# Update



## RuralEngineer (Jun 23, 2013)

At Powhatan this weekend did the update for $100.  Price per point going to $7.50 in July.  New benefits for Gold and Platinum members in 2014.  Some of them actually look nice.  The higher quality club select properties will only be available to gold and platinum members.

The resort looks great and the deluxe units are very nice.

No new news on the IPO.

stephen


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## winger (Jun 23, 2013)

What are the new 2014 Gold benefits?


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## RuralEngineer (Jun 24, 2013)

*Gold / platinum*

A part of the Club Select inventory has been reserved only for Gold and Platinum owners.  It is now called Diamond Comfort.  Marriotts and the like.

VIP airport lounge.

Airline companion ticket.

Private jet program.

e-grocery order and delivery.

special getaway opportunities.


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## gjw007 (Jun 24, 2013)

These new benefits appear to come from II platinum membership that diamond platinum members get

http://www.intervalworld.com/web/my/info/benefits/platinum


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## RuralEngineer (Jun 24, 2013)

*II Platinum*

That makes sense.  Quick way to increase benefits cost effectively.


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## pgnewarkboy (Jun 25, 2013)

I can get Marriott on II. It is very annoying when a benefit is taken away like they are doing with club select. I realize diamond is not alone when it comes to reducing benefits but it creates animosity towards their brand.


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## gjw007 (Jun 25, 2013)

I was told platinum owners get first options but I didn't hear anybody tell me that club select was going away


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## dougp26364 (Jun 25, 2013)

RuralEngineer said:


> A part of the Club Select inventory has been reserved only for Gold and Platinum owners.  It is now called Diamond Comfort.  Marriotts and the like.
> 
> VIP airport lounge.
> 
> ...



If this is II platinum or, if its the same benefits that are offered by II platinum, then they only look good on the surface. For instance the airport Lou ge was for the member onl (one person). The price to bring my wife with me, or me with my wife, made the airport Lounge program worthless to me. 

I bet if you look closely at any one of those "benefits" you'll find a catch somewhere that basically voids any real benefit hey might have. Sort of like the cruise exchange membership Polo Towers use to give owners for the cruise exchange company I.C.E. on the surface it looked good. I reality it was a shell game. 

Here's the kicker. DRI gives owners NOTHING for free. Expect an increase in THE Club management fees spread across all owners to pay for this new benefit. Somewhere this new added value benefit will be calculated into the cost.


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## singlemalt_18 (Jun 25, 2013)

RuralEngineer said:


> At Powhatan this weekend did the update for $100.  *Price per point going to $7.50 in July*.



This is an entirely arbitrary "selling" strategy.  NO ONE ever pays the "msrp" for ANYTHING.  DRI points are NO exception.

As little as two years ago, we were "guaranteed" somewhere ~ $1.69/point (our previous 2010 conversion purchase price for Hawaii Collection), to upgrade to silver with purchase of appx 12,000 more points.  That will be the price they dangle in front of us when we sit for our committed update this fall as we redeem our 10,000 Sampler points in Sedona... which cost 16 cents/point.***

If someone where to walk in with a check for $75k, and wish to purchase 50,000 points, and have patience... *I'll bet you could close the deal.  The sales manager would ultimately approve the deal.*  They are too hungry for big checks; with cash in hand, you can dictate your own terms.

*** We used our 10,000 points to book a two bedroom lock-off for a week this Oct. when we hook-up with our friends from the U.K.


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## winger (Jun 26, 2013)

Wait - am I reading it right that Gold and Plat Club members will start getting II Platinum membership?   I agree with Doug that this would likely mean more fee increases for Club members to cover this cost - yet another benefit we do not need yet pay for.  Just like the current II Gold membership - cannot really say we have made any use of it, but we still pay for it.  Not very nice being forced to pay for a 'benefit' which does not benefit us in any way.


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## RuralEngineer (Jun 26, 2013)

*New Benefits*

The new benefits start in 2014.  II Platinum was not mentioned but the benefits look similar.


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## pgnewarkboy (Jun 26, 2013)

If club select properties are tiered with better resorts reserved for platinum, that is a decrease in benefits for most. It does not inspire me to buy more points. It actually motivates me NOT to upgrade because of my anger over the loss and new animosity towards DRI.


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## csalter2 (Jun 26, 2013)

*DRI  could lose...*

DRI could lose Marriott type properties being placed into Club Select. if owners of those type properties are not gold or platinum, they may not wish to give up their upscale accommodation.


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## dougp26364 (Jun 26, 2013)

RuralEngineer said:


> The new benefits start in 2014.  II Platinum was not mentioned but the benefits look similar.



It may not be II Platinum. It could simply be DRI providing similar or the same benefits as II platinum. 

At any rate I've always found most of these value added benefits to have little or n value to us. There is always cost but that cost is typically hidden. 

As a for instance, Polo Towers gave owners, for free according to the salesmen, a "lifetime" membership in I.C.E. the reality was that there was a charge for I.C.E. hidden in all owners MF's. When questioned about the usefulness of I.C.E., 
It was found very few owners utilized this benefit. The HOA decided to drop the "lifetime" membership, which I was happy about because I.C.E. never offered us a price comparable to what I could book on my own. In fact, we found the cost of using the service to be so bad that it was often one of the worst offers available


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## pedro47 (Jun 26, 2013)

How many points do you need to become Gold ?


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## winger (Jun 26, 2013)

pedro47 said:


> How many points do you need to become Gold ?


Gold level is 30,000-49,999


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## hvsteve1 (Jun 26, 2013)

I can think of much better ways to spend my money than being treated like royalty by a timeshare. At $7.50 per point to buy 15,000 points to take me from silver to gold, along with doubling my mf, I could fund a lot of nice cruises, stays at five star resort hotels or trips to exotic parts of the world.  I've owned at Powhatan for about 25 years and always consider a timeshare an easy and cheap three or four week per year vacation. (Remember, I paid 1980's prices for my 2 plus 2 lockout).


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