Did DRI tell us wrong...or is II the problem?

[bobpark56]

As new members of DRI's THE Club, my wife & I now find ourselves with 2 gold memberships in Interval International...one provided by THE Club and one purchased previously. DRI's sales folks told us we would not need our existing II membership anymore, and that the gold membership they provide would work for our Marriott and Festiva resorts as well. They also said that II would refund the pro-rated cost of our existing gold membership.

Well...I called II today to cancel our old membership and get the refund. II didn't seem to understand why we would want to do this. The person we spoke with insisted we would need both memberships if we want to take full advantage of II. As one example, she said we would lose our ability to do short-stay exchanges.

So...a question for DRI THE Club members: If you own other timeshares, does the gold membership from THE Club work for you there. Or have you found it necessary/useful to have two memberships in II?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

As new members of DRI's THE Club, my wife & I now find ourselves with 2 gold memberships in Interval International...one provided by THE Club and one purchased previously. DRI's sales folks told us we would not need our existing II membership anymore, and that the gold membership they provide would work for our Marriott and Festiva resorts as well. They also said that II would refund the pro-rated cost of our existing gold membership.

Well...I called II today to cancel our old membership and get the refund. II didn't seem to understand why we would want to do this. The person we spoke with insisted we would need both memberships if we want to take full advantage of II. As one example, she said we would lose our ability to do short-stay exchanges.

So...a question for DRI THE Club members: If you own other timeshares, does the gold membership from THE Club work for you there. Or have you found it necessary/useful to have two memberships in II?

We are only involved in II through our Club membership. Short-stay exchanges are available to us when I enter II using our DRI account.

Another issue is whether and how you can deposit and exchange in II with non Club ownerships using your Club account in II. I.e., can you use your DRI-based II membership to deposit and exchange non-Club ownerships. I can't give you any help with that.

 

[dwojo]

Were your other resorts registered with the club select? That would allow you to deposit them with DRI for points which could be used with the II account through DRI. That could be what was explained to you.

 

[bobpark56]

Were your other resorts registered with the club select? That would allow you to deposit them with DRI for points which could be used with the II account through DRI. That could be what was explained to you.

They are registered with The Club select, but that usage was not what was explained to us (re DRI's II gold membership advantages).

 

[malyons]

my best guess is that DRI told you wrong. I have the opposite situation, where I have an II membership through Starwood for my SVR unit that's part of their internal exchange network (similar to the Club). Even though I pay for an II membership with my unit every year, I had to get a second II membership to put my villa mirage unit in because the "corporate" type of membership (ie, starwood), was only good for units within that system. I'd guess that DRI's club "corporate" II membership works the same way

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Were your other resorts registered with the club select? That would allow you to deposit them with DRI for points which could be used with the II account through DRI. That could be what was explained to you.

They are registered with The Club select, but that usage was not what was explained to us (re DRI's II gold membership advantages).

I'm pretty sure that you will find you will get more II value from those units by depositing them into Club Select to get the DRI points, then using those DRI points for II bookings.