There are three Facebook groups for Diamond Resorts members and I have not seen anyone there who owns only resale points. Everyone seems to be well aware that points from other members are available for free, but these opportunities don't seem to be very attractive to the membership. The people how do acquire resale points do so with the intention of buying more developer points and re-qualifying the resale points. Tier benefits seem to be very attractive to Diamond's members. This seems very different from what I have seen in Bluegreen and Wyndham groups. In these latter cases there are members who want the tier benefits, but there are others who do not.
Im not a diamond owner but have looked at that club as a possible purchase. It is my understanding that you cannot be a member of the "Club" unless you buy directly from Diamond. ie Resale owners do not belong to the Club; so they are limited in the resorts that they can reserve.
Wyndham is different. Resale buyers do belong to Club Wyndham and their points can be used make reservations at all of the resorts in the club
Its not that some Wyndham owners want or dont want the benefits of a VIP membership We all "want" the VIP discounts and the free newspaper. I am quite "positive" about that. What some seem to take as negativity, and a bad thing, are the posts like mine that point out that those VIP benefits cost much more than they are worth and that a non VIP resale owner can enjoy the same vacations and the same number of vacations at the same resorts as VIP owners for much less money. None of that speaks to the character or the intelligence of the person that has decided to buy (or bought) a wyndham ownership from the developer... whats done is done, and who am I to question that guys motive, especially when he hasnt asked for my advice.. ... Im not speaking to that guy at all. I really dont care that he made a stupid
financial decision.
The person Im speaking to when I post something like this is the guy on a budget, that wants to get the most bang for his vacation buck... or the guy thinking about a timeshare purchase and wants to make the best deal possible or the guy that just bought from the developer and is wondering "did I make a good deal?" Even then I try not to give advice, but rather, as Sargent Friday used to say "just the facts ma'am, just the facts"
heres a story that points out what Im trying to say.
I bought a boat a few years ago. it cost $60,000 to buy, and about $10000 a year to dock and another $10000 a year to operate and maintain. In the last two years I have gone out one day for about 4 hours. So you might say that that was a stupid financial decision, and of course it was. Those are the facts
What you dont know is I really didnt want a boat, nor did I buy one. What I wanted was a home in Southern California. The ones I was looking at cost over a million dollars (which I dont have) and about the same $20000 a year to operate and maintain. I looked at doing it with timeshares too. Enough worldmark credits to live in all year would cost about $150000 to buy and $30000 a year maintenance fees. So the boat actually works out to be cheaper than the alternatives I looked at and I really like being called "Captain Ron"
So I dont presume to pass judgement on the folks that choose to throw their money away on things that work for them, or make them feel good. If judgement is what they take from my posts (and the posts of others here); thats just wrong.