Hilton Grand Vacations strikes deal to acquire Diamond Resorts

[Sandy VDH]

What do you mean by unlimited reservations, like DRI does not?? We can make as many reservations in a year that our points will allow for. Personally, my record has been 21 reservations in the same year.

I mean LIke DRI. Typo

 

[dayooper]

If you have more than 5 reservations a year some people do one of the following in HGVC

1) Become a top elite tier 32k points (must buy from the developer) no fees but big $$$$
2) buy a resale bHC property (NYC, DC) which has Al inclusive reservations. About $320/year ($189 dues + $120) for all you can eat reservations. Still must pay to bank but borrowing points is free With the downturn some low point resales have been at bargain basement prices. Plus you get preferential reservations to NYC and owners lounge privilege at your home resort.
3) Change reservations instead of booking/rebooking. Still must pay initial fee.

Here is the kicker to me, the up front cost. I paid a total of ~$6000, including all Hilton fees and closing costs for my 7000 point platinum resale deed. I have the same booking rights and windows as any developer bought deed. In today’s resale market, I could do much better than that.

 

[Tamaradarann]

If you have more than 5 reservations a year some people do one of the following in HGVC

1) Become a top elite tier 32k points (must buy from the developer) no fees but big $$$$
2) buy a resale bHC property (NYC, DC) which has Al inclusive reservations. About $320/year ($189 dues + $120) for all you can eat reservations. Still must pay to bank but borrowing points is free With the downturn some low point resales have been at bargain basement prices. Plus you get preferential reservations to NYC and owners lounge privilege at your home resort.
3) Change reservations instead of booking/rebooking. Still must pay initial fee.

The other thing that people can do is become an Elite member which is only 14,000 points and make exactly 7 day reservations which do not have a reservation fee. This year I made about 10 of them for no cost.

 

[dayooper]

And we haven't even gotten into their $149 transaction fee to save their points which are free (included) for us.

Unless it’s an emergency, I probably will never have to save any points. If it weren’t for COVID, I would be going into 2021 with 2600 of my 2021 points spent on a 2020 reservation (3 bedroom in Myrtle Beach, Ocean 22 is a fantastic resort in a great location). Since borrowing is free, I would just borrow points from the next year. I would spend my points until I ran out, purchase what I need to fill out a reservation from a friend who doesn’t use all of theirs but doesn’t want to give up their elite status and start the cycle all over again.

Since we canceled our trip last summer, we had to save our 2020 points into 2021. I actually paid to save last May so I could take advantage of the booking fees in April and May. When they announced they were waiving the save fee, they also refunded any fees already paid. Without asking, they deposited my refund back to my credit card, no questions.

That brings me to another point; HGVC takes care of their owners. You can say what you want about locations (too few), their sales team (would take me a whole lot more than what they offer to do an “owners update”) or their fee structure (I’m really not a fan of it, it’s just not as bad as some make it out to be), but they take care of us. No system even came close to helping their owners out last year as HGVC did. Waiving fees, extending saved points and waiving cancelation penalties were just some of the ways that they helped us out.

 

[frank808]

In essence, HGVC is it's own trading company as well, for HGVC properties. The difference is that HGVC charges you an exchange fee (reservation fee) to book outside of your single home resort. Diamond does not as long as you are booking through the Diamond portal at Diamond managed or affiliated resorts so we could book to almost 400 locations exchange free.

DEX was originally created to allow legacy week owners book at other locations. Legacy week owners do not have access to the Diamond portal because that is strictly for point owners (kind of like RCI having it's separate week/point sides of the website). The purpose was to give legacy week owners a cheaper alternative to RCI/II and for Diamond to keep those exchange fees from it's owners instead of sending it to RCI/II. DEX was originally started around 2013/2014. In 2020, Diamond decided to cancel it's affiliation with II effective 31 Dec 2020 and modified DEX so that points owners could utilize it. Also, DEX was modified to allow point owners to save points on a 2,000 increment basis for 5 years instead of the 1 year through the Diamond portal. The only problem, at least initially, is that the point values were set way to high for a week somewhere but they have been adjusting that as DEX went live for point owners this year. DEX is mostly based off of RCI inventory so it did open a lot of new areas for Diamond owners to go to.

Accordingly per your reasoning, all timeshare systems are their own exchange company when trading outside home resort or trust. Marriott had internal trading (for points owners) but purchased interval international anyway. I would think the purchase of II by Marriott also had a hand in the starting of DEX. But I am not privy to all the workings of the DRI executive team.

I do not pay anything for reservations. All my deeds are resale and did not have to purchase anything direct from HGVC to get no fee reservations.

I do pay the AI fee which is $313 for 2021.

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[ccwu]

Unless it’s an emergency, I probably will never have to save any points. If it weren’t for COVID, I would be going into 2021 with 2600 of my 2021 points spent on a 2020 reservation (announced they were waiving the save fee,......

That brings me to another point; HGVC takes care of their owners. the ways that they helped us out.

Right. HGV makes members happier. We never need to save points until last year due to pandemic. We made it a habit to use most next years points.

DRI members have to save points before 6/30 each year to get 100% roll over to next. HGV can save on or before 12/31.

We are top elite tier of both Hgvc and DRI. I can compare the benefits of HGV Elite premier and DRI platinum. DRI gave me 3 room designation a year when making reservation (I can ask for specific room) Hgvc gave us unlimited room request. Dri gave us unlimited paid upgrade to next higher category ($10 per night to next higher category, such as in Kaanapali beach club, I book a one bedroom scenic view 14 months in advance, so at the same dates, there are availability for ocean view, I can pay $10 a night to get one bedroom ocean view or if I book a deluxe ocean view, I could pay $10 per night to 2 bedroom partial ocean view unit. This will save us 2000 to 8,000 points saving per week). HGV does not do it. HGV gave us unlimited free next category upgrade 45 days before arrival if there is availability. I usually get 60% free upgrade and 100% during pandemic.) in HGV, we don’t pay any charges other than points protection fee (Dri charges about $500 per annual for reservation protection that you can cancel 31 days in advance instead of 61 days) HGV is point protection is that you can cancel of the same day of check in (more flexible. Hope they offer elite premier annual point protection program. I would not mind paying annual point protection and not to count the number of protection I need to buy). HGV offer free limo pick up in airport to most of HGV developed resorts, no such thing for dri. Pre Covid, There are gift every time we stay in HGV timeshare. Over all... I feel HGV shows more appreciation for loyalty. More flexible. I know TUG strongly encourage buying resale and advocate the price difference do not justify the benefits, but we do love being top tier of elite in both system and never need to worry about misc charges. We feel as long as one buy without need a double digits loan, buying from developer is perfectly fine. Of course we know the title ‘Elite’ is just one of the sales pitch. But HGV does have more perks. Such as all EP automaticity gets Hilton honor diamond status. We are treated well by both HGV and Hilton hotels. There is lots of flexibility to go around the world with Hilton hotel. (We travel to abroad and in US using Hilton honor points to stay in Hilton Conrad, Waldorf Astoria and having many enjoyable experience as being Hilton diamond member, we had free room upgrades, executive lounge breakfast, and happy hours). We have 30% off open season reservation. Dri gives points safer if you book within 60 days or 30 days. I know lots of people use it, in the ten years, we might only used it for once or twice. HGV do not offer discount points reservation which is perfectly fine for us. HGV offers open season reservation when closer that owner can pay cash instead of using points.

The retail point on sale, DRI and HGV per point cost is very similar. But we use less point in Hilton for reservation (HGV usually, 2200 for studio, 3400 for one bedroom and 5000 for two bedroom. DRI 4000 for studio, 6500 for one bedroom, 10,000 for 2 bedroom). (For me, my Dri MF average 0.19 per point and HGV is average 0.19 per point too because we own about 29,500 bHC points that charges higher MF). I would say MF cost is cheaper in HGV because we could have more stays in HGV for the same amount of points. I stopped buy DRI club points since the platinum member benefit being down graded.

HGV has different club resorts and bHC resorts. We love the most is NYC Hilton Club (owners only resort). Other HGV can not reserve if they don’t own NYHC. I can reserve one day the day before and always get availability. The MF is higher and we need to pay a separate club fee of $290 for NYHC. Most bHC has owners lounge that only owners can use it. The owners lounge serves breakfast and evening happy hours with free alcoholic drinks.


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[Fried_shrimp]

Every member who is in The Club. Dirty point owners do not pay Club dues and still pay no reservation fees. The point I was trying to make is that the amount one pays in Club dues versus the rest of the maint fee bill is immaterial. Some members pay more, some pay less, some pay nothing at all to the Club but all have the ability to make reservations without an exchange fee.

Thank you for taking the time to look up the exact amounts.

Unless it’s an emergency, I probably will never have to save any points. If it weren’t for COVID, I would be going into 2021 with 2600 of my 2021 points spent on a 2020 reservation (3 bedroom in Myrtle Beach, Ocean 22 is a fantastic resort in a great location). Since borrowing is free, I would just borrow points from the next year. I would spend my points until I ran out, purchase what I need to fill out a reservation from a friend who doesn’t use all of theirs but doesn’t want to give up their elite status and start the cycle all over again.

Since we canceled our trip last summer, we had to save our 2020 points into 2021. I actually paid to save last May so I could take advantage of the booking fees in April and May. When they announced they were waiving the save fee, they also refunded any fees already paid. Without asking, they deposited my refund back to my credit card, no questions.

That brings me to another point; HGVC takes care of their owners. You can say what you want about locations (too few), their sales team (would take me a whole lot more than what they offer to do an “owners update”) or their fee structure (I’m really not a fan of it, it’s just not as bad as some make it out to be), but they take care of us. No system even came close to helping their owners out last year as HGVC did. Waiving fees, extending saved points and waiving cancelation penalties were just some of the ways that they helped us out.

For Diamond owners, we can't help but save some points here and there. Quite often, I'm make a reservation that costs 3,291 points, of 1,567 points because of different sales and such and points are not rounded off. Also, when a person owns a large number of points it is difficult to get all you vacations to exactly line up with what you own in a year. Actually, in 14 years I haven't managed to do that yet so I usually borrow a few from next year or roll some to the next year. I guess this year was probably the closest as I only borrowed 4 points from next year to make all of my reservations for this year. So without the ability to save points (at no cost), I would probably lose a couple a hundred points each year.

As for HGVC helping out it's owners like no others, what knowledge do you have for comparison? Do you know what Diamond did for it's owners?? I can fill you in if you don't know.

 

[Fried_shrimp]

Accordingly per your reasoning, all timeshare systems are their own exchange company when trading outside home resort or trust. Marriott had internal trading (for points owners) but purchased interval international anyway. I would think the purchase of II by Marriott also had a hand in the starting of DEX. But I am not privy to all the workings of the DRI executive team.

I do not pay anything for reservations. All my deeds are resale and did not have to purchase anything direct from HGVC to get no fee reservations.

I do pay the AI fee which is $313 for 2021.

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DEX was created a couple of years prior to the Marriott purchase of II.

 

[frank808]

Thanks for the data point on DEX creation.

What does/did DRI do for owners?

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[Fried_shrimp]

Right. HGV makes members happier. We never need to save points until last year due to pandemic. We made it a habit to use most next years points.

DRI members have to save points before 6/30 each year to get 100% roll over to next. HGV can save on or before 12/31.

We are top elite tier of both Hgvc and DRI. I can compare the benefits of HGV Elite premier and DRI platinum. DRI gave me 3 room designation a year when making reservation (I can ask for specific room) Hgvc gave us unlimited room request. Dri gave us unlimited paid upgrade to next higher category ($10 per night to next higher category, such as in Kaanapali beach club, I book a one bedroom scenic view 14 months in advance, so at the same dates, there are availability for ocean view, I can pay $10 a night to get one bedroom ocean view or if I book a deluxe ocean view, I could pay $10 per night to 2 bedroom partial ocean view unit. This will save us 2000 to 8,000 points saving per week). HGV does not do it. HGV gave us unlimited free next category upgrade 45 days before arrival if there is availability. I usually get 60% free upgrade and 100% during pandemic.) in HGV, we don’t pay any charges other than points protection fee (Dri charges about $500 per annual for reservation protection that you can cancel 31 days in advance instead of 61 days) HGV is point protection is that you can cancel of the same day of check in (more flexible. Hope they offer elite premier annual point protection program. I would not mind paying annual point protection and not to count the number of protection I need to buy). HGV offer free limo pick up in airport to most of HGV developed resorts, no such thing for dri. Pre Covid, There are gift every time we stay in HGV timeshare. Over all... I feel HGV shows more appreciation for loyalty. More flexible. I know TUG strongly encourage buying resale and advocate the price difference do not justify the benefits, but we do love being top tier of elite in both system and never need to worry about misc charges. We feel as long as one buy without need a double digits loan, buying from developer is perfectly fine. Of course we know the title ‘Elite’ is just one of the sales pitch. But HGV does have more perks. Such as all EP automaticity gets Hilton honor diamond status. We are treated well by both HGV and Hilton hotels. There is lots of flexibility to go around the world with Hilton hotel. (We travel to abroad and in US using Hilton honor points to stay in Hilton Conrad, Waldorf Astoria and having many enjoyable experience as being Hilton diamond member, we had free room upgrades, executive lounge breakfast, and happy hours). We have 30% off open season reservation. Dri gives points safer if you book within 60 days or 30 days. I know lots of people use it, in the ten years, we might only used it for once or twice. HGV do not offer discount points reservation which is perfectly fine for us. HGV offers open season reservation when closer that owner can pay cash instead of using points.

The retail point on sale, DRI and HGV per point cost is very similar. But we use less point in Hilton for reservation (HGV usually, 2200 for studio, 3400 for one bedroom and 5000 for two bedroom. DRI 4000 for studio, 6500 for one bedroom, 10,000 for 2 bedroom). (For me, my Dri MF average 0.19 per point and HGV is average 0.19 per point too because we own about 29,500 bHC points that charges higher MF). I would say MF cost is cheaper in HGV because we could have more stays in HGV for the same amount of points. I stopped buy DRI club points since the platinum member benefit being down graded.

HGV has different club resorts and bHC resorts. We love the most is NYC Hilton Club (owners only resort). Other HGV can not reserve if they don’t own NYHC. I can reserve one day the day before and always get availability. The MF is higher and we need to pay a separate club fee of $290 for NYHC. Most bHC has owners lounge that only owners can use it. The owners lounge serves breakfast and evening happy hours with free alcoholic drinks.


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Points are saved by members for a variety of reasons. Also, if someone owns a lot of points and therefore takes a lot of vacations, the chances are greater that something may come up and they can't take all of the vacations they expected to. You are correct, in Diamond you can save 100% of your points until 30 June, then 50% of your annual allotment until 31 Aug, and 25% until 31 Oct. Most people use most of their points in a given year so most folks only need to worry about the 31 Oct date.

While one can purchase RPP (Reservation Protection Plan), as a Platinum member you should know that you get free RPP on reservations of 5,000 points or less so you don't have to pay anything. Also, RPP used to be much better as we were able to cancel 24 hours out instead of the current 31 days. Without RPP anyone can cancel 91 days out without loss of points (not 61 days).

IMO, you numbers for Diamond units are way off, especially for 2 bdrm units. The average 2 bdrm is 7,500 and many times they can be had for much less. With upgrades, I routinely get a 2 bdrm for about 3,500 for a week depending on location and time of year. Granted one can blow through their points very quickly if they choose. Just book NYC in summer or NYE and you can go through 99,000 points for just 7 nights. Or you can use points wisely and really stretch those points, if you want to.

All member benefits have been downgraded some over the last two years, not just Platinum. Never got an acceptable answer as to why form the CEO's office.

 

[Fried_shrimp]

Thanks for the data point on DEX creation.

What does/did DRI do for owners?

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If you mean in regards to Covid, from March to September of last year, Diamond allowed owners to cancel any reservation for any reason up to 24 hours prior to check in (easiest way was just to say you were too scared to travel) instead of sticking with the 31 day requirement with RPP or 91 without RPP. Diamond also moved 2019 and 2020 points for many members to 2021 or 2022. They provided full refund of points and cash spent on DDH's (Diamond Dream Holiday). None of these things had to be done but Diamond did these for their members. I don't agree with everything Diamond has done during Covid but they did save a lot of points people would have lost because of lockdowns, required testing, or just plain fears.

 

[ccwu]

IMO, you numbers for Diamond units are way off, especially for 2 bdrm units. The average 2 bdrm is 7,500 and many times they can be had for much less. With upgrades, I routinely get a 2 bdrm for about 3,500 for a week depending on location and time of year. Granted one can blow through their points very quickly if they choose. Just book NYC in summer or NYE and you can go through 99,000 points for just 7 nights. Or you can use points wisely and really stretch those points, if you want to.

All member benefits have been downgraded some over the last two years, not just Platinum. Never got an acceptable answer as to why form the CEO's office.

We don’t visit most DRI resorts. I specifically said the points in Maui KBC average since 60% of my points is in Maui KBC. The other resorts I went is Lake Tahoe vacation resort (for winter skiing in Heavenly) Virginia Beach Oceanaire and Ocean beach resort, st Maarten Flamingo beach and Royal Palm. I know there are other DRI resort but I rather use Dri points exchange in II. Non of the nice DRI resorts I know charges 7500 in peak season for two bedroom. HGV average two bedroom could start at 3500 for silver season. Peak in Waikiki average 7000 2 bedroom. (In May June is about 5,000 in Hilton Hawaii Village for 2 bedroom). MF per unit is relatively cheap than most timeshares.

We own 3 NYC HGV bHC resort. The only two bedroom is in Hilton Club and the other is max 1 bedroom. The HC two bedroom is 10,000 Hilton club points per week. So 99,000 for a week in NYC in DRI points is way too high (over $18,000 in term of MF of $0.19 per point. HC has high MF, it is 0.33 per point, 10,000 for two bedroom is $3300). I know that DRI has some in Manhattan Club that is not too far from Hilton Club, but it looks run down. DRI does not provide owners lounge or executive lounge. We visit resorts mostly in peak seasons. (No sense to ski resort in non ski season, beach resort in cold winter). We own many timeshares and ski resorts. HGV and DRI is one of our major holding and expenses. My favorite slope side ski resort we own in Vermont (26 weeks) is managed by ski resort and they rented out when we don’t use and share revenue 55/45 with owner (45%). We usually came out by more than enough to pay our MF. Since we purchased, the value of Vermont ski resort Real estate appreciated and we could make a profit if we want to sell it.

In HGV, our elite treatment are only upgraded, not down graded from year to year. I do not look too much in fee structure since we don’t pay fees for any service charges. I did not know that all Dri member were downgraded. Thought was only platinum.

We love DRI the most is the value in II exchange. In the past, DRI pays our II platinum member fee. Now, we have to pay ourself. But we exchanged into 3 bedroom in Bangkok Empire place twice (4500 DRI points) and marriott Phuket beach club two bedroom (4000 Dri club points) st Kitts Marriott beach club (4500 Dri points) for two weeks. Cancun Westin Lagunamar beach club 2 bedroom (5500 Dri points) many times, Kauai Westin 2 bedroom for 5500 Dri points, Maui Westin Kaanapali beach club 6500 Dri points, Vegas.Marriott chateau 2 bedroom for 4500 Dri points .... we use DRI club points to exchange mostly for Marriott and Westin (we own Westin Maui star option points but we found we love the extra exchange ...


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[frank808]

HGVC allowed cancellation and return of points in 2020 until day before travel. I think this carried over into the beginning of 2021 or maybe it is still ongoing. HGVC carried over saved points from 2019 into 2021 and all 2020 points were saved to 2021 for free. If you had paid the save fee in 2020 you were refunded. All reservations made in a certain time period in 2020 were free for ALL HGVC members. Many took advantage of that to book 2021 reservations for free.

Seems like a lot of things DRI andbHGVC did were alike.

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[karibkeith]

Where do you see info for the DEX anyone can join? This is the only website I see for Destination Exchange. When you click to sign up or log it, it seems pretty straight forward you must be a Diamond owner. Thanks for helping to sort this out.

That is the website (https://destinationxchange.com/). Go to "how it works" and the links at the bottom of the page to get the guides. I did this and got a new North American Members Guide for 2020-2021

 

[dayooper]

HGVC allowed cancellation and return of points in 2020 until day before travel. I think this carried over into the beginning of 2021 or maybe it is still ongoing. HGVC carried over saved points from 2019 into 2021 and all 2020 points were saved to 2021 for free. If you had paid the save fee in 2020 you were refunded. All reservations made in a certain time period in 2020 were free for ALL HGVC members. Many took advantage of that to book 2021 reservations for free.

Seems like a lot of things DRI andbHGVC did were alike.

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Yes, they do. I’m very happy that DRI took care of their owners like that. The other hotel branded systems were very slow to act.

One of the best things HGV did was the “freeze“ on our MF’s. The majority of the HGV resorts froze MF’s (mine went down $0.24). Many of the bHC properties even refunded money back to the owners! Some went up, but they were mostly affiliates.

 

[LEMONLEE]

How do you think DRI weeks versus points owners will be treated differently by Hilton in this merger? Or would they be? We own a deeded week at KBC, and have resisted all attempts for DRI to convert to points because we did not think the cost to upgrade was worth the value. We have always either traded our week through II, or have rented it out ourselves, and have never used DEX. The results from the Diamond Owners survey referenced earlier is interesting, because it looks as if weeks owners are a little more satisfied than points owners.

 

[dayooper]

How do you think DRI weeks versus points owners will be treated differently by Hilton in this merger? Or would they be? We own a deeded week at KBC, and have resisted all attempts for DRI to convert to points because we did not think the cost to upgrade was worth the value. We have always either traded our week through II, or have rented it out ourselves, and have never used DEX. The results from the Diamond Owners survey referenced earlier is interesting, because it looks as if weeks owners are a little more satisfied than points owners.

Interesting question and I don’t have an answer. I think that HGVC will eventually want that week and will try to entice you to enroll into what ever system KBC is in. That being said, there are many weeks in the SW Florida Affiliates that are not enrolled into the system. The owners can use, rent or trade trade those weeks into RCI and, for those resorts that can be dual enrolled, II.

Welcome to Tug!!!

 

[ccwu]

How do you think DRI weeks versus points owners will be treated differently by Hilton in this merger? Or would they be? We own a deeded week at KBC, and have resisted all attempts for DRI to convert to points because we did not think the cost to upgrade was worth the value. We have always either traded our week through II, or have rented it out ourselves, and have never used DEX. The results from the Diamond Owners survey referenced earlier is interesting, because it looks as if weeks owners are a little more satisfied than points owners.

I imagine logically that the deeded owner has better chance to be accepted and allowed you to change your deeded week to HGV points like Grand pacific, Bay Club or other HGV managed resort. The structure of a deeded week can be value by the size, season to fit into HGV point structure while the DRI point owners can exchange thru DRI portal established with HGV in the future. DRI would have to pledge a specific unit for HGV to offer to HGV member, the HGV member who wants it can use HGV points to reserve, in return the Dri member can use the HGV member’s points to reserve HGV resort.

I used to own the Maui Embassy resort, converted to sunterra and DRI points with owners updates. The points does not worth as much as the deeds in my opinion. But I did enjoyed many traveling with DRI points. So no complaints. My advice is to keep your deed and don’t trade in for points. I own big island Bay Club (deed). I paid $399 to join HGV for converting to points. In the early time, I need to call to change my week to points. I need to prepay next years MF to get points into HGV member site so I can use it. Now I do not need to prepay or call. It is automatically in my HGV account.


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[chemteach]

For everyone speculating about how HGVC and Diamond Resorts MIGHT integrate - I advise you to read through the Marriott and Westin postings from a few years ago. There was all sorts of speculation over what would/might change when Marriott bought Vistana. To date, there is no integration of the two timeshare systems. Rumors and speculation fly everywhere. Salespeople put the fear of losing your ability to book your weeks if you don't upgrade into the hearts of poor timeshare owners who don't know any better. Until something official comes out, it's safe to assume the two systems will be just that - two systems. If some day they are integrated, we will all find out.

When Diamond used to take over a timeshare system, all sorts of integrations occured. But HGVC and Diamond are both large systems. It will take a lot of time for Hilton to figure out what they want to do, and then more time to figure out how to make whatever they want to happen actually occur.

 

[youppi]

All member benefits have been downgraded some over the last two years, not just Platinum. Never got an acceptable answer as to why form the CEO's office.

If all collections have changed like the Hawaii Collection since 2016 then the decrease of number of lower loyalties (Value, Silver) members and the increased of higher loyalties (Gold and Platinum) members are responsible to the decrease of perks and the introduction recently of the Centum level IMHO.

Selling points to existing members more often than to new members and introducing a program like the Club Combination are the main causes of this big shift from Value/Silver to Gold/Platinum IMHO.

Value members pay $250 for THE Club and get nothing as perks and they do few booking per year because they have few points. So, they pay too much for the service they use and this overpaid money serves to pay for the perks of higher loyalty members where they pay way much less for THE Club relatively to the number of points they have and get many perks and do many booking per year.

Look at the difference between September 2016 and September 2019 tables in the Hawaii Collection, you will see that the number of Platinum members is too high now (almost 25% of members of the Collection) and you will see the impact of the Club Combo where each member owns in average less than the threshold of the loyalty level they belong.
IMHO, the HI Collection in 2016 was well balanced between each loyalty level but not 2019 (too many Platinum).

 

[Fried_shrimp]

I want to share a conversation I had this evening with Maria Kalber regarding the expected purchase by HGVC of Diamond Resorts. She is the Senior VP of Customer Service Operations for Diamond Resorts. Very nice lady and we had a good chat. This is in reference to an email I sent to the CEO's office.

Maria stated that they are trying to be transparent and is going to check on two of my concerns in the underlying documents to see if they can be changed or not by HGVC (number of nights minimum and reservations fees). She stated that just as Diamond did not force people to move from whatever system they were in when Diamond took over a company, HGVC will not force people to move to HGVC when/if they take over (meaning the HGVC way of doing business). The takeover is not guaranteed as it still has to be approved but expected closing date is the second week of June. If the sale is completed, Diamond will be a sub-division of HGVC and will continue to operate under the rules of the Trust we are in. That cannot be changed. Rules for The Club benefits can change (as they always could be in the past). This is where my sticking point with 2 night minimum and reservation fees comes into play as I don't no which document supports that, they have just always been in place. She is going to find those out for me. Obviously, HGVC is going to give folks the chance (probably numerous times) to somehow become part of HGVC (most likely convert your DRI points to HGVC points), for a price of course, but just as people still own fixed weeks in Gold Key or points in Monarch, we will effectively be allowed to exchange as we always have in the past unless we "upgrade". This was the basic gist of the conversation. I hope this puts everyone a little more at ease and I will post any additional info I receive though I don't expect to see anything truly concrete about what will change and what won't change until after the sale is compete in June (if it goes through that is).

 

[brp]

In light of this useful information (we can hope it's accurate as anything said by a company officer about such matters is subject to change ), it will be interesting to see what sorts of "crossover" opportunities exist, if any, where one stays with their own system and set of rules, but gets to use those instruments/points in the other system. Based on prior experiences noted here, it will likely be several years before such have been ironed out, if ever. Until then, it seems that this will behave as the two separate and distinct systems that they are now.

Cheers.

 

[Tamaradarann]

I want to share a conversation I had this evening with Maria Kalber regarding the expected purchase by HGVC of Diamond Resorts. She is the Senior VP of Customer Service Operations for Diamond Resorts. Very nice lady and we had a good chat. This is in reference to an email I sent to the CEO's office.

Maria stated that they are trying to be transparent and is going to check on two of my concerns in the underlying documents to see if they can be changed or not by HGVC (number of nights minimum and reservations fees). She stated that just as Diamond did not force people to move from whatever system they were in when Diamond took over a company, HGVC will not force people to move to HGVC when/if they take over (meaning the HGVC way of doing business). The takeover is not guaranteed as it still has to be approved but expected closing date is the second week of June. If the sale is completed, Diamond will be a sub-division of HGVC and will continue to operate under the rules of the Trust we are in. That cannot be changed. Rules for The Club benefits can change (as they always could be in the past). This is where my sticking point with 2 night minimum and reservation fees comes into play as I don't no which document supports that, they have just always been in place. She is going to find those out for me. Obviously, HGVC is going to give folks the chance (probably numerous times) to somehow become part of HGVC (most likely convert your DRI points to HGVC points), for a price of course, but just as people still own fixed weeks in Gold Key or points in Monarch, we will effectively be allowed to exchange as we always have in the past unless we "upgrade". This was the basic gist of the conversation. I hope this puts everyone a little more at ease and I will post any additional info I receive though I don't expect to see anything truly concrete about what will change and what won't change until after the sale is compete in June (if it goes through that is).

Interesting conversation. I agree that HGVC will NOT force Diamond Owners to convert to HGVC. If a Dimaond Member wants to become a member of HGVC they will need to purchase a timeshare.

I disagree on the Diamond Points converting to HGVC points issue. HGVC points are assign to a specific property and season that you own. Diamond Points are not. Therefore, I believe that the integrity of the 2 systems will be maintained separately with no conversion. I believe that over time some timeshare weeks at Diamond resorts will be assigned a point value that equates to HGVC points for exchange purposes. I have no clue on how that will be done. Perhaps it will be similar to the HGVC/RCI exchange formula where an RCI Studio is 2400 HGVC points, a 1BR is 3400 HGVC points, a 2BR is 4800 HGVC points. I suspect that a Diamond Points member will need to secure a reservation at a Diamond Resort before they can exchange to the HGVC system so that HGVC doesn't need to deal with the trust system availability that Diamond set up.

 

[dayooper]

I believe that over time some timeshare weeks at Diamond resorts will be assigned a point value that equates to HGVC points for exchange purposes. I have no clue on how that will be done. Perhaps it will be similar to the HGVC/RCI exchange formula where an RCI Studio is 2400 HGVC points, a 1BR is 3400 HGVC points, a 2BR is 4800 HGVC points. I suspect that a Diamond Points member will need to secure a reservation at a Diamond Resort before they can exchange to the HGVC system so that HGVC doesn't need to deal with the trust system availability that Diamond set up.

If this is the case, I wonder if it have to be at certain more upscale Diamond Resorts? Would you have to make reservations at certain resorts to exchange with HGVC? I know it's been talked about that they may sell off some of the lower quality resorts, but I don't see that happening. I don't think HGVC members would exchange their weeks unless they were the top quality resorts. They already hold back some of the lower RCI resorts from their portal so there's a precedent in that regard. With the differences "quality" (I only say that as HGVC resorts have an upscale feel that some of the DRI resorts don't have), I'm not sure a week exchanged in the lower "quality" resorts would get used.

I am very thankful for the many contributors to this thread. It's been great learning about the DRI system and resorts. These discussions have been very civil and there seems to be a genuine interest in learning about the two systems. Sometimes speculation can be a trigger, especially for those where it infringes on what they already have. I can only speak for myself, but I know absolutely nothing on how the systems will interact. I can only go by what the head honcho's say and they aren't saying much. If/when the deal is approved and completed, I'm sure we will start to hear more. Like @dougp26364 says, I'm interested in what the sales reps are going to push. Not that I believe everything they say, but I am curious on their angle and how it vibes with what the other side is saying.

 

[dougp26364]

I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again.

speculation is just that, speculation. We won’t know until they announce it, and what makes perfect sense to us might make no sense to the corporation, or not be possible thanks to governing documents that are difficult/impossible to change.

There are a few things you can bank on. They won’t/can’t change the rights of owners as they stand now. Sales teams will try to convince you better things await if you by now and are grandfathered in. Rumors and speculation will be rampant (as evidenced on this thread).

We can look at previous mergers and see what’s been done in the past. When DRI purchased Sunterra, for several hundred dollars (between $1,000 and $2,000, I don’t recall the exact amount), DRI owners could joins Sunterra’s existing points program. By virtue of existing DRI owners buying in, Sunterra owners gained access to DRI resorts.

We can look at all the resorts DRI has acquired and merged to see how those where handled. There’s Wyndham and Worldmark. There’s the less successful Marriott and Westin (they’re still not integrated). There’s the soon to be Hyatt and Welk. From these we can form speculation, but it’s just guesswork. I’m guessing since Hilton has said they want an entry level program, they’re planning some sort of integration or overlay program, but it will be years before we know what, if anything, gets done.