Diamond Resorts enormously increases the cost of Maintenance/Reserves on their resorts.

Our family bought a number of timeshares from Sunterra. Their time share fees were stable and moderate. Sadly, they sold to Diamond resorts... an organization with an aggressive sales force that unmercilessly browbeats time share owners with schemes designed to gain ownership of individual time shares in return for points. Of course... you still pay a maintenance fee on your now... non-existent timeshare.

In 2008 they increase fees From $788 to $1100 dollars a year... an increase of about 35 percent. In 2009... more hefty fee increases were executed. As a result... at Powhatan Plantation, Green Springs and other Diamond Resorts locations... people are selling their time shares for $0.00. If one pays the yearly maintenance fees... you can get a time share free. I feel sure Diamond Resort is gobbling up these units to increase the number of units available for rental. After all... they can forgive the yearly charges.

This is a dishonest/high pressure company. I would advise anyone never to do business with Diamond resorts.

Truly dishonest and it appears there's nothing that can be done about it. I'm one of those thinking about giving mine up for $0 just to relinquish the maintenance fees that I have with Diamond. I bought mine in Hawaii over 10 years ago so it's cheaper for me to rent from others than to keep paying the maintenance fees myself with the other commitments I have in my life. Btw, I called and they are going up 8% for next year.

We just returned from a Redweek exchange of 7-days at the nice Greensprings Resort, and a Redweek 2-day rental at the not-so-nice Powhatan "resort". While there we toured Powhatan, and could not believe their whacky scheme being touted as vacation ownership. It was the most desperate confabulation of half-truths, and whole lies that we had ever encountered at a timeshare presentation (and there have been many!).

Their "genius" approach was to place the 24 resorts that they acquired from Sunterra bankruptcy into an irrevocable trust that could neither be resolved, so what they are selling are shares in this trust (similar to a share of stock in a publicly traded company) rather than a unit's week in their resort. The obvious problem with this is that there is normally a limited number of unit weeks that can be purchased from a developer's inventory, but with their ingenious scheme there is no limit to the number of shares in the whacky trust that they can sell.

The salesman valiant attempt to address the question of, "How do you keep this from turning into a health club where more memberships are sold than what the establishment can accommodate?" was to say that Diamond International is always purchasing distressed timeshare resorts and adding them into the trust (you remember, that trust that allegedly was irrevocable, and irresolvable). Yeah, right; this presentation is over - so show me the money.

My fees for my timeshare in St Maarten went from $1100 to $1300 in one year. It is surely time to sell and not do business with Diamond Resorts ever again! Once you add on the club dues, you are looking at $1600 before you even book a flight...not what I signed up for when the fees were only $600 9 years ago.

I'm sure this is a dumb question, but is there any legal stands that can be taken regarding the hikes on these maintenance fees, particularly with Diamond Resorts? Also, has anyone heard of a company in Arizona, supposedly a real estate company, that you don't have to pay upfront, but they will list your timeframe and if they sell it, then they will give you all but the fee required to sell it (minimal fee is $1500). I'm good with that if I can get from under the maintenance fees. Also, if foreclosure the punishment you'll get if you just discontinue paying maintenance fees, which of course will ruin your credit?

mariea62 wrote:

...Their "genius" approach was to place the 24 resorts that they acquired from Sunterra bankruptcy into an irrevocable trust that could neither be resolved, so what they are selling are shares in this trust (similar to a share of stock in a publicly traded company) rather than a unit's week in their resort. The obvious problem with this is that there is normally a limited number of unit weeks that can be purchased from a developer's inventory, but with their ingenious scheme there is no limit to the number of shares in the whacky trust that they can sell...

I'm not happy with DRi raising the MF the way they have, nor a number of other actions of theirs. But it's important to make accurate statements. DRI did not buy anything from a Sunterra bankruptcy, and the "trust" which is now called US Collections did not have 24 resorts in it when DRI bought Sunterra.

I don't know for certain if there is a limit to how many memberships DRI can sell in the US Collections if DRI does not add or expand resorts, but I believe that since the US Collections functions as a UDI type timeshare, there is a limit.

However, it is irresponsible of you to claim "there is normally a limited number of unit weeks that can be purchased from a developer's inventory, but with their ingenious scheme there is no limit to the number of shares in the whacky trust that they can sell". I'm pretty certain the concept is the same. Regardless of whether the developer is selling deeded weeks, UDI, or a "Collections contract" using the principles of a UDI, the developer in all cases can continue selling units/contracts if they expand the resort(s). Powhatan for example has maybe a dozen phases, the most recent was completed early in 2009. I think this last phase was allocated to the US Collections points system, but prior phases were sold as weeks units. There's no difference - as long as the developer continues to build it will always have inventory to sell.

Of course DRI has been buying units on the resale market and foreclosing on units, so that's another way they are able to continue selling inventory direct.

patw170 wrote:

I'm sure this is a dumb question, but is there any legal stands that can be taken regarding the hikes on these maintenance fees, particularly with Diamond Resorts? Also, has anyone heard of a company in Arizona, supposedly a real estate company, that you don't have to pay upfront, but they will list your timeframe and if they sell it, then they will give you all but the fee required to sell it (minimal fee is $1500). I'm good with that if I can get from under the maintenance fees. Also, if foreclosure the punishment you'll get if you just discontinue paying maintenance fees, which of course will ruin your credit?

When you ask a question about a resale company, it helps when you name the company. That's the only way anyone will know if they've worked with it.

So far I have not found anyone able to state they have a case against the developer / management company regarding the fee increases. I feel there are potential legalities which could be argued, but unless we have a deep pocket sugar daddy to foot the legal bill, take a look at the DA's in a few states and consider the many years it's taken them to begin addressing the timeshare resale scam companies. And the results, while promising, are too little, too late. So if our protection is so weak when those companies are actively defrauding owners, there's not much chance we'll see help when the developer/manager has more legal rights (per the HOA docs) to do what they are doing.

The existing deeded week owners need to band together and wrest control of the HOA from DRI. The HOA sets the annual fees, and contracts with a management company. This must be done sooner, rather than later, as every week DRI buys back gives them a larger share of the membership of those HOAs, and thus a larger share of the vote. If they own enough, they can control the elections.

I also don't know if those multiple phases in some of their resorts have multiple HOAs, or if each resort only has one. If they have multiple HOAs, it might be easier to gain control of some of the older ones, as DRI would be less likely to control as many votes. But if that is the case, you must also consider which HOA (or who, if not an HOA - possibly DRI) owns which resort amenities, and whether that owner can restrict usage by the others. If a clubhouse is owned by one of the HOAs, that HOA could restrict its usage by all other owners, or could charge the others for its use. If owned by DRI, they could use it as a bargaining chip to convince the HOAs to retain them as management.

I support Meltowne's comment that if we as owners want the trend to change we must step into actions and get involved in the HOA/Boards each year and drive some accountability and transparency into the system.

Although I do object fully to excessive MF, reserve fees, etc. I also feel we should all be realistic about how our property will maintain or improve to a quality standard that will drive higher proproperty values, increased rental/trade levels, etc. It does take good maintance AND reinvestment in capital improvements to retain the quality each property achieved during initial construction/sales. Only with full ownership, high utilization, etc can the shared fees be reasonable.

Sunterra was not perfect as their properties lost their Gold Crown status due to lack of care/maintenace/service/renewal. DRI may be trying to hard to restore the level of quality too fast or simply inefficient with the funds they are collecting, but if we want lower fees we need to make every dollar invested count toward filling the units and having 100% ownership that pays their fair share of the fees on-time.

Everyone get involved now. Don't give DRI your proxy vote if you don't think they are being good stewards/mgrs. Select a few owner/reps to vote on behalf of the real owners on how best to spend the fees.

Happy Vactioning,

E Cordova Present_Arms

PS: I'm own over 20 timeshares and even the best in the business, Marriott Vacation Club, charges around $1000/yr in Maint fees & Reserve fees for their 2bd/2ba units to keep the ALL at Interval top level (Premier Levels). Each of my Powhatan 2bd/2ba (half of the 4bd/4ba fee of $1160) is only about $600. Not really that bad when you compare apples to apples. Difference is Marriott is all top drawer and sold out at most sites and DRI still has a way to go.

meltowne wrote:

The existing deeded week owners need to band together and wrest control of the HOA from DRI. The HOA sets the annual fees, and contracts with a management company. This must be done sooner, rather than later, as every week DRI buys back gives them a larger share of the membership of those HOAs, and thus a larger share of the vote. If they own enough, they can control the elections.

I also don't know if those multiple phases in some of their resorts have multiple HOAs, or if each resort only has one. If they have multiple HOAs, it might be easier to gain control of some of the older ones, as DRI would be less likely to control as many votes. But if that is the case, you must also consider which HOA (or who, if not an HOA - possibly DRI) owns which resort amenities, and whether that owner can restrict usage by the others. If a clubhouse is owned by one of the HOAs, that HOA could restrict its usage by all other owners, or could charge the others for its use. If owned by DRI, they could use it as a bargaining chip to convince the HOAs to retain them as management.

We are in the same boat as everyone else. Our Diamond sales department told us if we went into the trust it would help keep our MF's or as they now call it assessment fees. They are out and out slick willie liars when they talk to people. I would never again trust any time share salesmen. I don't understand how they can continue raising the fees on a yearly basis and I feel it is because they are keeping their business afloat on the backs of their timeshare owners. There should be something to govern the expenses and it is hard to understand how fees can go up in a down economy. When speaking to our attorney he seems to think the contract is iron clad and we will have it until we die and our heirs will be on the hook later. There should be something out there that protects people from what looks like an out and out scam. It would seem that if their sales office should have to abide to what they tell you but if you do not get it in writing then you can't prove it. I keep wondering if any of this would go under a class A lawsuit of disreputable business practices.

We also bought our weeks in Sunterra and then when our wonderful timeshare salesman convinced us with high pressure techniques to change to points we bought into his spiel. Now we are under the Home Advantage Points in the Club which gives us access to other resorts under this "umbrella" to book 13 months in advance. I am not sure at this time what other things it adds on our contract as the sales dept. doesn't explain anything but the good side. Which wasn't. We are older people, tired of travel, unable to contend with this high price of fees coming out of Diamond on a yearly basis and still growing. Our children can not afford this but guess what? They will inherit this debt! It should be against the law but I am sure they have a high dollar legal team that has made this contract this ironclad unless the attorney general steps in and put limitations on this. Perhaps we should all write the attorney general in Nevada to protest this practice that should be illegal. At this point we are stuck with 168,000 points and spent over $70,000 dollars to Diamond with more fees escalating. I don't understand why they are doing this unless they want to charge people all over again for points that have now been rendered useless for they are too expensive to maintain. We contacted one resale company that asked us to pay them $6000 for our points. They wanted it decided now or they couldn't do it. This is a red flag. Our attorney said we might not be protected if they don't sell the points or went bankrupt if Diamond could not bounce back on us to continue to bill us for points we no longer have. At this point, we not longer know what to do for to refuse to pay will ruin us credit wise. Any advise? Since we have free speech perhaps we should picket their resorts!

I have gotten quite a few responses... but yours is one of the most heart-breaking.

I withstood the high pitch to sell one's time share for points. Someone made money originally selling these time shares for top dollar... then resold them by having people pay... yet once again... to convert units into points. You could have bought a small house in another locale for the money you have spent!

Sadly... today... there is no resale market for time shares in this economy. Further... time shares are offered for lease in many other venues... further negating their real estate value.

Good luck... my prayers are with you. Hopefully we can find a way out of having to deal with the "disreputable" Diamond Resorts, Inc.

If there's any method we can fight the high rise of the Diamond Resorts maintenance fees, please count me in. You would think after all this time, there would be something that could be done.

I was with Sunterra and then our Maui timeshare was transferred to Diamond Resorts. Fortunately, we made the decision two years ago to trade that unit in when we listened to another presentation in Acapulco and purchased the Mayan Palace. We were glad to get rid of those maintenance fees. However, getting rid of the D.R. unit is STILL going on. They will not cooperate with the transfer company or the two notarized sets of paperwork we have turned in for their buyback program. They send certified letters to us asking for maint. fees, club fees, etc. I just ignore them. The only thing I can tell is they are hurting my credit score or rating but I don't care because I don't borrow to purchase things and I don't care about my credit score. It seems like the best way to take on D.Resorts would be thru a class action suit. It would take a team of high powered attorneys to take on D.R. but who has the time or resources for that? Good luck to everyone who is with D.R. You might do well to just stop paying maint. fees and forfeit the timeshare if it is too big a burden. Credit scores are not everything and the timeshare hassles are not worth passing down to children.

For those who just need to quickly get out of a timeshare ownership and are not trying to make anything on the sale, eBay is still one of the fastest ways to sell. Use a reputable timeshare closing company to make sure the deed and transfer is done properly. You can be free of the maintenance fee in 8-10 weeks.

On the other-hand if you want to hold on to your property then try renting the unit out using a listing here on Redweek. In most cases you can rent the property for a bit more than than the maintenance fees (depending on resort and season).

EC

Cloobeck has been quoted in an interview as saying that DRI was going to get out of the timeshare business and into the hotel business. It seems that they may i.m.o. be trying to force people into walking away from their deeds by choking them with expenses. Once they hold all of the deeds they own the place... and they got it for free!

We are deeded owners @ Poipu Point.We received statements mailed Oct.2 ,2011 for" Water Intrusion" due 1/1/2012 for $1000 a yr for 2 years plus another $1131 for owning the Hawaiian Collection of Resorts which we acquired by buying 2000 pts to use in trading.That system is very unsatisfactory,by the way.I guess Poipu is part of the "collection".I think that the insurance claim for the water damage was denied because it occured over time and was not attended to. However,how would we know? We have no lists of other owners or addresses of board members. Is anyone else upset by this? They offered Mtgs in Hawaii and CA, but they occurred before we received the statements and required an RSVP!

I am also an owner at Poipu Point and found this thread via an internet search engine. I wanted to know who else felt the same way I do. Further your experience confirmed mine: e.g., "offered meetings in Hawaii and CA, but they occurred before we received the statements and required an RSVP!"

We need to band together. I have asked for the names and contact information of the AOAO board members to further inquire into this. You should do the same and then we can compare notes.

www.poipuowners.org/ is the group that is dedicated to regaining control of the resort

The clear course of action here seem straightforward. Elect only owners to the board; that is no DSI employees. Conduct a thorough evaluation of the project costs: $65 mil sounds way out of line (~$300k per unit). Work out a payment plan that spreads the SA over a longer period of time. Also determine what loan possibilities exist for this property.

In the meantime, owners should organize at our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Point-of-Poipu-Angry-Owners/148027451960608