Acquisition News [Gold Key Resorts] [MERGED]

At DRI Resorts if you are using your Ownership Week in the Resort or your DRI Points there is no daily fees. If you have traded through RCI or II to stay, there is a daily fee because you are not there as a DRI Member.

Michael1991 said:

Identical wording is used in the fact sheets for Ka'anapali Beach Club and The Point at Poipu. Someone here should be able to say how members are charged when they exchange in via exchange companies.

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geist1223 said:

At DRI Resorts if you are using your Ownership Week in the Resort or your DRI Points there is no daily fees. If you have traded through RCI or II to stay, there is a daily fee because you are not there as a DRI Member.

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Speaking from personal experience, exactly as Geist1223 said. The only way you avoid the fees is to come in as an owner. Otherwise you clipped for the fees.

In 2014 I had expiring points that I was able to burn making a reservation at Poipu in 2015. That reservation overlapped with our normal owner reservation for 2015. We had family members there so we shared two units. The exchange unit got hit with non-owner fees. Our owner reservation did not.

We did request two rooms close together, since we were family, and they accommodated us in rooms two doors apart. I brought along a spare wireless router, connected it to the broadband in our room, and set up own personal wireless network that covered the two rooms. That saved paying the internet charge on the exchange room.

I checked in on an RCI exchange today that was confirmed last month.

tschwa2 said:

DRI adds resort fee for RCI exchanges into Beachwoods.

This appears in the RCI confirmation.


It did not appear when I first booked in October.

The resort is already not on the beach. They have made improvements and it will have nice amenities when complete (but it's not complete yet) but from an exchange perspective I can't see this being worth an extra $175 over the exchange fee plus a unit deposit.

I will be checking in on March 24 and will give an update.

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Apparently this took effect March 6, 2016. If your confirmation is prior, then you will not be charged this fee. However, this will be a fee for future exchangers, owner or not. You will not be charged this fee if staying during your week.

Everyone still has to pay for internet service in the units. The listed "complimentary WIFI" refers to WIFI in the public areas around the Welcome Center Complex. WIFI costs $16.95/day or $44.95/week. This has always been the case.

Thanks. My confirmation was from October 2015. I would hope that if one were paying a daily $25 resort fee that it would include internet in the unit.

Point tables for Gold Key locations are finally in the reservation directory. Here is the link.

pp. 72 & 75-77

https://cmsprod.diamondresorts.com/sites/default/files/ReservationsDirectory_67.pdf

Here now. Enjoying our stay. I would probably be ok with a $5 or $6 per person a day resort fee for any day you chose to use the amenities. Something where you check in and get a bracelet for the day. But at 9-5p with not even the outdoor pool or the big slide open any more would be ridiculous.

So with the fees, which I did not have to pay because I booked prior to the fee implementation, this will probably be my first and last stay. It may be an ok value for off season and mid season DRI points owners.

We had a rainy morning and it was a little humid but the rest of the day has been perfect.

Michael1991 said:

Identical wording is used in the fact sheets for Ka'anapali Beach Club and The Point at Poipu. Someone here should be able to say how members are charged when they exchange in via exchange companies.

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It looks like Diamond modified the daily resort fees and changed the wording. Here's what the "fact sheet" page has, in part, for each GK location.

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Ocean Beach Club
Hotel Guests and Exchange Reservation: A photo identification, credit card for $100 security deposit and a daily $18.00 plus tax resort fee will be required (cash is not an acceptable form of deposit). Resort Fee includes WiFi, local calls, use of the fitness center and pools, business center, activity center, and complimentary self-parking.

Oceanaire Resort
Hotel Guests and Exchange Reservation: A photo identification, credit card for $100 security deposit and a daily $18.00 plus tax resort fee will be required (cash is not an acceptable form of deposit). Resort Fee includes WiFi, local calls, use of the fitness center and pools, business center, activity center, and complimentary self-parking.

Beach Quarters Resort
Hotel Guests and Exchange Reservation: A photo identification, credit card for $100 security deposit and a daily $10.00 plus tax resort fee will be required (cash is not an acceptable form of deposit). Resort Fee includes WiFi, local calls, fitness center, indoor and outdoor pool, tennis courts, activity center, and business center.

Boardwalk Resort and Villas
Hotel Guests and Exchange Reservation: A photo identification, credit card for $100 security deposit and a daily $7.00 plus tax resort fee will be required (cash is not an acceptable form of deposit). Resort Fee includes WiFi, local calls, and use of the fitness center and pools.

Turtle Cay Resort
Hotel Guests and Exchange Reservation: A photo identification, credit card for $100 security deposit and a daily $5.00 plus tax resort fee will be required (cash is not an acceptable form of deposit). Resort Fee includes WiFi, local calls, and use of the pool.


Beachwoods Resort
Hotel Guests and Exchange Reservation: A photo identification, credit card for $100 security deposit and a daily $25.00 plus tax resort fee will be required (cash is not an acceptable form of deposit). Resort Fee includes Outdoor pool, indoor pool and waterpark, activity center, fitness center, lakeside lodge, paddle boats, fishing, nature trails, beach parking, tennis court, basketball court, bocce ball, playground, croquet, beach volleyball, and picnic areas.

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Then for each location there is the following.

Owner Weeks and Member Points Booking: Photo identification and a form of payment will need to be provided at check-in. Resort fees* will be waived when staying on your owner week or member point reservations.
A resort fee of $X.xx plus tax per night will be added to the reservation if the owner or member of THE Club® is checking in on a rental reservation.

(where $X.xx is the fee at the respective resort.)

So I thought I would weigh in with something positive (wait for it).

We were big fans of Gold Key and the Gold Key staff. They were always helpful and friendly. When we found out DRI was buying Gold Key we were sick. We didn't know much about DRI except for what we had read and not much of it seemed positive.

The transition from Gold Key to DRI has been very difficult over the past 4+ months. I have spoken to a number of former Gold Key owners who share those feelings. The system conversion from Gold Key to DRI was full of glitches that left some Gold Key people with missing weeks and most of the self serve capability and information that Gold Key owners had access to online is now gone and still has not been enabled on the DRI software.

What made this worse was the fact that when you called for help, you would often wait on hold for 30-45 minutes or so just to speak to a person to report the problem. The former Gold Key owner services team was always helpful, or tried to be, but they no longer had the same system access or ability to fix things and had to forward on requests to groups or departments within DRI.

What also makes it hard is that while we might have been impacted in relation to trying to use our timeshare weeks, some of the Gold Key people we worked with in the past and were very helpful lost their jobs as Diamond consolidated departments or did away with some groups altogether. So obviously as bad as the transition felt for us, it was always made worse knowing some good people were losing their jobs, which was far more meaningful in the grand scheme of things than anything we were experiencing.

But recently, I think due to the fact that the Gold Key owner services group has been overwhelmed dealing with issues, our calls for help were sent directly to the DRI customer service reps in Las Vegas. I have to give them credit where credit is due.

Seriously, the DRI reps we worked with in Las Vegas were outstanding in the assistance they offered us. They followed up on every promise they made and were very helpful. Despite issues that required multiple calls and emails, they stayed on top of the problems and got them resolved.

It was nice to see and deal firsthand with the "friendly" DRI reps you hear about from the DRI owners who claim to be happy with their ownership.

I hope the last couple of weeks marks a turn in this transition and things start improving and getting better for the legacy Gold Key owners.

FWIW

We're GoldKey owners at Oceanaire and are just finishing up our week here.

Here are some of what we have experienced as a result of the change.

No room charges from any of the on-site restaurants/bars. Due to the change it is cash or charge only. This is a huge inconvenience, especially poolside where we don't usually bring wallets down with us. Hoping this will be resolved next year, but not happy!

They have removed brooms/vaccums from each unit which were very helpful with cleanup while staying here w/ kids.

No more inventory sheets for all kitchen supplies, this is a positive.

No real support for owners anymore. We went down to the Discovery center and setup an appointment to meet w/ a manager about making changes to our TS. We woke up both our sleeping kids to make the appt only to find out they blew us off and tried to reschedule for another day. Unacceptable!

Tortugas by the pool no longer sells french fries! While this may sound small if you have kids you need to be able to get your FF fix on! They tried to send us to the restaurant at the resort next door.

I'm sure there's more but so far that's what I've got

rmelo99 said:

We're GoldKey owners at Oceanaire and are just finishing up our week here.

Here are some of what we have experienced as a result of the change.

No room charges from any of the on-site restaurants/bars. Due to the change it is cash or charge only. This is a huge inconvenience, especially poolside where we don't usually bring wallets down with us. Hoping this will be resolved next year, but not happy!

They have removed brooms/vaccums from each unit which were very helpful with cleanup while staying here w/ kids.

No more inventory sheets for all kitchen supplies, this is a positive.

No real support for owners anymore. We went down to the Discovery center and setup an appointment to meet w/ a manager about making changes to our TS. We woke up both our sleeping kids to make the appt only to find out they blew us off and tried to reschedule for another day. Unacceptable!

Tortugas by the pool no longer sells french fries! While this may sound small if you have kids you need to be able to get your FF fix on! They tried to send us to the restaurant at the resort next door.

I'm sure there's more but so far that's what I've got

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Interesting. Thanks.

Just curious, did they provide any logic / explanation for no more room charges? That is pretty standard in the hospitality industry and Gold Key merely was providing the same service offered by Hilton, Marriott, Fairfield, Carlson, etc on the VB Boardwalk. We have stayed at all those places in the past. Charging stuff to your room and going cashless is even more prevelant today than it was even 10 years ago. Seems kind of bizarre for Oceanaire to stop offering it no?

Even when it was Gold Key the food at Tortuga's wasn't great. The food at Lager Heads next door was always way better in our opinion. We never understood why such a big divergence in the food quality, since Tortuga's has a great lounge area. One of the best spots on the VB oceanfront. Always seemed like a missed opportunity. And I thought that Gold Key also had a financial interest in Lager Heads? Maybe that didn't transition with the DRI buyout.

Ironically, it was the kind of finger foods / appetizers that Tortugas was best at. So I would agree that getting rid of a staple item like French Fries on the menu appears to be another odd decision.

2016 has been rough for former Gold Key owners so far. I am hoping that DRI really steps up their game going forward, because so far I am not sure there is a single area of ownership that has improved or been made better for former Gold Key owners.

I would be happy to stand corrected by another owner and to give credit for something that has improved for us, but I am just not seeing it so far. Oh, and to be clear my last comment has nothing to do with FF. I am talking about way more serious stuff.

I think the room charge issue is a product of their delays with transitioning /tying their systems together. They still have Gold Key POS systems and can't reconcile Rooms & Names for current guests. Doesn't make financial sense and my guess is they are losing money until this is corrected.

They actually sent us to Lager heads for Fries, so they may still be tied. I know that PHR kept all of the non-timeshare assets of GoldKey, hotels etc on in VA Beach.

The wifi still sucks BTW, can't blame DRI for this as it has always been this way.

rmelo99 said:

I think the room charge issue is a product of their delays with transitioning /tying their systems together. They still have Gold Key POS systems and can't reconcile Rooms & Names for current guests. Doesn't make financial sense and my guess is they are losing money until this is corrected.

They actually sent us to Lager heads for Fries, so they may still be tied. I know that PHR kept all of the non-timeshare assets of GoldKey, hotels etc on in VA Beach.

The wifi still sucks BTW, can't blame DRI for this as it has always been this way.

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Good point. It would make sense that the current in process migration from the Gold Key systems to the DRI systems would create issues like you describe.

As far as the WiFi issue, I also agree that blame falls mainly on Gold Key, and DRI just inherited the problem. I think it was maybe the biggest real blind spot that Gold Key had not to fix WiFi issues at their resorts. It wasn't just VB, they put tens of Millions into Beachwoods, and it appears they mostly ignored WiFi there too as part of the upgrade.

It really is a head scratcher for me. Because we have stayed at the Marriott's, Hilton, and even the Country Inn and Suites before in VB and the Wifi in those locations was great. So it isn't that Gold Key couldn't have great Wifi at their resorts, it is just they refused to address it.

Really odd, because so many travelers (like myself) need Wifi for work (even on vacation) to at least check and respond to emails. And of course families usually have multiple devices that require stable Wifi in order to use them.

Gold Key seemed to be stuck in some kind of 1990's mindset where having poor Wifi was normal. Their current Wifi strategy feels like it was at least 10 years behind the curve.

It would be nice if DRI corrected the Wifi issues at the former Gold Key resorts.

RLS50 said:

Good point. It would make sense that the current in process migration from the Gold Key systems to the DRI systems would create issues like you describe.
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Based on previous history with DRI acquisitions, it will likely take a couple of years before the Gold Key bugs gets worked out in the reservation system. And IMO that doesn't mean that the IT group is lacking; it more reflects the incredible complexity of the DRI reservation system.

The DRI reservation system is complex because it blends together all of the different types of ownership that exist throughout the network, and what the usage rights are associated with those ownerships. The system has been largely constructed by acquisitions, and each of those acquisitions has it's own nuances that need to be accommodated - there isn't a single reservation platform. One system might be all points. Another might be a blend of fixed and floating. In some systems some owners have unrestricted reservation rights, while others are limited to only certain units or certain times of the year. Sometimes owners have negotiated specific usage rights that override standard provisions of the timeshare agreement for a resorts. Some resorts have both deeded weeks and trust-owned weeks. Some systems allow reservations to be made only on a whole week basis, others allow reservations of a different length, and some have a combination of both.

Getting all of that built into a single platform is massively complex. They will get it done correctly in the end, but it will take some time to get there.

*****

Also, a word to the wise. If you notice a glitch in the system that works to the benefit of owners, think twice before you post about your discovery. DRI does monitor these boards, and by posting about it you are alerting them about the situation, and that nice little egg will disappear. That kind of thing has happened before, much to the detriment of owners.

Whereas if you didn't say anything, maybe DRI would never figure it out ......

It always seems so much simpler from the outside looking in.

T_R_Oglodyte said:

Based on previous history with DRI acquisitions, it will likely take a couple of years before the Gold Key bugs gets worked out in the reservation system. And IMO that doesn't mean that the IT group is lacking; it more reflects the incredible complexity of the DRI reservation system.

The DRI reservation system is complex because it blends together all of the different types of ownership that exist throughout the network, and what the usage rights are associated with those ownerships. The system has been largely constructed by acquisitions, and each of those acquisitions has it's own nuances that need to be accommodated - there isn't a single reservation platform. One system might be all points. Another might be a blend of fixed and floating. In some systems some owners have unrestricted reservation rights, while others are limited to only certain units or certain times of the year. Sometimes owners have negotiated specific usage rights that override standard provisions of the timeshare agreement for a resorts. Some resorts have both deeded weeks and trust-owned weeks. Some systems allow reservations to be made only on a whole week basis, others allow reservations of a different length, and some have a combination of both.

Getting all of that built into a single platform is massively complex. They will get it done correctly in the end, but it will take some time to get there.

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It has been very frustrating as a Gold Key Resorts owner for many reasons. My online account, as well as other issues has made the acquisition by DRI seem mostly negative.

The acquisition took place in October and the migration took place mid-January. Hmmm, a couple of years to work out the bugs.

Thank you, Steve, for sharing how much truly is involved in combining these very different systems and the complexity of the DRI reservation system. Fortunately, through the encouragement of another TUG Member, I have made the steps to try to work through my ownership and account issues by telephone and am starting to make some headway. The representatives through DRI Owner Services have been responsive and helpful now that I have taken a different path. Today, I worked with a Team Member from the Mid-Atlantic Owner Services Office and got information that I previously was not able to obtain. She was extremely helpful, personable, and took the time that I needed to get some resolution, understanding and information.

Egret1986 said:

The representatives through DRI Owner Services have been responsive and helpful now that I have taken a different path. Today, I worked with a Team Member from the Mid-Atlantic Owner Services Office and got information that I previously was not able to obtain. She was extremely helpful, personable, and took the time that I needed to get some resolution, understanding and information.

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That tracks my experience as well. If you can get connected with a senior representative, they can make a lot of things happen. They have the power to override many of the elements of the system, so once they see the system isn't working as it should they can make it do so.

They also can create trouble tickets that get a higher level of attention in the IT department.

For those who might be wondering, the best way to get connected with one of those reps is by posting about problems in the DRI member forums. If you point out where the system isn't working, with appropriate documentation, it is likely that someone will take on your case directly.

I have been reading reviews on Trip Advisor, which have generally been not great in recent months relative to Ocean Beach Club, and I noticed that is his responses the GM has mentioned several times that refurbishments are planned soon that he feels confident will address most of the complaints.

This was news to me because we own weeks at Ocean Beach Club and Oceanaire. So far we have received no correspondence or communications of any planned upgrades. And unfortunately, the DRI online system still doesn't have any HOA information accessible for the previous Gold Key properties even after the conversion took place 4 months ago. So all the HOA updates and information we were able to get from the previous Gold Key online systems is still missing for us.

Did any OBC / Oceanaire owners get information on this in the mail or whatever? It is possible we were just missed because I know other correspondence that DRI has sent out to owners did not reach everybody and we have only found out after calling and been told that the information should have been mailed to us.

Anybody know anything about planned renovations that are supposedly coming "soon?"