Monarch Grand Vacations Transition to Diamond Resorts (DRI)

[EAPoe]

I am a Monarch Grand Vacations owner and I am trying to keep up with the transition to Diamond. I keep being told that my "rights and privileges" will not change -- but I am not so sure. All of a sudden Diamond owners from around the world will be competing for the same spots with me at my home resorts?

We shall see. If anyone else has any insight into what is actually going to happen in regard to the Monarch Grand Vacations owners please post here!

The following was posted by Diamond. From the sound of it -- there are going to be "more choices" (perhaps a "buy in"???) for Monarch owners to have access to the other resorts. I wonder how much they are going to want us to pay for that???

Here is the posting/ letter: (the original can be found here: http://communications.diamondresorts.com/10986/email.html)



Dear Valued Owner,

On May 22, 2012 DPM Acquisition, LLC successfully acquired substantially all of the assets of Pacific Monarch Resorts, Inc.

Please rest assured that you will continue to enjoy the vacation lifestyle you have chosen and that your existing ownership remains exactly the same. We do recognize the value of your ownership and are pleased that the current Monarch Owner Services team will continue to provide reservation and owner services to all MGV owners. Any future reservations that you have already made are confirmed and there is no need to call again. For all new reservations, please continue to call Owner Services at the same number (1.800.828.4200) and they will be happy to book your next vacation. The reservations team is available to assist with bookings Monday - Thursday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Pacific time.

Should you have questions regarding customer service (non-reservation related) or the acquisition, please send us an e-mail at AcquisitionInquiries@diamondresorts.com. For MGV related questions regarding the acquisition, please call 1.877.648.2582. Should you have questions about our products and offerings, please e-mail us at NewOfferings@diamondresorts.com.

At Diamond Resorts International®, we are committed to your ongoing satisfaction and our goal is to build a positive and rewarding relationship with you.

With that in mind, we will provide you with more choices for your vacations in the coming months. We can do this by taking advantage of Diamond being one of the largest hospitality companies in the world with more than 200 branded and affiliated resorts and over 27,000 guest beds in 28 countries with destinations throughout the continental United States and Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

It is with great anticipation and excitement that we look forward to providing you with the vacation lifestyle you deserve, as well as introducing you to our industry-leading service program, The Meaning of Yes®.

We will continue to provide you with updated information on your valuable ownership throughout the next few months.

Sincerely,

Diamond Resorts International® Team

 

[dougp26364]

Essentiially, things will stay exactly the same if you do nothing. You'll continue to enjoy your ownership just as you always have. DRI has several resorts that have mixed ownership types and they work in perfect harmony.

You'll probably be offered the choice of putting your current ownership into DRI's THE Club points based system. We were offered this option for a price ($2,995 at the time) when DRI purchased Sunterra (we were DRI owners). If you do this, then you retain your original ownership rights but your weeks are converted to points that can be used to make reservations at any of the DRI resorts in THE Club. FWIW, I've found inventory for reservations at THE Club resorts to be very good to excellent at DRI managed resorts. Not so much at affiliated resorts where inventory is more limited.

You'll probably be offered an option of joining one of the DRI trusts by purchasing trust points direct from DRI. If you do this, you'll essentially trade in your deeds for a trust interest ownership. Trust members can reserve any resort week available to trust members at the 13 month mark, giving them a head start on everyone else. You really don't have a home resort but you have a home resort group.

 

[csalter2]

You will have more choices

You may like some things about DRI such as more choices of accommodations. However, I am not sure how much your maintenace fees are now, but if Monarch let its resorts run down, DRI will in time refurbish and renovate so expect an increase in maintenance fees. That is the main complaint that new DRI owners felt during the first 2 or 3 years as there were steep increases. It has leveled off since then and maintenace fees are comparable to what I pay at my other timeshare or maybe even less.

I think it's important that you understand that if you buy more points from DRI for the Club, you will have access to all of the resorts in the system and there will be no exchange fees. Also, your home trust collection allows you to make reservations as early as 13 months out. Resorts not in your trust will allow you to make reservations 10 months out. This helps owners of home resorts have an advantage in making reservations in their trust first.

Feel free to hit us up if you have any questions. I am sure you will have some.

 

[nightnurse613]

I would add that the 13 month reservation only applies if you have adequate Trust points - in this case, all points are not the same!

 

[csalter2]

The number of points does not matter...

I would add that the 13 month reservation only applies if you have adequate Trust points - in this case, all points are not the same!

I have never heard or read that you needed a certain amount of points to belong to make a reservation 13 months out. I believe you only have to have points in that collection. Whatever home collection resort you belong to you can make a 13 month reservation.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I have never heard or read that you needed a certain amount of points to belong to make a reservation 13 months out. I believe you only have to have points in that collection. Whatever home collection resort you belong to you can make a 13 month reservation.

Reservation made using home resort advantage can only be made using points from that collection for the current year. You can't use points that were saved from a prior year, or points that are borrowed from a future year. The net result is that if your annual points contract is not big enough to reserve a resort in the collection, you effectively do not have home resort advantage, unless you are willing to reserve only one or two nights.

A good example is a 2500 point contract in the Hawaii collection. There is no unit in the Hawaii collection that can be reserved for a one-week stay 13 months in advance for 2500 points. The only way that contract can be used to reserve one week within the home resort collection is to combine points across years and make a reservation outside the home resort advantage window.

I think it's unethical for DRI salespeople to go through the Home Resort advantage spiel with prospects, then sell them a contract that won't get them more than two or three nights using Home Resort Advantage without making that point clear to buyers.

 

[Kal]

...I think it's unethical for DRI salespeople to go through the Home Resort advantage spiel with prospects, then sell them a contract that won't get them more than two or three nights using Home Resort Advantage without making that point clear to buyers.

OMG, I can't believe a person in the honorable profession of Time Share Sales Huckster would not tell the truth (the whole truth...blah, blah, blah) and be totally transparent, honest and forthcoming! The next thing I will learn is that politicians do not abide by the same code of ethics (spelled S-C-U-M-B-A-G).

 

[Bill4728]

Right now both systems (MGV & DRI) have no value at all. People are giving away their ownerships in both systems. So the idea that you'd want to pay DRI ~$3000 to convert their MGV membership to DRI doesn't make sense to me.

There are many people who may wish to own MGV"s collection of mostly SoCal resorts. And many people who might want to own DRI's "US collection" BUT I see little reason to pay to convert your MGV ownership to a DRI ownership.

JMHO

 

[Bill4728]

I am a Monarch Grand Vacations owner and I am trying to keep up with the transition to Diamond. I keep being told that my "rights and privileges" will not change -- but I am not so sure. All of a sudden Diamond owners from around the world will be competing for the same spots with me at my home resorts?

This will not really be true. DRI will only be able to use the inventory they own. They must keep the inventory owned by the current MGV (AND the original single resort owners) available for those owners use. So if MGV has sold out 80% of their inventory, they must keep that 80% of the systems inventory available for those owners. They can offer only that inventory they bought when they took over MGV and the inventory of any current MGV owners who has chosen to join DRI.

This has been true the last 8 years already in MGV. The owners of MGV had use of only a small amount of the inventory at Palm Caynon, Riviera Beach & Riviera Shores because most owners there bought before MGV was formed and they chose not to convert their owner-ships from the single resort to the multi- resort point system.

 

[csalter2]

Right now both systems (MGV & DRI) have no value at all. People are giving away their ownerships in both systems. So the idea that you'd want to pay DRI ~$3000 to convert their MGV membership to DRI doesn't make sense to me.

There are many people who may wish to own MGV"s collection of mostly SoCal resorts. And many people who might want to own DRI's "US collection" BUT I see little reason to pay to convert your MGV ownership to a DRI ownership.

JMHO

Bill,

If one has limited opportunities in the Monarch Collection which has a lot less resorts than the DRI system, then people who like to travel can find some value in going into DRI's system. Remember, DRI has a lot of resorts all over the world, so there are no exchange fees on each of those exchanges within their system. I like that part a lot.

Is DRI charging new Monarch clientele to join the Club? They did not do that to Sunterra owners. They just let us in without a fee. It was a no brainer for me. Also Club Select could be a good deal for someone like you who wanted additional points by trading one or more of your other units for additional DRI points. You can do that each year if you wish.

It all depends on what strikes your fancy.

 

[truebrit]

DRI not a pleasant first impression

I just came from a Monarch to Diamond transition presentation. Seems good from what the sales staff have to say but read between the lines. We were told that the only way to convert Monarch weeks to the DRI point system was to upgrade by buying a minimum of 2500 points for around $7500. We could of course add 11000 points for a cost of $39999!! I assume you did not have to upgrade because Sunterra was a points system and not weeks. At first the minimum offered was 4000 points for $18000, it was only when I told them that was out of the question did I get the 2500 offer after the salesman "went to bat" for me with her manager. Anyway $6000 was the cheapest they would go for the 2500. ( the salesman graciously gave up her commission to get me this price) They were willing to give me 2500 points for $6000 but 4000 points cost $18000? Triple the money for only 60% more points. After all this did not make sense to me I emailed Mr. Cloobeck and got a reply from a "specialist" Veronica Dillon. She told me that they could not address my concerns and I should call the Monarch office. After a couple of more emails , she called me!!. She them proceeded to tell me that the points offered to MGV owners are ESTIMATES and do not necessarily reflect the actual value of what my weeks would convert to. Also the Maintenance fees are ESTIMATES also. I told her its like being forced to buy a car without knowing what you are buying. I also told her that this policy was bordering on illegal if it wasnt already. There are class action law suits against DRI also. I also understand that you give up your deed to MGV to get into the DRI Club points system. This leads me to think that certain rights for a deeded owner would also be relinquished. ( found this out later and not at the presentation) All this deceit led us to the decision of no to DRI. It might be ok for some of you but our first experience with DRI was way less than impressive. Do your research and make an informed decision. I asked Veronica Dillon to provide that information and was told to "have a nice day" and thats when the conversation ended. I also found out that for some people, Membership in Interval Gold is mandatory and is included in maintenance fees. I think this is why you dont pay exchange fees because you have already paid them!! These are my thoughts and opinions from my experience. I hope it helps you one way or the other.

 

[ccwu]

I I also found out that for some people, Membership in Interval Gold is mandatory and is included in maintenance fees. I think this is why you dont pay exchange fees because you have already paid them!! These are my thoughts and opinions from my experience. I hope it helps you one way or the other.

As far as i know the II membership comes with the DRI membership. It is free. If you want to exchange in II, you still have to pay exchange fee of $139 (this is cheaper than RCI.) You can get two bedroom Westin or Marriott for about 5,000 DRI points. Which is cheaper than if you pay the MF for Westin or Marriott. DRI owns a lots of resorts in Europe. If you reserve in any DRI or DRI affiliated resorts other than you home resorts, you do not pay exchange fee. Currently, I am a happy DRI member even I paid a high MF for my Hawaii collection points. I gave up my deeded Kaanapali Beach Resort to DRI. I found the only draw back for reservation is that to get your points back, you need to cancel 91 days in advance. The protection fee is too high.

 

[timeos2]

As far as i know the II membership comes with the DRI membership. It is free. If you want to exchange in II, you still have to pay exchange fee of $139 (this is cheaper than RCI.) You can get two bedroom Westin or Marriott for about 5,000 DRI points. Which is cheaper than if you pay the MF for Westin or Marriott. DRI owns a lots of resorts in Europe. If you reserve in any DRI or DRI affiliated resorts other than you home resorts, you do not pay exchange fee. Currently, I am a happy DRI member even I paid a high MF for my Hawaii collection points. I gave up my deeded Kaanapali Beach Resort to DRI. I found the only draw back for reservation is that to get your points back, you need to cancel 91 days in advance. The protection fee is too high.

The II Gold does come with DRI Membership but it is NOT free! When it was changed from basic II to Gold two or three years ago the annual fees went up around $100. We were told then it was largely to cover the "upgrade" to Gold membership (which we did not want or need). You pay - no option. So while it is included in DRI Membership, it most certainly is NOT free. Everything DRI does - much of it needed and desirable especially resort and unit upgrades - is also not paid for by DRI (although sales love to suggest it is). It is funded by the owners. Again there is nothing wrong with that - it makes resorts better - but their spin that somehow they are paying for the improvements are twisted "facts".

 

[truebrit]

And this was why we said no. while we were seriously looking into converting, nothing the sales team was telling us was 100% certain and the way they sold it it was "never pay an exchange fee for the 200+ resorts around the world that DRI is involved with". And that is just not true. On top of the $6000 we would have to spend just to get to silver level, our main. fees would go up at least $600 per year. Again ESTIMATE only!! We liked the idea of using points for man. fees as we are not retired and have a hard time using all our time, but I have read stories that your $ value for your points when used for this purpose changes and your points may cover you fees one year but not the next. It seems that with MGV we know where we stand and after 9 years know the program and procedures well. DRI seems like more of a money pit than MGV is with them holding their hands out for more and more all the time.

 

[dougp26364]

Sales staff is usually the least informed of anyone in the timeshare business. That's unfortunate becasue they're often the front line of the timeshare business.

First, DRI has three different types of ownership:
Deeded weeks owners
Deeded weeks owners who are members of THE Club (points based exchanges but owners keep their deeds)
Trust based owners who own a trust interest but no deed

From your description, it sounds as if the salesman was attempting to get you to convert your current ownership into a DRI trust based ownership. If you own deeds, you would relinquish your deeds for a trust interest. This may be the only option DRI now gives to join their points program.

In the past, owners of deeded weeks had the option to simply join THE Club, which is a overlay points based reservations system whereby deeded weeks are assigned a point value. Those weeks are put into a pool of weeks to be reserved by THE Club members. Owners are given a 2 month home resort advantage where only they can reserve at their home resort (owners can reserve their home resort weeks at 12 months from the check in date). Begining at 10 months, any THE Club member can reserve any week or night in THE Club regardless of which resort is their home resort.

Trust owners can reserve any week or night in their trust group begining at 13 months. Trust owners who are also members of THE Club (it's an option, not mandatory) can reserve at any resort in THE Club at the 10 month mark.

What it really sounds like to me is you have a complex system and a salesman who perhaps didn't fully understand what he was selling. It also sound as if the option to just join THE Club either isn't being offered or this sales office elected not to offer it as they won't make any money on the deal.

You might try calling or contacting DRI's telesales department and asking if it's possible to simply join THE Club without converting your weeks to a trust ownership or buying additional points. We were offered that option a few years back with DRI purchased Sunterra. The cost to simply join THE Club at that time was $2,995. If we'd have purchased additional points the fee would have been waived.

As to converting your points to MF payments, that's kind of a waste of money. Each point converts at a rate of 4 cents/point. That's approx 40% of the value or cost of a point. It's really not a good deal and is akin to paying a 60% comission for DRI to rent you points for you. It's fine you if have no other option but, if you already have trouble using all of your existing ownership I sure wouldn't buy more points just to sell them back to pay MF's. That's really a poor financial deal. Points are meant to be used to take vacations. Everything else is fine to have but not economically viable if it's the reason for ownership.

 

[truebrit]

Thats just it. If i want to be in DRI then I have NO OPTION but to buy 2500 points for $6000 that I dont want or need. This is the only way. When I am forced to spend thousands or dont join, Ill keep my Mgv weeks. And like I said before, they cannot even tell me exactly what I am getting.

 

[coachr32]

Last December, DW and I stayed at a DRI resort in Sedona, AZ. We knew that DRI was in the process of purchasing the "developers part" Pacific Monarch. As owners of Monach Grand Vacations, we decided to sit in on a timeshare presentation of DRI. We let them know right away that we were aware of what was going on with MGV and DRI. We sat down with "the specialist" that was dealing with MGV owners. Long story short, we were there for over 5hrs.:annoyed: :ignore: Yes, we listened to all the "great things" that DRI had over MGV. They even said that they would wave the $3000 fee to join "the club" (one time offer) At the end we had a paper infront of us that stated we were offered this deal and would not get it again.

Forward to this spring. We were at Cabo Azul (MGV) and went to an owners update meeting. Really wanted to find out what was going on with the sale. Meet with a sales rep who we have gotten to know there over the past five yrs. As we were going to receive our "goodies" the sales rep pulled us aside and said "KEEP YOUR MGV POINTS and DO NOT LET DRI convert you!"

 

[truebrit]

So it seems we made the correct decision. Doug, DRI seems to work foryou and that is great but it just does not seem a good idea forMGV owners. At least not for me. We were told that it will be harder to get time in MGV but since we were decieved about everything else, i suspect that this is untrue also.

 

[coachr32]

Question I have about DRI is that they have built this timeshare business by purchasing resorts that were in "bad shape" as "in need of cash". So with this purchase, DRI has to finish building Cabo Azul, finish the Cancun in Vegas and decide what to do with the property that is on the Big Island of Hawaii. The property in Hawaii has not even started to build. It is just the acreage that DRI has now. The Cabo Azul resort is the resort that DRI really wanted. DRI has yet, to my knowledge, to build any buildings on any of their properties. I will be following this to see how they come out.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Question I have about DRI is that they have built this timeshare business by purchasing resorts that were in "bad shape" as "in need of cash". So with this purchase, DRI has to finish building Cabo Azul, finish the Cancun in Vegas and decide what to do with the property that is on the Big Island of Hawaii. The property in Hawaii has not even started to build. It is just the acreage that DRI has now. The Cabo Azul resort is the resort that DRI really wanted. DRI has yet, to my knowledge, to build any buildings on any of their properties. I will be following this to see how they come out.

Where on the Big Island is the Monarch (now DRI) property?

 

[coachr32]

Where on the Big Island is the Monarch (now DRI) property?

The property is in Kailua-Kona. It is near the Kona Reef Resort and Royal Kona Resort. It is not on the beach. It is on the opposite side of the road. Again no land has been cleared. The address is listed in the backrupcy documents. It was part of the developer-Pacific Monarch Grand, which was bought by DRI.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The property is in Kailua-Kona. It is near the Kona Reef Resort and Royal Kona Resort. It is not on the beach. It is on the opposite side of the road. Again no land has been cleared. The address is listed in the backrupcy documents. It was part of the developer-Pacific Monarch Grand, which was bought by DRI.

Thanks. I know roughly where that is. I wonder whatever happened to the Hilo area property that DRI was supposed to closing in on several years ago.

 

[coachr32]

Thanks. I know roughly where that is. I wonder whatever happened to the Hilo area property that DRI was supposed to closing in on several years ago.

The Kona Reef Resort, a DRI affiliate resort and the developer Pacific Monach land are "next" to each other. So DRI could use the land to "improve" Kona Reef. Your guess is as good as mine so we will see want happens.

 

[pedro47]

Question I have about DRI is that they have built this timeshare business by purchasing resorts that were in "bad shape" as "in need of cash". So with this purchase, DRI has to finish building Cabo Azul, finish the Cancun in Vegas and decide what to do with the property that is on the Big Island of Hawaii. The property in Hawaii has not even started to build. It is just the acreage that DRI has now. The Cabo Azul resort is the resort that DRI really wanted. DRI has yet, to my knowledge, to build any buildings on any of their properties. I will be following this to see how they come out.

It this in written that DRI have to completed these projects.

 

[dougp26364]

Thats just it. If i want to be in DRI then I have NO OPTION but to buy 2500 points for $6000 that I dont want or need. This is the only way. When I am forced to spend thousands or dont join, Ill keep my Mgv weeks. And like I said before, they cannot even tell me exactly what I am getting.

Last December, DW and I stayed at a DRI resort in Sedona, AZ. We knew that DRI was in the process of purchasing the "developers part" Pacific Monarch. As owners of Monach Grand Vacations, we decided to sit in on a timeshare presentation of DRI. We let them know right away that we were aware of what was going on with MGV and DRI. We sat down with "the specialist" that was dealing with MGV owners. Long story short, we were there for over 5hrs.:annoyed: :ignore: Yes, we listened to all the "great things" that DRI had over MGV. They even said that they would wave the $3000 fee to join "the club" (one time offer) At the end we had a paper infront of us that stated we were offered this deal and would not get it again.

Forward to this spring. We were at Cabo Azul (MGV) and went to an owners update meeting. Really wanted to find out what was going on with the sale. Meet with a sales rep who we have gotten to know there over the past five yrs. As we were going to receive our "goodies" the sales rep pulled us aside and said "KEEP YOUR MGV POINTS and DO NOT LET DRI convert you!"

So it seems we made the correct decision. Doug, DRI seems to work foryou and that is great but it just does not seem a good idea forMGV owners. At least not for me. We were told that it will be harder to get time in MGV but since we were decieved about everything else, i suspect that this is untrue also.

OK, let me start by saying salesmen drive me insane at times. Most of the time I've found DRI sales staff to be low pressure and reasonably well informed. In the process of assuming the assests of a new company, as they did with Sunterra, the sales staff tends not to be up to DRI standards and it often takes a couple of years to infuse the "new" old staff with their intergrity.

Like I said earlier, sales staff are sometimes the least informed and, I believe MGV staff is behind the power curve. Keeping in mind that these are comissioned sales agents, if you don't buy points, they don't make money. It's not in their best interests to tell you about a joiner fee. I've boldened the area where the joiner fee was mentioned before. Honestly, I don't know if this is still an option but, I'd find out if I were and Pacific Monarch owner who didn't want/need additional ownership interests.

THE Club works very well for us. It's a great internal exchange program and DRI has an outstanding collection of resorts. When DRI bought Sunterra, we definately didn't need any more timeshares. We weren't using everything we owned. Our initial presentation was over the phone by a DRI rep. and not a Sunterra rep. We were given ALL of our options without pressure and we were given time to think about it. After consideration and looking at how we had been using our ownership and comparing it to how we could use our ownership with DRI, we elected to only pay the joiner fee rather than increase our ownership.

I really wonder if the salesperson gave you all your options or only the options they wanted to tell you about.

As far as the correct decision, perhaps you have with how you utlize your ownership. I can almost guarentee that you won't lose anything you've had in the past. That will remain intact. But you may be missing out on benefits if you were only told half truths and, sales staff tends to deal in half truths at best.