Donita Is Back?

[Carolinian]

Not as an exchange company. The original announcement when DAE bought her out said that Donita's Vacations Unlimited would remain a seperate entity owned by Donita and would work in other areas, travel agency being one if I recall correctly. Apparently the non-compete allowed her to do some things in timesharing but not running an exchange company. Now that the non-compete is over, she is back in the exchange business.

And, yes, I have joined her exchange program.

It looks as if Donita has been back for sometime.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115550

Also, the Dream Vacation Network (DVN) website hosted by google sites is now shut down from public view.

 

[Margariet]

Not as an exchange company. The original announcement when DAE bought her out said that Donita's Vacations Unlimited would remain a seperate entity owned by Donita and would work in other areas, travel agency being one if I recall correctly. Apparently the non-compete allowed her to do some things in timesharing but not running an exchange company. Now that the non-compete is over, she is back in the exchange business.

And, yes, I have joined her exchange program.

How much did you pay to join and where did you pay for? I assume you have read her program and terms and conditions and have seen her inventory? Can you post a link to the program?

 

[Steve@BWV]

Not as an exchange company.

The information in the thread started in February of 2010 is exactly what is listed on donitas site today. I can not see how you could claim a difference.

With the timeshare industry flush with fraudulent service providers I would recommend any potential customer exercise due diligence. I my opinion, a website that has grammatical errors in its context for over at least a year and a half and the rest of the site "under construction" does not bode for the companies credibility. A "recommendation" from a faceless anonymous poster does not over ride that skepticism.

Also, the Dream Vacation Network (DVN) website was hosted on google sites free web hosting service. This site has been locked since the discussion began here a few days ago. I am guessing this is not a coincidence.

I am new to the timshare industry having purchased my week ~2 years ago. I have no experience with these individuals or companies. From what I have seen I plan on avoiding them in the future.

 

[Carolinian]

As you yourself point out, the new website is obviously not up yet. The new information is in Timesharing Today magazine. If you are a subscriber, you may want to check it out. If not, it is a great publication, and you should think about subscribing. Having dealt with her before, I know her credibility, so I don't need to look at a website for that.

The information in the thread started in February of 2010 is exactly what is listed on donitas site today. I can not see how you could claim a difference.

With the timeshare industry flush with fraudulent service providers I would recommend any potential customer exercise due diligence. I my opinion, a website that has grammatical errors in its context for over at least a year and a half and the rest of the site "under construction" does not bode for the companies credibility. A "recommendation" from a faceless anonymous poster does not over ride that skepticism.

Also, the Dream Vacation Network (DVN) website was hosted on google sites free web hosting service. This site has been locked since the discussion began here a few days ago. I am guessing this is not a coincidence.

I am new to the timshare industry having purchased my week ~2 years ago. I have no experience with these individuals or companies. From what I have seen I plan on avoiding them in the future.

 

[Carolinian]

I dropped a check in the mail for the $25 annual dues to the address shown in Timesharing Today magazine for Donitas Vacations Unlimited. I have read the terms in the Comparision Chart of Exchange Companies in the July/August edition of Timesharing Today. If you are a subscriber, you can go online to that article. If not, I cannot post a link to it. From my personal experience of her being able to source what I am looking for from her trading partners, I did not ask to look at her inventory. She has gotten me some really good weeks in Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

How much did you pay to join and where did you pay for? I assume you have read her program and terms and conditions and have seen her inventory? Can you post a link to the program?

 

[BocaBum99]

I dropped a check in the mail for the $25 annual dues to the address shown in Timesharing Today magazine for Donitas Vacations Unlimited. I have read the terms in the Comparision Chart of Exchange Companies in the July/August edition of Timesharing Today. If you are a subscriber, you can go online to that article. If not, I cannot post a link to it. From my personal experience of her being able to source what I am looking for from her trading partners, I did not ask to look at her inventory. She has gotten me some really good weeks in Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

Now that you are shilling her company, I am sure you will continue to get good trades.

 

[Ridewithme38]

edited, didn't work

http://www.tstoday.com/members/magazine/issue118/28-29-comp chart.pdf

 

[Carolinian]

Now that you are shilling her company, I am sure you will continue to get good trades.

I got good trades from her when she was at DAE, and that is why I am joining her new company. It goes into the mix with DAE and SFX, and probably I will add UKRE as well. Defending against vicious attacks is hardly shilling. Again, do look at those old threads on the Ask DAE board about Donita. Were those people shilling? After I moved to Europe, I kept my DAE account initially with the US office, specifically because of the great servive I got from Donita, and when she left, I siwtched it almost immediately to the UK, where I should have been as soon as I moved. I have gotten good service from the UK DAE office, too, since I have been exchanging through them.

When one compares levels of honesty, Donita is head and shoulders above, say, RCI, which has repeatedly lied to its members about important aspects of its exchange system like the fact that RCI was renting prime exchange deposits to the general public.

 

[BocaBum99]

I got good trades from her when she was at DAE, and that is why I am joining her new company. It goes into the mix with DAE and SFX, and probably I will add UKRE as well. Defending against vicious attacks is hardly shilling. Again, do look at those old threads on the Ask DAE board about Donita. Were those people shilling? After I moved to Europe, I kept my DAE account initially with the US office, specifically because of the great servive I got from Donita, and when she left, I siwtched it almost immediately to the UK, where I should have been as soon as I moved. I have gotten good service from the UK DAE office, too, since I have been exchanging through them.

When one compares levels of honesty, Donita is head and shoulders above, say, RCI, which has repeatedly lied to its members about important aspects of its exchange system like the fact that RCI was renting prime exchange deposits to the general public.

I believe that most newbies would not agree with you after reading this thread. Donita established her own lack of credility on this thread. You just choose to defend her because you hate RCI.

 

[cbm32]

Hmmmm. I do not hate RCI. I use RCI frequently for exchanges and even more frequently for Last Call vacations.

I have never really done business with Donita, although I did speak to her on the phone a couple of times when she was at DAE, and I was well aware of her reputation back then.

I have read every post in this thread.

I dont see any real good reason for the vitriol aimed at her and also at Carolinian.

For $25 I will give Donita a go based on her past reputation.

In this thread people have implied things that she did not say and taken a statement of fact as a threat.

Saying that she had seen the way a new company laid out their program and finding it to be the best concept she had seen in the industry does not necessarily imply that she or anyone else should pay 9K for it.

Stating that one has to be careful what they say on these boards because they CAN be sued for their statements is a fact. I have seen it happen on another board and, although the settlement was small, there WAS a settlement and defending themselves was NOT cheap.

A little restraint and civility goes a long way.

 

[travelguy]

Hmmmm. I do not hate RCI. I use RCI frequently for exchanges and even more frequently for Last Call vacations.

I have never really done business with Donita, although I did speak to her on the phone a couple of times when she was at DAE, and I was well aware of her reputation back then.

I have read every post in this thread.

I dont see any real good reason for the vitriol aimed at her and also at Carolinian.

For $25 I will give Donita a go based on her past reputation.

In this thread people have implied things that she did not say and taken a statement of fact as a threat.

Saying that she had seen the way a new company laid out their program and finding it to be the best concept she had seen in the industry does not necessarily imply that she or anyone else should pay 9K for it.

Stating that one has to be careful what they say on these boards because they CAN be sued for their statements is a fact. I have seen it happen on another board and, although the settlement was small, there WAS a settlement and defending themselves was NOT cheap.

A little restraint and civility goes a long way.

Hmmmm ... if you did "read every post in this thread" them you would know that there is ANOTHER thread in which Donita makes some pretty self-damaging statements, IMO.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150840 (Post #8 of this thread)

Donita also appears to share your view on internet law and even has the same threatening tone about it....

 

[BocaBum99]

Hmmmm. I do not hate RCI. I use RCI frequently for exchanges and even more frequently for Last Call vacations.

Nobody said or suggested you hate RCI. I said Carolinian does. He has spent thousands of pages of posts bashing RCI and promoting companies like DAE and Donita. It turns out that Donita and DAE aren't that great either.

The bottom line is that she promotes and supports DVN and she has not followed up with a good explanation of why she supports a company that most on this board thinks is a scam. My guess is there is a financial relationship that encourages her to support it.

If she can explain why DVN is legit and everyone else here is wrong, I would respect her knowledge and change my view. But, I will not be holding my breath.

I have never really done business with Donita, although I did speak to her on the phone a couple of times when she was at DAE, and I was well aware of her reputation back then.

Most oldtimers acknowledge that she had a good reputation. Others are now re-evaluating her integrity based on her posts on these threads regarding DVN.

I have read every post in this thread.

I dont see any real good reason for the vitriol aimed at her and also at Carolinian.

You need to read more than just the posts in this thread to understand fully the push back.

For $25 I will give Donita a go based on her past reputation.

So, you are not impressed with her performance here.

 

[cbm32]

See Travelguy.....that is a prime example. You interpret my "tone" in an online post as being threatening. I didnt threaten anyone and how the heck you pick up "tone" from my post is beyond me. Looks like you are reading something into it that just isnt there.

I stated some facts. That another board was caught up in litigation over something that someone posted on it. It was NOT the owner of the board and was not even a moderator of the board. Just a member making some statements that upset the person being talked about and the BOARD was sued over it. In the end there was a small settlement but defending the suit was NOT a cheap matter. Many members of that board contributed to a defense fund and held fundraisers to further build the defense war chest. If they had not, that board would have in all liklihood ceased to exist as the owner could not have managed to pay the cost of defnending against the suit on his own.

That is a fact. Not a threat. A word of caution at most.

Boca....I did not mean to imply that you said I hated RCI...only that I dont and so that is NOT the angle I approach all of this from.

Again, I have seen Donita indicate that she was blown away by the program...not that she thought it was worth 9K. She believes the people involved to be honest, many people are honest and yet still greedy and charge more for a service than is is really worth (they of course are probably convinced it is a good deal, that does not make it so).

Would I sign up with DVN? Not for 9K. No way in heck. Probably not for 1K. I am a cheap dude and just wouldnt do that. But there are many many things I do not sign up for because I do not think it is worth the money, that doesnt make those things scams. Just not for me is all.

 

[DeniseM]

Again, I have seen Donita indicate that she was blown away by the program...not that she thought it was worth 9K. She believes the people involved to be honest, many people are honest and yet still greedy and charge more for a service than is is really worth (they of course are probably convinced it is a good deal, that does not make it so).

You are missing the most important point - that is not actually what Donita said - She clearly stated "I am also working with a great new program called Dream Vacation Network."

Her defenders in this thread are carefully side-stepping this point. Donita side-stepped it too. She announced her affiliation with this company in glowing terms - but then refused to talk about it, and indeed, became quite hostile.

Saying - "I just found out about this product and it looks great," and saying "I am working with them," are two completely different things.

If you come to TUG and promote a product that you are selling or promoting, you better be prepared to defend it, or lose all credibility.

 

[Carolinian]

Since there is nothing to indicate that she is currently involved with DVN, which like any other travel club or points system, I would not touch with a ten foot pole, or even that she had any significant involvement with them at some point in the past, this has no real relevence to her new / old exchange company. It is a pure matter of guilt by association.

Yeah, some of the usual pro-RCI suspects (not you, but some others on this thread) are trying to make a mountain out of this DVN molehill. But it all comes down to integrity, and there is nothing to show Donita has lied to members, something her competitor RCI has been caught at again and again and again. There is nothing to show that she is, for instance, renting exchange deposits to the general public on a massive scale and then lying about it to members.

You are missing the most important point - that is not actually what Donita said - She clearly stated "I am also working with a great new program called Dream Vacation Network."

Her defenders in this thread are carefully side-stepping this point. Donita side-stepped it too. She announced her affiliation with this company in glowing terms - but then refused to talk about it, and indeed, became quite hostile.

Saying - "I just found out about this product and it looks great," and saying "I am working with them," are two completely different things.

If you come to TUG and promote a product that you are selling or promoting, you better be prepared to defend it, or lose all credibility.

 

[Margariet]

pro-RCI suspects

Since when is it a crime to be pro RCI? Many of us are satisfied exchangers, no suspects, I believe.

 

[Carolinian]

Since when is it a crime to be pro RCI? Many of us are satisfied exchangers, no suspects, I believe.

You might want to read up on their substantial diversion of exchange deposits into their rental to the general public program, which brought them three class action lawsuits. There is a very long thread on TUG about it. You might also get ahold of a copy of the special issue of the newsletter of the Seasons timeshare chain where they announced they were jumping ship from RCI to II over both the rentals and the unfair (to Weeks) relationship between Weeks and Points at RCI. That explains those twin problems pretty well.

 

[travelguy]

See Travelguy.....that is a prime example. You interpret my "tone" in an online post as being threatening. I didnt threaten anyone and how the heck you pick up "tone" from my post is beyond me. Looks like you are reading something into it that just isnt there.

I stated some facts. That another board was caught up in litigation over something that someone posted on it. It was NOT the owner of the board and was not even a moderator of the board. Just a member making some statements that upset the person being talked about and the BOARD was sued over it. In the end there was a small settlement but defending the suit was NOT a cheap matter. Many members of that board contributed to a defense fund and held fundraisers to further build the defense war chest. If they had not, that board would have in all liklihood ceased to exist as the owner could not have managed to pay the cost of defnending against the suit on his own.

That is a fact. Not a threat. A word of caution at most.

.... and why even bring up the whole issue of litigation unless your objective is to "threaten" those posting negatively about DVN and Donita into silence??

I officially change my interpretation of your tone from "threatening" to "scolding", IMHO.

DISCLAIMER -> The above is only the opinion of the poster "Travelguy" and does not represent the opinions of anyone else on this forum, the forum moderators, the forum management, or the universe as a whole.

 

[Numismatist]

If you come to TUG and promote a product that you are selling or promoting, you better be prepared to defend it, or lose all credibility.

Third option is to issue vague threats of slander and libel against those who oppose your ideas...:annoyed:

 

[chriskre]

Time will tell if Donita is worth dealing with or not.

Looks like anyone needing handholding with their exchanging or trying to go to difficult to exchange into places, will be happy with her services. For those of us who just want to go to Orlando and the beach, it may be annoying to have to hold a hand. I'd much rather search online myself.

 

[ampaholic]

Time will tell if Donita is worth dealing with or not.

Looks like anyone needing handholding with their exchanging or trying to go to difficult to exchange into places, will be happy with her services. For those of us who just want to go to Orlando and the beach, it may be annoying to have to hold a hand. I'd much rather search online myself.

I think that's all well and good - except I am leery about recommending a hand to hold for newbies if that hand might say to the newbie: "Hey, I know of this great program and for only $9000 you can be a part of it ..."

See my dilemma?

 

[chriskre]

I think that's all well and good - except I am leery about recommending a hand to hold for newbies if that hand might say to the newbie: "Hey, I know of this great program and for only $9000 you can be a part of it ..."

See my dilemma?

But I don't think it's $9K to join.

She's posting on another forum that it's' only $25 to join per year and then $125 for national and $150 for Int'l exchanges. That's not too unreasonable but I think she should consider free membership initially. People just love Free.

 

[ampaholic]

But I don't think it's $9K to join.

She's posting on another forum that it's' only $25 to join per year and then $125 for national and $150 for Int'l exchanges. That's not too unreasonable but I think she should consider free membership initially. People just love Free.

There are two entities Donita is "entwined" with:

1 is DVU - Donita's Vacations Unlimited - to quote Donita: "I charge $25 a year membership, $125 for US & Canada, and $150 for international. I do not charge upgrades for size or season and no extra charge for a guest pass."

2 is DVN - Dream Network Unlimited - this is a bit murky as to Donitas relationship with DVN and exactly what they provide and what they cost.

Donita has been quoted as saying she is working with DVN, and that she is not a principle and not in sales with DVN.

There have been numbers cast about like $995. and $9000 as the cost to join DVN - their website is no help as it is members only - perhaps it sooooo exclusive they use the $9000 cost to keep out the riff raff?

There are some private clubs around that do just that.

 

[pranas]

According the the Timeshare Today chart, Donita was with DVU Club until June 13. 2011. I have not done business with Donita but remember the praise that everyone had for her when she was with DAE. Business partners have falling outs and break-ups all the time. Why is she not entitled to do the same? As to the initial membership or joining fee, the Timeshare Today article clearly states there is no such fee.

I agree with Steve that Donita's site should be added to TUG's list of exchange companies. Many of us could benefit from this.

 

[Zib]

Donita's

At the risk of starting this up all again.......... I had the popportunity to sit in on a presentation for "Dreams Vacations" Travel Club just last week and did so only because reading this thread made me so curious! I did NOT and will NOT join because we are "old" and at the end of our traveling because of health but I was so curious to confront the the "EVIL" Dreams Vacations! (if it's the same one) No where was anything mentioned about $9000!!!! Where did that come from? Must be a different club. This one was quite reasonable to join and I can't see where anyone can lose very much money and they seemed to have some very good deals. O.K. now I know I'm going to be accused of being a (what do you call it?) shill for the company. I'm NOT! You can think what you will, but I think most of you don't know what you are talking about! I've satisfied myself about it and still think you are picking on Donita when you don't really know anything about her. The people who have ACTUALLY dealt with her in the past all speak well of her.
As far as I can see, all who criticize her have never really dealt with her.
So, just as I attended that presentation thanks to this thread, I think I will try Donita's Vacations and see for myself!