Traded as NYSE: DRII Founder Stephen Cloobeck Parent organization Apollo Global Management | Area served Worldwide Founded 2007 | |
 | ||
Type Public
(Acquisition by Apollo Global Management pending) Industry Vacation Ownership, Timeshare Key people Stephen J. Cloobeck, (Founder and Chairman)
David F. Palmer, (CEO, President and Director) Products Vacation Ownership, Timeshare CEO David F. Palmer (1 Jan 2013–) Headquarters Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Subsidiaries Diamond Resorts Holdings, LLC Profiles | ||
Diamond Resorts International (DRI) is a timeshare company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. They own a network of 379 vacation destinations.
Contents
- Acquisitions
- Undercover Boss
- Awards honors and ratings
- Criticism and controversy
- Similar programs
- References
On June 29, 2016, Apollo Global Management made a successful offer to purchase Diamond Resorts International.
Acquisitions
In August 2015 DRI bought out Gold Key Resorts for $167.5 million. This acquisition added five vacation ownership resorts in Virginia Beach, Virginia and one in the Outer Banks, North Carolina.
Undercover Boss
The Founder and Chairman, Stephen J. Cloobeck, was featured in the season premiere of Undercover Boss (U.S. TV series) Season 4 on January 15, 2012. He was the first Chairman and CEO to go undercover a second time on November 30, 2012.
Awards, honors and ratings
Criticism and controversy
Diamond Resorts International is notable for high-pressure sales tactics used to close sales and generate fees for consumers. Club members are charged yearly maintenance fees (including management fees), which are set by Diamond Resorts International and which the FTC warns are likely to rise every year. Diamond Resorts International's official 2014 SEC filing states that club members do not have the right to terminate membership, except in certain areas where consumers are protected by state law. Jeff Weir, a Diamond timeshare owner and journalist covering the timeshare industry, told the New York Times: "In my experience, Diamond is much more ambitious, aggressive and downright nasty in their sales presentations compared to Marriott and Westin. Diamond just has an amazing reputation of being tough on people."
David F. Palmer, Diamond’s chief executive, sees its sales methods in a very different light. In an interview, Mr. Palmer described how Diamond tries to bring fun to its customer interactions, both before an initial sale and once a member buys in. "The industry didn’t quite realize that you have to engage and create intimacy and pervasiveness with somebody that you don’t really know," he said. "Our lifetime subscription model creates a series of systems where you can track that engagement and make sure you are constantly providing a series of experiences that exceed their expectations over many, many years."
Of the 29 customer reviews posted on the BBB.org website, 1 is positive, 1 is neutral and 27 are negative.