# Club Travel:Air/Car/Cruise/Hotel - Low



## winger (Jan 18, 2015)

This is the service where a Club member:
1) books a travel service with his own credit card
2) submit a request to the Club for a reimbursement check in exchange for a preset amount of Club points.

I noticed the following in the Travel Services section of the DRI website:



> Why Book With Us?
> 
> No Blackout Dates & No Booking Fees
> *Best Rate Guarantee*
> ...



Typical wisdom says that redemption of Club points for anything other than TS stays is a waste of money, however *Best Rate Guarantee* intrigues me.

Does anyone know how this "Best Rate Guarantee" works?


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## csalter2 (Jan 18, 2015)

*Not sure about this*

Hi Winger,

I am not sure about this. I cannot see DRI offering the best rate guarantee,  but I would certainly call them to see what that means in their opinion. I would call twice to see if I got the same answer too.


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## pgnewarkboy (Jan 18, 2015)

I actually never used this service.  Buy ANY guarantee by a retailer or service provider normally provides an exact match of product or service.  That could be difficult to prove when booking travel.


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## winger (Jan 25, 2015)

Looks like it is pretty straight forward.

You can either:
1) stay on the phone w/ a rep at time of booking a ressie and they can confirm another website has a lower price and DRI will match the price right on the spot.

OR

2) you can book a ressie using the DRI travel website, then call in the lower price within 24 hours of booking and the rep will verify while you stay on the phone.  Once verified, the rep will process a refund to the same credit card you used to book the ressie.

We just booked three hotels - price pretty much match or is better than other sites I checked (e.g. hotels.com, expedia, etc.)


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## johnrsrq (Jan 25, 2015)

Thought I'd chime in my experience.

I recall actually using this service twice although I knew it was to my disadvantage. I just wanted to see how they handled it. I figured the little cost outweighed my desire to spend some of those accumulated points.

First the cost for loyalty level I think was 9 cents a point (the amount they reimburse at), however my cost per point was 12. The second time cost was about the same.

The process the first go around was more cumbersome in that I used an airline that they weren't set up with- Spirit Airlines. This is a low cost alternative to the Caribbean and Central America. This process required my having them note that I tried to place the travel through Diamond's travel desk in Miami. I then purchased the tickets directly through Spirit and submitted for reimbursement. The hotel was easier because they booked it and they directly submitted the invoice for reimbursement. As promised, they reimbursed me 45 days or so later.

The second time I was told I could not book out side their travel desk and thus I had to Fly American Airlines which for the second trip was not a direct non stop. Consequently, I still booked through them and they reimbursed 45-60 days later.


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## sfreeman8210 (Dec 4, 2015)

*Reimbursement for flights*

When you are reimbursed for flights is the value 1 point per 1 dollar? I'm just trying to understand how to use my points for flights and car rentals.


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## tschwa2 (Dec 4, 2015)

No it sounds like 1 DRI point gets you 9 cents in reimbursement.  So it would be 11 points per dollar.  That is based on the other persons membership level.  Yours may be slightly better, the same or worse.  There is no way you are getting 1 point equals 1 dollar.


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## Michael1991 (Dec 4, 2015)

Not $1 per point. The best you can get is $.10 per point if you are a Platinum member, otherwise less. 

For flights:
There is also a redemption window which varies by "loyalty" level.
Standard Jan 1 – Mar 31 (.07 per point)
Silver Jan 1 – May 31 (.08 per point)
Gold Jan 1 – Jul 31† (.09 per point)
Platinum Jan 1 – Sep 30† (.10 per point)
† Current year points are utilized for member benefits until June 30th, next years points are utilized beginning July 1st.


See page 30 and 19
http://tug2.net/timeshare_advice/US-Member-Benefits-Directory_10.pdf
edit: Fixed link


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## friedshrimp (Dec 6, 2015)

winger said:


> Typical wisdom says that redemption of Club points for anything other than TS stays is a waste of money



Not necessarily true. Using the 30/30 cruise program and 30/30 hotel program you get 30 cents value per point while only spending about 16 cents per point in maint fees.


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