The Point at Poipu

[quiltergal]

Just snagged a week in December 12/9-12/16, 2 bedroom at the Point at Poipu. I'm so jazzed! The airfare is bad but not undoable. I've always wanted to stay here but could never wangle the trade. On this ongoing search I have released 5 different weeks at different resorts on Kauai for various reasons (work schedule, less than desirable resort...). Today I decided to tweak my search a little and checked for earlier dates. Waa Laa! There were 5 weeks available at the Point. I thought I had put the week I wanted on hold but for some reason it didn't show up. Redid the search and there were only 2 weeks left (this happend in less than a minute). Fortunately the one I wanted was still there so made sure I got it done correctly this time. I want my DH to check it out first before I confirm. He ususally defers to my timeshare savy anyway. Oooh! I'll be tan for Christmas!!!

 

[rmb]

Once upon a time, EVR - Embassy Vacation Resort - as it was called, was fantastic, in my opinion. Here was the system with my float/float before Sunterra came in and took things over causing me to sell:

- one year out you could request any week and request 3 specific units (always selected the 2 br ocean front in building 4 or 6)

- you would receive confirmation within 3 days by email and receive a hard copy, as well

When you checked in, you already knew which unit you had... it was truly a smooth, magnificent experience. Sunterra took over and changed it dramatically:

- you could still request a level unit (ocean front), but not a specific unit... so when you checked in, you had no idea where they placed you.

This changed the game for a lot of us old float/float owners and many of us sold them. Too bad... the place was very nice, but I also hear they did away with the evening cocktails/music/pupus. This was also one of the highlights while staying at this resort. I hope it isn't true because it was a very pleasant experience to have a beer or mai tai, snack on some chips, and listen to some local musicians - all done in the lobby of the resort.

Advice... make sure you do your homework and request a building at the least, and a specific unit if possible. Location can be very important at this resort, depending on what you are looking for.

 

[quiltergal]

Thanks for the tips! Can you recommend a building? I'd be happy with a partial ocean view.

 

[rmb]

I always liked buildings 4 and 6... 4 is very close to the outdoor adult jacuzzi and 4 barbecue pits... building 6 is closest to the water.

Those are the only two buildings I ever requested... never wanted to be too near the pool - can be noisy with lots of kids in the summer.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Once upon a time, EVR - Embassy Vacation Resort - as it was called, was fantastic, in my opinion. Here was the system with my float/float before Sunterra came in and took things over causing me to sell:

- one year out you could request any week and request 3 specific units (always selected the 2 br ocean front in building 4 or 6)

- you would receive confirmation within 3 days by email and receive a hard copy, as well

When you checked in, you already knew which unit you had... it was truly a smooth, magnificent experience. Sunterra took over and changed it dramatically:

- you could still request a level unit (ocean front), but not a specific unit... so when you checked in, you had no idea where they placed you.

This changed the game for a lot of us old float/float owners and many of us sold them. Too bad... the place was very nice, but I also hear they did away with the evening cocktails/music/pupus. This was also one of the highlights while staying at this resort. I hope it isn't true because it was a very pleasant experience to have a beer or mai tai, snack on some chips, and listen to some local musicians - all done in the lobby of the resort.

Advice... make sure you do your homework and request a building at the least, and a specific unit if possible. Location can be very important at this resort, depending on what you are looking for.

So far, we haven't noted any difference in policies about room assignments. We're float/float owners who affiliated with The Club. We've always contacted Ohana to find out what units were unassigned for specific check-in days, put in a request for that check-in day and unit, and have been "confirmed" into that unit. The only difference with The Club has been that we actually need to make the reservation through The Club, then put in the request for a unit with Ohana.

In the last several years the resort has been much more explicit that you are not guaranteed the unit you've requested (and probably even been assigned to). That has actually always been the case, but it wasn't always conveyed explicitly, leading many people to believe that the Ohana room assignments were guaranteed. The change in clarification of reservation status isn't actually related to the start of the Sunterra (now Diamond) club operations, but to a situation that occurred in which some elevators went out of service, which resulted in a person with a mobility disability being unable to use the room to which their party had been confirmed. As a consequence, some other occupants who were "confirmed" into a specific unit were moved to other units so that the resort could accommodate the person with the disability in accordance with federal requirements. The people who were moved put up a big fuss, resulting in the resort adopting a policy making clear that there no "confirmed" units. In practice, though, we've seen the room reservation process operating as usual.

The confirmation notices never did show a specific unit - merely a view category. The confirmation into a specific unit always was informal. When we've contacted Ohana in the last couple of years, they've always said we were assigned to a specific unit, same as it's always been.

Thanks for the tips! Can you recommend a building? I'd be happy with a partial ocean view.

As an exchanger, your selection of units will be whatever is left over after owner reservations are taken care of. You may be able to influence your assignment by putting in a specific request, but it will be subject to availability.

There is a map of the resort on the TUG review page for the resort - from the map you can see which buildings might be best. We generally prefer Buildings 4 and 6, followed by Building 2. As owners we've always been able to reserve in one of those buildings.

Most people prefer corner units because the lanai wraps around the corner of the building, giving better views and providing better ventilation. Outside corners, where the corner of the building points toward the water, are preferred because both lanais have ocean views. Owners generally put in requests for those units, so availability of those units is limited.

Some of the ground level units in buildings 2, 4 and 6 are classed as garden view even though the units front directly on the ocean. That's because there is a small hill between that unit and the water, preventing the occupants from viewing the ocean directly. IMHO, despite the lack of a direct ocean view, those garden view units are superior to almost any ocean view unit at the resort because there are no units between that unit and the ocean front. You can walk out your lanai directly to the ocean front pathway.

The map in the review section is coded to show view category; from the map you can deduce which garden view units are primo. Again, though, savvy garden view owners will know to request those units.

The one disadvantage of those garden view units is that they are at ground level, so the level of privacy is a bit less; the lanais for those units are right at ground level - you can go directly from the lanai to the walking paths.

 

[Werner]

We should add that assignment priorities are based on the date the reservation was confirmed, thus reservations made 12 months out get priority over reservations made 10 months out. Also, two week stays get assignment priority over 1 week stays.

There has been lots of discussion on this board about "the Point" being an owner-biased resort and not terribly accommodating to exchangers. I've only been there as an owner so I don't know what its like as an exchanger but don't expect the best view in the house just because you make a request.

A few hints for your stay:

1. The whales put on a great show all winter right off the Point. The Point is all cliffs. It's nice to have place to sit and watch. The Pool Hut rents small beach chairs by the day but they are exorbitantly priced. Stop at a WalMart or Costco and pick up a couple of cheap beach chairs (with legs to rest on uneven surfaces). You can take them with you to any beach or park or just use them on the cliffs.
2. There are barbeque's all over the grounds and they are popular so plan ahead.
3. Exchangers pay a fee to use bedroom A/Cs. The unit lay-outs allow cross ventilation. If you are used to living without A/C you probably won't need it in Dec. If you search this site for the resort you should find a discussion about the various fees at the resort. One of the more unusual fees is for the use of in-room safes. The safes belong to a concessionaire so even owners have to pay this silly fee.

4. The path that leads to Shipwreck Beach (5 minutes) continues along the cliffs beyond the beach and then on for 3 1/2 miles along some of the most beautiful coastal terrain in Hawaii and ends finally at a remote cove. Since you can also drive to the end, with two cars you could make a one-way hike out of it.

 

[Cathyb]

Isn't this resort now a Diamond Resort, not Sunterra?

 

[w.bob]

3. Exchangers pay a fee to use bedroom A/Cs. The unit lay-outs allow cross ventilation. If you are used to living without A/C you probably won't need it in Dec.

If you search this site for the resort you should find a discussion about the various fees at the resort. One of the more unusual fees is for the use of in-room safes. The safes belong to a concessionaire so even owners have to pay this silly fee.

We will be there Sept. 4th. Is a/c usually necessary that time of year? I'm not to concerned about the location of the units since we are out most of the time. I'm more concerned about location affecting sleep because of noise possibly due to being near the parking area or a road. Is there any location you would definitely not want?

 

[Werner]

At Poipu most unit selection issues are related to view, not external noise. Better views are priced higher (in $ or points) and are part of the deed structure. There are quite a few buildings scattered around a large campus. We haven't stayed in all of them but most are off the road (which is a quiet residential street with speed bumps). I understand your concern. Before buying at Poipu we stayed in a back building at Kiahuna Plantation and in the evening and early morning we heard continuous traffic noise from Poipu Road. You won't have that at the Point.

We were there late Aug / early Sept last year and used the A/C for a few hours in the evening to get the heat of the day out of the bedroom and then shut it down before retiring. I don't think we used it every day. In the winter we don't use it. The difference in temperature, summer to winter, is not that much but summers are a bit more humid and you feel the humidity more indoors. We used it because it was there and free to owners. If you live in CT without A/C in the summer, I doubt that it's really necessary.

The only other serious noise source on Kauai are feral roosters. They are all over Kauai but they are not at the Point. Don't ask why! But enjoy your chicken barbecue.:rofl:

 

[quiltergal]

Thanks for all the hints. We certainly aren't expecting a primo view but if we could get an upper floor with just a peek of the ocean I'd be happy. This will be the first time we have been back to Kauai in 15 or so years. That was our very first trip to Hawaii way back when. One thing that is vivid in my memory is the early morning crowing of the Moas. We also had a tree full of roosting budgies or something similar that would start chattering as soon as the Moas started in. No sleeping late on Kauai! :rofl: I'm sure we'll be astounded at how much the island has changed since we were there last. I hope it's still as beautiful as I remember it! Thanks again.

Oops meant to ask....will 12/9 - 12/16 be too early for whales? My original search was from Jan - Mar 09 to try and hit the peak whale season since we've never been there at that time.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We will be there Sept. 4th. Is a/c usually necessary that time of year? I'm not to concerned about the location of the units since we are out most of the time. I'm more concerned about location affecting sleep because of noise possibly due to being near the parking area or a road. Is there any location you would definitely not want?

The resort is constructed with the parking lot between the buildings and the road, and all of the units face away from the parking lot. In addition, although Pe'e Road is an arterial, there isn't very much traffic on it. We've never had an issue with street noise. In fact, the primary sound at night throughout the entire resort is the sound of waves crashing into the rocks next to the resort. (The wave sound, of course, is louder the closer the unit is to the water.)

An added note: because the entire parking lot is located between the buildings and the street, it can be a bit of a walk between the parking lot and the units that are closest to the ocean. There is no reserved parking, so if you return to the resort at a time when most people are in their units, there might be no parking available in the areas of the lot that are closest to your unit.

 

[Calyn79]

noise from above - building 4

I really don't know what all the oohs and ahs are with this resort...nice enough but nothing too special except for the units being large and nicely enough furnished. After a week's stay this past March that was really looked forward to, I might say, my complaints would be that the units are built with no soundproofing between floors. Who you get above you can easily ruin a vacation week over what view you might get. We were moved 2x in building 4 to get out from under the noise coming down upon us from the ceiling and then we never really did. Also the pool is nothing special unless you are a kid...it just looks nice. But for an adult, there is no deep end at all worth getting excited about. The swim track area was not really all that deep. While each building has elevator service, the up and down maze between buildings and the lower floor can drive you nuts. The resort's point location is nice, however, the whole week we were cold while in the sunshine with the gusty winds coming off the water while at the pool and on the lanai...and we live in British Columbia!

We were on Kauai for 5 weeks, staying at four resorts. All round the Point was such a huge disappointment. I've stayed at many resorts that I'd go back to in a flash and some are nothing special, but one week at the Point will be plenty for me. /Marilynn

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I really don't know what all the oohs and ahs are with this resort...nice enough but nothing too special except for the units being large and nicely enough furnished. After a week's stay this past March that was really looked forward to, I might say, my complaints would be that the units are built with no soundproofing between floors. Who you get above you can easily ruin a vacation week over what view you might get. We were moved 2x in building 4 to get out from under the noise coming down upon us from the ceiling and then we never really did. Also the pool is nothing special unless you are a kid...it just looks nice. But for an adult, there is no deep end at all worth getting excited about. The swim track area was not really all that deep. While each building has elevator service, the up and down maze between buildings and the lower floor can drive you nuts. The resort's point location is nice, however, the whole week we were cold while in the sunshine with the gusty winds coming off the water while at the pool and on the lanai...and we live in British Columbia!

We were on Kauai for 5 weeks, staying at four resorts. All round the Point was such a huge disappointment. I've stayed at many resorts that I'd go back to in a flash and some are nothing special, but one week at the Point will be plenty for me. /Marilynn

I'm a Po'ipu fan (enough that we bought a resale there that we use almost every year), but I can certainly understand the variance in opinions about the property.

I often stress to people that as a "resort" it is decidedly lacking features, so if what a person wants is a "resort" type of facility (with amenities, restaurants, spas, room service, etc.) then Po'ipu is not a good choice.

What attracted us to the resort - and that continues to draw us back - is the more residential feel to the resort; the fact that is not "resorty" is a big part of its attraction for us.

The project was originally built as whole ownership condos, and it is located in an area that is zoned residential; that gives the whole area more of a residential type of feel than a resort atmosphere. For us it's like coming back to an ocean front condo that's a bit of a second home.

We've also stayed at the Marriott Kau'ai Beach Club, which is definitely a resort. In fact, we actually bought there before rescinding. But after staying at the Marriott, when we saw Po'ipu we knew Po'ipu was our place.

 

[Werner]

Steve, I agree. All timeshares seem to carry the "resort" label but many TS's that we have stayed in are nothing but small condo apartments with virtually no common area, no land, nothing extra except a parking lot. Poipu does seem to feel like a high-end residential condo with a terrific location and a large campus-like property. I agree that is is a bit of maze going from building to building and level to level. Resorty stuff like the pool is only adequate, the pool bar is barely adequate, but nothing compared to a hotel chain timeshare.

I think the residential feel and the location, location, location was what attracted us also.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Steve, I agree. All timeshares seem to carry the "resort" label but many TS's that we have stayed in are nothing but small condo apartments with virtually no common area, no land, nothing extra except a parking lot. Poipu does seem to feel like a high-end residential condo with a terrific location and a large campus-like property. I agree that is is a bit of maze going from building to building and level to level. Resorty stuff like the pool is only adequate, the pool bar is barely adequate, but nothing compared to a hotel chain timeshare.

I think the residential feel and the location, location, location was what attracted us also.

The maze among buildings is a consequence of the decision to develop the site so that every unit faces the water with the parking lots between the entrance and Pe'e Road. For the same reason, it can be a long walk from the parking lot to the units that are nearest the ocean. I much prefer it that way; definitely better than having parking lots between the buildings. And if distance from the parking lot is that important, as an owner you can try for units that are closer to parking. Building 9, for example is ocean front (as well as some of the primo Garden View units) and usually has ample parking close to the building. But IMHO the units in Bldg 9 aren't nearly as nice as Buildings 3, 4, and 6.

---

Update on previous discussion about room assignments.

I contacted the resort yesterday just to be sure that everything is ready for our visit in a couple of weeks. The person I spoke confirmed our reservation was in order for an ocean front unit, but would not provide us with the room number. He was clear that we had been assigned to a room, but that he could not tell us what the room number was prior to check-in. I mentioned the situation where they had to manage some people with disabilities during the elevator repair, and he readily acknowledged that triggered the change in policy.

As far a I can tell right now, the overall process to reserve a specific room remains intact. You inquire as to what rooms are available for a given check in day, then send in your request for that check-in day and that room number.

Actually, if you're involved with the club it's a bit more complicated, because you must reserve a view category and check-in day through The Club, but The Club can't handle room requests. So after Club members make a reservation, they need to contact the resort to put in a room request. So the game is going to be to check on unit availability, make your reservation through The Club accordingly, then send your room request to the Resort.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Thanks for the tips! Can you recommend a building? I'd be happy with a partial ocean view.

FYI - for the most part, Partial Ocean View units are upper level units in buildings closest to the parking lots. The units are high enough to have a bit of an ocean view over the roofs of buildings or in gaps between buildings or between buildings and vegetation. Often the ocean view isn't much more than than a sliver.

Generally if a unit has a full view of the ocean, even if the view is entirely over the rooflines of buildings, the unit will be ocean view. If the unit has an ocean view and there are no buildings between the unit and the waterfront, the unit will be Ocean Front.

 

[rmb]

> The person I spoke confirmed our reservation was in order for an ocean front unit, but would not provide us with the room number.

Exactly... when I was an owner years ago with the float/float, the week and the room were confirmed in 3 days. It gave me peace of mind to know which actual unit we would be staying at. To others, maybe this doesn't matter... but to me, it did. Having a 'category' confirmed but not a specific unit, allows them to place you in a variety of buildings. Again... it was important to me, mainly because since I took the trouble to make the reservations a full year out, and wanted building 4 or 6 with a corner, ocean front unit... I felt the perk should be there for me (or anyone who did the same).

That all changed when Sunterra took over and started catering MORE to their owners as opposed to the float/floaters.

Negatives: no store nearby, no restaurant or cafe on grounds, shallow pool made more for kids, no air conditioner in living room or kitchen - only window air conditioners in bedrooms... noisy - should change or upgrade these older models, small kitchen area, if you had neighbors above your unit with young kids... good luck!

Positives: nice grounds, fun happy hour (I heard that was removed and what a shame!), nice workout gym with both dry and steam sauna, outdoor jacuzzi/barbecue area near building 4 is excellent, good service.

Positives:

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

>
That all changed when Sunterra took over and started catering MORE to their owners as opposed to the float/floaters.

I really, really, really think (perhaps I should say know) that you are laboring under a misapprehension here.

The change in policy about announcing room numbers doesn't have to do with Sunterra. It is totally the result of a situation in which there was an elevator breakdown, leaving some person in wheelchairs unable to reach their rooms. The resort is obligated under law to accommodate that situation; they can't just say, "Too bad." It was then necessary to move some people from their "confirmed" units to other units. Some of those people made a huge stink about losing their "confirmed" unit, and were verbally abusive and offensive to resort staff.

The result was that the resort made it a policy to no longer provide guests with their confirmed unit numbers. Again, that has nothing to do with Sunterra taking over.

*****

I've had several direct conversations about how reservations are handled at the resort with George Costas (former director of RPM operations in Hawai'i - RPM is Sunterra's resort management operation and is the actual entity that runs Ka'anapali and Po'ipu), with Jamie Shigeta (originally Ohana Manager at Poi'pu before becoming Po'pu resort manager after Lyle Otsuka left), and with Patti Ornellas, who became Ohana manager at Po'ipu after Jamie was promoted to resort manager.

I'm pretty confident in stating how the resort system works because I've actually conducted transactions in real time with Patti. As of about nine months ago, the resort inventory control system and reservations system works almost identically as it did prior to Sunterra starting Club operations at the facility.

Specifically, room numbers are still assigned at the time reservations are received. Requests for specific rooms are still received and processed in the same way as before. The only difference in the last several years is that resort personnel have been directed to not say what room has been assigned. And that change has nothing to do with Sunterra and everything to do with the situation I described previously.

Actually, there is one change that I've noted since joining the Club. As I indicated in my previous post, as a Club member it's actually more difficult to put in a request for a specific room.

*****

I'll be back there again in a few weeks, and I'm hoping I can get an update on how the inventory control system works. There are some questions that I have about the interface with Sunterra that I haven't addressed here.

******

One other item worth noting. From my personal experience, as I've had occasion to interact directly with resort personnel, deeded non-blub owners have access to more inventory at the resort than do Club owners. I can attest from having looked at real time availability for Club menbers and deeded owners, deeded owners still have access to all available unreserved weeks at the resort, whereas Club members can only access inventory that has been identified as available to Club members. We looked at a number of summer weeks with little to no availability for Club members, and consistently found remaining availability for deeded, non-Club members. That specifically included some of those highly desirable outside corner untis in Buildings 2 and 4. (Bulding 6 is a bit different because only the second floor outside corner units are generally available for reservations. The fourth floor units are the two 3-bedroom units, the third floor units were sold as fixed weeks, and the first floor units are garden view (but the best garden view units at the resort, IMHO).

Again, with the new policy we couldn't be "guaranteed" we would receive those units, but I was assured those units were available and if I put in my request and no one requested the unit ahead of me, I would receive the preliminary assignment.

It's worth noting that even with the 3-day confirmation we used to receive, occupancy of that unit was never guaranteed. I have my old confirmation notices, and the confirmations make no mention of specific units. Further, the program documents are explicit that any room assignments can be changed at any time prior to checkin for any reason.

Providing notice of assigned room was certainly nice; it was a bennie that was lost due to the ill-mannered behavior of some owners.

As I understand, this is because, in accordance with timeshare program documents, deeded owners are allowed to reserve any available week at the resort in their view category, whereas Club members are limited to a smaller portion of inventory that has been identified as available to Club owners.

 

[Werner]

Steve, Please help me with the semantics of your last note.... We are a deeded owner (floating week/floating Ocean View Unit) but we are in "the Club". We are not in the trust, and had have not given up our deed. In your note above you address deeded owners and club members but not both. Is there a "both" category?

 

[rmb]

> The change in policy about announcing room numbers doesn't have to do with Sunterra.

I'm not doubting your information at all... but, when asked why the policy change during a sales session, I was informed by one of the sales reps there who asked for our conversation to remain confidential - that "it really isn't fair that non-Sunterra members get the primo units because this is the only resort they ever vacation at and can book out a full year". Nice comment, huh?

The next pitch was "if you become a Sunterra member you not only have multiple options for vacations all around the world at our first class resorts, but you will also get the PREFERRED units in your category".

And no, I'm not 'laboring'... just repeating info (correct or not correct) that was given to me from a Sunterra rep prior to me selling my week. He sure didn't do himself or his company any favors with that sales approach.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Steve, Please help me with the semantics of your last note.... We are a deeded owner (floating week/floating Ocean View Unit) but we are in "the Club". We are not in the trust, and had have not given up our deed. In your note above you address deeded owners and club members but not both. Is there a "both" category?

You're in the same situation as us - Club member but we retained our deed. There are three types of ownership at the resort:

1. Hawai' Trust owners. Trust owners are irrevocably linked to the Trust; what is owned is a UDI in the Trust.
2. Deeded owners who have affiliated their deeds with the trust and are Club members.
3. Deeded owners who have not affiliated with The Club.

The area in which I am lacking information is how the rights of the later two categories of owners are preserved given that Trust owners are allowed to reserve 13 months in advance.

The inventory control system is set up to properly ensure that units are properly allocated on a gross basis. That is, if 60% of ocean front units are held by non-Club deeded owners and 40% by Trust owners and affiliated deeded owners, then the Club cannot reserve more than 40% of ocean view units in a given year. The system treats the Club like any other owners of multiple weeks - if an individual owns, say, four ocean front deeded weeks (non-affiliated), the inventory control system tracks that and prevents that person from reserving five weeks.

It works the same way with The Club - the system tracks how many units of each view category have been assigned to the club, and each time a reservation is made through the Club, a deduction is made in the Club's available inventory. When The Club exhausts its allocation in a given view category, Club members cannot reserve any more units in that category even thought there might be unreserved units in that category at the resort.

I'm pretty sure there are some other controls that space out the inventory assigned to the Club over the course of a year. E.g., I believe Club inventory isn't merely limited to the gross number of units in each view category, but is also constrained by month. But I don't have information on that, and that is something about which I want more information.

> The change in policy about announcing room numbers doesn't have to do with Sunterra.

I'm not doubting your information at all... but, when asked why the policy change during a sales session, I was informed by one of the sales reps there who asked for our conversation to remain confidential - that "it really isn't fair that non-Sunterra members get the primo units because this is the only resort they ever vacation at and can book out a full year". Nice comment, huh?

The next pitch was "if you become a Sunterra member you not only have multiple options for vacations all around the world at our first class resorts, but you will also get the PREFERRED units in your category".

And no, I'm not 'laboring'... just repeating info (correct or not correct) that was given to me from a Sunterra rep prior to me selling my week. He sure didn't do himself or his company any favors with that sales approach.

So this was told you by a sales person, and therefore it is credible??

Actually that's pretty much what I would expect a sales person to say - one sales strategy is to make owners believe they only have two choices - to upgrade and obtain more benefits or do nothing and lose ground. Make the owner believe that maintaining the status quo is not an option, so if you don't want to lose you need to advance.

BTW - I do believe that's a low effectiveness sales approach. It creates the situation where an astute person will point out that when their first bought their unit they were assured a set of rights, and now those rights are being taken away,. Which leads to the logical question of why should a person give more money to a company that has shown it is quite willing to break promises and trample member rights? Isn't that a case of throwing good money after bad.

I believe there are many reasons to have concerns about the impact of Club operations on the resort. But assignments of rooms isn't one of those reasons. The bigger reasons are safeguards to ensure fair treatment in making reservations.

 

[glenn1000]

We exchanged into the Point at Poipu a couple of years ago and were fortunate enough to get a top floor ocean view unit in a building near the parking lot. It really was a great view and that is most important thing to me. On the down side, the noise is a real issue. The building construction is such that you hear your neighbors and the air conditioning unit was very loud but that at least drowned out other noise.

We enjoyed our week but there was a single experience that makes my wife absolutely refuse to go back. One of our kids came up to us from the pool and said that she had spotted something at the bottom that should not be there. I swam out and confirmed a truly gross deposit at the bottom. When we told the staff, they acted very casual about this, took some time, then a guy waded in with a baggie, removed the offensive material and left. No pool closure, no notice to other swimmers, nothing. It was pretty disgusting and my wife never got in the pool again and refers to it as the "poopoo pool". to this day. This really could happen anywhere but the way they handled it left an impression.

 

[tombo]

Can you order the poo-poo platter pooside at the poopoo pool in poipoo? :hysterical:


By the way, just a rhyming joke, please no one take offense. Seemed funny at the time.

 

[Werner]

You're in the same situation as us - Club member but we retained our deed. There are three types of ownership at the resort:

1. Hawai' Trust owners. Trust owners are irrevocably linked to the Trust; what is owned is a UDI in the Trust.
2. Deeded owners who have affiliated their deeds with the trust and are Club members.
3. Deeded owners who have not affiliated with The Club.

Steve, I've been thinking about these three categories and wondering if the units deeded to each category are kept in separate pools when it comes to making reservations. For example we know that each check-in day of the week has specific units assigned to it, with the most units assigned to Saturday check-in. Are the units also segregated by ownership category? IE, is the pool of unit/weeks available to deeded, non-Club members only those unit/weeks that are actually owned by deeded, non-Club members? Are there really three independent resorts within "the Point", each with its own pool of unit/weeks, with only the unsold unit/weeks owned by the developer being used for overflow?

I hope that the answer is not "yes". That would mean that if DRI is successful in converting deeded owners to trust members the number of unit/weeks in the "deeded" pool will dwindle. I would rather that all three groups compete for the same total number of unit/weeks albeit with different early reservation dates. Our deed not only list our specific "owned" unit/week, it also lists all of the units with a similar view category that we have access to so it would appear that DRI could not retroactively reduce access by re-assigning units out of the pool.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Steve, I've been thinking about these three categories and wondering if the units deeded to each category are kept in separate pools when it comes to making reservations. For example we know that each check-in day of the week has specific units assigned to it, with the most units assigned to Saturday check-in. Are the units also segregated by ownership category? IE, is the pool of unit/weeks available to deeded, non-Club members only those unit/weeks that are actually owned by deeded, non-Club members? Are there really three independent resorts within "the Point", each with its own pool of unit/weeks, with only the unsold unit/weeks owned by the developer being used for overflow?

I hope that the answer is not "yes". That would mean that if DRI is successful in converting deeded owners to trust members the number of unit/weeks in the "deeded" pool will dwindle. I would rather that all three groups compete for the same total number of unit/weeks albeit with different early reservation dates. Our deed not only list our specific "owned" unit/week, it also lists all of the units with a similar view category that we have access to so it would appear that DRI could not retroactively reduce access by re-assigning units out of the pool.

I hope to have answers to those questions in about two weeks.