Divi Aruba Phoenix Beach Resort Question

[keninatl3076]

I have been looking at buying a TS in Aruba and have some questions about Divi Aruba Phoenix. I have mostly seen resales listed as Fixed weeks but run across a few that are floating. I was hoping that someone could tell me if you can in fact buy a resale for Divi that is a floating week? I have even seen one post on eBay that was for the Divi Golf resort and it stated that you could exchange for ANY of the Divi resorts for a $96.00 fee. It looks like it might be the owner trying to sale him/herself directly. Does anyone know if something like that would be possible? I am looking at the Marriott Surf right now since most of those ads are for floating weeks but I would like to know if there are any other options for a floating week on Aruba.
Thanks for any information,
Ken

 

[richontug]

As a Club Wyndham member, you can use RCI to exchange into this resort. I do it every year.

 

[stmartinfan]

We own at Divi St Maarten and Divi does have a program where you can trade within their own resorts for a fee without having an RCI or II Membership. I don't recall the exact cost but $96 sounds about right. For fixed weeks, which are broken into a couple of different levels based on demand of the season, there is an additional fee if you trade into a higher rated week than you own.

At least in St Maarten, Divi has gone through a whole series of sales schemes...fixed weeks (including some original ones without a mandatory maintenance fee), points, some sort of club.

Internal trading, etc., is all handled through Divi's US office in NC.

 

[keninatl3076]

Thanks for that information. Do you know if you would be able to do the exchange within DIVI if you purchase the timeshare as a resale and not directly from the resort? I find that many (maybe most) timeshares restrict what a owner that purchases resale can do.

 

[keninatl3076]

As a Club Wyndham member, you can use RCI to exchange into this resort. I do it every year.

Yes, I know I can use RCI but the weeks available to usually limited. I am looking at options to purchase a timeshare in Aruba but not sure what resort to buy.

 

[richontug]

The "trick" to claiming Divi Phoenix is to go online exactly 10 months before you want to go.
Good luck in your search. Aruba is our favorite. See my post in Resort Reviews section.

 

[stmartinfan]

Do you know if you would be able to do the exchange within DIVI if you purchase the timeshare as a resale and not directly from the resort? I find that many (maybe most) timeshares restrict what a owner that purchases resale can do.

Divi seems more reasonable than some timeshares so I'd think they would allow this benefit to transfer, but I don't know the official answer. It's a benefit to them because it keeps their owners within the Divi family rather than at other chains. You could call their headquarters in Chapel Hill to see if they can answer—919.419.3484. We trade every year within the Divi system because we prefer to go during colder weather than the week we own. We've always gotten a week in prime time with an internal trade because we call the first day that the week we want is released for trading. The phone workers aren't always in tune with all the nuances of the various ownerships but they should be able to track down an answer.

I'm not familiar with weeks ownership in Aruba so don't know if this applies, but our SXM week is is a right to use contract for a total of 40 years only, with the last ten weeks available to “accelerate” to use earlier. As I mentioned, Divi seems to have had a variety of ownership types, so wanted to alert you to confirm if there's a limit on years of usage.

 

[keninatl3076]

Thanks so much for the information. I will call them and see if they can tell me for sure one way or the other. If I could transfer within DIVI that would be exactly what I was really looking for.
I am aware of the RTU in Aruba. Not sure how it really works but I did know about it .

 

[Seaport104]

Divi has a couple of different types of ownerships -

- Fixed Week ownership no points
- Fixed Week ownership in RCI points
- Divi Vacation Club (no week associated with it just points ownership) - this is what they sell now

All resales retain the benefits. I have experience in first 2 but only know what I know on the Divi Club based on owner presentation so I will limit my comments to the 1st 2 types of ownerships-

• Very easy to transfer because it's a RTU. All you need to finalize is single page that needs to be notarized
• Option to accelerate weeks (usually up to 10 weeks) and if buying resale, the Divi contract they will issue you will indicate how many accelerated weeks are left
• You can change to a different week, about 6 months before the desired check-in date. Depending on the resort, unit size and season you own you may be subject to a unit and/or season and/or resort upgrade fee on top of the exchange fee of about $99. The resort upgrade fee applies if you are booking Divi Phoenix Phase 2 (newer section) or Divi Golf and you do not own there.

 

[Seaport104]

Here are the upgrade fees, which is quite high so it is important to buy the right season and unit size

"Upgrade Fees

• To use weeks that are of a higher category/season than the one that you own: You will pay the full amount of your owned week Operating Fees, an Administrative Fee and an upgrade fee of $402.00 per season/category.
• To use unit types that are larger than the one that you own: You will pay the full amount of your owned week Operating Fees, an Administrative Fee and an upgrade fee of $402.00 per unit type category.
• A $654.00 upgrade fee will apply to each reservation that is requested and confirmed for the Golf Villas at Divi Village and Divi Aruba Phoenix – Phase II, regardless of the type of unit you own.
• A resort upgrade fee, currently $654.00, will apply to each reservation that is requested and confirmed for the Golf Villas at Divi Village and Divi Aruba Phoenix – Phase II, regardless of the type of unit you own."

Interesting, I just noticed the language on the website indicates resort upgrade fee for Phoenix Phase II and Golf Villas apply no matter what you own. this must be new. In the past, it only applied if you didn't own there.

 

[Seaport104]

Here is the 2019 calendar which indicates when you can call to switch your week ownership without RCI points.

 

[keninatl3076]

Thank you so much for the detailed information. That is exactly what I was looking to find out. It looks like DIVI would be a great option for me to purchase if I can find one that is priced right.