Diamond Resorts International

I've been searching/reading about DRI here and all I'm seeing are these lawsuits against them with people trying to get out. I understand that they are in the resort acquisition business and from what I can tell, these are people who were part invested in resorts that have gotten taken over by DRI.

So as a newbie to time shares... I'm aware of the general pros/cons of time shares. Let me share my recent experience with DRI.. I understand I would be buying "points" and once that amount is paid off, I have them for life with annual maintenance fee as long as I keep paying annually, I'm good. 370+ resort locations, not bad...

I'm looking at 7500 points. It's about all I want to pay/use each year since I am not retired and have a fixed amount of annual vacation hours. Annual maintenance fee... isn't bad at all.

Everything looks ok from my end... but I'm seeing a lot of negative posts mainly by people who have been part of resorts that DRI acquired. What about current DRI owners who aren't part of that mess... how has your experience been so far? Would you recommend them? If not, who would you recommend?

I just wanna know what I might be getting myself into. Any sound/non-biased advice about DRI is appreciated...

joem961 wrote:

I just wanna know what I might be getting myself into. Any sound/non-biased advice about DRI is appreciated...

Personally, I don't care AT ALL for DRI and / or its' practices, but the purpose of my reply is really just to wonder "aloud" why you are so focused on buying into DRI at all in first place.

I'm frankly not a fan of Wyndham either, but if what you want is a "pure points" contract with no home resort, it occurs to me that a Wyndham CWA points contract would likely cost you no more money (maybe less) in the resale market, likely cost you about the same amount of money (maybe less) in annual fees, and would likely provide more resort / location options with ACTUAL (not just theoretical) space availability.

Just some food for thought, with a respectful suggestion to not just have "tunnel vision", zeroing in on DRI while ignoring other available options. It's frankly very rare to see someone actively seeking to buy *IN* to DRI, while so many current DRI owners are clearly very unhappy with DRI and are desperately seeking a way *OUT* of DRI (including many people looking to jump on the lawsuit bandwagon). Of course, it's ultimately your own research to conduct and your own personal choice and decision to make. Good luck!

Well, I recently did a "tour" of DRI to take advantage of some of the perks they were offering during a weekend vacation in Tahoe. So yeah... a bit of tunnel vision here. Generally though, time share vacations and perks has intrigued me but I also do not like the feeling of obligating myself into anything.

The points package I was looking at was 7500 at $30k with $1600 annual maintenance fee (kinda pricey).

My parents had Wyndham and I've used it through them in the past. What I didn't like was they didn't seem to be as flexible as DRI and sometimes I'd still have to pay to stay and some of their resorts or they simply didn't have availability during the times I needed it. Not sure why... maybe they were out on points? I dunno. These concerns people are having with DRI and whatnot is starting to make me feel a bit disenchanted with the time share concept...

So basically are there any time share companies that allow you to "have your cake and eat it too" but not be committed into paying into some crazy annual maintenance fee? Because even after I pay off the $30.... $1600/annually ($113/monthly) is still pretty pricey.

joem961 wrote:

Well, I recently did a "tour" of DRI to take advantage of some of the perks they were offering during a weekend vacation in Tahoe. So yeah... a bit of tunnel vision here. Generally though, time share vacations and perks has intrigued me but I also do not like the feeling of obligating myself into anything.

The points package I was looking at was 7500 at $30k with $1600 annual maintenance fee (kinda pricey).

My parents had Wyndham and I've used it through them in the past. What I didn't like was they didn't seem to be as flexible as DRI and sometimes I'd still have to pay to stay and some of their resorts or they simply didn't have availability during the times I needed it. Not sure why... maybe they were out on points? I dunno. These concerns people are having with DRI and whatnot is starting to make me feel a bit disenchanted with the time share concept...

So basically are there any time share companies that allow you to "have your cake and eat it too" but not be committed into paying into some crazy annual maintenance fee? Because even after I pay off the $30.... $1600/annually ($113/monthly) is still pretty pricey.

With no disrespect or personal offense intended, paying developer-direct prices is ALWAYS both entirely unnecessary and usually outright foolish. You ARE aware that there is a secondary (resale) market, right? In my opinion, there is no timeshare on Planet Earth worth $30k (plus non-deductible interest, for years on end, since you would apparently be financing the purchase). That's frankly just plain nuts, at least in my personal opinion.

I can't tell you what you should buy or what would work for you (...possibly NOTHING in timeshares, quite frankly), but just know and understand very clearly that you could acquire a FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND Wyndham points in the resale market for a few HUNDRED dollars. I had a 182,000 Wyndham points ownership, with an attached prime fixed winter week in Atlantic Coast Florida, that I gave away a few years ago FOR FREE. I now own and use only a few fixed weeks (ALL of them purchased ONLY in the resale market).

ANY and EVERY timeshare, by definition, necessarily involves annual maintenance fees. That's simply the nature of the beast. Furniture, appliances, televisions, landscaping, repairs, pools, hot tubs, air conditioners and property insurance and electricity don't all just happen by magic (or for free) --- materials, labor and management all cost money. What you might consider "crazy" for annual fees is of course your own personal determination and decision. It's all relative, but in any scenario there is no free ride (...and no free cake).

No, you cannot "have your cake and eat it too" (your words) --- some would call that unrealistic mindset "the millennial mentality" (I have no idea of YOUR age, but it doesn't really matter). That aside, I'm not really sure that timeshare is the right "fit" for you at all, given your overtly stated aversion to "commitment". You can always just rent when / where you want to travel. That would be a fair number of trips for the $30k you are currently (and unwisely) considering throwing away. In any case, good luck with whatever you decide ---- but buying DRI (or anything else) developer-direct would be an expensive mistake.

Well that's certainly eye-opening and makes for a very valid point. Odd that no one from Diamond Resorts "owners" have responded positively in their defense to this outside of those folks looking to get out of DRI.

Fair enough... not gonna do the time share thing.

Has anyone been approached recently to relinquish their membership?

I haven't yet and have not heard of any other members who I talk to mention it either.

Only a complete fool would buy into DRI. If you are really determined to be an "owner" with DRI, there are thousands of people who regret being suckered by them who would be happy to GIVE you theirs for no more than a nominal transfer fee.

The new owners seem better than the old, but I think today all timeshare deals are bad. Go online and look at rentals at the resort and compare to the maintenance fees.

The secondary market will probably get you a second class membership because they all structure the agreements to make such purchases unattractive. But you can buy one for $0.01 plus some fees. Check eBay. One company is selling many Diamond memberships for $1.00 and they have decent feedback from buyers. How does that business model work, unless they are getting money from the owners to offlload these properties?

"unless they are getting money from the owners to offlload these properties?"

of course they are, and if you are considering getting into one remember that you may have to pay someone when the time comes you want to be rid of yours.

I can attest that DRI can be a good experience with its growing inventory of resorts and flexibility, but it is expensive and for many people it's better to spend the money directly with hotels, resorts, private timeshare rentals - or buy a cheap timeshare resale and trade it through RCI or II. My DRI points generally get me about the same value in a resort as if I paid cash, and that includes DRI maintenance costs and prorating the initial cost of the DRI Club (projected 20 yr basis). I have two weeks in a mountain resort this year for 6750 points and I have previously banked points so I could have a great ocean view in a good DRI Hawaii resort at high season. Having paid into timeshares, I tend to stay in better places than I would if I was budgeting my cash That's definitely the case with my Starwood timeshare. If value is one's object, go Disney, since the return on your purchase blows all the other timeshare outfits away. But then you have to use RCI for exchanges or limit yourself to the the Disney and affiliate timeshares. I subscribe to the Timeshare Users Group (TUG) and think that is a good place for anyone with questions on timeshares to start (but have to be able to handle stories of timeshare regret).

national, international and state timeshare laws and strict regulations are not easily found. THEY ARE ESSENTIAL TO STOP THE FRAUD AND THIEVERY OF VERY MANY TIMESHARES COMPANIES. CONTACT YOUR STATE AND NATIONAL LEGISLATORS AND DEMAND THAT STRINGENT TIMESHARE LAWS MUST BE ENACTED AND STRICTLY ENFORCED.

CHECK THE MANHATTAN CLUB LAWSUIT ON REDWEEK.COM. I OWN AT THIS FRAUDULENT TIMESHARE!

save your money and travel with vrbo etc....check out dave ramsey and his thoughts