| We get it. Timeshare companies LIKE to keep things complicated. In fact, one of the reasons there are 2,170 pages of complaints against Diamond Resorts in the Florida Attorney General’s office is because it can take a while to explain all the ways in which Diamond deceives its customers. First, just try to diagram all Diamond’s complex upgrade schemes. It will end up looking like an abstract art project. And then there are all the tricks used to lure customers to sales presentations and that keep them there for hours. And most concerning, are the sleight-of-hand signings, specifically designed to prevent owners from actually reviewing their contracts. All these well-conceived deceptions can sometimes take pages and pages to describe. So, it was refreshing – and instructive – to find a short email to the Florida Attorney General from Mercedes in Mountain View, California explaining her main beef with Diamond. It was short… …but not sweet. “I am an owner at Mystic Dunes Resort managed by Diamond Resorts. The property has been paid off but we are still responsible for a maintenance fee on the years we have access to a week (every other year).” “I realized recently that my maintenance fee (we get bills from The Palms Country Club and Resort Condominium Association, Inc.) is higher than the cost of that same week on the internet, available to anyone without being owners.” “Our bill is $1,303 and the cost on internet is $980.” That means Mercedes is paying 33% more than someone who just makes an online reservation at the same property. You read that right: 33% MORE! And that doesn’t EVEN count what Mercedes had to pay to BUY into the timeshare in the first place! “It seems as I get absolutely no benefits from being an owner I should get a cheaper rate over the internet free market. “I talked to [Diamond] but they refuse to adjust my payments.” That’s pretty much Mercedes’s complaint in a nutshell. And she makes a very good point. Maybe Mark Wang would like to provide an equally short explanation of why customers like Mercedes get treated like this. He’s the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations, which purchased Diamond Resorts in 2021. Let’s email Mark at mark.wang@hgv.com and ask. And how about Jason Gamel? He’s the President and CEO of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA), the national trade association of the timeshare industry. Let’s see if he can brief us as to why this keeps happening at Diamond and the other companies he represents. You can email Jason at jgamel@arda.org The people who run your own timeshare company might know. Use this list of ARDA VIPs to contact your company’s leaders to find out. Are outsiders paying less for your timeshare than you are? Share the long and short of it with us at info@timesharefacts.com PS: Follow us on social media. Twitter Facebook Instagram |
