I must have misunderstood - 75% pre-pay required to book DRI managed resorts

dougp26364 · Jul 15, 2014

Normally I do all my reservations online but, this time I felt the need to call DRI's reservations desk. I'm trying to book more drive to destinations at locations that allow us to bring pets and, DRI now manages Bell Rock Inn in Sedona, which is the only DRI option that allows pets. However it clearly stated I needed to call the resort to confirm a pet friendly room was available priort to booking.

My thought was to call reservations directly, allow them to check availabilty of a pet friendly unit and then book the unit at that time. Sort of one call vs calling the resort, making a reservation and then calling the resort or DRI back to have the reservation # linked to a pet friendly unit. Opps.

First, the reservationist didn't know there was any per friendly resorts, she had to look it up. No surprise since this is the only one I know of myself. Then there was the issue of pre-paying 2015 MF's since I was using 2015 points. What? I was of the understanding that, so long as I was reserving a DRI managed resort pre-payment wasn't necessary. Sort of like booking your home resort week, MF's were due at the normal time and, if not paid on time you faced cancellation of your reservation. I already had two reservations for 2015 on the books, one which used saved 2014 points and the other which used saved 2014 and some of our 2015 points. There was no mention online that pre-payment was needed.

I pointed that out to the reservationist and was informed I faced potential cancellation of those reservations without pre-payment. Since they are to KBC and, since there's no longer any availability for those dates and, since we've invited friends to travel with us (thus 2 units instead of 1) I didn't wish to argue or take a chance, I autrhorized the pre-payment.

So, am I off in my thinking that pre-payment isn't required when you make reservations through THE Club? While very nice this young lady seemed somewhat missinformed and didn't even process the payment correctly. I had to call back later when I noticed online that the entire payment had been applied to THE Club account for THE Club dues vs a payment made to each deeded week contract and THE Club dues account.

All in all I wasn't left with the most favorable impression of the level of knowledge but, she was very polite and I did toss here a curve with an unusual request plus asking her to take the payment, which probably should have been handled through the accounting department, not reservations. Next time I'll make my online payment first, call the resort second and, with the resort on the phone complete my reservation and give them the reservation number. Maybe it's a control issue with me but I think that will work out better in our situation.

FWIW I don't mind pre-paying future MF's for future reservations. I just didn't think it was necessary when making THE Club reservations, only if I wanted to make reservations/exchanges outside of THE Club.

johnrsrq · Jul 15, 2014

Doug,

This happened to me as well. I had reservations on my two different accounts for 2015 trips using 2014/2015 points. Online reservations in place, I thought I'd call and request an upgrade on one of those trips. I also wondered if the upgrade request could be put in as on ongoing request.

The rep, looked at St. Marteen and replied there was no upgrade available and truly didn't answer accurately that the ongoing request to upgrade was not possible. I think those upgrades at high season times are quite unlikely and are only at r near time of arrival.

He then informed me that I had to pay the 75% on one of those accounts or face cancellation. I paid it.

The other account remains booked for 2015 trips and points yet I receive no bill. I would hope they would not cancel any reservation without prior notice.
I'm purposely waiting to see when it may pop up or I give in and call them to generate my bill.

artringwald · Jul 15, 2014

When we bought a resale DRI week in mid 2012 and tried to book a week in 2013, they told us we couldn't until we paid the 2013 MF. Seems like you can book anything online, but if you talk to a human, they'll tell you that you have to pay the MF early.

pedro47 · Jul 15, 2014

Any reservation for the year 2015 via The Club. Diamond International now want you to pay 75% toward your 2015 maintenance fees. That was a change several years ago.

dougp26364 · Jul 15, 2014

pedro47 said:
Any reservation for the year 2015 via The Club. Diamond International now want you to pay 75% toward your 2015 maintenance fees. That was a change several years ago.

This kinds of sucks as neither HGVC or MVCI requires this so long as you stay within the system. I would understand it better if an owner was exchanging outside the system since the deposit has to be given to the exchange company but, with internal exchanges/reservations it's not going anywhere. Just one more way DRI squeezes a little more profit from its owners by getting MF payments early.

pedro47 · Jul 15, 2014

dougp26364 said:
This kinds of sucks as neither HGVC or MVCI requires this so long as you stay within the system. I would understand it better if an owner was exchanging outside the system since the deposit has to be given to the exchange company but, with internal exchanges/reservations it's not going anywhere. Just one more way DRI squeezes a little more profit for its owners by getting MF payments early.

I agree DRI is now nickle and dime Club Members for everything. Look at how day change / increase the number of points to be a Silver Elite member ?

csalter2 · Jul 16, 2014

What?

pedro47 said:
I agree DRI is now nickle and dime Club Members for everything. Look at how day change / increase the number of points to be a Silver Elite member ?

When did they change the points reqirement to be an elite member? What is the new requirement?

csalter2 · Jul 16, 2014

I will check on this

I have not heard of DRI changing the rules for payment for taking reservations. I made several reservations online and on the phone for this year and was not asked to pay my maintenance fees in advance.

csalter2 · Jul 16, 2014

This is not true

pedro47 said:
I agree DRI is now nickle and dime Club Members for everything. Look at how day change / increase the number of points to be a Silver Elite member ?

DRI did not change or increase the number of points to be silver elite or any other loyalty tier level. I have checked different sources and this is not true. Sliver is still 15,000 points, Gold is 30,000 points and Platinum is 50,000 points.

pedro47 · Jul 16, 2014

csalter2 said:
DRI did not change or increase the number of points to be silver elite or any other loyalty tier level. I have checked different sources and this is not true. Sliver is still 15,000 points, Gold is 30,000 points and Platinum is 50,000 points.

I stand corrective the information can from a DRI sale person and I should know matter. The sale person lips were moving.

dougp26364 · Jul 16, 2014

csalter2 said:
I have not heard of DRI changing the rules for payment for taking reservations. I made several reservations online and on the phone for this year and was not asked to pay my maintenance fees in advance.

I'm not sure that it has, the rep I spoke with on the phone didn't appear to know as much as I did about THE Club. I had the feeling she was pretty good at straight forward reservations but I was tossing her a couple of curves. When she took our payment, it was applied incorrectly and I had to call back to the fee's department to get it straightened out.

The problem for me is, last year I wanted to make an exchange outside THE Club. Pre-payment is required when you want to deposit your points with I.I. for exchange. Because of that I can't really say if the policy applied for internal exchanges.

The remainder of our points from 2014 was saved to 2015 so that we'd have enough points (and then some) to reserve 2 deluxe ocean view units at KBC. In the back of my mind I was also looking to see if we could afford and snag a 2 bedroom penthouse unit but, one wasn't available and, I don't think I had enough points anyway. I did book the 2 deluxe ocean view units online and there wasn't a requirement to pre-pay MF's. The total points required for our reservation was slightly more, but not a lot more, than what our 2014 saved points would have reserved.

Maybe there's a threshold on how many advance points you can use without pre-paying. Maybe you're suppose to be able to make advance reservations at THE Club managed resorts without pre-payment and the reservation agents have trouble keeping the rules straight. Maybe there's a glitch in online booking and owners aren't asked for advanced payment.

Regardless, I didn't want to take a chance in losing our reservations. Especially since KBC has been booking up shortly after inventory is released. I'm assuming since there is a lack of some trust inventory at POP that it's putting a little more pressure on KBC and inventory isn't as available as it's been in the past. Or maybe it's just we're traveling in March, during typical spring break time for many school districts across the country, and demand is pretty strong. At any rate taking a chance that I was wrong and the rep was correct seemed foolish. Besides, I'm also looking at doing another I.I. exchange and I was going to need to pre-pay MF's to deposit points anyway. Now it's just one less thing for me to worry about.

singlemalt_18 · Jul 16, 2014

dougp26364 said:
... Maybe there's a threshold on how many advance points you can use without pre-paying. Maybe you're suppose to be able to make advance reservations at THE Club managed resorts without pre-payment and the reservation agents have trouble keeping the rules straight. Maybe there's a glitch in online booking and owners aren't asked for advanced payment...

Doug - FWIW - The rules as explained to us - and that we have followed and found to be true and accurate over the past 4 years - are rather straight forward...

If at any time you need to use ANY upcoming year's points for a reservation in the current year, 75% of the coming years MFs must be paid first before those points can be applied.

For example, if you have 5000 points from the current year saved into next year, and you are making a reservation for next year that requires 5050 points, 75% of the MF for that year must be paid before those extra 50 "following year" points can be used for that reservation.

We have actually had issues with booking online due to this rule, and found it necessary to call the reservation in - or at least make the MF payment 1st before the reservation could be made. This also applied to some Sampler points we used, as the online reservations were not allowed, but after calling and speaking to a rep, we easily secured our booking for the following year; the rep's only concern was whether the dates that were shown to be available online was accurate.

Sorry you had some confusion on this.

dougp26364 · Jul 16, 2014

singlemalt_18 said:
Doug - FWIW - The rules as explained to us - and that we have followed and found to be true and accurate over the past 4 years - are rather straight forward...

If at any time you need to use ANY upcoming year's points for a reservation in the current year, 75% of the coming years MFs must be paid first before those points can be applied.

For example, if you have 5000 points from the current year saved into next year, and you are making a reservation for next year that requires 5050 points, 75% of the MF for that year must be paid before those extra 50 "following year" points can be used for that reservation.

We have actually had issues with booking online due to this rule, and found it necessary to call the reservation in - or at least make the MF payment 1st before the reservation could be made. This also applied to some Sampler points we used, as the online reservations were not allowed, but after calling and speaking to a rep, we easily secured our booking for the following year; the rep's only concern was whether the dates that were shown to be available online was accurate.

Sorry you had some confusion on this.

The confusion comes from inconsistancy by DRI. While you might have been required to pre-pay MF's booking online, I recently completed a reservation at KBC which required the usage of 2015 points. The was no request for pre-payment, no pre-payment was made yet I was issued confirmation #'s and received confirmation e-mails.

The ONLY time I have been asked for pre-payment in the past was when I wanted to deposit points last year to exchange. Otherwise, I've always made reservations in advance within the DRI system and have never been required to per-pay. Maybe it's a glitch, maybe it's an unwritten benefit of Elite status or maybe I've been been blessed/lucky. At any rate, my experience has differed greatly from yours.

drguy · Jul 17, 2014

dougp26364 said:
The confusion comes from inconsistancy by DRI. While you might have been required to pre-pay MF's booking online, I recently completed a reservation at KBC which required the usage of 2015 points. The was no request for pre-payment, no pre-payment was made yet I was issued confirmation #'s and received confirmation e-mails.

The ONLY time I have been asked for pre-payment in the past was when I wanted to deposit points last year to exchange. Otherwise, I've always made reservations in advance within the DRI system and have never been required to per-pay. Maybe it's a glitch, maybe it's an unwritten benefit of Elite status or maybe I've been been blessed/lucky. At any rate, my experience has differed greatly from yours.

Sounds like you have gotten service from DRI reps in the past that did not follow the rules. This time, the rep did follow the rules.

dougp26364 · Jul 17, 2014

drguy said:
Sounds like you have gotten service from DRI reps in the past that did not follow the rules. This time, the rep did follow the rules.

Actually, I do almost everything online and don't deal with the reps. I guess that's why I didn't know I needed to prepay. Like I said, I had already made reservations using some of my 2015 points, online, without needing to prepay.

My guess is this loophole will likely be closed soon.

fluke · Jul 17, 2014

Yes this has been the rule (75% prepayment of MFs) when borrowing, but it has only been enforced on the phone.

I also almost always reserve online. I ran into it once before a couple years ago before upgrades could be performed online. I called to book and upgrade KBC reservation and that is when I had to pay.

But definitely online you never have to prepay MFs.

johnrsrq · Jul 17, 2014

fluke said:
Yes this has been the rule (75% prepayment of MFs) when borrowing, but it has only been enforced on the phone.

I also almost always reserve online. I ran into it once before a couple years ago before upgrades could be performed online. I called to book and upgrade KBC reservation and that is when I had to pay.

But definitely online you never have to prepay MFs.

How do you do that online?

johnrsrq · Jul 17, 2014

dougp26364 said:
Actually, I do almost everything online and don't deal with the reps. I guess that's why I didn't know I needed to prepay. Like I said, I had already made reservations using some of my 2015 points, online, without needing to prepay.

My guess is this loophole will likely be closed soon.[/QUOTE]

shush:ignore:

fluke · Jul 17, 2014

johnrsrq said:
How do you do that online?

Both the unit you want and the unit 1 level below have to be available online(as always). You start to book the lower level unit and it automatically prompts you (assuming you are eligible) to upgrade for the fee.

For example:
If a 1 bed ocean view and a 1 bed ocean view deluxe are available at KBC, you can book the 1 bed ocean view and it will prompt you to upgrade to the 1bed ocean view deluxe on the confirmation (next) page.

Again assuming you are eligible (elite status and haven't used them all for the year)

fluke · Jul 17, 2014

dougp26364 said:
Actually, I do almost everything online and don't deal with the reps. I guess that's why I didn't know I needed to prepay. Like I said, I had already made reservations using some of my 2015 points, online, without needing to prepay.

My guess is this loophole will likely be closed soon.

I doubt it will be very soon. This rule has been around for at least 3 years and they haven't closed it yet.

johnrsrq · Jul 17, 2014

fluke said:
Both the unit you want and the unit 1 level below have to be available online(as always). You start to book the lower level unit and it automatically prompts you (assuming you are eligible) to upgrade for the fee.

For example:
If a 1 bed ocean view and a 1 bed ocean view deluxe are available at KBC, you can book the 1 bed ocean view and it will prompt you to upgrade to the 1bed ocean view deluxe on the confirmation (next) page.

Again assuming you are eligible (elite status and haven't used them all for the year)

Thank you. I have not seen that or do not recall. As I have just a few points available in the account at this time, I tried to make a mock reservation on a Orlando resort just for two days and see if it asked for a level up- it did not but I glad to hear it works somewhere- I'll be using that next year. Thanks again!

pedro47 · Jul 17, 2014

DRI does have someone that monitors this and others web site. Watch for some changes on their website.

johnrsrq · Jul 18, 2014

pedro47 said:
DRI does have someone that monitors this and others web site. Watch for some changes on their website.

what should I tell them? we're bugging their offices? ha ha

nightnurse613 · Jul 18, 2014

Heads up! We just came back from Kohl's Ranch Lodge (near Payson,AZ). Located in the middle of a beautiful National Forest, creekside units available (#3XX) and...wait for it...very pet friendly. They have kennels on site AND they have at least ONE unit that allows pets to join the owner (I think they advertise pet friendly UNITS but YMMV). Otherwise, pets not allowed in room. Bell Rock Inn is exactly that, an Inn that has been converted,. Also, NOT in Sedona (but a LOT closer than Payson!!) Great place for TECHNOLOGY withdrawal-so be warned. Stables on sight. If Sedona is your goal then this is NOT for you.

P.S. I had to "borrow" 500 points for my last reservation. Figured I would have to pay the per point cost, never thought I would have to pay 75% of my 2015 MF. Wound up not doing either - they just deducted it from my 2015 allotment. Probably an error on their part but, just sayin.

dougp26364 · Jul 20, 2014

I just looked and Kohl's Ranch does have pet friendly units. I'll keep this in mind when planning our vacations. With air travel being what it's become, we look for drive to destinations and, since we're driving, resorts that allow us to take our dogs. Not boarding our dogs keeps costs down and makes for a better vacation for us.
I'd like to see more resorts take some first floor units, tile them instead of carpet them, and turn them into pet friendly units. I don't have an issue paying an extra fee as I know pets create additional expense for the resort.

I must have misunderstood - 75% pre-pay required to book DRI managed resorts

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