# Polo Towers owners - did you get your letter from DRI?



## timesharejunkie4 (Jul 2, 2007)

OK, we've all been wondering how DRI buying Sunterra may effect us. I got a letter today from Stephen Cloobeck announcing their aquisition. In the letter it states "As we try to integrate this portfolio of world-class resorts to our Vacation Club,  this gratitude toward our founding Diamond Resorts Las Vegas owners has led us to conceive a very special offering designed exclusively for you. You will be hearing about this special offering available exclusively to our Polo Towers and Jockey Club owners in the weeks and months to come. Please be on the lookout for what we believe will be very exciting news of added flexibility and usage options that were previously unavailable to you."
     Wonder how much they will try to get out of us for their "special offering"?
Also I thought DRI was not involved with Jockey Club any longer. Anyway I just wanted to give you all the info in case you have yet to receive the letter.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 2, 2007)

$2,995 to join Club Sunterra and have you unit converted into SunOptions points. 

It does create some opportunities if you're a fixed week owner and you haven't been able to use that fixed week. It also will create internal exchange opportunities using the Sunterra resort system, which appears to be a points based reservation system. 

Let's say you're not extremely happy with that hot summer Vegas week you own or traveling in January during you ownership time isn't such a great deal for you anymore. Sure you can float your week but, as it stands now your limited to that 60 day window to see if anything is available. If you have to fly half way across the country you might not be able to get the best airfares at that point. By converting to SunOptions you now essentially have a floating week and can reserve at your home resort 12 months in advance. I'm not clear if that's 12 months from your arrival or departure date but, you can reserve 12 months out for any week that's available. If enough people join SunOptions, then there should be a lot of availablity.

Now let's say you don't want to go to Vegas this year and you're not to thrilled about I.I.'s deposit, request and wait game. You can reserve any available week in the Sunterra resort system 10 months out. Sunterra does have a lot of resorts throughout the USA and Europe. You'll have to make up your own mind as to the quality of the resorts and the quality of their locations. 

On the other hand, they want another $2,995 to  join SunOptions plus an additional $151 club dues on top or your current MF's. If you purchased a loctaion specific unit like we did when we bought our Skyview unit, you'll also lose that location unless you can get them to add an adendum that you can reserve your specific unit/week 12 months out. There is a TUG member who has already reported that they would be willing to do that. 

What I don't know is if different weeks get different amounts. In Sunterra, locations are divided into seasons like many other points based resorts. Some weeks for the Sunterra resort already in Vegas (the old Epic Desert Paradise). The person on TUG recieved 9,000 points for his one bedroom unit which is what Desert Paradise shows as a high season week. The week we own is a week 36 which is listed as a peak high season week. I have not heard what they would offer us for that week. The Villa's, which have always been floating weeks, seem to be offered 10,500 points (if memory serves me correctly). Since some weeks are cost more than others to reserve, are all weeks going to be offered the same amount of points no matter what fixed week you own? Are all the Villa's weeks going to be offered the same amount of points since they're all floating weeks? I'm not going to be to thrilled if I give up a week that's peak seaon and then don't have enough points to reserve that week. Plus, what if you give up a non-peak season week with the intention of reserving a week that would be in a different season, then don't have enough points to get what you want?

Another question is will there be daily reservations allowed at PT's. Some Sunterra resorts offer daily reservations for a premium over what the entire week would cost. If they offer daily reservations at PT's, I can see PT's getting more popular as an internal exchange resort within the Sunterra system. Vegas is one of those destinations that people do 3-4 days rather than weeks. It could give PT's owners more flexiblity to adjust their Vegas vacations than what they've had in the past.

For us there's one more question. We own two weeks, one Villa's and one Skyview suites week. Will one $2,995 conversion fee and one $151 yearly club dues cover both weeks or will we be charged per week owned. I believe there are quite a few multiple week owners at PT's. For us this may be the make or break point of the deal. 

If they'll allow both weeks for one conversion fee and one membership fee I might be more inclined to convert both units to SunOptions. If they're going to charge per unit I'll stick with what I've got as we've been happy with the way things have been. Initially, when we purchased our Skyview unit, I thought week 36 would work out great. At that time it was only our second timeshare and the other week we owned was a fixed week 10. This would allow us to take vacation every 6 months scheduled. Now we own 7 timeshares and are usage has changed. Plus, week 36 in Vegas is still HOT and we'd rather go in October. 

In the end there are both good and bad about this "opportunity." For some owners it could work out great. For others why pay almost $3,000 plus $151/year for something they might not get any value out of. BTW, internal trades in Sunterra are at no additional cost but, if you want to exchange out of Sunterra you'll still pay I.I.'s exchange fee. Keep in mind that I.I.'s domestic exchange fee is less than Sunterra's club dues of $151 so, even if you do internal exchanges through Sunterra at no charge it's still costing you more than if you could make the same exchange using I.I.

One last thing, Club Sunterra members feel that the corporate account they have with I.I. gives them stronger exchange power than just their individual resorts alone. If that's true, exchanges you haven't received in the past might be easier to get using Sunterra's corporate account.

Now exactly how accurate I am with all this information may be up for debate but, it's the best I can do with the information I've read online here at TUG and at Timeshareforums.com.

Most of the information I have has come from threads like this on TUG http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49077 .


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## timesharejunkie4 (Jul 2, 2007)

Thanks, Doug, I figured you would know what is going on. I don't read the points board so I hadn't seen that thread. We own in the Villas so the floating time works well for us. We originally owned week 52 in the Towers but once they made switching your week so difficult we sold it and then picked up a villas floating week. PT wanted over $6000 for us to upgrade to the Villas but we did it for $750 by selling and buying another week. We only trade it every 4 or 5 years so I seriously doubt if DRI will be getting my $2995.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 2, 2007)

I really don't think this is nearly as good a deal for Villa's owners as for Suites owners. Fixed weeks might work out great to start with but situations change. That's what happened to us after we purchased our week 36 Skyview unit. To date we've never set foot in that unit and have always exchanged it. 

I think it will come down to how much they want for both weeks. If it's $2,995 per week and two club dues then I think I'll just stay with what I've got. We've always received decent exchanges for our Suites week and I don't think that's going to change all that much in the near future. If I can combine the two for a decent amount of SunOptions points it might make it easier to exchange both units either through Sunterra or I.I. as combined points rather than idividual units. 

Since we've purchased a 3 bedroom Marriott Grand Chateau, our usage of out Villa's week is likely to decline as well. At this point, all I see us doing with that unit is exchanging to travel somewhere other than Vegas. We currently own 4 Vegas timeshares, Marriott, Villa's, Suites and HGVC. Of those four the Suite's and Villa's are lowest on our list although they are still very nice timeshares. They just aren't as nice as Hilton or Marriott and they don't have a washer/dryer in the unit. 

On the other hand, if (and that's a big if) they allow nightly stays that are flexible rather than the split week option now in place, we have Allgiant Air which has some increadably good airfares to Vegas from where we live. I could see us taking last minute short trips out to Vegas if that option is made available to PT's owners. Plus, short notice stays in the Sunterra system only costs 50% of the normal points required. There is also a Sunterra resort in Branson, MO which is within driving distance. That resort does list nightly points rentals with a 2 night minimum. Almost all of our trips to Branson are 3 or 4 night trips. I could stretch usage by using points for what I need rather than making a week long exchange and then checking out early. In the past I've locked off our units and used the studio portion for such exchanges and it's worked out well but, it still costs an exchange fee. 

Personally I'm still on the fence about this one. I see advantages I might be able to use but, after staying at Sunterra's Greensprings Plantation in Williamsburg I'm not sold on the overall quality of Sunterra's resorts vs what I'm already getting through exchanges with I.I. 

Like I said, for us much will depend on whether or not they want to charge for each unit or hit us with one conversion fee and one club membership fee. If it's the later I'm leaning towards making the change depending on the number of points both units will receive. If they want to charge me for each unit it just won't be worth the cost. If I only owned a Villa's unit I don't think there would be enough benefits to warrent the cost either.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 3, 2007)

I guess I should have looked in my mailbox yesterday, the letter was there. 

I find it interesting that they refer to Jockey Club owners as if they are still a DRI resort. There have been many posts of JC owners stating that JC has nothing to do with DRI anymore. The letter also states the conversion offer will be given to DRI's JC owners as well as PT's owners.


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## timeos2 (Jul 3, 2007)

*Maybe they haven't gotten that paperwork yet*



dougp26364 said:


> I guess I should have looked in my mailbox yesterday, the letter was there.
> 
> I find it interesting that they refer to Jockey Club owners as if they are still a DRI resort. There have been many posts of JC owners stating that JC has nothing to do with DRI anymore. The letter also states the conversion offer will be given to DRI's JC owners as well as PT's owners.



and "As we try to integrate this portfolio of world-class resorts to our Vacation Club,.." 

Delusions of grandeur it would seem. Since when is one resort a "portfolio"?


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## dougp26364 (Jul 3, 2007)

timeos2 said:


> and "As we try to integrate this portfolio of world-class resorts to our Vacation Club,.."
> 
> Delusions of grandeur it would seem. Since when is one resort a "portfolio"?



We'll they do have two in one building. At one time they were purchasing units at a Hawaiian resort. Kona Coast maybe? The plan that was aluded to was to build an empire of resorts with internal exchange privledges for owners. Then they decided that competing with the likes of Marriott, Hilton, Fairfield, Bluegreen, Westgate and the others was a little to daunting of the task and they got out of the timeshare business and concentrated on other property developements in Vegas......or so it seems. 

I'm really hoping (but secretely fearing) this doesn't turn into another Westgate and king David situation. Not that Westgate doesn't have some fine resorts but, it just seems Westgate isn't in it for the owners.

On the other hand I suppose one could say that one unfullfilled promise has now been fullfilled. They had changed the corporate name to DRI to reflect their ambitions to grow into a world leader with resorts around the globe, thus the need for the International in the name. Looks like they finally managed to keep that pomise and I suppose one could say they did it in a big way.

BTW, I think they were talking about Sunterra resorts as the world class resorts that are being intergrated into DRI's "vacation club." But like you said, since when is one (or two) resorts a "vacation club?"


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## dougp26364 (Jul 3, 2007)

*The letter in it's entirety*

For anyone interested, I'll retype the letter DRI has sent to PT's and apparently JC owners.

Dear (owners name)

We have outstanding news! On April 27th, 2007, a Diamond Resorts company completed its acquisition of Sunterra Corporation. We have now transitioned from a leading Las Vegas resort developer, into one of the worlds largerst vacation ownership companies with 97 branded or affiliated resorts and nearly 5,300 employees in thriteen countries serving over 352,000 owner families. Our portfolio of ownerd and affiliated luxury resorts has now grown to include over 24,000 guest beds throughout the continental United States and Hawaii, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Mexico.

We recognize that the success that we have enjoyed over the last 25 years in Las Vegas has been the catalyst that allowed Diamond Resorts to pursue such a significant acquisition. As one of our more than 40,000 Diamond Resorts owners, your faith in and loyalty to our flagship Polo Towers and Jockey Club projects has empowered us to move forward with this worldwide expansion to our company.With this expansion comes significant enhancement of your usage options related to your Polo Towers and Jockey Club ownership. As we begin to integrate this portfolio of world class resorts into our vacation club, this gratitude toward our founding Diamond Resorts Las Vegas owners has led us to conceive a very special offering designed exclusively for you. 

You will be hearing about this special offering available exclusively to our Polo Towers and Jockey Club owners in the weeks and months to come. Please be on the lookout for what we believe will be very exciting news of added flexibility and usage options that were previously unavailable to you. 

For nearly a quarter of a century we have been the premiere developer of vacation ownership resorts in Las Vegas. As we move forward in this new era for Diamond Resorts, we sincerely thank you for being a part of our growing company. We pledge to continue to build upon the foundation of strong customer service, exceeding your expectations, and providing a lifetime of memorable vacation experiences for you and your families for many years into the future. Congratulations!

Sincerely,
Stephen J. Cloobeck
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Diamond Resorts International

*note: any typo's are mine and not in the letter. I do not have a stand to read and look at what I'm typing at the same time plus, I've never been that great at keyboarding anyway.*


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## Larry (Jul 4, 2007)

dougp26364 said:


> For anyone interested, I'll retype the letter DRI has sent to PT's and apparently JC owners.
> 
> Dear (owners name)
> 
> ...



We own at JC and haven't received this letter and we are no longer part of Diamond resorts being managed by Platinum interchange which is now part of vacation village resorts which is now owned by another timeshare group that I don't recall at the moment. I do know that we now get special discounted exchange rates through RCI for any Vacation village resorts. Very confusing and getting more so.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 4, 2007)

Larry said:


> We own at JC and haven't received this letter and we are no longer part of Diamond resorts being managed by Platinum interchange which is now part of vacation village resorts which is now owned by another timeshare group that I don't recall at the moment. I do know that we now get special discounted exchange rates through RCI for any Vacation village resorts. Very confusing and getting more so.



DRI has continued to claim that JC is part of DRI, even though every JC owner I know says they've divested themselves of DRI. Exactly why DRI feels it can claim JC as part of it's own I really don't know but they have claimed them just the same. I could see stating that they were the developer of JC but to keep on as they have in this letter, which clearly leads one to believe that they still own JC (IMO) is beyond me.


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## derb (Jul 5, 2007)

*jockey club owners reply*

As a JC owner I got the letter today.
For him to try to take credit for todays JC is like sadam bragging that he increased tourism from America.


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## timeos2 (Jul 5, 2007)

*Once a club always a club*



derb said:


> As a JC owner I got the letter today.
> For him to try to take credit for todays JC is like sadam bragging that he increased tourism from America.



Nice. I LIKE it!  :hysterical:


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## dougp26364 (Jul 5, 2007)

derb said:


> As a JC owner I got the letter today.
> For him to try to take credit for todays JC is like sadam bragging that he increased tourism from America.



I've always said that for DRI it's all about the money. Apparently, despite the fact JC owners ejected DRI several years ago DRI is going to attempt to mine JC for more money by converting them into Club Sunterra and SunOptions. I wonder if this is a half hearted attempt (or whole hearted) to regain control of JC management or if they're just digging for more money?


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jul 5, 2007)

dougp26364 said:


> I've always said that for DRI it's all about the money. Apparently, despite the fact JC owners ejected DRI several years ago DRI is going to attempt to mine JC for more money by converting them into Club Sunterra and SunOptions. *I wonder if this is a half hearted attempt (or whole hearted) to regain control of JC management or if they're just digging for more money?*



Doug - I'm surprised at you!!  Why are you positing this as "either/or"? Wouldn't the DRI you've come to know and love set it up so they could both control management *and *dig for more money??

*****

Some of us believe that a primary reasons Sunterra likes the Sunterra Trusts is that the trusts provide a way to maintain control of resorts.  Trust members no longer vote for resort management - Trust owner votes are cast as a bloc by the Trust management.  As long as the Trust management is friendly to Sunterra, Sunterra doesn't have to worry about an owner revolt.

Now, imagine that Sunterra/DRI offers Club Sunterra to JC owners and establishes a trust to hold ownerships converted to the Club.  That sure seems as if it would provide a path for DRI to get back involved with JC management.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 6, 2007)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Doug - I'm surprised at you!!  Why are you positing this as "either/or"? Wouldn't the DRI you've come to know and love set it up so they could both control management *and *dig for more money??
> 
> *****
> 
> ...



Yep, that's essentially what was going through my mind.  

I just wonder how JC owners are going to feel about all of this? Will they allow DRI back in for the promise of internal exchanges or will they still slam the door in DRI's face? 

If that's what DRI is trying to do (regain control of JC and mine the owners for more money) it's just one more reason I have such a tough time trusting them in any way shape or form.


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## Larry (Jul 6, 2007)

derb said:


> As a JC owner I got the letter today.
> For him to try to take credit for todays JC is like sadam bragging that he increased tourism from America.



Great response and I got the letter yesterday. I was offered Sunterra points once before when I bought Flamingo beach Resort in St. Marteen. Looked over the papers, cost and offer and it didn't work for me. Sold the two weeks we owned to our renter a couple of years after we bought the resort for a nice profit. Wouldn't have made any money if I had bought into Sunterra.:zzz:


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## timeos2 (Jul 6, 2007)

*Reserve your spot soon*

On the Welcome Page for Club Owners the "Newest Affiliate Resort" is, guess what, POLO TOWERS!  Reservations Coming Soon.  

No mention of Jockey Club.


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## dougp26364 (Jul 6, 2007)

timeos2 said:


> On the Welcome Page for Club Owners the "Newest Affiliate Resort" is, guess what, POLO TOWERS!  Reservations Coming Soon.
> 
> No mention of Jockey Club.




There are just so many reasons I don't trust DRI. In the end that will probably be the one main reason we don't convert to Club Sunterra. DRI might not be any worse that the old Sunterra management but it's hard to imagine they'll be any better.......or that the old Sunterra could have been any worse. 

Of course the other main reason for not converting is cost. At $2,995 to join plus $151, even if I locked off our PT's units and paid the $135 exchange fee to I.I., it would take over 7 years just to break even on the initial expense. That's caluculated on 7 years at $540 (current I.I. exchange fee's) vs the joiner fee plus 7 years of club dues at $151. Or $3,780 vs $4,052. It' gets worse for DRI when you consider that I've been depositing the entire unit, lowering the exchange fee cost to $270/year instead of $540 plus. It would take *11 years *to almost break even on just the joiner fee. If you add in the additional club dues it looks so bad that I can't even imagine this working out financially for us.


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## skycomag (Jul 10, 2007)

I"m a Jockey Club owner. I have two time share there.
i haven't recieved a letter as of today from DRI or from JC on this matter.
I have been followed treads about polo towers and jc.
i my opinion Polo Towers always had management problems.
I had a choice between Polo towers and Jc and due to what read i went with Jc.
i'm happy i did.


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## alanraycole (Feb 11, 2008)

*I am both a former owner and a new owner.*

Last year I sold two one bedroom units and bought one two bedroom unit. There was almost a year between the ownerships. I understand that somewhere during that year there were some new developments with DRI, but according to the last posts on this thread it was not clear what those developments were going to be. Any updates?


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## dougp26364 (Feb 11, 2008)

alanraycole said:


> Last year I sold two one bedroom units and bought one two bedroom unit. There was almost a year between the ownerships. I understand that somewhere during that year there were some new developments with DRI, but according to the last posts on this thread it was not clear what those developments were going to be. Any updates?




DRI purchased Sunterra. DRI has offered Polo Towers members the opportunity to join THE Club, which is the old points based reservation system that Sunterra had called Sunoptions. They were charging $2,995 to join THE Club and there is a $150/year membership fee in addition to your yearly MF's. 

There are benefits to joining but you'll need to get the information, read through it and decided if the benefits are enough for you to join. In our case we did join and put both our Suite's week and our Villa's week in the program. Since we exchange our units every year now THE Club offered enough enhancements to make it worth the price. If we used our weeks to stay at Polo Towers the offer is much less attractive IMO.


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## jeffox (Feb 11, 2008)

*The Club*

We use our week at Polo and the $2995 price to joins is more then I paid for my week. Maybe someday if we still have the opportunity and our travel plans change we may join, but right now it just isn't cost effective for our use.


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## dougp26364 (Feb 11, 2008)

jeffox said:


> We use our week at Polo and the $2995 price to joins is more then I paid for my week. Maybe someday if we still have the opportunity and our travel plans change we may join, but right now it just isn't cost effective for our use.



I think for a lot of owners this may be the case. Single week owners don't come out nearly as well as multiple week owners on this deal. Since we own 2 bedroom units at both the Villa's and the Suite's, we were given enough points to reach Silver Elite level. Polo Towers also has a pretty high point total for each 2 bedroom in DRI's intenal exchange program so it gives those that do exchange more value within the interal exchange system or through RCI. 

In the past, we could LO our units and exchange each side for 4 weks through I.I. (we had a Skyview unit and a Villa's unit that allowed the studio to be exchange). The problem was always being able to exchange the studio for at least a 1 bedroom unit. In some places this was easy enough but in many places where demand was high and supply was low, it coudn't be done. Now with THE Club points it's easier. In fact, between the two units I have enough points to exchange for 4 two bedroom units without struggling to exchange up.

One big drawback was for those who would split their PT's week into a 1 bedroom and a studio, then use each half for a weeks vacation. If you use your points to reserve at Polo Towers there was not enough points to reserve a 1 bedroom and a studio seperately. I believe that has been solved by not automatically awarding points at the beginning of the year for each unit.

When 2008 rolled around I noticed my point total was lacking the Suites unit's points so I called CS. I was told that our week was automatically reserved for presonal use. In order to get our points for that week into THE Club we had to call and tell them that's what we wanted to do. Thus, if I had wanted I could have kept the reservation, told them to LO the unit and use each side just like I had before for a week in a 1 bedroom and a week in a studio unit. I'm not certain how the 59 day float window is going to work as some owners do exchange and will have done as we've done, buy into THE Club.

Now, with the Villa's it's a little different. Since those have always been floating weeks that week was automatically assigned THE Club points and, as with the Suite's, there is not enough points given the full two bedroom unit to reserve both a 1 bedroom week and a studio week. For Villa's owners who put their week into THE Club this could be a problem. Since we always exchange and, even if we didn't wouldn't be using the studio week anyway, it's a non-issue for us. 

About the only real advantage I can see at this point for Suite's owners that use their week would be the ability to float their time rather than own a fixed week. With THE Club points you can reserve any week at the 12 month window rather than waiting for the 59 day window. Waiting until last minute would be a killer for us as Vegas airline seats get fewer and higher priced closer to our travel dates. It's an option we never considered using under the original plan because of that. If one can drive or has access to affordable airfare then it's not as big of an issue.

The $2,995 offer probably won't be on the table forever. I think it was there just to try to get enough units into the system to provide access to PT's for other THE Club members. Normally you have to buy new points at developer prices in order to convert your week to THE Club points. I don't know how long or even if DRI is still offering the $2,995 offer to PT's owners. Buying additional points is considerably more expensive and comes with an additional MF.


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## alanraycole (Feb 11, 2008)

*Anyone know of the renewed relationship between the Jockey Club and DRI?*

I have a two bedroom at the Jockey Club.


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## dougp26364 (Feb 11, 2008)

alanraycole said:


> I have a two bedroom at the Jockey Club.



DRI was still claiming Jockey Club as one of their managed resorts when they bought out Sunterra. However, I haven't seen Jockey Club listed as an affiliated resort for THE Club. 

Unless someone else knows something the thing to do might be to either call the Jockey Club or call DRI customer service to see if there's any benefit to you. Intitially, as a Polo Towers owner I was initially told that there would be no benefit to Polo Towers owners when it was announced DRI had purchased Sunterra. Of course we all know how that has changed.


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## familyvacation (Mar 3, 2008)

I've been an owner at Polo Towers for the past 15 years, and have been reading up on this forum to get more information on the DRI-Sunterra buyout, since no info can be found on PT's website.  

Many owners have posted info regarding the proposed THE Club buy-in and points conversion, so I have been awaiting anxiously the past few months for mail from PT or DRI regarding this offer.  Am I the only one who hasn't gotten an invitation to the party?  

If so, what should I do to get on the invite list??


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## dougp26364 (Mar 3, 2008)

familyvacation said:


> I've been an owner at Polo Towers for the past 15 years, and have been reading up on this forum to get more information on the DRI-Sunterra buyout, since no info can be found on PT's website.
> 
> Many owners have posted info regarding the proposed THE Club buy-in and points conversion, so I have been awaiting anxiously the past few months for mail from PT or DRI regarding this offer.  Am I the only one who hasn't gotten an invitation to the party?
> 
> If so, what should I do to get on the invite list??



I believe if you either call or E-mail customer service and tell them you'd like infomation about joining THE Club they'll get a salesman right on it. 

IMO, it would be a good thing if they would put a link on the Polo Towers web site to the new http://www.diamondresorts.com web site. They have a new web page for both Polo Towers and the Villa's at Polo Towers.


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