DRII Developer Sales Are Up

[artringwald]

Apparently, not enough people are finding out about TUG. Presentations, sales, and average sale price are all up from last year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/31/nv-diamond-resorts-intl-idUSnBw315683a+100+BSW20131031

 

[singlemalt_18]

Vacation Interest sales, net grew by $40.4 million, or 48.5%, for the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. This growth was driven by a:
◦ 8.3% increase in tours to 56,822 from 52,474
◦ 9.1% increase in transactions to 8,342 from 7,647 (reflecting closing percentages of 14.7% for the 2013 period and 14.6% for the 2012 period)
◦ 36.0% increase in average transaction price to $16,881 from $12,414

These numbers all show that activity and volume are up, but one key measure is not provided - average price per point. Over time it will be important to know if they are sacrificing pricing in order to churn larger point sales and simply creating more "VIPs"

 

[dougp26364]

That's what Mr Cloobeck does, sell timeshares, and his organization does it as well as any of them.

 

[RuralEngineer]

more commentary

LAS VEGAS: Michael Lewis, writing for Motley Fool, recently called Diamond Resorts “the Best Play on Timeshares”, mentioning the company’s steady rise in its stock price since its IPO a few months ago, along with top-line gains of more than 34% to $191.6 million in its third quarter financial report. Its hospitality and management services booked a gain of 12%, mainly due to two resort acquisitions completed during the summer.

See more at: http://www.insidethegate.com/gatehouse/#sthash.g66J45UX.dpuf[/url]


Management has improved. Owner since 1998. Check-in process at Powhatan was quick. Unit is great. Value is good. Powhatan is my 2nd home. Too bad people are still not savy about the resale market.


Second homes:

http://www.thomasjstanley.com/blog-articles/170/Second_Homes..._Part_II.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...42661812.html?mod=WSJ_SecondHomes_LEFTTopNews

 

[pgnewarkboy]

LAS VEGAS: Michael Lewis, writing for Motley Fool, recently called Diamond Resorts “the Best Play on Timeshares”, mentioning the company’s steady rise in its stock price since its IPO a few months ago, along with top-line gains of more than 34% to $191.6 million in its third quarter financial report. Its hospitality and management services booked a gain of 12%, mainly due to two resort acquisitions completed during the summer.

See more at: http://www.insidethegate.com/gatehouse/#sthash.g66J45UX.dpuf[/url]


Management has improved. Owner since 1998. Check-in process at Powhatan was quick. Unit is great. Value is good. Powhatan is my 2nd home. Too bad people are still not savy about the resale market.


Second homes:

http://www.thomasjstanley.com/blog-articles/170/Second_Homes..._Part_II.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...42661812.html?mod=WSJ_SecondHomes_LEFTTopNews

Resale market for DRI may not be of much help to prospective owners. If you are buying a deeded property you still have to pay significant dollars to join the Club to get the flexibility of points.

I doubt that DRI is actually selling deeded properties at this point in time. The only way you can probably get it is by re-sale but it will cost more than the resale to buy into points. If your only interest is to go to one place, you should be able to get a good deal on a deeded resale because you are not required to join the Club.

DRI appears to be only interested in selling points in the various trusts . I don't know if they can be re-sold on the open market.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

DRI appears to be only interested in selling points in the various trusts . I don't know if they can be re-sold on the open market.

Trust points can be bought and sold just like deeds. For most of the resorts in the US Collection there are few, if any, deeded ownerships.

 

[artringwald]

Resale market for DRI may not be of much help to prospective owners. If you are buying a deeded property you still have to pay significant dollars to join the Club to get the flexibility of points.

If you buy a deeded property, you can still exchange it with RCI or Interval International if they are affiliated with that property. Do any exchange companies work on a point based system?

 

[pgnewarkboy]

If you buy a deeded property, you can still exchange it with RCI or Interval International if they are affiliated with that property. Do any exchange companies work on a point based system?

II uses points in addition to deeds. I feel I get good buys from II using DRI points to locations where there aren't any DRI properties. The exchange fees add up but sometimes you wanna go where you wanna go!

 

[Carol C]

Resale market for DRI may not be of much help to prospective owners. If you are buying a deeded property you still have to pay significant dollars to join the Club to get the flexibility of points.

I doubt that DRI is actually selling deeded properties at this point in time. The only way you can probably get it is by re-sale but it will cost more than the resale to buy into points. If your only interest is to go to one place, you should be able to get a good deal on a deeded resale because you are not required to join the Club.

DRI appears to be only interested in selling points in the various trusts . I don't know if they can be re-sold on the open market.

Diamond Resorts is building its collection of resorts by getting folks to hand over timeshare deeds in exchange for membership in their points program. I've heard someone say she paid $11K to join and gave up her deed...and she next said "I've figured out how to get 6 vacations out of the points so I'm using it well". Diamond Resorts is actually involved in attempts at hostile takeovers of resorts they want in their collection and suing at least one indie mgmt company as a way to achieve their goal of dominance of the timeshare market. I hope no TUGgers would ever hand over their timeshare deeds while paying a premium for their points at a timeshare presentation. Best to just stay clear of all timeshare presentations, imho.

 

[fluke]

II uses points in addition to deeds. I feel I get good buys from II using DRI points to locations where there aren't any DRI properties. The exchange fees add up but sometimes you wanna go where you wanna go!

Points within the club can be exchanged through II. But I thought (I think I have read it reported on tug before) that resale points cannot be traded in II or RCI. I think one of the smaller exchange companies would , but it was a hassle to get it done.

This is all from my memory of previous posts and not my personal experience. If anyone knows better please post it. I will try to find the previous posts I am referencing.

 

[Bill4728]

With my DRI collection ( Monarch Grand collection) we use our points to reserve rooms at one of the collection's resorts then trade that room in II. We do not use our points directly to do II trades.

 

[RuralEngineer]

Old Debate

Deed / Trust / Points.

Points benefit the user. Trusts benefit the timeshare company. Greater use and efficiency of the property benefits everyone.

Stephen

 

[billfoster424]

MGV DRI points and II

With my DRI collection ( Monarch Grand collection) we use our points to reserve rooms at one of the collection's resorts then trade that room in II. We do not use our points directly to do II trades.

FWIW As of January 1, 2014 points ARE directly through II via DRI-II "Desk". The real downside is that I used to reserve a MGV week, trade it or bank it with II then I had two years to use the banked week. NO MORE says CLUELESSBECK! As of Jan 1 all II trades MUST be used, stay completed by the expiration date of the DRI (MGV) points. They are screwing us again, I have a call into my attorney!

 

[RuralEngineer]

Sales

I'm told sales are good as folks are buying to get to certain levels before the price rises again.

Stephen

 

[pedro47]

LAS VEGAS: Michael Lewis, writing for Motley Fool, recently called Diamond Resorts “the Best Play on Timeshares”, mentioning the company’s steady rise in its stock price since its IPO a few months ago, along with top-line gains of more than 34% to $191.6 million in its third quarter financial report. Its hospitality and management services booked a gain of 12%, mainly due to two resort acquisitions completed during the summer.

See more at: http://www.insidethegate.com/gatehouse/#sthash.g66J45UX.dpuf[/url]


Management has improved. Owner since 1998. Check-in process at Powhatan was quick. Unit is great. Value is good. Powhatan is my 2nd home. Too bad people are still not savy about the resale market.


Second homes:

http://www.thomasjstanley.com/blog-articles/170/Second_Homes..._Part_II.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...42661812.html?mod=WSJ_SecondHomes_LEFTTopNews

We are going to Powhatan in three weeks staying in their Deluxe villas. I hope you are right.

 

[Zephyr88]

I'm told sales are good as folks are buying to get to certain levels before the price rises again.

DRII stock 52 week range: 14.18 - 19.42

Closed yesterday at 17.50

Risk: Diamond holds nearly $750 million in debt with only $40 million in cash.

 

[TheWizz]

Points within the club can be exchanged through II. But I thought (I think I have read it reported on tug before) that resale points cannot be traded in II or RCI. I think one of the smaller exchange companies would , but it was a hassle to get it done.

This is all from my memory of previous posts and not my personal experience. If anyone knows better please post it. I will try to find the previous posts I am referencing.

Things might have changed in the past few years, but I owned several DRI and Sunterra "dirty" deeds and points and attended an on-site presentation in Maui and paid $2995 to have them "clean-up" my deeds and points and allow me to gain full The Club Points access, which includes all DRI resorts, affiliates, as well as the ability to exchange DRI points in II. I still own the base deeds at Fall Creek and Polo Towers and get the points value each year. I've never purchased direct from DRI any deeds or points, all via resale. I think the rules have changed now (from what I read), and they no longer offer the $2995 buy-in price for The Club points value, but force you to purchase (a nominal amount of) Club Points, and will then let you include all points/deeds in The Club.

Agree with RuralEngineer regarding Powhatan. If you can go there during the off-season, you can get a large unit for very low points. I reserved a unit for my son/daughter-in-law a few years ago when he was in training near-by with the USCG, and was able to book him 1-2BR units for six months via my points. I did a quick search for 28 days at Powhatan, and you can book a 2BR unit for 3300 points for a month.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I think the rules have changed now (from what I read), and they no longer offer the $2995 buy-in price for The Club points value, but force you to purchase (a nominal amount of) Club Points, and will then let you include all points/deeds in The Club.

I think they have increased the number of Club points required to buy in, so that the number of points required represents an actually useful amount of time.

I think they did because of the legacy of piddly contracts that they inherited from Sunterra - most of which turn toxic sooner or later. There are a lot contracts floating around where the point values are too small to be able to reserve anything decent except as last-minute use. The owners get frustrated because they can't do anything. Then because the trust gets added to the units as a flat rate fee no matter the number of points, the contracts can't be sold.

So owners get frustrated and angry, defaults go up, etc.

I've been meaning to write a letter to Cloobeck sometime suggesting that it's in their interest to provide a way for people to get out of those contracts. It's better for DRI, it's better for the owners of those contracts, and it's better for the other owners.

I would like to see them set a program in which they will allow owners who have free and clear title and who simply want out to register their ownership for sale and provide a power of attorney to DRI to transfer the ownership. Then on the sales floor, the sales people can bundle those small contracts into a single larger contract and sell that, just as they sell developer inventory now. This would be especially useful at resorts that are sold out. Since the sales force still gets their commissions, they would have plenty of skin in the game.

If they feel the program could get out of hand, DRI can just cap the number of transactions of that type they are willing to do per year.

The inventory will come to DRI at minimal cost, and if they sell it on the floor at full retail rates there's plenty of money to be made. It should actually reduce the amount of capital DRI needs because they wouldn't need to spend as much money on the development of acquisition end in order to have inventory to sell.

 

[TheWizz]

I think they have increased the number of Club points required to buy in, so that the number of points required represents an actually useful amount of time.

...

I've been meaning to write a letter to Cloobeck sometime suggesting that it's in their interest to provide a way for people to get out of those contracts. It's better for DRI, it's better for the owners of those contracts, and it's better for the other owners.

...

They did have a program like this a few years back. But then Poipu happened, and the rules changed and they stopped taking ownership interests back. I called the year before Poipu hit the fan, but after the new year and was told I needed to call back later in the year, say Dec. to ask to give my Club Points back. Poipu happened later that year and when I called in Dec., I was told they no longer did the take backs. They looked in my records and it was noted that I had called and been told to call back later in the year to do this, so once I escalated this to Club Mgmt, they agreed to take back my Club Points that I wanted to return. I had ~6K Sunterra/DRI Club Points where the MFs were rising so much faster than my deeded/converted to points MFs, that I no longer wanted to keep them. I'm glad I was able to do so back then. Hopefully they will be willing to once again start-up this program to allow owners to return unwanted ownerships.

 

[pgnewarkboy]

If someone is in a Trust Collection already, it might be a good deal for them to pick up a deeded DRI property on the resale market and add them to their trust points - if that is possible. I don't know if you can add DRI deeded properties bought on resale to a trust collection.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

If someone is in a Trust Collection already, it might be a good deal for them to pick up a deeded DRI property on the resale market and add them to their trust points - if that is possible. I don't know if you can add DRI deeded properties bought on resale to a trust collection.

Since Diamond runs the trusts, the only way to add a deed to the trust is through them. And they only do that as part of the developer sales program.