Diamond points vs nonpoints - MF

[JRS]

I haven't kept up with the points systems - don't see a need to convert. For myself when the original purchase took place - that was a 1 time event. Then of course the M/F annually. With points - is there still a deeded property attached to those, or are you just buying a right to stay at any resort in their system - for the cost of those points ? So, is this a revenue source in addition to the M/F annually ? I am trying to reconcile why someone in a points based system should have lower annual M/F than a weeks owner ....

 

[dwmantz]

In general, in Diamond, a points based member has an annual maint fee that is an AVERAGE of the resorts in the respective collection.

Therefore, the points based member is slightly lower than some deeded owners and slightly higher than others.

Having both points and deeds, I unfortunately have always found points to be higher.

 

[dougp26364]

DRI has two points based systems. One is a trust based ownership. As I understand it, you own a share in all the units involved with that particular trust. Thus, if you own in one of the DRI trust's your MF's are the average of all the units the trust holds. I believe there are additional trust management/admin fee's added on top of the MF.

There is also THE Club, which is a points based reservation system for deeded week owners. With THE Club, you still own your deeded week and pay MF's on your deeded week as calculated by your resort BOD/HOA. There is also an additional fee to belong to THE Club. A gold II membership is included in THE Club's fee.

There are also DRI owners that own deeded weeks but are not members of a DRI trust or THE Club. Those owners must pay for their own II or RCI membership (assuming they want one) and will exchange their weeks based on the rules of RCI and II for exchanging.

Each persons individual needs will dictate which system works best for them. Some are happy using their owned weeks for personal usage or, exchanging those weeks through RCI or II. Others prefer the 13 month internal exchange advantage and averaged MF's of one of the DRI trusts. Others will prefer to keep their deeds but belong to THE Club so they can exchange using points or have internal exchange privledges (10 month window) within the 110 DRI managed and affiliate resorts. Internal exchanges for Trust and THE Club members is without an additional charge at this time. Applicable II exchange fee's apply to both Trust and THE Club members when trading through II.

 

[dwmantz]

Add to that the hybrid of owning say US Collection Points which are then made part of the Club, as we do, in addition to deeds. This provides us with even greater reservation flexibility, naturally also at greater cost both to buy and in ongoing MFs.

Like Doug, I'd love to sell at least half my Diamond points & weeks. Several I've already listed for sale in the TUG marketplace.

 

[Dollie]

You might want to take a look at this thread:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86135

It has a good description of DRI's trusts and THE Club.

There are also DRI owners that own deeded weeks but are not members of a DRI trust or THE Club.

People who own at a timeshare and are not members of DRI (THE Club or one of the Trusts) are not "DRI owners". These people have nothing to do with DRI. However, DRI might have control over the HOA because of the number of suites associated with DRI and DRI may be the company hired by the HOA to manage the exchanging for the timeshare. These non-DRI members reserve their suites directly through the timeshare. DRI would charge these people a hefty fee to join one of the Trusts or THE Club. The possible exception would be a timeshare DRI totally owned but I'm not sure on this point.

 

[dougp26364]

People who own at a timeshare and are not members of DRI (THE Club or one of the Trusts) are not "DRI owners". These people have nothing to do with DRI.

That's not a completely true statement. DRI was an ongoing entity BEFORE it purchased Sunterra. There are DRI owners out there who own deeded weeks with DRI but are not a part of THE Club or any DRI Trust. Most, like us, have been invited to join THE Club and, as I understand it, are now being invited to join DRI's trust that includes the Hawaiin resorts.

All Polo Towers owners purchased through DRI and have been owners with DRI since the early 1990's. While they are not a majority of the owners that are in some way affiliated with DRI, the most certainly have a lot to do with DRI. As for us we go back to 1998 being owners with DRI. Only recently did we become members of THE Club.

 

[Bill4728]

People who own at a timeshare and are not members of DRI (THE Club or one of the Trusts) are not "DRI owners".

Rather than say they are not "DRI Owners", It may be better to say that "there are owners at DRI managed resorts, many which are not members of DRI's "The CLUB" and therefore do not have the rights to reserve rooms thru "The CLUB"."

 

[AwayWeGo]

I Resemble That Remark.

Rather than say they are not "DRI Owners", It may be better to say that "there are owners at DRI managed resorts, many which are not members of DRI's "The CLUB" and therefore do not have the rights to reserve rooms thru "The CLUB"."

I am not & never have been a member of T.H.E. Club.

Ditto Club SunTerra before that.

Even so, I own a (resale) every-year week at an outstanding DRI-affiliated timeshare & a (resale) EEY week at another outstanding DRI-affiliated timeshare right across the street.

However that may be, DRI is not in charge of management at either of those 2 fine DRI-affiliated timeshares. Both resorts are run by independent, owner-controlled HOA-BODs that look out strictly for the interests of us regular walking-around timeshare owners, club or no club mox nix.

DRI, as Developer Of Record -- not to mention straight-out owner & trust-owner of lots of weeks on both sides of the street -- is represented in a minority role on both HOA-BODs.

Is this a great country or what ?

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