Thinking about placing deeds in “The Club” to convert to points

[TJALB]

My home resort is Ka’anapali Beach Club in Hawaii. We are currently here on vacation for 2 weeks. Spoke to a sales shark and he said if we placed our deeds into the club we would be awarded 15,000 points for our two 1 week deeds. In order to do that we must purchase 2,000 points at a cost of 5.05 per point or $10,100.00. I purchased my 2 deeded weeks as resale on TUG so I got a really good deal on those. It seems like $5.05 per point is very expensive. Are they trying to hose me on the additional points because they know I purchased resale? Or, does $5.05 per point sound reasonable?

The shark also told us that we could remove our deeds at anytime from the Club and they would revert back to our same deeds. Is that true?

It appears that there are several advantages to buying into The Club. Supposedly we could bank our points for up to 2 years, we could also possibly get more than 2 weeks out of the points depending upon what time of year we book our vacation. They also say we could book into any Diamond resort. Sharkey also said we could somehow book into other resorts such as Marriott. That part was very unclear to me.

We need to make a decision before we leave, which is in a few days. If anyone has any advice, or experience doing this I would very much appreciate your feedback or recommendations.

I’m attaching a copy of the proposal they gave us. I snapped a picture of it when they weren’t looking.

Thanks!

 

[nuwermj]

My home resort is Ka’anapali Beach Club in Hawaii. We are currently here on vacation for 2 weeks. Spoke to a sales shark and he said if we placed our deeds into the club we would be awarded 15,000 points for our two 1 week deeds. In order to do that we must purchase 2,000 points at a cost of 5.05 per point or $10,100.00. I purchased my 2 deeded weeks as resale on TUG so I got a really good deal on those. It seems like $5.05 per point is very expensive. Are they trying to hose me on the additional points because they know I purchased resale? Or, does $5.05 per point sound reasonable?

This arrangement is basically true, Diamond calls it an "assigned deed", you assign the deed's use rights to The Club in exchange for points. You remain the owner of the real property and pay the annual fees to the KBC HOA. The purchase of trust fund points is the catch, you're not just joining The Club, you are also joining the Hawaii Collection.

$5.05 per points sounds high. I typically see prices in the $3.50 to $4.00 per point range. But 2,000 points is a small transaction, and prices are higher in that case. $5.05 is not a good price for the buyer, but you might not get a better offer.

The assigned deed arrangement is not cheap. In addition to your normal HOA fees you will pay Hawaii Collection fees on the 2,000 points, which are $580.08 for 2018, and you will pay club dues on all 17,000 points, which are $443.56.

Base fee $285
per point fee on deeded points (15000 x 0.00988 = 148.20)
per point fee on trust points (2000 x 0.00518 = 10.36)
Total $443.56

The shark also told us that we could remove our deeds at anytime from the Club and they would revert back to our same deeds. Is that true?

Yes, but ... you will remain the owner of the 2,000 trust fund points, which wont get you much in accommodations. I suppose so long as Diamond's voluntary surrender program is around you can give back the trust fund points and then you will be back to today, less your $10k.

It appears that there are several advantages to buying into The Club. Supposedly we could bank our points for up to 2 years, we could also possibly get more than 2 weeks out of the points depending upon what time of year we book our vacation. They also say we could book into any Diamond resort. Sharkey also said we could somehow book into other resorts such as Marriott. That part was very unclear to me.

You can bank your points in Diamond's Club for one year. You can use the points in II for reservations 2 year out, if II has something available. You cannot deposit those points with II for a pending search beyond the point's expiration date. (Basically, with II and Diamond points, the points are taken from your Diamond account when the II reservation is confirmed. Pending searches must be filled before the points expire.)

Yes, with 17,000 points you can get 2 week at most DRI locations. With full Club membership you have access to all the inventory at 10 months out. Only the 8 or 9 Hawaii Collection resorts (only two of which are in Hawaii) at 13 months out.

You can book Marriott through II (an II account is included with Club membership), but you can do that now if you use your deeds in II.

We need to make a decision before we leave, which is in a few days. If anyone has any advice, or experience doing this I would very much appreciate your feedback or recommendations.

There's nothing special about Diamond's offer. You can get it again. In fact, you can do it over the phone with the Corporate Sales department.

=================
A final comment:
I'm not sure 15,000 points for your two 1 week deeds is fair. I've attached the points chart. I don't see a unit for 7,500 points. Some people complain that after they assign their deed to Diamond's Club they don't have enough points to reserve their own unit.

 

[hvsteve1]

We converted to points with our two weeks at Powhatan almost when they first came up with the idea. As we tend to use our points in overbuilt tourist areas during slower periods, such as Orlando, we can take advantage of last minute bookings which use only 50% of points. As a result, even using some points for Europe each year, we manage to get three, and sometimes four, weeks out of our annual point allocation. I don't, however, see this working if you want to go to Hawaii each year.

 

[chemteach]

The Club maintenance fees are much higher than deeded week maintenance fees. Also - what is your view category? Many people get upset when they give diamond their deeds because they can no longer get what their original deeds could get with the amount of points given for the deeds. If you like using your Kaanapali weeks, The Club may not be a great choice for you. Do you know about Destination exchange? You can place your deeded weeks into Diamond's exchange company and use the week to go to a different resort. It's pretty flexible. Might be worth looking into before you jump into The Club....

 

[TJALB]

This arrangement is basically true, Diamond calls it an "assigned deed", you assign the deed's use rights to The Club in exchange for points. You remain the owner of the real property and pay the annual fees to the KBC HOA. The purchase of trust fund points is the catch, you're not just joining The Club, you are also joining the Hawaii Collection.

$5.05 per points sounds high. I typically see prices in the $3.50 to $4.00 per point range. But 2,000 points is a small transaction, and prices are higher in that case. $5.05 is not a good price for the buyer, but you might not get a better offer.

The assigned deed arrangement is not cheap. In addition to your normal HOA fees you will pay Hawaii Collection fees on the 2,000 points, which are $580.08 for 2018, and you will pay club dues on all 17,000 points, which are $443.56.

Base fee $285
per point fee on deeded points (15000 x 0.00988 = 148.20)
per point fee on trust points (2000 x 0.00518 = 10.36)
Total $443.56



Yes, but ... you will remain the owner of the 2,000 trust fund points, which wont get you much in accommodations. I suppose so long as Diamond's voluntary surrender program is around you can give back the trust fund points and then you will be back to today, less your $10k.



You can bank your points in Diamond's Club for one year. You can use the points in II for reservations 2 year out, if II has something available. You cannot deposit those points with II for a pending search beyond the point's expiration date. (Basically, with II and Diamond points, the points are taken from your Diamond account when the II reservation is confirmed. Pending searches must be filled before the points expire.)

Yes, with 17,000 points you can get 2 week at most DRI locations. With full Club membership you have access to all the inventory at 10 months out. Only the 8 or 9 Hawaii Collection resorts (only two of which are in Hawaii) at 13 months out.

You can book Marriott through II (an II account is included with Club membership), but you can do that now if you use your deeds in II.



There's nothing special about Diamond's offer. You can get it again. In fact, you can do it over the phone with the Corporate Sales department.

=================
A final comment:
I'm not sure 15,000 points for your two 1 week deeds is fair. I've attached the points chart. I don't see a unit for 7,500 points. Some people complain that after they assign their deed to Diamond's Club they don't have enough points to reserve their own unit.

View attachment 7254

Thank you Nuwermj! You certainly have given me some excellent information. First off, if they won’t give me full point value for the high season for each of my weeks, that’s a deal breaker for me! Also, I would want a better deal on the ppp.

I will probably speak to them tomorrow (Monday) I will let you know what the outcome is.
Thank you SO MUCH! As usual, the TUG family comes through again!

 

[TJALB]

The Club maintenance fees are much higher than deeded week maintenance fees. Also - what is your view category? Many people get upset when they give diamond their deeds because they can no longer get what their original deeds could get with the amount of points given for the deeds. If you like using your Kaanapali weeks, The Club may not be a great choice for you. Do you know about Destination exchange? You can place your deeded weeks into Diamond's exchange company and use the week to go to a different resort. It's pretty flexible. Might be worth looking into before you jump into The Club....

Chemteach, thanks so much for your reply? You have a very valid point. I will be sure to ask about that. I certainly don’t want to wind up with less than I already have. No, I’m not familiar with the destination program. Wasn’t aware that Diamond had anything like that. Sounds like it’s their own exchange program. I will search around and see what I can find out. Wonder why Diamond doesn’t promote that program.
Thank you!

 

[vacationhopeful]

..... No, I’m not familiar with the destination program. Wasn’t aware that Diamond had anything like that. Sounds like it’s their own exchange program. I will search around and see what I can find out. Wonder why Diamond doesn’t promote that program.
Thank you!

My guess is ... the SALES STAFF does not get paid when educating you .. they have to SELL SOME BIG ticket item and get paid via a COMMISSION CHECK.

 

[DanZale2000]

Destination Xchange. It's a lot like II or RCI, but it's limited to Diamond's locations. The advantage is that you don't need to buy anything--just a $69 annual membership fee and a $149 exchange fee. But, if you buy points and join THE Club, you are no longer eligible for DX.

https://www.destinationxchange.com/

https://cmsprod.diamondresorts.com/sites/default/files/Destination-Exchange-Program-Booklet_1.pdf

 

[chemteach]

Chemteach, thanks so much for your reply? You have a very valid point. I will be sure to ask about that. I certainly don’t want to wind up with less than I already have. No, I’m not familiar with the destination program. Wasn’t aware that Diamond had anything like that. Sounds like it’s their own exchange program. I will search around and see what I can find out. Wonder why Diamond doesn’t promote that program.
Thank you!

It's only about 8 months old. I have found it great for my deeded weeks .if you have online access to your account, the destination exchange program shows up right there. There have many weeks a ailable including prime time.

 

[dougp26364]

We left DRI because of the outlandish THE Club fee's. When we started about 7 or 8 years ago, the fee's were around $150/year. When we left 2 years ago they were just under $600 (we were a few points short of being Gold Elite members). That's a fee on TOP of you MF's, just to belong to THE Club. It was pushing our MF's plus THE Club fee's past what Marriott was charging us without providing Marriott quality. It was a deal breaker for us so much so we relinquished our weeks in a deed back to DRI.

If you bought your weeks to use, I'd stay away from buying more points, just to join THE Club. I bet you could probably buy another deeded week for the price of DRI's 2,000 points, and 2,000 points won't reserve anything of consequence for a full week.

 

[TJALB]

We left DRI because of the outlandish THE Club fee's. When we started about 7 or 8 years ago, the fee's were around $150/year. When we left 2 years ago they were just under $600 (we were a few points short of being Gold Elite members). That's a fee on TOP of you MF's, just to belong to THE Club. It was pushing our MF's plus THE Club fee's past what Marriott was charging us without providing Marriott quality. It was a deal breaker for us so much so we relinquished our weeks in a deed back to DRI.

If you bought your weeks to use, I'd stay away from buying more points, just to join THE Club. I bet you could probably buy another deeded week for the price of DRI's 2,000 points, and 2,000 points won't reserve anything of consequence for a full week.

You have a very good point. Actually I was considering doing just that. I’m going to talk to the Shark Thursday and if everything doesn’t go the way we want it to we will definitely walk away and purchase a 2 bedroom I’ve had my eye on. My concern with that is how little inventory there is for the 2 bedrooms.
Thanks so much for taking the time and interest to respond to my post. I’m always amazed at the quality of information I get from the TUG family. I think I’ve told 5 people here at KBC this week about TUG. Amazingly they had never heard of it.

 

[youppi]

KBC MF are too expensive to have only 7,500 pts per week. Your MF will be higher than an HI Collection member owning 15,000 pts. So, not a good deal.
Check this for MF
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jo0_ti3h8ZWy41VCCeaFLfpHqZKe38zADMPFQ9lDfg8/pubhtml#