Independent profile — not affiliated with Diamond Resorts International
Diamond Resorts International
Diamond Resorts International is a vacation-ownership (timeshare) company operating roughly 90-plus Diamond-branded resorts plus 200-plus affiliated properties worldwide, serving several hundred thousand owner-members. Founded in 1992, the company was taken private by Apollo Global Management in 2016, then acquired by Hilton Grand Vacations in August 2021, under which it now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary while HGV gradually rebrands its properties. Diamond has settled a state Attorney General deceptive-sales action and a federal RICO class action alleging inflated maintenance fees, and its owners are a frequent target of third-party timeshare-exit companies -- some of which Diamond itself has sued for fraud.
Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints
USAComplaints currently maintains 52 historical complaints about Diamond Resorts International, published between 2008 and 2013. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.
- Duped me too
- Sedona Vacation Club Incorporated Annual Fee was ONE DAY LATE - Penalty of $100.67!
- Scame
- Took over Monarch Grand Vacations but never credited our monthly payments
- Forced to file a Lender Fraud Complaint with AZ Attorney General
- DRI DRI increased the maintenance fees on my timeshare to the point where it no longer is worthwhile
- Palm Canyon Resort Time share sales meeting did not deliver what was promised
- Polo Towers Ridiculous Maintenance Fees, Uncooperative Customer Service Reps and Highly Questionable Undisclosed Closing Fees
- "The Club" @ Diamond Resorts International The Sharks Vs The Guppy
- Extra charges, rising maintence fees, then take away your points because you did not pay on time
- Laurie Kuhl Racial discrimination, sex discrimination and slave trade treatment of employees
- Trapped for eternity
- DRI Diamond Resorts is a SCAM! Insane fees & impossible customer service! Internet
- Sink Hole - You can never get out
- Misleads and Misrepresents - Internet
- Total fraud and deceptive company
- Board of Directors, Association of Apartment Owners of Poipu Point Stealing my timeshare, misappropriation of fuduciary responsibilites to its shareholders
- Frank Goeckel, Senior V-P and President of the Board Diamond Resorts International Frank Goeckel, Senior V-P and President of the Board E-mail to Owne
- Do not buy timeshare from Diamond Resorts International... It is one HUGE SCANDAL!
- Sunterra You keep paying and paying while they keep lowering your value and raising your maintenence fees
Complaint Themes
Independent Sources
Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.
Contacts
- Phone: (702) 684-8000
- Website: https://www.diamondresorts.com
- Customer service: (877) 311-9466
Locations
| Type | Address |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 10600 W Charleston Blvd Las Vegas NV 89135 |
Corporate history and ownership
Diamond Resorts traces to a 2007 investor group led by Stephen J. Cloobeck that acquired Sunterra Corporation (itself originally incorporated in 1996 as KGK Resorts, Inc.) and renamed it Diamond Resorts Corporation, adding roughly 100 former Sunterra properties across 13 countries. Diamond later acquired ILX Incorporated's resort-management agreements, unsold vacation-ownership interests, and consumer-loan portfolio, adding 10 more resorts.
Apollo Global Management took the public Diamond Resorts International, Inc. (NYSE: DRII) private via a tender offer that closed September 2, 2016, at $30.25/share (about $2.2 billion). Hilton Grand Vacations then agreed to acquire Diamond from Apollo-led Dakota Holdings, Inc. in March 2021; the deal closed August 2, 2021 for roughly $1.4 billion in HGV stock. Diamond now operates as a wholly owned HGV subsidiary. Per HGV's own FY2024 annual report, the company was still rebranding remaining Diamond properties to "Hilton Vacation Club" as of the most recent filing -- so "Diamond Resorts" remains an active, if gradually shrinking, consumer-facing brand rather than a fully retired one.
Is Diamond Resorts International Legitimate?
Diamond Resorts is a real, large-scale timeshare operator, not a fly-by-night scheme -- it is now part of the NYSE-listed Hilton Grand Vacations corporate group. That said, its sales practices have drawn regulatory and legal scrutiny, resolved through settlements rather than adjudicated findings of wrongdoing: Arizona's Attorney General reached an Assurance of Discontinuance with Diamond in 2016 over alleged deceptive sales practices, and a 2024 federal class-action settlement (Zwicky v. Diamond Resorts) paid $13 million to resolve RICO and breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims alleging Diamond had shifted corporate overhead into owner-paid maintenance-fee assessments -- without any admission of liability. Common consumer complaints center on high-pressure, multi-hour sales presentations, difficulty rescinding contracts, escalating maintenance fees, and limited timeshare resale value, issues the FTC notes are common across the timeshare industry generally.
Timeshare-exit companies targeting Diamond owners
Diamond owners are targeted by third-party "timeshare exit" companies that charge large upfront fees to promise a contract exit. Diamond has sued several such firms (including entities tied to the Newton Group and DC Capital Law Firm) for false advertising; a D.C. Superior Court judge allowed a punitive-damages claim to proceed against DC Capital Law Firm past a preliminary motion, though that is not itself a finding of liability. This space is adversarial and not one-sided: in a separate California federal case against Pandora Marketing/Timeshare Compliance, the court's summary-judgment ruling was mixed -- it found genuinely disputed facts on whether heirs are bound to continue paying after an owner's death (leaving that for trial), while ruling in Diamond's favor that Timeshare Compliance's "legal cancellation" and "100% success rate" marketing claims were false or misleading. Owners considering any third-party exit company should independently verify its track record and fee structure before paying anything upfront.
Court & Public Records
| Case | Authority | Dates | Type | Outcome | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Attorney General v. Diamond Resorts Corporation | Arizona Attorney General consumer-fraud action (Maricopa County Superior Court) | — | Settled | Settled Arizona AG Mark Brnovich announced a settlement in which Diamond Resorts Corporation agreed to pay $800,000 total ($650,000 in consumer restitution plus $150,000 in AG fees and costs) over allegations of deceptive sales presentations -- oral misrepresentations about maintenance-fee increases, resale/buy-back programs, rental potential, and travel discounts. The settlement also required new mandatory sales-presentation disclosures and a relinquishment program letting qualifying owners return their timeshares without further obligation. | Source |
| Zwicky, et al. v. Diamond Resorts Incorporated, et al. Docket 2:20-cv-02322-PHX-DJH | U.S. District Court, District of Arizona | Settled | Settled Federal class action alleging federal RICO, Arizona RICO, and breach of fiduciary duty -- plaintiffs (certain current/former Premier Vacation Collection Owners Association members assessed for 2011-2022) alleged Diamond shifted corporate overhead expenses into owner-paid annual assessments, inflating maintenance fees. Diamond Resorts Corporation and Diamond Resorts Management, Inc. agreed to pay $13,000,000 into a settlement fund covering 25,615 class members (only 8 opted out), without any admission of liability or wrongdoing. The court held a final approval hearing on February 12, 2024, and entered the Final Approval Order on April 16, 2024; attorneys' fees of $3,250,000 (25% of the fund), $22,335.45 in expenses, and named-plaintiff service awards totaling $14,500 were paid from the fund. | Source | |
| Diamond Resorts U.S. Collection Development, LLC, et al. v. DC Capital Law Firm, LLP / Newton Group / US Consumer Attorneys, P.A. | District of Columbia Superior Court (Diamond Resorts timeshare-exit-scam litigation) | — | Filed | Filed — no final outcome recorded Diamond sued several timeshare-exit firms for false advertising and fraudulent business practices, alleging they falsely marketed 'safe and legal' timeshare-exit services to Diamond owners for large upfront fees. A District of Columbia Superior Court judge found the alleged facts sufficient to potentially support a punitive-damages claim against DC Capital Law Firm for 'wanton, malicious, and/or grossly fraudulent conduct' -- a ruling that let the claim proceed past a preliminary motion, not a finding of liability or a punitive-damages award. A parallel Florida federal case was also allowed to proceed against other named defendants. Exact docket numbers and final dispositions were not independently confirmed as of this writing. | Source |
| Diamond Resorts U.S. Collection Development, LLC, et al. v. Pandora Marketing, LLC d/b/a Timeshare Compliance, et al. Docket 2:20-cv-05486-DSF-AS | U.S. District Court, Central District of California | — | Filed | Filed — no final outcome recorded Diamond sued Timeshare Compliance and related exit-industry defendants alleging false advertising. The court's summary-judgment ruling (656 F. Supp. 3d 1073) was a mixed decision, not a simple win for either side. On the central claim -- that timeshare owners' heirs will automatically be saddled with the payment obligation after the owner's death -- the court found the evidence genuinely disputed (Diamond's own contracts purport to bind heirs, but enforcement in practice was contested) and denied Diamond summary judgment on that point, leaving it for trial. On separate claims -- that consumers could "legally cancel" their contracts through attorneys, and a claimed "100% success rate" for money-back exits -- the court found those Timeshare Compliance-side representations false or misleading, ruling in Diamond's favor on falsity while leaving causation and damages for further proceedings. | Source |
Company Relationships
- Subsidiary of: Hilton Grand Vacations Inc.