Divi 3/25 - 4/15

Spent 3 wonderful weeks at Divi Little Bay. The place continues to improve. Had several lunches/dinners at Gizmo's. Great bar food and a good band every night. Had a couple of meals at Pure Ocean. The BBQ was pretty good, but the Lobster Thermidore was a big hit with my wife. I loved the eggplant Lasagna.

Everyone is so friendly and most have been there for years. Juan at the bar, Michale, Roxanne, Paul, Marisol, Eduardo on the wait staff to name a few were super. Eugene was wonderful as always with her big smile and helpful advice. Sandra, the front desk supervisor, was great hooking us up for weeks 2+3 in the same place avoiding the Saturday move. Anthony and Linette were wonderful as activities staff.

While our condo needs some updating (which they have assessed me $1700 over the next two years, not thrilled but at least you can see improvements everywhere) everything worked.A couple of small issues were addressed promptly.The water was a little rough at times on the beach but overall the weather was beautiful.

Only issue we had was the "update meeting". Upon checking in, the concierge desk had us schedule an appointment. BUT we had to give a refundable $20 deposit to make sure we showed up. We also got a $100 credit for the Lambada trip to Prickly Pear. Several times we were called and asked if we had made an appointment. Well we go to the appointment and they take us to breakfast where the pitch begins. Bottom line, if you don't buy into the points program you will become second class guests. Points people get 1st access to their condo, better internet, discounts at restaurants, expedited check-in. All of which, except for discounts should be every guests experience in my opinion. We use our week every year so no need to use points elsewhere, so 5 or 6 times I told our rep no, we don't want to buy into the points. So we are about to get up and leave when this guy Steve comes to the table tries to crush my hand in an Alpha male sales 101 move. When I tell him we already said we weren't interested he insulted us, telling us how Divi had given us a nice breakfast and $100 dollars, implying we did the meeting just to get the reward. He said "Don't come next year". My wife was near tears. I have never been treated like this in the almost 30 years I have been a Divi owner.

Back to the good: enjoyed several new places: LePiment in Orient Village, great food and desert at a reasonable price; Winnies Chinese great Pupu platter, Charter House in Simpson Bay and Piazza Pascal in Grand Case (thanks TTOLers). Old reliables: Izi's, Moulon Foo, Skipjacks, Greenhouse.
Overall a great trip.

Hi. Thanks for the report. I added some returns to make it easier to read.

Glad you had a good trip overall. However, that experience with this dude Steve would have had me asking to speak to the GM of the resort. That was totally unacceptable!

We weren't asked for a $20 deposit to insure we went to meeting . AND we didn't get a breakfast . So you made out. We too were made to feel 2nd class because we said no to points.

Glad to hear you had a good trip and great eating!

Thanks for the report. What a crappy way to be treated after wasting your time on the points presentation.

This is disturbing news about the sales experience. I will be arriving in 45 days for three weeks (nonmandatory contracts) and was thinking I might go to the owners' update this time (haven't been for years) just to hear about the upgrades I'm being charged for. This has me rethinking attendance. And the "don't come next year" comment is beyond the pale. I would have reported this to the GM as it is completely unacceptable behavior.

I'm glad you were otherwise able to enjoy your trip. This experience might have colored mine differently.

To Jazzgal

We asked about the improvements and we were told they had no info this time and we'd just have to pay and see it when it was completed. Also they couldn't give us date as to when our unit would be done---very vague. Actually we were told if we paid the assessment in full they'd probably do our unit in the first group. If not others would go first.

We love Divi location, love the unit even tho' it's in bad shape but we've started to "shop around" for another place to stay.

When we were at Divi in early March they were very aggressive in trying to get us to schedule the update. The new woman assigned to the front desk area nabbed us when we checked in and didn't want to take no for an answer. We don't like to be impolite to staff, but finally walked away. Of course, then they called almost every day to try to schedule us, despite our saying we weren't interested. There was some talk about big changes, which I take as code for "we've come up with some new scheme to get you to pay more money."

Really like the resort and don't trade out of Divi, so I see no reason to give them any more money for "points" or some other system of no benefit to us. It sounds like they must have hired some new aggressive sales people, because most of the older ones were at least polite and willing accept a "no thanks" with only minimal agruments, and never the kid of rudeness described here.

It's a shame that this is happening to you and the other weeks owners there. La Vista and La Vista Beach recently joined Interval and we were offered the opportunity to change to points. There was no pressure, however, and Andrea actually encouraged us to decline, as she knows we use our fixed weeks every year.

Because of your good reports, GaKaye, we're looking at La Vista.

LaVista never has been high pressure, never will be, as that is the kind of people that Peter and Andrea are. This kind of crap from sales staff would make me very upset.

You know Divi unlike some timeshare are owned and operated under Divi Resorts. Perhaps a letter informing head office of the pressure and techniques being used should be reported to them. No doubt this behavior is the result of pressure being put on Little Bay for results but you never know until you try. The more complaints they receive, well you never know.

We stay at Belair and were offered the points system when it first became popular. We, like others have never traded our SXM timeshares so we declined and that was the last we heard of it.
I spent most of my working career in sales and marketing. I hate the strong arm "closers" more than most since I know that technique is not necessary to be successful.