# Diamond resorts trading power in II



## sanderson231 (Mar 26, 2016)

I'm a DRI Hawaii Collection Platinum points owner and have been happy with availability in Hawaii collection.  I have done some exchanges with II on the mainland U.S. but availability does not seem to be great.  Last Monday at an owners update one of the DRI sales guys tried to convince me that I would see better availability if I had some U.S. collection points.  I didn't bite but decided I would do a little independent research.  Does any one know if there is a difference in what can be seen on II's site for Hawaii vs. U.S. collection points?  Or could it be that there is a difference in the number of points required to do an II exchange depending on what collection you are in.  My resort code for an exchange in II is S1T.  Is there a different code for U.S. collection owners?


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 26, 2016)

sanderson231 said:


> I'm a DRI Hawaii Collection Platinum points owner and have been happy with availability in Hawaii collection.  I have done some exchanges with II on the mainland U.S. but availability does not seem to be great.  Last Monday at an owners update one of the DRI sales guys tried to convince me that I would see better availability if I had some U.S. collection points.  I didn't bite but decided I would do a little independent research.  Does any one know if there is a difference in what can be seen on II's site for Hawaii vs. U.S. collection points?  Or could it be that there is a difference in the number of points required to do an II exchange depending on what collection you are in.  My resort code for an exchange in II is S1T.  Is there a different code for U.S. collection owners?



I don't think it makes one whit of difference.  

When you access II it tells you how many points are needed for the reservation.  I don't seen any indication that the collection from which those points are obtained makes any difference at all. 

On the DRI side of the ledger, the points that they give to II will be the points in your account that are the closest to expiring. 

*****

BTW, if there were any difference in points, Hawaii collection points would be more valuable than mainland points.


----------



## bobpark56 (Mar 26, 2016)

*Aren't there differences as to when you can reserve?*

Aren't there differences as to when you can make a reservation...provided you use exclusively points from within your collection?


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 26, 2016)

bobpark56 said:


> Aren't there differences as to when you can make a reservation...provided you use exclusively points from within your collection?


Not that I am aware of.  As soon as you cross over to II, the only thing that matters is whether you have points in your account.  It doesn't matter to II where those points came from.


----------



## clifffaith (Mar 26, 2016)

Yes, the difference is that you can book 13 months out in Hawaii if you own in the Hawaii Collection, and 13 months out on the mainland if you own in the US Collection (we own in both).  But once you are looking at II instead of DRI, it should make no nevermind. I do wish they would break the points out as they are used -- if I'm booking 13 months out in Hawaii I assume they are taking points out of the Hawaii pot, same for US.  But once we are in the 10 month booking window, I guess I'd just like to keep track of how they pull points out.  Presumably they'd pull first from the Collection you're booking into, but who knows.  We asked this question at a sit down just a few days ago and were waved away with "I don't need to know how my cell phone works (sales person waves phone in air), it just does".


----------



## sanderson231 (Mar 26, 2016)

bobpark56 said:


> Aren't there differences as to when you can make a reservation...provided you use exclusively points from within your collection?



Previous reply answered that question


----------



## sanderson231 (Mar 26, 2016)

clifffaith said:


> Yes, the difference is that you can book 13 months out in Hawaii if you own in the Hawaii Collection, and 13 months out on the mainland if you own in the US Collection (we own in both).  But once you are looking at II instead of DRI, it should make no nevermind. I do wish they would break the points out as they are used -- if I'm booking 13 months out in Hawaii I assume they are taking points out of the Hawaii pot, same for US.  But once we are in the 10 month booking window, I guess I'd just like to keep track of how they pull points out.  Presumably they'd pull first from the Collection you're booking into, but who knows.  We asked this question at a sit down just a few days ago and were waved away with "I don't need to know how my cell phone works (sales person waves phone in air), it just does".



So when you look in II you only see one resort code for the Diamond points you wish to trade with?  For example I see S1T.


----------



## youppi (Mar 26, 2016)

sanderson231 said:


> So when you look in II you only see one resort code for the Diamond points you wish to trade with?  For example I see S1T.



Mine is SNT.


----------



## sanderson231 (Mar 26, 2016)

youppi said:


> Mine is SNT.



Interesting.  Are you something other than platinum in Diamond?


----------



## youppi (Mar 26, 2016)

I'm Silver level member. I was a Sunterra member before DRI bought us. May be it is the difference if you have bought your point from DRI or it is because Platinum member receive a 25% discount in point with II that you have a different II code unit.


----------



## sanderson231 (Mar 26, 2016)

youppi said:


> I'm Silver level member. I was a Sunterra member before DRI bought us. May be it is the difference if you have bought your point from DRI or it is because Platinum member receive a 25% discount in point with II that you have a different II code unit.



Again interesting.  Never before heard that DRI platinum got 25% point discount in II.  That's probably why the different codes.  My trading certificate in II does indicate platinum by the resort code.


----------



## youppi (Mar 26, 2016)

sanderson231 said:


> Again interesting.  Never before heard that DRI platinum got 25% point discount in II.  That's probably why the different codes.  My trading certificate in II does indicate platinum by the resort code.



It was specified in the II directory book (2013-2014 and 2014-2015) under the exchange chart. The new 2016-2017 travel planner doesn't mention it. So, I suppose they have removed the discount.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 26, 2016)

clifffaith said:


> … do wish they would break the points out as they are used -- if I'm booking 13 months out in Hawaii I assume they are taking points out of the Hawaii pot, same for US.  But once we are in the 10 month booking window, I guess I'd just like to keep track of how they pull points out.  Presumably they'd pull first from the Collection you're booking into, but who knows.  We asked this question at a sit down just a few days ago and were waved away with "I don't need to know how my cell phone works (sales person waves phone in air), it just does".



Split this into two cases, one for booking within DRI and the other for exchanging through II.

*******

First, for booking within DRI.  If you are using Home Resort Advantage, booking between 10 and 13 months in advance of check-in, the points that will be used are your points in that collection for the year in which the check-in date falls. If you are booking less at less than 10 months before check-in, the points used will be the oldest ones in  your account. 

So let's assume  you are a Hawaii Collection owner with a 15,500 point contract and you've saved all of your 2016 points.  Now let's move forward to January 31, 2017.  Your account shows that you have 31,000 points - the 15,500 points saved from 2016 plus your 15,500 points allotment for 2017.

Now you decide to make a  reservation at Poipu. Below is how the point usage will be determined based on the check-in date and points used:

October 2017 check-in, 10,000 point reservation (partial ocean view).  

Since the check-in date is within 10 months, the 10,000 points will be taken from your saved points, leaving you with 5,500 remaining 2016 saved points and all of your 2017 points.​
October 2017 check-in, 15,500 point reservation (ocean front).  

Since the check-in date is within 10 months, your 15,500 saved points will be used for the reservation.  All of your 2017 points will remain.​
December 2017 check-in, 10,000 point reservation (partial ocean view).  

Since the check-in date is further than 10 months, this is a home resort advantage reservation, and the 10,000 points will be taken from your 2017 points, leaving you with 5,500 remaining 2017 points.  You will still have the 15,500 saved points from 2016, which you will need to burn by the end of 2017.​
December 2017 check-in, 15,500 point reservation (ocean front).  

Since the check-in date is further than 10 months, this is a home resort advantage reservation, and will use all 15,500 points of your 2017 points.  You will still have the 15,500 saved points from 2016, which you will need to burn by the end of 2017.​
February 2018 check-in, 15,500 point reservation (ocean front). 

As with the December 2017 check-in dates, this is a home resort advantage reservation because this check-in date is further than 10 months away.  However, since the check-in date is in 2018, this reservation can only be made with 2018 points.  So after making this reservation you would still have in your account both the 15,500 saved 2016 points and the 15,500 points for 2017.  You would also have to prepay the 2018 fees.​

_Sorry. The above information appears to be incorrect._

*******

Now let's switch to the II situation, which is much simpler.  Same situation as before, you have 15,500 saved points from 2016 expiring on December 31, 2017. You also have all 15,500 2017 points. In II any exchange made using expiring points has to be made before October 1 of the year the points expire.

So, if you are making an exchange anytime before October 1, the points used will come from your saved 2016 points.  If you make an exchange after October 1, the points would come from your 2017 allotment.


----------



## clifffaith (Mar 26, 2016)

Trog,

Very understandable reply, thank you.  But let me ask you this -- say I own 50,000 points, half and half US & Hawaii.  Last year I made a 13 month reservation in both the US & Hawaii that used 12,500 each.  So now, in 2016, I have 12,500 US points, 12,500 Hawaii points, and access to my 2017 points if I desire to may my maintenance fees in advance. If I book a couple days in Palm Springs, does the system automatically use US points, or is that a moot point as to which pot the points come out of now that the 13 month option is gone?  

This came up in discussion with Cliff because we were contemplating giving our US points back to DRI.  But we had around 20,000 2016 points left (we own 37,000 US & 24500 Hawaii) -- if they are "US points" my understanding is that we'd lose them.  But if they are "Hawaii points" they should be untouchable.  In any case we booked ourselves silly getting down to less than 5000 points, with the travel all being done by early August, because we hear that they cancel your current year reservations in spite of having paid the maintenance fee on them.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 26, 2016)

clifffaith said:


> Trog,
> 
> Very understandable reply, thank you.  But let me ask you this -- say I own 50,000 points, half and half US & Hawaii.  Last year I made a 13 month reservation in both the US & Hawaii that used 12,500 each.  So now, in 2016, I have 12,500 US points, 12,500 Hawaii points, and access to my 2017 points if I desire to may my maintenance fees in advance. If I book a couple days in Palm Springs, does the system automatically use US points, or is that a moot point as to which pot the points come out of now that the 13 month option is gone?



Once the Home Resort booking advantage is gone, it makes no difference which collection the points are from as long as you are working within the Club.  The only time Collection is relevant is during the Home Resort Advantage window.  Outside that window, the only consideration is which points are going to expire soonest.  

Note that the situation is different if the Club Affiliation is lost.  At that point your reservation revert to the underlying collection.  So if you do want to shed one collection, you should consider which collection you or your successor might find more valuable if the Club affiliation is terminated.


----------



## youppi (Mar 27, 2016)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Split this into two cases, one for booking within DRI and the other for exchanging through II.
> 
> [*]December 2017 check-in, 10,000 point reservation (partial ocean view).
> 
> ...


It doesn't or didn't work like that. There is or was no difference between booking less or more than 10 months. I have 15000 points Hawaii Collection. In Jan 2014, I banked my 2014 remaining points, 11000 pts to 2015. So, I had 26000 pts available in 2015. I booked 2 weeks (2x6500=13000 pts) in Jan 2014 at KBC 13 months in advance (checkin Feb 2015) and I booked a week later with II (4500 pts). In June 2015, I banked my remaining 2015 points, 26000-13000-4500=8500 pts to 2016.

If your explanations was true than I would have taken 13000 pts from my 2015 allotment and I would be only able to bank, 15000-13000=2000 pts to 2016 and I would lost my 11000-4500=6500 pts of 2014 at the end of 2015. In was not the case, so it is false or the rule has changed this year. 

Where do you take your information ?

By the way, this thread should be moved to the DRI section. Where are you admin ?

Thanks


----------



## dougp26364 (Mar 27, 2016)

As a long time, and now former owner with DRI, I can tell you that when making an exchange using points with *Interval Internatioinal*, there is no difference from which collection those points are allocated. The salesman was telling a story to get a sale. For I.I. exchanges points are points.....period.

As to the "exchange power" of DRI points, they're about average as far as I was ever able to tell. We have/had three I.I. accounts. A corporate DRI account, a corporate Marriott Vacation Club account and a personal account. I could do online searches with  all three using the exact same parameters. All three accounts showed the EXACT same results in nearly every case. Every now an again I'd see a few more Marriott weeks with the Marriott account but, that was to be expected.

Keep in mind that online searches only show weeks/units that have passed through all other pending exchange requests.  This isn't really a true example of "trading power" IMHO. So everything I've just written could be thrown out the window when putting in a request for an ongoing search. I believe in my mind that's where the true differences are known but, I also believe there is NO salesman on the planet that would actually know those difference, only whomever set up the match criteria with I.I. is going to know what matches first and what will likely never match. 

We've owned timeshare since 1998. We've owned as many as 8 weeks and currently are down to 5. We've done nearly all our exchanges thru I.I. and have exchanged between 2 and 4 times per year. In all that time, we have had only ONE exchange request not match and, even then, I simply found a week we liked as well in a slightly different location with an online search so, that request may very well have matched had I let it ride.

Now, as for the time that you can request an internal exchange/reservation within the DRI system, that's another animal. Within your own collection, you can reserve at 13 months. Outside your own collection it's 10 months. Owning points in different collections would affect availability. But I don't believe it will make a wits difference if your question concerns exchanging outside the DRI system with I.I.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 27, 2016)

youppi said:


> It doesn't or didn't work like that. There is or was no difference between booking less or more than 10 months. I have 15000 points Hawaii Collection. In Jan 2014, I banked my 2014 remaining points, 11000 pts to 2015. So, I had 26000 pts available in 2015. I booked 2 weeks (2x6500=13000 pts) in Jan 2014 at KBC 13 months in advance (checkin Feb 2015) and I booked a week later with II (4500 pts). In June 2015, I banked my remaining 2015 points, 26000-13000-4500=8500 pts to 2016.
> 
> If your explanations was true than I would have taken 13000 pts from my 2015 allotment and I would be only able to bank, 15000-13000=2000 pts to 2016 and I would lost my 11000-4500=6500 pts of 2014 at the end of 2015. In was not the case, so it is false or the rule has changed this year.
> 
> ...



That's very interesting.  Thanks for passing on your experience.  

I got my information from talking on the phone with a high level DRI reservations person (a couple of levels above the people who answer the phone when you call in to the reservations center), when I was having trouble booking using my deeded week assigned to the club.  I was trying to figure out how everything, worked and I'm passing on my recollection of what she told me.

Your narrative suggests that my memory might be faulty.  When I get a chance I will peruse the usage rules - which is probably what I should have done in the first place.


----------



## sanderson231 (Mar 27, 2016)

youppi said:


> It doesn't or didn't work like that. There is or was no difference between booking less or more than 10 months. I have 15000 points Hawaii Collection. In Jan 2014, I banked my 2014 remaining points, 11000 pts to 2015. So, I had 26000 pts available in 2015. I booked 2 weeks (2x6500=13000 pts) in Jan 2014 at KBC 13 months in advance (checkin Feb 2015) and I booked a week later with II (4500 pts). In June 2015, I banked my remaining 2015 points, 26000-13000-4500=8500 pts to 2016.
> 
> If your explanations was true than I would have taken 13000 pts from my 2015 allotment and I would be only able to bank, 15000-13000=2000 pts to 2016 and I would lost my 11000-4500=6500 pts of 2014 at the end of 2015. In was not the case, so it is false or the rule has changed this year.
> 
> ...




I had similar experience.  On 10/26/15 I did an exchange for a week in II for travel in 2016.  On 10/31/15 I did three more weeks through II for 2016 travel.  In all four cases the points came from 2014 points that were carried over.  I believe that 10/31/15 was the cut-off for using the 2014 points this way.  In Diamond the only way I could have used the 2014 points at that late date was to buy something travel related and get reimbursed at $0.10 per point.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 27, 2016)

youppi said:


> It doesn't or didn't work like that. There is or was no difference between booking less or more than 10 months. I have 15000 points Hawaii Collection. In Jan 2014, I banked my 2014 remaining points, 11000 pts to 2015. So, I had 26000 pts available in 2015. I booked 2 weeks (2x6500=13000 pts) in Jan 2014 at KBC 13 months in advance (checkin Feb 2015) and I booked a week later with II (4500 pts). In June 2015, I banked my remaining 2015 points, 26000-13000-4500=8500 pts to 2016.
> 
> If your explanations was true than I would have taken 13000 pts from my 2015 allotment and I would be only able to bank, 15000-13000=2000 pts to 2016 and I would lost my 11000-4500=6500 pts of 2014 at the end of 2015. In was not the case, so it is false or the rule has changed this year.
> 
> ...





T_R_Oglodyte said:


> That's very interesting.  Thanks for passing on your experience.
> 
> I got my information from talking on the phone with a high level DRI reservations person (a couple of levels above the people who answer the phone when you call in to the reservations center), when I was having trouble booking using my deeded week assigned to the club.  I was trying to figure out how everything, worked and I'm passing on my recollection of what she told me.
> 
> Your narrative suggests that my memory might be faulty.  When I get a chance I will peruse the usage rules - which is probably what I should have done in the first place.



I checked the Global Membership Guide and I must amend my previous comments.  I  believe that I incorrectly that Home Collection Priority was available only using points from the year in which check-in occurs.  That is not in the Users Guide, and your narration is consistent with what is in the Users Guide.

It is curious, though, that you were apparently able to save 2014 points to 2015 and then use them for a reservation in 2016.  My experience has been that when I have saved points over to the next year, they expire at the end of the year into which I saved them, I cannot save them a second time, and when I tried to book a reservation using them the following year I was told that was not allowed because the points were expiring before the check-in date.  My only option was to use them to book an exchange in II.

Thank you for helping me, as well as other readers  of the thread.

BTW - I'm not an admin.


----------



## youppi (Mar 28, 2016)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> I checked the Global Membership Guide and I must amend my previous comments.  I  believe that I incorrectly that Home Collection Priority was available only using points from the year in which check-in occurs.  That is not in the Users Guide, and your narration is consistent with what is in the Users Guide.
> 
> It is curious, though, that you were apparently able to save 2014 points to 2015 and then use them for a reservation in 2016.  My experience has been that when I have saved points over to the next year, they expire at the end of the year into which I saved them, I cannot save them a second time, and when I tried to book a reservation using them the following year I was told that was not allowed because the points were expiring before the check-in date.  My only option was to use them to book an exchange in II.
> 
> ...


I don't know where you see that my reservation was for 2016. May be my post was not clear. My 13000 points reservation was for 2015 (Feb) booked in Jan 2014 (13 months in advance) with my 2014-2015 pts (my 11000 2014 banked points to 2015 and 2000 points of my 2015 allotment points). Hope this was more cleared.

My comment about the admin was not for you but for the real admin. Normally, the admin should read all posts and move or delete them if inappropriate.

Continue your good job. We like reading your post.

Cheers


----------



## dominidude (Mar 28, 2016)

sanderson231 said:


> I have done some exchanges with II on the mainland U.S. but availability does not seem to be great.



This was addressed in a different recent thread.

http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239934

II seems to be making a calculated business decision to have fewer exchange options and hoping people with good deposits would play along and deposit their timeshares anyway in a bid to more fully be "the quality exchange network" or whatever their motto is. 

The problem seems to be that people with good deposits are staying stay away because they were used to geting two or more exchanges into lower quality resorts but now II seems to put a stop to , or really discourage, that. Hence low availability in II.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 28, 2016)

youppi said:


> I don't know where you see that my reservation was for 2016. May be my post was not clear. My 13000 points reservation was for 2015 (Feb) booked in Jan 2014 (13 months in advance) with my 2014-2015 pts (my 11000 2014 banked points to 2015 and 2000 points of my 2015 allotment points). Hope this was more cleared.



Got it. That makes perfect sense now.  

Looking back on my post, I think I conflated the "Home Resort Advantage" I have with deeded week (that is attached to my DRI club membership) with the "Home Collection Advantage" I have with weeks.  My deeded week is a float-float at Poipu, that is worth 10,000 points (equivalent to partial ocean view).  I also have a grandfather clause that allows me to reserve any available 2-bedroom unit at the resort using those 10,000 points.  But that right can only be exercised in the year in which I receive the points. And since that is a deeded week, not part of the Hawaii collection, I shouldn't be able to use those points for a Home Collection Advantage reservation at, say, Kaanapali.


----------



## sanderson231 (Mar 29, 2016)

sanderson231 said:


> Last Monday at an owners update one of the DRI sales guys tried to convince me that I would see better availability if I had some U.S. collection points.  I didn't bite but decided I would do a little independent research.  Does any one know if there is a difference in what can be seen on II's site for Hawaii vs. U.S. collection points?





I'm the OP for this question.  I also submitted the same question to DRI's internal forum.  Last Monday I got a call from the moderator to clarify the question.  When she understood what I was asking she confirmed that there was no difference between Hawaii and U.S. collection as far as availability in II.


----------



## clifffaith (Mar 29, 2016)

sanderson231 said:


> I'm the OP for this question.  I also submitted the same question to DRI's internal forum.  Last Monday I got a call from the moderator to clarify the question.  When she understood what I was asking she confirmed that there was no difference between Hawaii and U.S. collection as far as availability in II.



Although somewhere on TUG earlier today I read that resale points in the US Collection can't be used to book II.  Both Cliff and I thought that didn't seem right -- can someone confirm?


----------



## clifffaith (Mar 29, 2016)

Here's the quote from Bill4728 on the "Does anyone have anything good to say about DRI?" thread.

 Some of the DRI resales allow Interval International (II) trading ( some like the US collection do not) We found that the II trades we got with the DRI points were of great value.
__________________
Bill
All my posts should be considered my personal opinion or experience unless otherwise noted.


----------



## youppi (Mar 29, 2016)

From DRI website FAQ:

Can I use my points to book an exchange through Interval International
Yes, of course!*
Thanks to our unique association with Interval International®, you can use your points with THE Club® to make reservations at any one of the worldwide resorts affiliated with them.  Reservations made within 30 days of travel are available at 50% the published points value of the accommodation.  

**The only exception is for members who purchased resale points for the California, Hawaii, and US Collections, as they are not eligible to use their resale points for exchange with Interval International.* 

You can use your current year’s points allocation as well as points saved from last year to make an Interval International exchange to travel in either the current or subsequent year. 
If you wish to use any unsaved points (current years or points saved from the previous year) to holiday at an Interval member resort, you must make the exchange before 31 October of the current year.

You can request an Interval International exchange up to 24 months before your chosen travel date.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 29, 2016)

youppi said:


> **The only exception is for members who purchased resale points for the California, Hawaii, and US Collections, as they are not eligible to use their resale points for exchange with Interval International.*


I spend too much time working with attorneys, so I've learned to parse words carefully.

That excerpt says that you may not use your resale points for exchange for exchange with II.  It does not say that you cannot deposit a reservation that you have made with II (or any other exchange company, for that matter).

This seems like a good question to ask at the DRI Member Forum.


----------



## youppi (Mar 29, 2016)

From the global memberships guide about rental, it may be possible.
13. WHAT ARE THE PROCEDURES
FOR RENTALS?
13.1 RULES PROHIBITING MEMBERS FROM MAKING
RENTAL RESERVATIONS 
Subject to the following paragraph, members are not allowed to make a reservation in their name and pass it on to a third party, or exchange it with anyone *other than our appointed exchange company, Interval International® (II)*. Reservations found to be made available to third parties will be canceled, and the points used will then be forfeited. This could also result in a suspension of membership.
Members are allowed to rent their reservation periodically to other members, family and friends for their personal use. Members are not allowed to rent reservations for commercial gain or rent to individuals not known to them. Similarly an II exchange reservation cannot be rented for commercial gain. If this is found to be the case, their membership could be suspended.


----------



## dioxide45 (Mar 29, 2016)

youppi said:


> By the way, this thread should be moved to the DRI section. Where are you admin ?





youppi said:


> My comment about the admin was not for you but for the real admin. Normally, the admin should read all posts and move or delete them if inappropriate.



The TUG moderators don't have the time to read every post. If you want a thread moved to a different forum, you can contact one of them. I would normally suggest clicking the little red triangle, but that seems to be frowned upon for simple moves of a thread. I stopped bothering to ask for threads to be moved.

As you can see, there are lots of threads all over the place these days. Travel Info threads in the TUG Lounge instead of in Travel Info. Same with renting or buying related threads. I used to use the red triangle to have threads moved, but I just leave them now and move on.


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 30, 2016)

youppi said:


> From the global memberships guide about rental, it may be possible.
> 13. WHAT ARE THE PROCEDURES
> FOR RENTALS?
> 13.1 RULES PROHIBITING MEMBERS FROM MAKING
> ...



It's very clear that ownerships that are part of the Club can only be used through the Club. Club members either make a club reservation with their points, or they use their points to exchange in II via the Club Membership. 

That paragraph is from the Club rules and does not apply to ownerships that are not part of the Club.


----------



## sanderson231 (Mar 31, 2016)

clifffaith said:


> Although somewhere on TUG earlier today I read that resale points in the US Collection can't be used to book II.  Both Cliff and I thought that didn't seem right -- can someone confirm?



I called the platinum hot line with Diamond and this is what I was told.  When buyings point on the after market it is very likely that those points can only be used in the home collection.  There is a small chance that they could be used to exchange through II but that would depend the specifics of the contract with DRI.  If a resale purchaser becomes part of DRI's The Club then they could exchange via II or book anywhere in DRI system.  I asked whether there was a set deal to become a The Club member and she said that there is not.  This transaction is done on a case by case basis.  Hope this helps.


----------



## nuwermj (Apr 1, 2016)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> That's very interesting.  Thanks for passing on your experience.
> 
> I got my information from talking on the phone with a high level DRI reservations person (a couple of levels above the people who answer the phone when you call in to the reservations center), when I was having trouble booking using my deeded week assigned to the club.  I was trying to figure out how everything, worked and I'm passing on my recollection of what she told me.
> 
> Your narrative suggests that my memory might be faulty.  When I get a chance I will peruse the usage rules - which is probably what I should have done in the first place.



It may not be a faulty memory. ;-) I think this rule may have changed at some point over the last few years. In August 2013 I asked in the DRI member forum whether saved points have the 13 month booking priority. They said no. Last night I asked the same question in the DRI facebook page and they said saved points do get the 13 month advantage.

---------------------------------
DRI Member Forum (08.20.2013) 
Q: Does the 13 month rule for booking a reservation in a home collection apply to saved points and borrowed points? For example, if I have 4000 annual points and borrow the up coming years' points, can I make a reservation that requires up to 8000 points 13 months before the travel date? Similarly, if my account has 4000 saved point plus 4000 annual points, can I make a 8000 points reservation 13 months out.

A: The 13 month Home Club Advantage rule only applies towards allocated points from your original purchased contract, and does not include saved points or points allocated through other means (ie. Club Select deposited points, Diamond Dream Holidays, etc...).  In your case above, you may use 4,000 points during the Home Club Advantage period (13-10 months prior to arrival), and 8,000 points during the standard booking reservation period (10 months and sooner).

-----------------------------
DRI Facebook Page April 1, 2016

Q: Does the 13 month Home Collection Priority apply to saved points? For example, if my account has 4000 saved point plus 4000 annual points, can I make a 8000 points reservation 13 months out? I understand that the resort must be in my home collection.

A: ... Yes you can use saved points to book. However, it would depend when you are trying to book. 
So just an example to show you, if you were trying to book for May 2017, you would need the points to be in 2017, so you could potentially use your 2017 allocation plus any 2016 points you have saved in to 2017.


----------



## DanZale2000 (Jun 18, 2016)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> I spend too much time working with attorneys, so I've learned to parse words carefully.
> 
> That excerpt says that you may not use your resale points for exchange for exchange with II.  It does not say that you cannot deposit a reservation that you have made with II (or any other exchange company, for that matter).
> 
> This seems like a good question to ask at the DRI Member Forum.



I asked this question on the Diamond Facebook page. But, I have no idea what to make of their response. Here it is in its entirety. ...

*Question*:
If I acquire resale points in the US Collection and open an II individual account, can I reserve a week and deposit it in II for an exchange? I am not using the points to make the II reservation, instead I would be depositing a confirmed reservation. The reservation would be for seven days and it would begin on a standard check-in day.

*Diamond Resorts International*:
Hi Dan, regardless of the points being resale points or not, you would not be able to book accommodation using your Diamond Resorts points and deposit a week with Interval International as you would need to have a specifc week ownership to be able to link this with your II membership. If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you

*Dan Zale*: 
Thank you for this reply. I'm afraid it's a bit confusing. I know owners in other points systems are able to deposit confirmed reservations into II -- Marriott Destination point owners, Club Intrawest owners, and Welk Resorts point owners do this. I am an owner of Welk Platinum points and I've exchanged reservations made with my points. So, this is not a problem on Interval's side. Are you saying, then, that DRI prohibits such exchanges?

*Diamond Resorts International*: 
The exchange process for US Collection Regional (resale) is the same as for full memberships with the exception of the member being responsible for enrolling themselves with II i.e. providing they have a valid individual membership with II, which you must then contact the call centre to make the exchange reservation using points. There is no option for weekly deposits with a points based membership. We hope you may find this information helpful

*Dan Zale*: 
I don't wish to be a problem, but this information is not helpful. The DRI Knowledgebase/FAQ clearly states: "For California, Hawaii, and US Collection resale points-resale points cannot be used for exchange reservations with Interval International." Resale point owners in the Facebook groups confirm this rule is enforced.

*Diamond Resorts International*: 
With a resale contract, the member will be responsible for enrolling themselves with II and will be provided with a valid individual membership with II that will not be associated with the account with us.


----------



## tschwa2 (Jun 18, 2016)

From all recent reports -in the last 5 years or so, I believe the FAQ knowledge base is correct and the response from DRI is incorrect.  If you already have the resale points you can see if you can set up your own membership and then cancel and refund if you cannot.  If your decision to obtain resale US collection points is based on your ability to exchange through II than I think it would be a gamble and you would have to decide if it is one you are willing to take.


----------



## TUGBrian (Jun 21, 2016)

have definately been mixed reports of DRI resale points and the ability to exchange within II for sure.

ive literally heard one person say it works just fine (although with a separate account)...and ive heard others report that DRI simply wont allow the deposit at all.

its all very bizarre for sure.


----------



## nuwermj (Aug 11, 2016)

Diamond's Member Services just confirmed for me that we can make II exchanges with resale points.

Diamond Resorts International wrote: "Members who purchased resale points for the California, Hawaii, and US Collections are not automatically enrolled to THE Club and so are not eligible to use their resale points for exchange with Interval International. In this case Interval International membership needs to be purchased separately. Once the membership has been purchased, an Interval International account will be created by Interval International. For the resale points owners the procedure they follow will be same as for non-resale member, i.e. they will be able to use their points directly with Interval. To learn more please visit www.intervalworld.com"

https://www.facebook.com/DiamondRes...tif_t=share_comment&notif_id=1470922412039046


----------



## tschwa2 (Aug 11, 2016)

Please report back when you have your II account set up with resale points and if it was an easy set up or took several back and forth calls between DRI and II to set it up.


----------

