work.  Any thoughts?  Should I go for 17k/3k?  15k/5k to be safer?  I've read on here that some legacy owners have bought as few as 3k developer points to bring their deeded week into the club.
So basically my questions are:
Am I a fool to believe that unlimited upgrades will remain an option for platinum owners?
How do I accurately value deeded weeks available on the resale market in DRI points?
How small of a purchase do you think I can get away with to get to the 20k increment?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!


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## tschwa2 (Mar 30, 2016)

I believe you will need to purchase points in the amount of half of what you are bringing in.  So just as you brought in 20,000 and had to buy 10,000, I think you would need to buy something that worth about 14,000 then purchase about 7,000 additional points.  At least I think that is the normal deal these days.  Perhaps you could negotiate something better.


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## RuralEngineer (Apr 4, 2016)

*getting to platinum*

10K resale 16K club combinations  4K purchased

bottom line:  if you have other deeded timeshares bring them in via club combinations along w/resale.

don't count on any specific platinum benefit to make your decision.

stephen


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## TheWizz (Apr 4, 2016)

I had the equivalent of 45K DRI points at one time.  Most were associated with DRI deeded weeks that were put into The Club back when you could pay $3K to "clean your points".  ALL of my DRI points were/are associated with resale units.  Since then I have sold a couple of my deeds and gave-back the DRI "true points" I had as the MFs were much higher (per point) vs. the deeded week points value.  I am left with 30K points and am looking to offload the balance of my weeks this year and leave the club as I prefer my HGVC ownership/weeks.  Best of luck.


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## bry4fun (Jan 26, 2017)

I bought some 4 bedroom holiday weeks at Powhatan and converted them to points (15000) and a Greensprings (18000) and when I did it I only had to buy 2,000 points. Also on some I kept the deed and I pay the maint. fees for the deeded weeks but I get the points to use in the club at a lot less than the Club fees.


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## chemteach (Jan 26, 2017)

People have mentioned Club Combo.  Maybe you could speak with a DRI salesperson over the phone to ask questions about it.  (??). With Club Combo, you can put a non-DRI deeded week into Club Combo and get DRI points for the week.  (This assumes you own other timeshare weeks that you would be willing to deposit yearly into DRI.)  If you learn anything, please post or pm me.  I'm in the same boat and have been considering going from my 30,000 points up to 50,000 to get platinum status.  But I'm not certain I want all those maintenance fees...


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## bry4fun (Feb 6, 2017)

chemteach said:


> People have mentioned Club Combo.  Maybe you could speak with a DRI salesperson over the phone to ask questions about it.  (??). With Club Combo, you can put a non-DRI deeded week into Club Combo and get DRI points for the week.  (This assumes you own other timeshare weeks that you would be willing to deposit yearly into DRI.)  If you learn anything, please post or pm me.  I'm in the same boat and have been considering going from my 30,000 points up to 50,000 to get platinum status.  But I'm not certain I want all those maintenance fees...


I am up to 268,000 Platinum points. My maint. fees are through the roof


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