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How Happy Are You With Your Diamond Ownership?

How Happy Are You With Your Diamond Ownership?

  • Very Happy - Currently a Point Collection Owner

    Votes: 7 13.0%
  • Very Happy - Legacy Owner e.g. Sunterra or Embarc owner

    Votes: 8 14.8%
  • Moderately Happy - Points Collection Owner

    Votes: 5 9.3%
  • Moderately Happy - Legacy e.g. Sunterra, Embarc Owner

    Votes: 5 9.3%
  • Neutral - Point Collection Owner

    Votes: 4 7.4%
  • Neutral - Legacy Owner e.g. Sunterra, Embarc Owner

    Votes: 3 5.6%
  • Moderately Unhappy - Point Collection Owner

    Votes: 5 9.3%
  • Moderately Unhappy - Legacy ownrt e.g. Sunterra, Embarc Owner

    Votes: 5 9.3%
  • Very Dissatisfied - Point Collection Owner

    Votes: 8 14.8%
  • Very Dissatisfied - Legacy e.g. Sunterra, Embarc Owner

    Votes: 7 13.0%

  • Total voters
    54

winger

TUG Member
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I love my Diamond ownership. Originally purchased at Powhatan Plantation, resisted the urge to convert to points under Sunterra (just wouldn't work for me at the time), converted to Diamond points 2 days after they purchased Sunterra. Currently a Platinum owner and I love traveling with family and friends to different Diamond resorts throughout the US, Hawaii, and Europe without having to pay an ever increasing exchange fee with II/RCI. Sales dept and seemingly constant changes with benefits as of late are the only two sore spots I have with Diamond but at least I can get back at the sales side by constantly going to updates and taking the gifts while saying No. ;)
Agree, the constant benefits/program changes is a hassle to deal with. Yes on the updates, which are really sales presentations.
 

goaliedave

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Resorts Owned
Raintree, Diamond (bought by Hilton), Shell (bought by Wyndham), Sheraton (bought by Marriott), Palace Resorts, a few independants
I love my Diamond ownership. Originally purchased at Powhatan Plantation, resisted the urge to convert to points under Sunterra (just wouldn't work for me at the time), converted to Diamond points 2 days after they purchased Sunterra. Currently a Platinum owner and I love traveling with family and friends to different Diamond resorts throughout the US, Hawaii, and Europe without having to pay an ever increasing exchange fee with II/RCI. Sales dept and seemingly constant changes with benefits as of late are the only two sore spots I have with Diamond but at least I can get back at the sales side by constantly going to updates and taking the gifts while saying No. ;)
yup. you summed up quite well why DR points membership is the best

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Grammarhero

Official TUGBBS Rescission Master
TUG Lifetime Member
Joined
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3,086
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Location
Washington, DC Area
Resorts Owned
Wyndham Grand Desert 77k, VV Williamsburg 4L/4 & 2/2
Former: Wyndham 276k, HGVC South Bend 1/1
Looks like it’s
50 percent Very Happy
5 percent Happy
15 percent Neutral
10 percent Unhappy
20 percent Very Dissatisfied
 

Grammarhero

Official TUGBBS Rescission Master
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Resorts Owned
Wyndham Grand Desert 77k, VV Williamsburg 4L/4 & 2/2
Former: Wyndham 276k, HGVC South Bend 1/1
The average is about halfway between Neutral and Happy
 

goaliedave

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Raintree, Diamond (bought by Hilton), Shell (bought by Wyndham), Sheraton (bought by Marriott), Palace Resorts, a few independants
The average is about halfway between Neutral and Happy
lol math is not your strong suit then. might want to review high school definitions of mean, median and mode to articulate average :)

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jabberwocky

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
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SVR, SDO, WKORV-N, Westin Flex, HGVC (BLVD)
lol math is not your strong suit then. might want to review high school definitions of mean, median and mode to articulate average :)

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It's just like having your head in a freezer and feet in an oven. On average the temperature might be just fine! :doh:
 

Grammarhero

Official TUGBBS Rescission Master
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Resorts Owned
Wyndham Grand Desert 77k, VV Williamsburg 4L/4 & 2/2
Former: Wyndham 276k, HGVC South Bend 1/1
lol math is not your strong suit then. might want to review high school definitions of mean, median and mode to articulate average :)

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I actually got 760 on SAT math. If we assign 5 pts for Very Happy, 4 pts for Happy, 3 pts for Neutral, 2 pts for Unhappy, and 1 pt for Very Dissatisfied, average is 3.55. That is halfway between Neutral and Happy.
 

goaliedave

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Raintree, Diamond (bought by Hilton), Shell (bought by Wyndham), Sheraton (bought by Marriott), Palace Resorts, a few independants
I actually got 760 on SAT math. If we assign 5 pts for Very Happy, 4 pts for Happy, 3 pts for Neutral, 2 pts for Unhappy, and 1 pt for Very Dissatisfied, average is 3.55. That is halfway between Neutral and Happy.
lol you would fail my math class

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CalGalTraveler

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
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9,749
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California
Resorts Owned
HGVC, MVC Vistana
A good start. Would like to see more data points before compiling averages and drawing conclusions. The difference between neutral/happy and neutral/unhappy is probably one vote.
 

chemteach

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
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For any unhappy deeded owners, I suggest you take a serious look at Destination Exchange. If you own a lower tier week, you can upgrade to a higher tier (something that would cost more points in the club) for $175 per tier. If you carefully pick a good deeded week to purchase (a lockoff that gives you at least two tier 3 weeks) you can get great value from Destination Exchange. We have enjoyed a lot of Diamond vacations over the years, often travelling with extended family and friends.
 

goaliedave

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Raintree, Diamond (bought by Hilton), Shell (bought by Wyndham), Sheraton (bought by Marriott), Palace Resorts, a few independants
For any unhappy deeded owners, I suggest you take a serious look at Destination Exchange. If you own a lower tier week, you can upgrade to a higher tier (something that would cost more points in the club) for $175 per tier. If you carefully pick a good deeded week to purchase (a lockoff that gives you at least two tier 3 weeks) you can get great value from Destination Exchange. We have enjoyed a lot of Diamond vacations over the years, often travelling with extended family and friends.
yes I agree, Destination Exchange is worth a look. Met a guy tonight who traded his 1BR Polo Towers for a 3BR Cypress Pointe for this week. I know another guy got a 2BR at Fairway Forest(?) NC. Currently I'm looking for 5 days Orlando with no luck but inventory changes daily.

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pedro47

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lol you would fail my math class

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I feel you wanted the last indicate to be a zero “0” and not an one (1).
This would lower the score.
A 3.55 score is an above average score
 
Last edited:

pedro47

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Just read this article in the Kiplinger's magazine December 2019 edition on page 38.
Topics: Go Ahead, Reach for These Yields
and I quote
APOLLO INVESTMENT (SYMBOL AINV,$16, YIELD 11.2%) "shared have returned 41% this year, although they still trade at a discount to the per-share value of Apollo's portfolio of debt securities. (Prices and other data are as of September 30.)

Is this the same company that own Diamond International Resorts ?
 

Grammarhero

Official TUGBBS Rescission Master
TUG Lifetime Member
Joined
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Messages
3,086
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2,486
Points
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Location
Washington, DC Area
Resorts Owned
Wyndham Grand Desert 77k, VV Williamsburg 4L/4 & 2/2
Former: Wyndham 276k, HGVC South Bend 1/1
I feel you wanted the last indicate to be a zero “0” and not an one (1).
This would lower the score.
A 3.55 score is an above average score
That is actually really smart and interesting.
 

athea

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Aug 4, 2019
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Resorts Owned
Diamond Resorts International
Would love to hear from Diamond Owners. If we are missing a major category, please let let me know.

Also please add in the comments what you own and why you voted the way you did.

Hi,
My husband bought into Monarch Grand vacations about 20 years ago. About 7 years ago we 'upgraded' from Monarch to Diamond. They convinced us another $10k would change our experience. To be honest, I married into the timeshare experience and I've always heard what a poor investment it is. I am still against it but he is willing to give it time before we most likely will have to end up paying a timeshare exit team to legally get out of it. I know that can cost thousands of dollars. Our maintenance fee is about $4200 a year. We have about 22,000 points. We just retired last year (2019) so I'm willing to take a more positive outlook. So far the best resort is the Cabul San Jose resort in Mexico - 5 stars. South Lake Tahoe, CA,Mystic Dunes (Orlando, FL) and Cedar Breaks Lodge (Utah) in Orlando, FL are good. Some of the others we've stayed at over the years are run down. The worst part has been the experiences with salespeople and the tactics they use to get you to keep upgrading and how dishonest they are. I honestly don't know how they sleep at night. We are on a temporary Gold membership now which will end at the end of 2020. They said we didn't feel the true experience of how great Diamond can be being Silver members. We have not seen a difference being temporary Gold members. In other to do this we did go from 15k to 22k points but it cost us $20,000 to get this 'Gold' experience. Of course I feel like an idiot for falling for the sales tactics (again :-( Since we are now retired I will try to figure out how to get the best for what we have before I convince my husband to throw in the towel and stop trusting and doing these point upgrades. 2020 will be our final year of 'testing' the Gold experience and then we need to either use it as a Silver member again or get out once and for all. I can't see us spending another 20k to become a permanent Gold member.
 

goaliedave

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Messages
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Resorts Owned
Raintree, Diamond (bought by Hilton), Shell (bought by Wyndham), Sheraton (bought by Marriott), Palace Resorts, a few independants
Hi,
My husband bought into Monarch Grand vacations about 20 years ago. About 7 years ago we 'upgraded' from Monarch to Diamond. They convinced us another $10k would change our experience. To be honest, I married into the timeshare experience and I've always heard what a poor investment it is. I am still against it but he is willing to give it time before we most likely will have to end up paying a timeshare exit team to legally get out of it. I know that can cost thousands of dollars. Our maintenance fee is about $4200 a year. We have about 22,000 points. We just retired last year (2019) so I'm willing to take a more positive outlook. So far the best resort is the Cabul San Jose resort in Mexico - 5 stars. South Lake Tahoe, CA,Mystic Dunes (Orlando, FL) and Cedar Breaks Lodge (Utah) in Orlando, FL are good. Some of the others we've stayed at over the years are run down. The worst part has been the experiences with salespeople and the tactics they use to get you to keep upgrading and how dishonest they are. I honestly don't know how they sleep at night. We are on a temporary Gold membership now which will end at the end of 2020. They said we didn't feel the true experience of how great Diamond can be being Silver members. We have not seen a difference being temporary Gold members. In other to do this we did go from 15k to 22k points but it cost us $20,000 to get this 'Gold' experience. Of course I feel like an idiot for falling for the sales tactics (again :-( Since we are now retired I will try to figure out how to get the best for what we have before I convince my husband to throw in the towel and stop trusting and doing these point upgrades. 2020 will be our final year of 'testing' the Gold experience and then we need to either use it as a Silver member again or get out once and for all. I can't see us spending another 20k to become a permanent Gold member.
Yikes. Shame you didn't find this site before you upgraded 7 years ago. I havent met anyone who thinks Gold is worth the upgrade (platinum is, for some). You are right to stop him from future upgrades.

Dont use exit companies they are all scams. Contact DR to apply for their "Transitions" program , or post on here to give it away to a member.

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clifffaith

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2016
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Location
San Juan Capistrano, CA
Resorts Owned
Worldmark
Hi,
My husband bought into Monarch Grand vacations about 20 years ago. About 7 years ago we 'upgraded' from Monarch to Diamond. They convinced us another $10k would change our experience. To be honest, I married into the timeshare experience and I've always heard what a poor investment it is. I am still against it but he is willing to give it time before we most likely will have to end up paying a timeshare exit team to legally get out of it. I know that can cost thousands of dollars. Our maintenance fee is about $4200 a year. We have about 22,000 points. We just retired last year (2019) so I'm willing to take a more positive outlook. So far the best resort is the Cabul San Jose resort in Mexico - 5 stars. South Lake Tahoe, CA,Mystic Dunes (Orlando, FL) and Cedar Breaks Lodge (Utah) in Orlando, FL are good. Some of the others we've stayed at over the years are run down. The worst part has been the experiences with salespeople and the tactics they use to get you to keep upgrading and how dishonest they are. I honestly don't know how they sleep at night. We are on a temporary Gold membership now which will end at the end of 2020. They said we didn't feel the true experience of how great Diamond can be being Silver members. We have not seen a difference being temporary Gold members. In other to do this we did go from 15k to 22k points but it cost us $20,000 to get this 'Gold' experience. Of course I feel like an idiot for falling for the sales tactics (again :-( Since we are now retired I will try to figure out how to get the best for what we have before I convince my husband to throw in the towel and stop trusting and doing these point upgrades. 2020 will be our final year of 'testing' the Gold experience and then we need to either use it as a Silver member again or get out once and for all. I can't see us spending another 20k to become a permanent Gold member.

Don't get involved with a timeshare exit company. If you are paid in full on your purchases easier to use Diamond's Transitions and pay them $1K per contract to be rid of them.
 

athea

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Diamond Resorts International
Okay- thanks for the advice. My husband reminded me Diamond reps last told us by paying them the 20k last April to become a temporary Gold Member we also no longer have a deeded property which is what he had with Monarch. My husband believes because they said that we should be able to walk away if we want because we are now in a 'membership' , not 'deeded' program. I wish we had tape recorded everything - i get so confused in the sales reps meetings - they talk fast and have quick answers for everything :-(
 

athea

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Diamond Resorts International
Yikes. Shame you didn't find this site before you upgraded 7 years ago. I havent met anyone who thinks Gold is worth the upgrade (platinum is, for some). You are right to stop him from future upgrades.

Dont use exit companies they are all scams. Contact DR to apply for their "Transitions" program , or post on here to give it away to a member.

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Okay- thanks for the advice. My husband reminded me Diamond reps last told us by paying them the 20k last April to become a temporary Gold Member we also no longer have a deeded property which is what he had with Monarch. My husband believes because they said that we should be able to walk away if we want because we are now in a 'membership' , not 'deeded' program. I wish we had tape recorded everything - i get so confused in the sales reps meetings - they talk fast and have quick answers for everything :-(
 

ccwu

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Location
NY
We were very happy DRI platinum member a decade ago. But their benefit for platinum reduced. Fees getting higher. As for now we still love the II exchange part. We traveled to Bangkok, Phuket using about 3500 and 4000 Dri points t
For Marriott 3 bedroom and two bedrooms. We exchanged into Westin, Marriott yearly often to Maui, Kuaui, Caribbean to save points than using DRI resort since we could use a studio points for two bedroom or three bedroom. We even use II to exchange I to polo tower with half the points needed. Dri provide free gold II membership (used to be free platunum II for platinum DRI members). We paid extra to upgrade to II platinum.


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artringwald

TUG Review Crew
TUG Member
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Location
Oakdale, MN
Resorts Owned
DRI: The Point at Poipu, 3 deeded weeks, 1 of which is in The Club.
It was odd to get email titled "How Happy Are You With Your Diamond Ownership?" while I was sitting on the sofa looking at this:

2020-02-08%2015.18.17-X4.jpg


Yes we are happy! It allows us to book a 2 bedroom oceanfront unit at The Point at Poipu for less than 1/2 the price Expedia charges for a 2 bedroom ocean view unit. Of course, I'd never recommend buying from Diamond. Buying resale deeded weeks is the best way to go.
 

csalter2

TUG Member
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Orange County, California
Resorts Owned
Marriott Ko Olina
Marriott Aruba Surf Club
Marriott Ocean Pointe
Diamond Resorts Gold
I still enjoy my Diamond Resorts membership, but only when I use it for accommodations. I don’t use it for anything else. I love that they have lots of locations and I don’t have to pay exchange fees. If you don’t go to “updates”/sales presentations and can survive the maintenance fees increases, you can enjoy your DR ownership.
 

DianeNYS

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
47
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13
Points
368
Location
Upstate New York
Resorts Owned
Grande Villas; Polynesian Isles; Coral Sands (Westgate South Beach); Casa Del Mar
We own deeded weeks at Grande Villas (Lake Buena Vista), Polynesian Isles (Kissimmee), Coral Sands (now called Westgate South Beach, Miami) that were with Club Sunterra originally. Also own at Casa Del Mar (Ormond Beach) that is Amber Vacation Club, now owned by DRI and in our Club Combinations with DRI. The only TS we purchased from the developer was Cypress Pointe in '93 (upgraded to Grande Villas in '96, then to Club Sunterra in '99). The others were resale & CHEAP!

We have 17,500 legacy Club points, 6,000 Club Collection points, and 6,500 Casa Del Mar Club Combinations points. This makes us Gold Club members and it seems to be working really well for us. All of our TSs are deeded properties, owned since the 90's (except Casa Del Mar: owned since 2003), and the only U.S. Collection points we had to buy were those 6,000 points ($3.65/point), yet we are now Gold Members, which we like very much :)
 
Last edited:

DianeNYS

TUG Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
47
Reaction score
13
Points
368
Location
Upstate New York
Resorts Owned
Grande Villas; Polynesian Isles; Coral Sands (Westgate South Beach); Casa Del Mar
Forgot to mention that we (purposely) purchased a 20,000 point Sampler 3 weeks ahead of the U.S. Collection 6,000 points; our plan was to get into the position to be able to convert our AVC Casa Del Mar points into 6,500 DRI points. We were able to use the $3,995 Sampler purchase as the down payment for the Upgrade points (to be able to do the Club Combinations w/Casa Del Mar), and we immediately had the 20,000 Sampler points put into our "normal" points pool (we are using them in 2020). Also, we got 6,000 points for a Hawaii trip that we instead had rolled over into our points pool & another 6,000 points ("Thank You" points) that have also been rolled into our points pool. Of course, those 20,000 + 6,000 + 6,000 points are not annual, but by using them and rolling over our annual points, we will have a lot of points to use each year for awhile. I'm pretty good at keeping up with these things, and the Reservations Specialists are very helpful in keeping me on track...
 

goaliedave

Guest
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Messages
1,298
Reaction score
854
Points
123
Resorts Owned
Raintree, Diamond (bought by Hilton), Shell (bought by Wyndham), Sheraton (bought by Marriott), Palace Resorts, a few independants
Forgot to mention that we (purposely) purchased a 20,000 point Sampler 3 weeks ahead of the U.S. Collection 6,000 points; our plan was to get into the position to be able to convert our AVC Casa Del Mar points into 6,500 DRI points. We were able to use the $3,995 Sampler purchase as the down payment for the Upgrade points (to be able to do the Club Combinations w/Casa Del Mar), and we immediately had the 20,000 Sampler points put into our "normal" points pool (we are using them in 2020). Also, we got 6,000 points for a Hawaii trip that we instead had rolled over into our points pool & another 6,000 points ("Thank You" points) that have also been rolled into our points pool. Of course, those 20,000 + 6,000 + 6,000 points are not annual, but by using them and rolling over our annual points, we will have a lot of points to use each year for awhile. I'm pretty good at keeping up with these things, and the Reservations Specialists are very helpful in keeping me on track...
Congrats! I love hearing people get their 20,000 bonus points using the Sampler. Everyone should do it.

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