cali-gal
TUG Member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2009
- Messages
- 156
- Reaction score
- 39
- Points
- 389
- Location
- Southern California
- Resorts Owned
- Marriott Maui Ocean Club, Ka'anapali Beach Club (Diamond)
Hubby and I stayed at the KBC last week, and were offered $75 for a 30 minute "Owner's Update." We figured for $75 we could spare 30 minutes, so agreed to attend. We are original Embassy owners since 2003.
This update was different than others we experienced, as initially we met with one salesperson, Steven, who briefly introduced himself and then took us into a separate conference area with other weeks owners. The speaker discussed DRI, showed us that the weeks owners now only own 2% of the KBC, and told us our options were becoming more limited since points users were competing for the same units. It was interesting to note that many at that meeting have owned since either Embassy or Sunterra owned the resort. Of course the Diamond rep wanted to sell us points and described the benefits of The Club. The various levels were described, and what benefits were offered in each category. They also showed a map of where other Diamond Resorts were located and how we could exchange into any of them with The Club.
They then asked which of us were happy with our ownership; interestingly, at least a good 50% indicated they were happy. Most of these were yearly users at their home resort. For those that were not happy, they took them aside to discuss their "options." I wish I'd been able to hear what they were offered-- whether they were going to buy back or push points or both.
After a few minutes in the conference room, we were then taken back to a table by Steven. He was a very pleasant guy with an Australian accent. He wasn't pushy, and once I mentioned TUG and Redweek, I think he realized I was informed enough that he wasn't going to try to sell us on anything. He asked if we had any questions, and the only one I had was regarding using an exchange company. We've gotten different answers by both RCI and II about which company to use for exchanging our KBC week if we chose to do so.
We were taken into another room, apparently so we could find out about our original contract-- I'm not sure if or why that would matter. Pedro, one of the managers, met with us, which I thought odd as we only had one question that should have had an easy answer. Instead, Pedro proceeded to show us some papers with the cost of joining The Club, and extolled the glory of points. I reiterated that I only wanted to know if our ownership allowed exchange in RCI or II, but he kept discussing points. After five or so minutes with him only discussing points and not answering my question, we thanked him and excused ourselves. We were then ushered to the checkout area for our vouchers. Total time at the update was 37 minutes.
Incidentally, we bumped into Steven later, who told us that we had the option of using either one.
Overall, it was a much more pleasant experience than other owners' updates we have attended, with much less pressure to convert our weeks into ownership in The Club.
This update was different than others we experienced, as initially we met with one salesperson, Steven, who briefly introduced himself and then took us into a separate conference area with other weeks owners. The speaker discussed DRI, showed us that the weeks owners now only own 2% of the KBC, and told us our options were becoming more limited since points users were competing for the same units. It was interesting to note that many at that meeting have owned since either Embassy or Sunterra owned the resort. Of course the Diamond rep wanted to sell us points and described the benefits of The Club. The various levels were described, and what benefits were offered in each category. They also showed a map of where other Diamond Resorts were located and how we could exchange into any of them with The Club.
They then asked which of us were happy with our ownership; interestingly, at least a good 50% indicated they were happy. Most of these were yearly users at their home resort. For those that were not happy, they took them aside to discuss their "options." I wish I'd been able to hear what they were offered-- whether they were going to buy back or push points or both.
After a few minutes in the conference room, we were then taken back to a table by Steven. He was a very pleasant guy with an Australian accent. He wasn't pushy, and once I mentioned TUG and Redweek, I think he realized I was informed enough that he wasn't going to try to sell us on anything. He asked if we had any questions, and the only one I had was regarding using an exchange company. We've gotten different answers by both RCI and II about which company to use for exchanging our KBC week if we chose to do so.
We were taken into another room, apparently so we could find out about our original contract-- I'm not sure if or why that would matter. Pedro, one of the managers, met with us, which I thought odd as we only had one question that should have had an easy answer. Instead, Pedro proceeded to show us some papers with the cost of joining The Club, and extolled the glory of points. I reiterated that I only wanted to know if our ownership allowed exchange in RCI or II, but he kept discussing points. After five or so minutes with him only discussing points and not answering my question, we thanked him and excused ourselves. We were then ushered to the checkout area for our vouchers. Total time at the update was 37 minutes.
Incidentally, we bumped into Steven later, who told us that we had the option of using either one.
Overall, it was a much more pleasant experience than other owners' updates we have attended, with much less pressure to convert our weeks into ownership in The Club.
I am thinking also that maybe DRI were possibly offering to take back the weeks that the unhappy owners owned. If they didn't want to buy points I mean....they have been doing a lot of that recently. I don't believe what they told you of course about only 2% being owned by weeks owners and that you were competing against points owners for bookings etc. Sounds like rubbish to me