I think DRI also gave themselves big raises when they took over the Gold Key resorts. Please share with us anything you can about DRI taking control of your resort.
When Diamond took over Gold Key, the maintenance fees at OBC / Oceanaire (and most of the other Gold Key resorts) jumped 9.6% and then 9.8% in back to back years.
The 2 main reasons for this increase was because of the increase in management fees (the amount Diamond pays themselves to manage the resort) and because of the significant jump in back office expenses (Owner Services and Admin fees). Diamond was originally labeling these back office and Admin fees as Indirect Corporate Costs on the budget. Basically Gold Key was consuming about 18%-19% of the Budget for their Management and Admin services and Diamond is now consuming almost 28% of the budget for those same services.
So when Diamond takes over a resort, from Day 1 when they "walk in the door" there is a increase to maintenance fees just from the significant pay raise that Diamond gives themselves.
On a positive note, I will say that the Diamond Regional GM in Virginia Beach (who started in the spring of 2017) seems to be doing a good job getting the 4 Virginia Beach resorts moving in the right direction. He is approachable, seems competent, and seems to know how to run a high end resort...from infrastructure down to amenities. And like they do in Sedona, Diamond has the major presence in the Virginia Beach market. None of the other major developers have a presence in Virginia Beach outside of hotels.