Diamond Resorts raises maintenance fees again!

They represent the financial interest of their employer. Plain and simple.

I just got maintenance fees for 2013 and it it just crazy. It makes no sense. I am a deeded owner since 1995. DRI took over 2009 and my fees have gone up $800.00 in 2 years. My resort is in Sedona AZ. I own another timeshare in South African as well( use it just for trading). I don't want to go anywhere else I want to use my week as an owner. They want me to buy into their "Club" and I refuse to give up what I have and that makes them mad. I refuse to do their updates , because they push me to give up what I own. They get just down right rude. I believe they want my deed, so that I would not be able to go their every year. So my fees keep going up. There is no way they need to increase that much yearly. I wish everyone would get together and start a class action law-suit and protest this company.

lorir248 wrote:

I just got maintenance fees for 2013 and it it just crazy. It makes no sense. I am a deeded owner since 1995. DRI took over 2009 and my fees have gone up $800.00 in 2 years. My resort is in Sedona AZ. I own another timeshare in South African as well( use it just for trading). I don't want to go anywhere else I want to use my week as an owner. They want me to buy into their "Club" and I refuse to give up what I have and that makes them mad. I refuse to do their updates , because they push me to give up what I own. They get just down right rude. I believe they want my deed, so that I would not be able to go their every year. So my fees keep going up. There is no way they need to increase that much yearly. I wish everyone would get together and start a class action law-suit and protest this company.

Lori,

You do not have to give up your deeded week. Just say no if that is not what you want to do. They will accept that fact. Yes, they will try to get you to join the Club, but that is not something that you have to do.

Yes, DRI took over and raise fees on us a great deal the first couple of years. None of us liked that. I am not a deeded owner but a points owner. My maintenance fees went up as well. However, this year they only went up by 1%. Last year was 2 or 3 per cent. Now I compare that to my Marriott timeshare deeded week and it has consistently gone up as well each year. From all that I have read, the big timeshare management companies like Marriott, Hilton, Disney, and Diamond, etc don't go backwards on maintenance fees. Those fees only go up and not down.

Just remember that you don't have to go to points if you don't want to. They are not mad, they are just trying to make a sale. I don't like that type of pressure but that is all it is. Enjoy your timeshare.

All MF's go up. Typically from 3 to 5% per year. Costs to maintain you home go up as well. Taxes go up, lawn care goes up, utilities go up, cable TV costs go up et......With timeshares employee's also expect a raise each year. So it's no surprise that MF's increase.

The problem for former Sunterra owners is that Sunterra kept MF's artifically low and refused to do routine maintenace in order to sell more timeshare units. They didn't care about owners after they bought. They only cared about making another sale. They felt they needed to keep MF's low to attract new buyers or get former buyers to buy more weeks. That's why Sunterra is bankrupt and why another company now manages those resorts.

Ignore the sales weasels. Keep your deeped weeks if all you want to do is go to your home resort. It doesn't matter if it's DRI, Marriott, DVC, Bluegreen Wyhndam et....ALL timeshares that are in active sales have sales staffs that want you to buy more. We own with DRI, Southwind, Hilton and Marriott. All of them constantly are trying to sell us something "new". We own what we want so we just ignore their attempts.

Charles minimizes the problem. MF's at Los Abrigados went up by a lot more than 1% for deeded owners. Since DRI took over they've gone through the roof. We pay more in MF's for a one-week TS than it would cost to stay at a hotel where you would get a free breakfast and your sheets changed every night.

Lori is a bit naive about the issue of a class action lawsuit. This was done against ILX over the issue of non-availability. Owners ended up getting something like $30 or $40 in "credit" that you had to spend there within a specific period of time. The lawyers for both sides got hundreds of thousands. If we wanted to take on DRI first we would have to find out who the deeded owners are and their contact info. Then for every one without an email address we would have to mail out some sort of info sheet. To follow up there would have to be a lot of phone calling. Who is going to bear the cost or time of doing this?

Just face it. We are all screwed. Your friendly Republican legislators have fixed the laws in the states where DRI does business to make consumer redress against the kind of larceny the Timeshare INdustry perpetrates all but impossible.

davidk689 wrote:

Charles minimizes the problem. MF's at Los Abrigados went up by a lot more than 1% for deeded owners. Since DRI took over they've gone through the roof. We pay more in MF's for a one-week TS than it would cost to stay at a hotel where you would get a free breakfast and your sheets changed every night.

Lori is a bit naive about the issue of a class action lawsuit. This was done against ILX over the issue of non-availability. Owners ended up getting something like $30 or $40 in "credit" that you had to spend there within a specific period of time. The lawyers for both sides got hundreds of thousands. If we wanted to take on DRI first we would have to find out who the deeded owners are and their contact info. Then for every one without an email address we would have to mail out some sort of info sheet. To follow up there would have to be a lot of phone calling. Who is going to bear the cost or time of doing this?

Just face it. We are all screwed. Your friendly Republican legislators have fixed the laws in the states where DRI does business to make consumer redress against the kind of larceny the Timeshare INdustry perpetrates all but impossible.

I was not trying to minimize the issue, but only relaying what I knew as fact. Maintenance fees are outrageous no matter how you look at it. At some point people will stop timesharing if the maanagement companies continue to raise these fees and it's just not cost effective anymore and foreclosures will increase even more than they have to this point.

I don't know what DRI gave as an explanation for the increase in fees at Los Abrigados, but I stayed there last summer and loved the size of the units and the property. However, it needs a lot of work to come up to standard. I believe DRI will put some real work in there because they are asking for a lot of points from owners and the place has HUGE potential. ILX obviously was not maintaining the property as they should.

I have a deed AND I also belong to the Club. I pay maintenance fees and also Club dues. BOTH of those have gone up every year, of course! I receive points every year which I can either use at my home resort or exchange for another resort. Also part of my fees go to membership in Interval International. So if Diamond does not have a resort where I want to go, I can exchange for an Interval resort....for another fee, of course!! I have been told that if I drop out of the Club, I will only be able to use my weeks at my home resort. Or I would have to carry my own membership in Interval for exchanges, which could cost me as much or more than membership in the Club!! Everything has gone up to the point where timeshare ownership is no longer a bargain of any kind. I don't understand why people are still buying from these companies at their prices, when they could practically "steal" timeshare weeks by buying from someone who wants to get rid of theirs!!!

Yes I know that I do not have to give up my deeded week. However they have converted them to points. I still get my "Platinum" week. I realize that they are just trying to make a sale, however maintenance fees do not need to increase by 80%. I have not joined their "Club" and I am restricted where I can go, unless I bank my week with Invertval International (II). Because I do not buy into that I should only be paying for my resorts. When ILX owned it, it was great, fees would go up 1-2% a year , not 80%. I realize that ILX however mis-managed their funds and upgrades where needed, but this is ridiculous. I love going to my timeshare, infact going up on Friday for the week. Happy Holidays

charless345 wrote:

lorir248 wrote:

I just got maintenance fees for 2013 and it it just crazy. It makes no sense. I am a deeded owner since 1995. DRI took over 2009 and my fees have gone up $800.00 in 2 years. My resort is in Sedona AZ. I own another timeshare in South African as well( use it just for trading). I don't want to go anywhere else I want to use my week as an owner. They want me to buy into their "Club" and I refuse to give up what I have and that makes them mad. I refuse to do their updates , because they push me to give up what I own. They get just down right rude. I believe they want my deed, so that I would not be able to go their every year. So my fees keep going up. There is no way they need to increase that much yearly. I wish everyone would get together and start a class action law-suit and protest this company.

Lori,

You do not have to give up your deeded week. Just say no if that is not what you want to do. They will accept that fact. Yes, they will try to get you to join the Club, but that is not something that you have to do.

Yes, DRI took over and raise fees on us a great deal the first couple of years. None of us liked that. I am not a deeded owner but a points owner. My maintenance fees went up as well. However, this year they only went up by 1%. Last year was 2 or 3 per cent. Now I compare that to my Marriott timeshare deeded week and it has consistently gone up as well each year. From all that I have read, the big timeshare management companies like Marriott, Hilton, Disney, and Diamond, etc don't go backwards on maintenance fees. Those fees only go up and not down.

Just remember that you don't have to go to points if you don't want to. They are not mad, they are just trying to make a sale. I don't like that type of pressure but that is all it is. Enjoy your timeshare.

You are right, it hasn't happened in the past. I just got my mt fee bill, what a croc.It went from 571.00 to715.00. I'm a deeded owner for every other year,this property is not worth 1430.00 a week. I'm never going to get rid of this albatross. Please send me your thoughts.

Lori, You are right to be outraged.I'm also a deeded own at PVC and mine just jumped from 571.00 to715.00.I have had mine listed in several locations and can't give it away. I'm thinking of walking away and suffer the consequence. I loved my timeshare and always used it but enough is enough. I'm every other year which would make that one week 1430.00 a wk. No flipping way.I just got the message on Facebook that the class action was settle in mediation for the Hawaiian Collection,it would be nice to see another on the heels of this one.

I am not naive about the issue at all. I realize that a class action lawsuit isn't about the owners. It is about the lawyers. I remember the lawsuit against ILX. I got $25 LA bucks , big deal. Los Abrigados is a beautiful resort and indeed needed to be upgraded. The grounds there do need alot of attention. I also realize that it is something that needs to be planned to get what you want. A $400.00 increase yearly is a bit much. Now if next year it only increased 1-5% then I would understand that it was called for. They have less employees now than they did in 1995 when I purchased my TS. I own a South African TS. Never been there and probably will never go, but I can trade with RCI and go wherever else I may want to go. DRI wanted me to give the Dikhololo week and they were going to combine the points together for 3 years and they would pay my MF for RCI if I bought into "The Club" I declined the whole deal and kept my 1 week in Platinum worth 13000 points to their platinum week = trade. I love Los Abrigados and it's an easy drive from Phoenix to totally relax for a week. I refuse all updates. Not interested in updated my timeshare. I was interested to see how everyone else felt about DRI.

davidk689 wrote:

Charles minimizes the problem. MF's at Los Abrigados went up by a lot more than 1% for deeded owners. Since DRI took over they've gone through the roof. We pay more in MF's for a one-week TS than it would cost to stay at a hotel where you would get a free breakfast and your sheets changed every night.

Lori is a bit naive about the issue of a class action lawsuit. This was done against ILX over the issue of non-availability. Owners ended up getting something like $30 or $40 in "credit" that you had to spend there within a specific period of time. The lawyers for both sides got hundreds of thousands. If we wanted to take on DRI first we would have to find out who the deeded owners are and their contact info. Then for every one without an email address we would have to mail out some sort of info sheet. To follow up there would have to be a lot of phone calling. Who is going to bear the cost or time of doing this?

Just face it. We are all screwed. Your friendly Republican legislators have fixed the laws in the states where DRI does business to make consumer redress against the kind of larceny the Timeshare INdustry perpetrates all but impossible.

Well Lori, now you know what we think of DRI. We should all be grateful to them for relieving us of all that extra cash we have filling up our pockets, and their "updates" are such an amusing way to waste a couple of hours honing our skills at resisting high pressure liars. Most of all we should thank them for the improvements they've made to our timeshares since they took over from ILX -- crappier soaps & cosmetics, no lotion, no more cotton balls, no more Q tips, no more little basket for that stuff, no more paper towels, same old crappy TV sets which don't work, same old weak wifi signal which i only dependable in the lobby, same old $75 WalMart toilets with filthy rims you have to look at while you are taking a bath. I would sure like to hear from that creepy POS who was on Undercover Boss to hear how he justifies this. I have yet to meet a single person who works in the Timeshare Industry (other than the drones who check you in and maintain the place) who is not a totally dishonest waste of skin.

You have wifi?? (even if it's weak) Better than Westgate - they charge for it. Otherwise I love your post and totally agree with your summation of the TS "industry"

I managed to get out by walking away a couple of years ago and just keep an interested eye on all the suckers who still waste their $$ - good luck!

How did you just walk away? Would be interested in knowing how to do that.

Walking away is simple, just don't pay your MF's, they reposses your timeshare and you're done. You may (or maybe not) have to tollerate collections agencies calls and the foreclosure/past due MF's might show up on your credit rating.

You can also fail to pay your MF's, allow them to attempt to collect, then call their loss mitigation dept. to see if they'll take a deed back vs forcing them to foreclose on the unit, which can be more expensive to the homeowners assoc.

Keep in mind that no improvements are made in advance of collecting MF's. Right now, the resort might not be worth the MF's they're asking. They're collecting those fee's to fund the improvements, necessary maintenance projects et....that will be preformed in the future.

Maybe you should be asking Sunterra owners, who went through the same sticker shock with MF's, how they feel now. Initially there was the outrage I'm seeing here but, after the repairs and maintenace issues were taken care of and the upgrades started to be put into place, the compaints subsided to where you don't read much about it anymore.

Dougp,

I was certainly one of those enraged owners who did not like the increase in fees, but you're so right in that when you see your properties improve you don't get as upset. I saw how my Epic Resorts properties went to pot over time and when Sunterra took over from them it did not improve. However, DRI has spruced up many of the places and I notice that the reviews on the properties have improved as well.

My wife is now not so closed to staying at some DRI properties now. Before she only wanted to stay our Marriott timeshare properties, but now she will at least ask to see the DRI photos of the units before instantly saying, "No."

Los Abrigados needs work. I don't think people realize the amounts of money that it costs to fix things up. I think DRI needs to do a better job in communicating the costs and show how those dollars are used to improve the properties. It's go to be simpler than what they share with the budget. Maybe some pie charts or graphs would help. Also, they need to send the information about what they plan to do with the maintenance fees either before or with the bill. Heck, you see an increase of 10%, you immediately want to know why NOW not a month or two later. The anger and concern are immediate and that is why people get on these boards and complain.

If DRI has a fault, it's communicating the reasons for MF increase and/or how those increases will be used. Maybe conceptual drawings would help but, that also adds expense.

DRI's been at this a long time. I suspect they've come to realize that no matter what they do, people are going to be upset for approx 12 to 24 months, then when they see the improvements, the compaints will die off. Many will complain loudly and threaten to not pay their MF's but, it's a small percentage that follows through on the threat and, bad debt is calculated into current MF's anyway. DRI is VERY good about estimating bad debt. Even if they over estimate the percentage of bad debt it comes out as a good thing. The extra money budgeted buy not needed is used to reduce current or future MF's. It's a system that has proven to work very well for them and at a lower cost than trying to convince everyone that they know what they're doing. In the end, those that stay see the results and are typically happy.

Before DRI purchased Sunterra, we refused to stay at Sunterra managed resorts based upon the experiences we had with them. When Sunterra was the management company, everything was cheap and falling apart.

DRI has changed that by upgrading to better quality, preforming maintenance that was far behind, maintaining the resort grounds, brining in employee's that CARE about owners and overhauling the way the sales staff approaches owners. Overhauling the sales staff takes time but, it will get done. DRI isn't a high pressure outfit but they can't just fire everyone and start from scratch. They will weed out the bad sales persons, they'll change the way floor managers are trained and they do inspect what they expect. It's a culture change that takes a couple of years but, for those that stick it out, they'll see what I mean.

DRI is far from the cheapest timeshare we own but the resorts are well run and comfortable. We've learned to give new additions a couple of years before booking a stay. We use to avoid Sunterra resorts. Now we have no qualms about staying at any of the DRI managed resorts. Quality has been pretty even throughout the system, they have quality employees, they respond to complaints if you're polite, and they read what's in print about them (I can assure you they're reading this thread). DRI is the ONLY timeshare company where the CEO, Stephen Cloobeck, has been know to make personal phone calls to owners. I have been contacted directly by him no less than three times and have exchanged E-mail corespondence with him several times. Not just employee's of his but with the Mr. Cloobeck directly. He is a very involved CEO and he does care about his owners.

Funny, I wrote Steve Cloobeck an open letter on this forum but he never contacted me. Please ask him to give me a call. I would like to discuss with him that he is raising the maintenance fees AGAIN for 2013. Every year they go up drastically. It has been more than 24 months and I am still upset because the economics of this deal just do not work anymore. Just buy me out, Steve. I'll take half what I paid.

No kidding Robert, I don't know how much yours went up this year but mine has doubled.It looks like its time to walk away .I emailed Cloobeck until it was intercepted by his vp of external affairs, what a joke that conversation was. I have had my property listed for a yr for .01 and still have it. The new mt fee is a given I'll never get rid of it.

Dave, please share your experience of walking away from your ts. Did you have a deed? What was the process? Did it kill your credit? I'm thinking I'm going to have to do the same .