Diamond Resorts point question

[gomike]

What is the most economical way to get into the Diamonds Resorts point system? I am not very concerned about how many points I get with my timeshare with them as I plan to accrue points with their credit card.

I have also noticed some Diamond owners get a free II membership, what do I need to own to make that happen for me?

 

[nightnurse613]

Well, if I understand your question, you need to purchase DRI points and become a member of The Club. Your Club membership gets you II Gold membership privileges. The minimum investment (as they say) is about 2000 points which is not enough to spit in the river and will probably cost you $5,000 plus annual mf of $450. All this so you can get their credit card? Maybe you should take a minute to read the TUGBBS DRI FAQ (Other TS Systems). I don't know what promotion you are looking at but, RCI offers a credit card and you can get into a RCI Pts membership a WHOLE LOT CHEAPER.

 

[gomike]

Most of the travel we do is last minute so I really want to take advantage of the last minute exchanges on II. The Diamond card gives you 1 point per dollar spend and most lase minute exchanges run about 2000 points for a week, whereas if I were to purchase this as a getaway it would be about $1000.

 

[Bill4728]

There may be a change in the info about buying DRI resale but the last I heard was.

-BUY a TS associated with DRI that if in the "club" would generate alot of club points ( it won't generate points until it in the "club")

-Then contact DRI about getting into the "club"
*you may be able to buy your way in for a ~$3000 fee
*You may have to buy a small DRI point package (2000 pts) which may cost as much as $5000.

Please be aware that if you buy first from DRI then try and buy resell, there is little to no chance your resale weeks will be able to get into the club. But if you buy first resell, then buy from DRI, your resale weeks are likely to be able to get into the club.

Warning: See post 10 & 11 in this thread DRI may be changing their policy and not allowing resale week into the club, PERIOD!!

 

[JulieAB]

Are you sure the card gets you CLUB points? Sounds waaaaayyy too good to be true! Gee whiz, I could go on 5-6 vacations a year at that rate!

The site says "With Rewards choices such as Diamond SelectSM Membership Fee certificates, Gift Cards and Merchandise, it’s up to you." Then later says "With the Diamond SelectSM Rewards Visa card, you can turn your everyday spending on gas, groceries, or dining out into valuable Diamond SelectSM Reward Points. For every $1 you spend, you'll receive 1 Diamond SelectSM Reward Point."

My guess is a "reward point" isn't NEARLY as rewarding as a "club point." It'd put their sales office out of business in a heartbeat.

anyone know?

 

[jimbg]

The normal way to join today is to purchase points. Every DRI resort has a sales team or a link to one that may work out of a neighboring resort.

When you buy points, you become a member of DRI's THE Club, and with that membership you become an Interval Gold member. The II membership is included in THE Club membership.

jimbg

 

[AwayWeGo]

Lotsa Dots . . .

When you buy points, you become a member of DRI's THE Club

. . . or as some few of us prefer to write it (because it's more fun) -- T. H. E. Club.

--hotlinked --

T. H. E. Club​

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[AwayWeGo]

Credit Card Points Aren't Necessarily Timeshare Points.

Are you sure the card gets you CLUB points? Sounds waaaaayyy too good to be true! Gee whiz, I could go on 5-6 vacations a year at that rate!

A few years ago I was all set to sign up pronto for a new RCI Visa credit card that generated "points" for the cardholder based on purchases charged to the new RCI Visa account.

I thought they meant RCI Points -- you know, 9,000 of'm will get you a full-week Instant Exchange timeshare reservation within 45 days of check-in.

Turns out the credit card "points" were something else entirely -- Reward Points or Bonus Points or Award Points or some such that had nothing in common with RCI Timeshare Points except the word points.

Once I got that straight, I gave up on the RCI Visa card & stuck with the plain-vanilla Visa card I already had.

Live & learn, eh ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[JulieAB]

That's what I figured. Your best bet would be a chase freedom card, giving you 1% cash back on everything. For every $200 you save up, they give you $50 for free. Then you can afford to pay cash for the II getaways (or whatever you darn well please!

 

[dougp26364]

First, forget the DRI credit card. I looked into it and it's not worth much. It's not going to add "points" to your account like you think it will and the value per dollar spent isn't worth the time it takes to acure any benefits.

Probably the easiest/cheapest way is to purcahse a unit resale that's in the DRI Trust. That will get you points instantly but, they're only good for the 19 resorts in the DRI Trust.

There have been changes made in how one can become a member of "THE Club", which is DRI's points program. Recently they were allowing people who purchased a week resale to "buy" a membership in THE Club for an additional $2,995 without the need to buy points from the developer. There have been reports that DRI may have changed their mind on that one as it wasn't good for their sales force, who want/need to sell points themselves to make a living. There has been conflicting information about paying the joiner fee of $2,995 or having to buy a minimum number of points (2,000) in order to gain membership to THE Club.

For THE Club members, I.I. membership is included but, it's not free. There is an additional $225/year membership fee that must be paid in addition to your MF's. Granted it is an I.I. Gold membership but, I really don't feel there is all that much advantage to the Gold membership. Standard I.I. membership is only $89/year. So that "free" memberhip is more expensive than if you purchased it yourself.

If I were looking at a pure points based reservation system, I'm not convinced that DRI's THE Club is the best system out there, even though I am a member. I think if it were me, I'd take a good solid look at Wyndham's system and, if you wanting a strong exchanging points system that is very flexible I'd be considering Hilton Grand Vacation Club. DRI has made a lot of changes and could possibly be buying Bluegreen out in the near future. This will guarentee more changes and difficulties with merging systems causing owners additional difficulties along the way.

While I own 26,500 points with DRI and find their system to be reasonably flexible and points easily exchangable through I.I., I feel the jury will be out on the value of DRI's THE Club for another couple of years. I think they need to be given a little more time to hit their stride after buying out Sunterra and, if they take another big bite of the apple buy buying out Bluegreen it could be 3 or 4 years before the dust settle's and everyone gets a good idea of how well they treat their members.

 

[Bill4728]

There have been changes made in how one can become a member of "THE Club", which is DRI's points program. Recently they were allowing people who purchased a week resale to "buy" a membership in THE Club for an additional $2,995 without the need to buy points from the developer. There have been reports that DRI may have changed their mind on that one as it wasn't good for their sales force, who want/need to sell points themselves to make a living. There has been conflicting information about paying the joiner fee of $2,995 or having to buy a minimum number of points (2,000) in order to gain membership to THE Club.

There have been several discussion about this change over on TS4Ms.com This may significantly effect the value of DRI resorts if you can not bring resell units into the club for any reason. But as yet, nothing is clear.

 

[gomike]

So if one point from the chase card does not give you one club point how many credit card points does it take to get one club point?

 

[Bill4728]

It sounds like credit card points don't translate into "club points" at all. Just somekind of credit card bonus points.

 

[JulieAB]

I think they might, because the reward details mention "point certificates." But I'm sure it's a terrible ratio (like our point values for the things in diamond selections!). I got curious and called chase last week and no one could tell me any of the reward items or cost beyond the promotional materials. They suggested I call DRI. I gave up.

 

[gomike]

This is the response I got from Diamond.

Question:
If I get the diamond credit card will the points I earn with that be able to be used for booking with my diamond points with interval international?

Answer
When receiving points from a Diamond Resorts Visa Chase card you are able to use those points for a reservation with Interval International.

Thank you very much for your valuable time and have a great week.


I have responded to the email asking specifics if one Chase point equals one club point. I have not gotten a response yet.

 

[familyfuntimes]

Question for Bill4728

I was offered 7500 addition points annually, plus 7500 points one time, plus $700 toward maintance fees to exchange my 2 annual TVR & 1 EOY SLB (Total of 22,500 sunterra points non saleable would transfer back to deeded property only) for $15,000. That would give me 30,000 annual Diamond points, 3 or 4 upgrades and I could book out 13 months @ TVR instead of 12 (we always go for 10 days to the same for an event in Tahoe plus I book several rooms for other people for that same time ranging from 7 to 9 nights). They have told me what a great deal and they are no longer excepting resales (which my 2 TVR are from 4 years ago but my SBL in was bought for $3000 so we could get into the Sunterra points to be able to stay for 10 nights in a 2 BD and several studio units @ 7-9 nights, split and get needed the extra flexability.

Is this a good move?

This is the first time I have used this site and hope I posted this in the right place.

Gail

There may be a change in the info about buying DRI resale but the last I heard was.

-BUY a TS associated with DRI that if in the "club" would generate alot of club points ( it won't generate points until it in the "club")

-Then contact DRI about getting into the "club"
*you may be able to buy your way in for a ~$3000 fee
*You may have to buy a small DRI point package (2000 pts) which may cost as much as $5000.

Please be aware that if you buy first from DRI then try and buy resell, there is little to no chance your resale weeks will be able to get into the club. But if you buy first resell, then buy from DRI, your resale weeks are likely to be able to get into the club.

Warning: See post 10 & 11 in this thread DRI may be changing their policy and not allowing resale week into the club, PERIOD!!

 

[JulieAB]

Gail, you need to start a brand new thread for your question. It'll get lost in the mix here. And you might be best served to post that question over at http://www.timeshareforums.com/forums/diamond-resorts-international-fka-signature-sunterra-epic/ as there's an actual DRI-dedicated forum there.

 

[familyfuntimes]

Thanks - Gail

Thanks for the information. I am totally lost in this process.

 

[dougp26364]

This is the response I got from Diamond.

Question:
If I get the diamond credit card will the points I earn with that be able to be used for booking with my diamond points with interval international?

Answer
When receiving points from a Diamond Resorts Visa Chase card you are able to use those points for a reservation with Interval International.

Thank you very much for your valuable time and have a great week.


I have responded to the email asking specifics if one Chase point equals one club point. I have not gotten a response yet.

From the Chase website:

With the Diamond SelectSM Rewards Visa card, you can turn your everyday spending on gas, groceries, or dining out into valuable Diamond SelectSM Reward Points. For every $1 you spend, you'll receive 1 Diamond SelectSM Reward Point.1

1. You will earn 1 point for each $1 of net purchases. You do not earn points on balance transfers, cash advances, cash-like charges such as travelers checks, foreign currency, and money orders, any checks that are used to access your account, overdraft advances, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including fees for products that protect or insure the balances of your account. There is no maximum number of points that you can accumulate in the program. See Rewards Program Rules and Regulations which will be mailed after your account is established.

They are very non-specific until you apply for an recieve the card. But what I can gather is "select points" aren't going to transfer to DRI's THE Club points on a 1:1 basis. I have seen more details about this card in the past but don't recall where it was. All I do remember was thinking how little the benefit was going to be.

 

[timeos2]

Don't give up your deed(s)

I was offered 7500 addition points annually, plus 7500 points one time, plus $700 toward maintance fees to exchange my 2 annual TVR & 1 EOY SLB (Total of 22,500 sunterra points non saleable would transfer back to deeded property only) for $15,000. That would give me 30,000 annual Diamond points, 3 or 4 upgrades and I could book out 13 months @ TVR instead of 12 (we always go for 10 days to the same for an event in Tahoe plus I book several rooms for other people for that same time ranging from 7 to 9 nights). They have told me what a great deal and they are no longer excepting resales (which my 2 TVR are from 4 years ago but my SBL in was bought for $3000 so we could get into the Sunterra points to be able to stay for 10 nights in a 2 BD and several studio units @ 7-9 nights, split and get needed the extra flexability.

Is this a good move?

This is the first time I have used this site and hope I posted this in the right place.

Gail

If you are giving away your deeded week(s) to become part of the non-deeded trust then I personally would say absolutely do NOT do it! You are basically giving up yourownership and voting rights for a promise. No thanks.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Always Keep Your Baloney Detector Primed & Ready.

You are basically giving up yourownership and voting rights for a promise.

Not only that, you're giving up your ownership rights (i.e., deeds) & your voting rights and you're shelling out a bunch more money.

It all sounds so nice & attractive & favorable & reasonable when the timeshare sellers are laying it out.

In the cold light of day, we've never seen it as a good deal.

The lowest lowball offer we've received any time from any timeshare company anywhere for their dinkiest alternate-year deal would cost approximately double all the money we have tied up in our outstanding 4 -- four -- resale timeshares.

The timeshare company's basic idea behind all those various offers -- points, weeks, deeds, trusts, points, options, clubs, & I don't know what-all -- boils down to 1 thing: You Have The Money & We Want The Money So You Give The Money To Us.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​