What do 7500 points with Diamond Resorts really get you?

[CIDIB]

What sold us on the timeshare with Diamond Resorts is that you are not tied up to a location or a specific week (you can book multiple weekends throughout the year). We did not buy it to travel ourselves as we don't have much time off work (at least for now). I see that everyone tells new people to rescind (we are still within the 7 day mark) but the question we have is how realistic is it to rent out your reservations? Our package is 7500 points. If you book a good location at a pick weekend, how easy (or hard) is it to let's say airbnb it? Thank you

 

[Passepartout]

It's hard to make enough on renting weeks to be worth the bother. Rescind the developer purchase. If you want to give being a landlord a shot, buy some resale points for a 90% discount from developer prices. At least if it turns out either way- great deal, or not so good- you will have gotten into it at a good price.

 

[artringwald]

If you look at your contract, you may find that Diamond does not allow advertising for rentals of resorts booked with points. Don't believe what the sales weasels told you. You are allowed to use points to book for friends and relatives. Even if you could advertise, you'll have trouble getting as much for rental as the cost of the maintenance fees plus the loan interest. Follow the advice most on TUG will give you and RESCIND.

 

[RLS50]

IMO you should definitely RESCIND immediately. I'll give you 3 common reasons...

- Diamond has some decent resorts and their resort operations side isn't bad. However I think you might find that the maintenance fees of Diamond are much higher than they should be relative to their property portfolio and what seems like the general 3 star condition reported at more than merely just a few of their property offerings. As others have stated the problem with owning Diamond points is that you will pay Marriott level prices but only receive Wyndham quality. So if you want to buy and own points directly from a Developer purchase why not buy Marriott points and at least get access to higher quality properties for your equivalent maintenance fees? Or go buy Wyndham points and pay less for properties that are as good or in some cases better than many Diamond properties?

- If you still feel compelled to own Diamond points, then still rescind and go get 7,500 points on the resale market. Diamond points are practically worthless and you can find unlimited amounts of them on the resale market for FREE. Diamond points might actually make sense if you love to visit some specific areas repeatedly...Sedona, Arizona where they operate some nice properties, Hawaii where they have some properties popular with owners, Cabo Azul in Mexico is an outstanding property and possibly their only true 5 star resort, and they have multiple choices in Williamsburg, Las Vegas, Orlando, etc.

- I am pretty sure you aren't allowed to rent your points. There are Diamond owners who have reported they have had their accounts frozen because they tried renting points they couldn't use and didn't know they were violating Club rules.

 

[DRIless]

What sold us on the timeshare with Diamond Resorts is that you are not tied up to a location or a specific week (you can book multiple weekends throughout the year). We did not buy it to travel ourselves as we don't have much time off work (at least for now). I see that everyone tells new people to rescind (we are still within the 7 day mark) but the question we have is how realistic is it to rent out your reservations? Our package is 7500 points. If you book a good location at a pick weekend, how easy (or hard) is it to let's say airbnb it? Thank you

Do you realize that booking a weekend (Fri&Sat nights) with Diamond Resorts costs 60% of the points for a full week? Counting your purchase price as sunk costs (meaning ignoring what you paid) you won't even make enough to pay the maintenance fees on the points used. Finding the renter, even with a great advertising platform like Airbnb for a specific "pick?" weekend is not easy and all is lost if you don't find a renter. Run Forrest, run.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Listing with companies like Home Away, VRBO and Airbnb would be too expensive to make it worth your while.

I cannot think of anything in Diamond worth paying a lot for myself. Point at Poipu is about the nicest they have, and Kauai doesn't command much rent. But I am not a Diamond member, so maybe there are some gems that would work.

Why do you think there are all of these commercials on TV and radio by companies helping people to get out of their timeshares? Developer sales are not worthy of tens of thousands of $$$$.

 

[TUGBrian]

congrats on finding TUG in time to rescind, you dodged an expensive bullet and can now have your pick of resales available!

 

[DRIless]

Listing with companies like Home Away, VRBO and Airbnb would be too expensive to make it worth your while.

Actually, Airbnb is almost free to the owner. Airbnb charges 3% fee to the owner and that's what you'd pay to process a credit card anyway.