Talk Back to Diamond
I just got my 2 bills. I own PVC Silver (1BR) and PVC Gold (2BR). My fee break-out is as follows:
Silver: In 2010 under ILX, was $635. In 2011 under Diamond, will be $922 (includes a $134 club fee, which you can opt-out of by 12/2011).
Gold: In 2011 under ILX, was $810. In 2011 under Diamond, will be $1139 (same deal on club fee and opt-out).
The MF increases are 45% and 41%, respectively. And BTW, the bill includes that wonderful ARDA-PAC $5 fee (which they so graciously allow us to opt-out of). I hate it when resort management tries to slip that by us. Opt-in, OK, but opt-out, that should be illegal.
IMO, ILX's fees were already high for what we were getting. 40%+ increases are insane, to the point of criminality.
My fee statements also have no data on the quantities of DRI points into which our Silver and Gold memberships convert. But I suspect it will be enough for a high season 1BR and a high season 2BR, respectively.
I'm not the least bit impressed with DRI's "Premiere Club Connection" exchange program, which the $134 club fee gets us. It includes 27 additional resorts. Only 12 of them are domestic. IMO, those 12 range from average to above average, but none of them are what I'd consider top-notch.
To voice your opinion on your new masters, go here:
http://www.keepingyouinthepicture.com/ and click on "Contact Us". They are having an informational meeting December 14 in the Phoenix area, and they want questions submitted ahead of time (Hey! Board of Directors--afraid we might bring our pitchforks and torches?
).
I already sent in my questions, including my personal favorite: "Are you people insane?" :annoyed:
I also asked why the bankruptcy court allowed DRI, which purchased ILX assets for very little $$$, to shunt debts over onto us. Those debts should have been extinguished by the court and/or assumed by DRI as a trade-off for the bargain sale. I smell class action lawsuit here.
Anyway, we'll see if anything good comes of this. My plan is to hang in for a year, and if I don't like what I see, not pay any more maintenance fees and attempt to deed back my points to DRI.
IMO, this looks like a classic example of annual fees far exceeding the value of the vacation week, and every logical consumer's best option may be to walk away (akin to what you logically should do with an underwater mortgage). What's the point of paying as much as double the condo's market rental value (I know, there are obligations etc. that have been well-discussed elsewhere on TUG; I'm not trying to rekindle that hot button issue here).
There's a reason any amount of DRI points can be "purchased" for $1 on eBay. Of course, ILX's points were also worthless, but that just supports my point that there is no value left in these timeshares. DRI is just pushing them further underwater, to the owners' detriment and DRI's corporate enrichment.
It should be illegal.