# What are downsides of owning a DRI-managed timeshare?



## Carol C (Oct 12, 2012)

How does DRI impact the HOAs of mom & pop type timeshare resorts? Does DRI have a bad stranglehold on HOAs? What if somebody wanted to buy a resale at a resort in the DRI system but only wants to stay at that one resort and not exchange it? Basically, is DRI a good management company...or a dirty rotten instigator (alliteration intended!) TIA for any owners' advice!


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Oct 12, 2012)

Carol C said:


> How does DRI impact the HOAs of mom & pop type timeshare resorts? Does DRI have a bad stranglehold on HOAs? What if somebody wanted to buy a resale at a resort in the DRI system but only wants to stay at that one resort and not exchange it? Basically, is DRI a good management company...or a dirty rotten instigator (alliteration intended!) TIA for any owners' advice!


What DRI will do is start accepting deeds from that resort into one of their Trusts ("Collections" in DRI parlance). They will sell existing owners on the benefits of transferring their deed to the trust in exchange for membership in DRI's club.  

As owners convert, the trust starts to become a progressively larger bloc shareholder at the resort, since those deeds are now owned by the Trust instead of the owner.  At some point (probably when the trust owns somewhere between 5% and 10% of the voting power) the trust bloc ownership is large enough that it can control the outcome of elections.  At that point the Trust will make sure that DRI employees constitute of a majority of the Board.

So as an owner at an individual resort that gets connected to DRI, the question is how you feel about having your resort essentially taken over by DRI.  DRI's track record (at least in North America) is pretty good in terms of respecting and preserving the usage rights of owners who elect to stay independent.  But DRI will likely take over the management contract for the resort, and it's likely that DRI will start a refurbishment program to "bring the resort up to DRI standards".  Read increased annual fees.

And that setup isn't unique to DRI. In fact DRI may be the least worst option if an individual resort is scooped up by DRI.  But if you like a Mom and Pop operation and you want to keep it a Mom and Pop operation, you don't want any resort that is tied to a large operator, DRI or not.


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## tobyk (Oct 30, 2012)

*UP UP UP goes your maintenance fee*

I owned a fixed week at a smaller resort that was taken over by DRI. Some of us did not fall for the DRI smooth points/trust talk. Maintenance fees doubled in 3 years. The board was controlled completely by DRI through placement of their people on the board. And my husband and I sat in the same old cheap plastic chairs year after year and watched the scraggly weeds come up behind our unit. It was a desirable holiday week and I was able to find a DRI enthusiast that wanted it for 0 $. Halleluia!


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## dougp26364 (Oct 31, 2012)

DRI has a quality product........and MF's to match. DRI will control the HOA and in doing so, keeps their resorts pretty even as far as amenities/quality. 

Some don't like this, others, like myself, enjoy knowing that the quality from resort to resort remains at a certain level. We've never been bargain shoppers and we're willing to pay for a certain level of comfort. 

I've said this before and I still believe in this statement. With DRI, you'd better like where they're going because you're just along for the ride. They take owner input into consideration but DRI is the one making the decisions.


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## dwojo (Oct 31, 2012)

DRI increases maintenance fees and takes over HOA's but they bring the quality of the resort up with those fees. Their customer service is outstanding. The sales people are pushy but most are.


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## csalter2 (Oct 31, 2012)

*Brought Quality*

DRI brought the quality of the resorts up along with the maintenance fees. I have been satisfied with their system. I have been able to get reservations when I wanted them if I planned ahead. They have always been responsive when I had concerns. 

Overall, a positivie experieince for me.


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## dougp26364 (Oct 31, 2012)

FWIW, once DRI has the MF's at a level that will maintain the resort to their standards, MF increases aren't out of line with the industry. At least they've been inline with our Marriott, HGVC and Southwind managed properties. 

Now THE Club fee on the other hand is WAY out of line with increases over the last couple of years IMHO. A couple of years ago it was around $135. This year it's $299! This I'm not happy about. On the other hand the alternative is to quit the club, pay I.I. membership fee's and exchange fee's. Even though it's gone up far above the cost of inflation, it's still less expensive so long as we're making internal exchanges. They could drop the Interval Gold membership cost (assuming I.I. doesn't throw it in as an incentive for THE Club to be managed by Interval) as far as I'm concerned. Interval Gold offers very little benefit for the cost unless you're booking a couple of getaways/year or really make use of Hertz #1 Gold. Both of those benefits are wasted on us and, I'd be willing to bet are wasted on the majority of members. Much like the "lifetime" membership in I.C.E. was a waste of money.


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## csalter2 (Nov 1, 2012)

*What's I.C.E.?*

What's that?


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## timeos2 (Nov 1, 2012)

The only downside I see is ANY situation that puts you in as an undeeded club member rather than a deeded owner at a resort. In that case, as a trust rather than deeded owner, you have no meaningful vote or way to ever transfer any ownership of value. The voluntary membership in the Club while maintaining a deeded resort is the only way I'd deal with DRI. Most fees are lower then too.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Nov 1, 2012)

timeos2 said:


> The only downside I see is ANY situation that puts you in as an unneeded club member rather than a deeded owner at a resort. In that case, as a trust rather than deeded owner, you have no meaningful vote or way to ever transfer any ownership of value. The voluntary membership in the Club while maintaining a deeded resort is the only way I'd deal with DRI. Most fees are lower then too.



I understand that perspective, John, and I probably agree with it for myself personally.  

But I think it's worth mentioning the situation in which someone reaches a point where they want to simply walk away from their ownership because they can't sell it and they don't have any family members or friends who will take it from them. In those circumstances a person is better off having a trust ownership instead of a deed because they can terminate the trust ownership simply by not paying fees.  The process of exterminating ownership is far simpler with the trust than with a deed.


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## dougp26364 (Nov 1, 2012)

csalter2 said:


> What's that?



International Cruise Exchange. 

It was billed as a no-exchange-fee way to trade your timeshare for a cruise. The problem was their rates were so high and the value they gave for your week was so low, it made it a worse deal than using I.I. for a cruise exchange. Plus, that "free" membership was actually a billed expense to the HOA, so it really wasn't free, everyone paid for it whether they used it of not.

I believe Troy Magdos was challanged at an HOA meeting as to the value of continuing the membership (my memory isn't always that good). His knee jerk reaction was reportedly that there were a lot of owners using it. When they actually looked at usage, they found there really wasn't that many owners using it. Who would? It was a total rip off. That was when the HOA cancelled the "lifetime" membership. IMHO, good ridance. We've cruised several times and I had looked into I.C.E. the first few times. After that I stopped wasting my time, it was that bad of a deal.


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## gravityrules (Nov 7, 2012)

Some of the posts here sound similar to the justifications given for buying a load fund.  'Yes it's expensive but look at what they accomplish'.  That only makes sense if the results are better than the results of more cost efficient alternatives.

DRI as a non-owner selected 'captive' management company is expensive compared to independent management companies like VRI.  Any management company can spend an unlimited supply of other people's money to achieve an upgrade.  Justifying doubling or tripling MFs by saying they are ugrading the resort isn't an acceptable argument because you are not providing a comparison to the alternatives (upgrading a resort with an owner controlled HOA and a competent management company).


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## NKN (Nov 8, 2012)

DRI does manage their resorts reasonably well.  We have seen several that were very well run and maintained.

One un-related issue with DRI is week-owner vs points-owner.

In order to join DRI's "Club" you need to own points.  I choose not to own points so I cannot join the Club.   I find it annoying, since most of their advertising is geared towards points owners and the benefits of the Club.

Other mgmt companies do the same thing, but it is still annoying.  

So I remain a proud, but lowly, weeks owner who gets to trade through RCI or privately.


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