Purchased a 5-day, 4-night stay at one of a small listing of locations in October of 2018. We were told, while the package standard was for a standard hotel room for 2 people, we would have NO trouble changing that to 2 rooms, to accommodate my elderly in-laws, who often travel with us.
Diamond Resorts started pestering us, sometimes calling 2-3 times each day, wanting us to schedule our trip. I asked them to stop calling, as I would schedule it at a time when we had determined when and where we wished to go. They advised, they wouldn't stop calling, as it was automatically queued in their system, to call, until reservations were set.
When I did call and make my reservations, I was told our first choice was unavailable, and they suggested a less popular destination. I fell for it, but made sure and advised them, we would be a party of four and need two rooms to accomodate the party, would prefer a minimum of a queen sized bed, and ground level if possible. They advised, I should receive an e-mail shortly, with the confirmation, and the location, ie address etc, for the "resort" we had chosen. No e-mail was received. (NO, not in my spam either)
I contacted them 5 additional times, requesting the information, as we would need to know where we were going, and had already booked flights and a rental car. Finally, on the 5th call, I was able to get their employee to provide the address for the "resort". I asked them to clarify what the accomodations would be, and was told, I had a standard hotel room, with one bath, and two double beds. Attempting to remind them of the requests I had made, I was transferred to a "supervisor" who informed me, the contract I had signed was for the standard hotel accomodations. I told her, it actually said "At Minimum", to which she replied, you can take what is offered, or cancel, and it is NON-REFUNDABLE. She then come back with "we might be able to upgrade your accomodations, if your willing to pay the difference", which I was told could be as high as an additional $100/night.
I looked up the hotel, and identified why they had been so secretive... It looks like an old Day's Inn hotel. Their rooms are listed on Expedia for $69/night for one small outdoor pool, and nothing out of the normal basic hotel. They call this a resort??? They also wanted me to travel to a separate location, and spend 2-hours in the middle of one of the days, listening to their time-share sales speal
Lesson learned... Cost me $297 to identify this company is a complete farce! I can get hotel rooms in my original location of choice, for around $100/night and NOT have to put up with their poor service, and poor accomodations.
Last comment... If I were trying to sell a time-share, I most assuredly would not be sending people to a $69/night accomodation. read more