# Diamond Resorts- Deed to Club? Good? no?



## carolappel (Jun 24, 2009)

We just used our week at Kaanapali Beach Club in Maui and went to a presentation.  They offered to convert our deeded week to club point system.  they are charging us 4,800 dollars plus 350 more in maintenance fees a year.  Our total points going from 8500 to 10,500 or ten days equivalent at our resort.  They say we will have no exchange fees for any diamond resorts plus they pay the interval gold fee every year.  Don't know if this is a good deal or not.  We are new to this timeshare thing.  This is our first time using it.  Seems like it is hard to exchange for what we want through Interval, tried to exchange for ST. Thomas and never got what we wanted and had to turn in our week 1st.  This way we get to find a reservations before we turn in our week.  Not sure about signing over our deed though.  That makes me nervous.  We have 7 day right of recision. Any advise would be helpful to these newbies.  Thanks.


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## csalter2 (Jun 24, 2009)

*I am not sure I understand*



carolappel said:


> We just used our week at Kaanapali Beach Club in Maui and went to a presentation.  They offered to convert our deeded week to club point system.  they are charging us 4,800 dollars plus 350 more in maintenance fees a year.  Our total points going from 8500 to 10,500 or ten days equivalent at our resort.  They say we will have no exchange fees for any diamond resorts plus they pay the interval gold fee every year.  Don't know if this is a good deal or not.  We are new to this timeshare thing.  This is our first time using it.  Seems like it is hard to exchange for what we want through Interval, tried to exchange for ST. Thomas and never got what we wanted and had to turn in our week 1st.  This way we get to find a reservations before we turn in our week.  Not sure about signing over our deed though.  That makes me nervous.  We have 7 day right of recision. Any advise would be helpful to these newbies.  Thanks.



I am assuming that you had a 1 bedroom since you said your points would increase from 8500 to 10,500. I am not sure how you have 8500 already if you have a deed. Are they giving you another 2000 points just for buying into the Club and that your deeded property was already worth 8500 points? 

I personally don't like to trade if I am not getting the equal value. With your deed you are probably able to use your timeshare at any time including peak time. If you turn it over to points, there are weeks at Christmas, Easter, Independence Day and New Years that you could no longer get because you won't have enough points. You can probably rent those days now. 

I do like the flexibility of the Club. I like being able to use the internal exchange and not pay additional fees. I also enjoy Club Select which allows me to use points to get into DRI members' other timeshare properties that may be Marriott's or destinations that would not otherwise be available except maybe through II. 

I would decide what is important to me first. Look at what you want from the membership more closely and where you are with kids, etc. before you make the decision.


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## carolappel (Jun 24, 2009)

*Diamond Club Points system*

I do have a week which they said was worth 8500 points.  They added an additional 2,000 per yr. to convert to club.  Question, is the internal exchange without exchange fees only good for Diamond resorts?  Not interval exchanges, right?   Also, you said something about trading with Marriott holders who are a part of DRI.  I didn't understand that, can you elaborate how that works?  Also intriguing to us was the ability to use points for 2-3 night excursions.  Also, the 30-59 day half price point exchange.  Have you utilized any of these options?    What benefit is having a deed vs. not having a deed?


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## dougp26364 (Jun 24, 2009)

The big question is, are you interested in exchanging or are you interested in using you owners week? If all you're interested in is returning to your home resort, why pay more money to do the same thing?


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## dougp26364 (Jun 24, 2009)

carolappel said:


> I do have a week which they said was worth 8500 points.  They added an additional 2,000 per yr. to convert to club.  Question, is the internal exchange without exchange fees only good for Diamond resorts?  Not interval exchanges, right?   Also, you said something about trading with Marriott holders who are a part of DRI.  I didn't understand that, can you elaborate how that works?  Also intriguing to us was the ability to use points for 2-3 night excursions.  Also, the 30-59 day half price point exchange.  Have you utilized any of these options?    What benefit is having a deed vs. not having a deed?




The "free" exchanges are only with DRI resorts of their affiliates. Marriott is not an affiliate of DRI. To exchange into Marriott using DRI points you'd have to go through I.I. and you would pay the I.I. exchange fee. You can do the same with your deeded week without joining THE Club. 

The short notice exchanges are 50% of the normal point requirement but, keep in mind that you're getting what's left over. Inventory is not guarenteed to be avaliable. 

Short stay vacations are attractive if that's what you want to do. We use their short stay option for weekend trips to Branson. It saves us on points by only paying for what we use. 

IMHO, 10,500 points if minimal to get you anywhere with THE Club. Personally, I feel that you need at least 15,000 points to really make decent use of THE Club. If you decide to make the change, I'd push to get them to allow you to buy another resale contract and convert that week into THE Club without additional expense. Then I'd go out and buy either another deeded week worth at least 5,000 points or find a 5,000 point trust package on the resale market to add to your ownership.

It sounds as if they're wanting to put you into DRI's Hawaiian trust. If that's the case, finding another 5,000 points trust contract might not be to hard. Seach E-bay to see what's for sale now and watch the autcions to the end to see what the final sales price would be.


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## Eileen A. (Jun 24, 2009)

Hi,

I'm a plat. elite member with Diamond and pretty familiar with the "Club".
I would consider rescinding and look into your options before spending $$.

Ask them if you have to give up your deed to join the club.  I believe the option still exists to hold on to your deed and "place the pts" into the club without relinquishing your deed.  

I have a deed at KBC worth 8500 but did not give up my deed to place it in the Club.  
As another member posted you may want to buy additional "Trust Pts" on the resale market and then place them into the Club as well.  Did you buy your deed originally on the resale market?

If you'd like to send me a private message, I can give you my phone number, I would be happy to talk to you about my experience with Diamond.

Eileen


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## csalter2 (Jun 25, 2009)

*DRI has some good options*



carolappel said:


> I do have a week which they said was worth 8500 points.  They added an additional 2,000 per yr. to convert to club.  Question, is the internal exchange without exchange fees only good for Diamond resorts?  Not interval exchanges, right?   Also, you said something about trading with Marriott holders who are a part of DRI.  I didn't understand that, can you elaborate how that works?  Also intriguing to us was the ability to use points for 2-3 night excursions.  Also, the 30-59 day half price point exchange.  Have you utilized any of these options?    What benefit is having a deed vs. not having a deed?



I was referring to DRI's Club Select program. Here is the link http://select.diamondresorts.com/ResvSearch.aspx

Club Select allows a member who has a timeshare resort in another system like Marriott to exchange it for DRI points. For example, I have a Marriott Ko Olina property. If I want to I can exchange it to DRI and then they would give me 8500 points or I can split it since it is a lockoff and get 12000 points for them. It costs about $79 to do this. I have not done this, but I have used Club Select to use others' property in the system. 
What I have been able to do with this program has been great for me. On July 30th I will be staying at the Marriott Grande Vista in Orlando, FL. through Club Select using my DRI points and not paying an exchange fee for it. This is DRI's external exchange program that is very similar to Interval International. However, the difference is as a DRI owner you can use points to pay for the week or you can use cash. Also, the flex time half point option is also available at 59 days out just like the regular DRI reservations. I want you to know that there are various properties in the Club Select program. I am staying at Marriott Newport Coast Villas in September and and a Wyndham resort in Destin, FL next April. I am not paying an exchange fee for any of these stays. If you use Interval International you will have to use points and pay an exchange fee of $139 if you exchange online or $149 if you call them. I want to make it clear that you do not have to exchange your outside timeshare in order to take advantage of these opportunities unless you want additional points. As long as you have points or money to reserve the property and it's available when you want to go, it's yours.  

If you own KBC and have a deed, you may want to keep your deed and buy the points too if you can. I know many feel they have more leverage particularly if there is financial strife with the organization because they have a deed as opposed to having points which would be worth nothing.  The way I see it, if the company goes belly up, we all lose deed or not. Heck, many people on TUG will tell you the timeshare is not worth anything anyway once you buy it. Life's a gamble.

I have enjoyed using the points. I do want you to know that using your points for anything other than accommodations give you decreased value for your points. However, there are some nice ways to use the points to package it with other options that could be available when you have no other place to put them like air miles. You can even carry them over a year and that could give you more options to stay at more places or use bigger rooms. 

You do need at least 15000 points to be able to have the flexibility the system can provide. However, much of it depends on your needs and what plan you have to use the Club membership. 

It will be important for you to determine that because many people do not know how to use their membership and it is wasted. DRI is not a perfect company, but they are trying. 

I like them a lot.


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