Dropping off half reservation and timestamp?

[YYJMSP]

Looks like we're not going to use our full 2BR lock-off on an upcoming Mar reservation. Change in plans.

If I ask SVO to drop off the small side, any experience with impact on the timestamp? Or are they going to cancel the entire reservation and rebook, and mess things up (from my point of view)?

Too late to call in today...

 

[mauitraveler]

Looks like we're not going to use our full 2BR lock-off on an upcoming Mar reservation. Change in plans.

If I ask SVO to drop off the small side, any experience with impact on the timestamp? Or are they going to cancel the entire reservation and rebook, and mess things up (from my point of view)?

Too late to call in today...

YYJMSP,

Did you get an answer from SVO, yet? I'm sure that others are interested in your situation, too. Good luck! CJ

 

[DeniseM]

This is a question for Owner Resolution Services - don't trust the person who answers the phone to do it.

 

[YYJMSP]

They said no effect on view category (if applicable) or timestamp when dropping either half of a lock-off.

So I got them to drop the studio side, got the updated confirmation by email (I actually stayed online during the conversation and hit refresh a few times on the MSC upcoming reservations list), and everything still shows view and unit type (we own one of the corner deluxe units), and the date shown in the details is still Mar, 1 year out, so I think we're good.

And I even got the right number of SOs back in the 2015 kitty...

 

[DeniseM]

That is good, because a agent who doesn't know what they are doing could have change the reservation date to today - happens.

 

[YYJMSP]

That is good, because a agent who doesn't know what they are doing could have change the reservation date to today - happens.

We had that happen a few weeks back when they used the SOs from a unit twice for two separate transactions. To clean it up they ended up cancelling and rebooking one of the two, which lost the time stamp. Took a few calls to get that sorted out...

 

[grgs]

YYJMSP,

Did you call the regular number to change the reservation (well, I guess the elite number in your case)?

I have a two bedroom reserved at SDO in March. It looks like we might only need one side, so I'd like to change the reservation to the larger one bedroom, and drop off the smaller one bedroom. However, there is no availability showing on MSC at SDO that week, and I don't want to risk losing the entire reservation.

Thanks!

Glorian

 

[YYJMSP]

YYJMSP,

Did you call the regular number to change the reservation (well, I guess the elite number in your case)?

I have a two bedroom reserved at SDO in March. It looks like we might only need one side, so I'd like to change the reservation to the larger one bedroom, and drop off the smaller one bedroom. However, there is no availability showing on MSC at SDO that week, and I don't want to risk losing the entire reservation.

Thanks!

Glorian

Yup just the regular number...

 

[grgs]

Yup just the regular number...

Thanks! It seems like they know how to handle this situation then.

 

[vacationtime1]

We had the same situation a few years back and things worked out properly. We reserved a two bedroom OF at WKORV twelve months in advance, later rescheduled the one bedroom side, and still had the good timestamp for the studio for the original week (we were assigned a sixth floor unit).

The key is to make sure the reservationist keeps the original reservation number attached to the portion of the reservation that remains in place.

 

[YYJMSP]

We had that happen a few weeks back when they used the SOs from a unit twice for two separate transactions. To clean it up they ended up cancelling and rebooking one of the two, which lost the time stamp. Took a few calls to get that sorted out...

Well our guests just came back and reported that the person at the front desk who checked them in at WKORV said the later timestamp (4mos out) is what they used when allocating the room, ignoring the notes telling them to honor the earlier timestamp (8mos out), and they got a low floor in B4 (tech OV but only if you leaned sideways and peered through the greenery), and the agent gave them 'tude about trying to get ahead of 90+ other people with an earlier timestamp.

The check in left a bad first impression of the property.

Not even sure if there's anything I can follow up on

 

[DeniseM]

Well our guests just came back and reported that the person at the front desk who checked them in at WKORV said the later timestamp (4mos out) is what they used when allocating the room, ignoring the notes telling them to honor the earlier timestamp (8mos out), and they got a low floor in B4 (tech OV but only if you leaned sideways and peered through the greenery), and the agent gave them 'tude about trying to get ahead of 90+ other people with an earlier timestamp.

The check in left a bad first impression of the property.

Not even sure if there's anything I can follow up on

Please contact owner resolution services - this is BS!

BTW - for future reference, you can also get a separate email from ORS to document things like this.

The other thing is that you have no way of knowing if the reservations Rep. ACTUALLY put it in the reservation notes. They make a lot of errors, and I sometimes wonder how many times it's just because they know the owner can't see the notes, so they don't bother...

 

[jabak5]

I had a reason to contact owner resolution services in Sept 2014 regarding an issue which was quickly and professionally respolved. I did ask about this specific issue, reserving the full lock off and later dropping one side, would it change the time stamp. The answer was yes as a new reservation would be made of it. Not that I agree with that but a simple solution they advised was to make 2 separate reservations, one for the 1 bedroom and another for the studio. That way you can always drop a side and keep your time stamp. If you don't have a reason to drop a side and keep both reservations, When room assignments are made they would see the same name on both reservation and same time stamp so would assign you to a the full lock off unless otherwise requested.

 

[tschwa2]

I had two separate reservation and a single guest and was told that they couldn't guarantee that they would be in a single unit although they would note it as a preference. They were able to stay in a single lock off unit but I don't think the separate reservations are ideal especially during busy times if you have children that will be using the second bedroom.

 

[jabak5]

As you said , they could not guarantee (I'm sure this is for their protection) it work out for you and was not a problem as the reservation was assigned to one unit. I'm certain that if children were involved the front desk (or room assigners) would make certain that that the reservation would be accommodated. Come on....do you really think SVO would allow children to stay in their own, a separate and disconnected unit from parents and assume that liability. Let's get with it, obviously not!!! Let's not try to continue to try find fault with SVO. We obviously own our Starwood Timeshares for a reason......they provide a great quality vacation home and you know you won't be disappointed!

I need to add that we purchased our SVO (Hawaii and Mexico) where we primarily want to go. We purchased through Starwood, not resale (our choice, very happy, I know it cost) and we did not purchase primarily to trade to other properties through II.
We paid the price, know we are guaranteed what we purchased and have the option of using Star Options for exchanging or last resort II. We are please with our choice and recognize that others may have different reasons for owning SVO.

 

[DeniseM]

Let's not try to continue to try find fault with SVO. We obviously own our Starwood Timeshares for a reason......they provide
a great quality vacation home and you know you won't be disappointed!

Only that's not what happened: Starwood did not do what they said they would do, the front desk was rude to YYJMSP's guests, and his guests WERE disappointed.

 

[jabak5]

Again Denise.... I was referring to making 2 separate reservations at 12 months out and then possibly dropping one side. This was not the way the referenced reservation was handled. If it had been, then I would agree and maybe he was giving the incorrect information originally. I can only say what I was told by "owners resolution services".
Aside from that......I have heard (WAY to often....) the way people address the front desk and unfortunately usually not very polite and often downright rude! The representatives at the Front Desk have an incredibly tough job and have to take an unbelievable amount of abuse.

 

[YYJMSP]

I had my original reservation, dropped off the half, and the new confirmation correctly showed the same reservation number and date stamp as the original. All was well.

We later converted some units to SPG points. They let me convert the same unit that was used for the booking. I told of the error, that they should undo that conversion and convert a different unit. So they happily converted the first unit a second time, without undoing anything. So then I had the one unit booked and converted twice.

So figuring this was going to screw things up, I hot them to fix it. The clawed back the second conversion, left the first one completed, and reassociated the booking with another unit. This caused the original reservation to be cancelled and s new one, with an Oct time stamp to be generated. They added notes to the new booking to tell WKORV to honor the earlier timestamp, since this was their fault.

The notes were obviously there, as the front desk could see them and mentioned them, but they explicitly chose to ignore them and were rather abrupt with my guests at check-in when they questioned it.

I haven't had a chance to call owner services yet, but will definitely do so if nothing else to enhance some training at WKORV. I can't think of anything else that could be done to improve the impression my guests had of the system we'd been raving about...

If it was me checking in when that happened, it would have been a completely different story.

I'm going to be there in Mar and may see if I can arrange a chat with management while I'm onsite.

 

[DeniseM]

jabak5: This is not a black and white issue - you can like/love something and still see it's faults.

I'm guessing you love your kids, but you can still see their faults?

We pay a small fortune for our Starwood timeshares, but many times the quality of service does not reflect that. Ignoring poor service, and asking people not to find fault with Starwood is illogical.

You know that Starwood works for us, right? We as owners, employ Starwood to manage our resorts - they don't own them - WE DO...

 

[YYJMSP]

BTW - for future reference, you can also get a separate email from ORS to document things like this.

I have a log of the chat with all of the details, but would not have thought to give that to my guests, and they didn't tell us anything until after they'd been back for a few days...

 

[DeniseM]

YYJMSP - not just a log - you can actually ask ORS to write you a memo documenting something like this. I know that doesn't help you now - but for future reference.

Example: when you split a 2 Bdm. Ocean View confirmation into a studio and one bedroom within the 8 mo. mark, one of the confirmations will no longer say, "Ocean View." It will say it's a Staroption reservation. Apparently this is a situation with their computer system that they can't over-ride. So when this happens, I've asked ORS to write a memo to attach to the confirmation that states that it's an Ocean View confirmation.

 

[jabak5]

jabak5: This is not a black and white issue - you can like/love something and still see it's faults.

I'm guessing you love your kids, but you can still see their faults?

We pay a small fortune for our Starwood timeshares, but many times the quality of service does not reflect that. Ignoring poor service, and asking people not to find fault with Starwood is illogical.

You know that Starwood works for us, right? We as owners, employ Starwood to manage our resorts - they don't own them - WE DO...

"Asking people not to find fault with Starwood illogical"
Not saying that there isn't fault but all to often that seems to be all that is concentrated on. There is also plenty of good or else you wouldn't be a SVO. SO BE HAPPY AND ENJOY!!!!! You are obviously unhappy that you purchased from the developer as others have and are also unhappy. However, some purchasers are happy the way they became owners and let's just leave it at that. Everyone has a different reason for doing puchasing as they did and should be respected for their reasoning. Your post have have often commented on your unhappiness of Maintenance Fee's. Maintenace fees reflect the cost of keeping the property and service up to the expectation of owners. Obviously they are only going to increase as the years go on. It's amazing the lack of respect that some people have towards property. It's like they don't ownership of it or are maybe a tradier and do care to respect the property of others.
I am so happy to have found TUGBBS as there is a wealth of information and it has been extremely helpful. I just sometimes deploy all the negativity. I look forward to seeing additional positive / helpful information.

Denise, This really went off on another topic so move it where you want, or delete.

 

[Ken555]

"Asking people not to find fault with Starwood illogical"

Not saying that there isn't fault but all to often that seems to be all that is concentrated on. There is also plenty of good or else you wouldn't be a SVO. SO BE HAPPY AND ENJOY!!!!! You are obviously unhappy that you purchased from the developer as others have and are also unhappy. However, some purchasers are happy the way they became owners and let's just leave it at that. Everyone has a different reason for doing puchasing as they did and should be respected for their reasoning. Your post have have often commented on your unhappiness of Maintenance Fee's. Maintenace fees reflect the cost of keeping the property and service up to the expectation of owners. Obviously they are only going to increase as the years go on. It's amazing the lack of respect that some people have towards property. It's like they don't ownership of it or are maybe a tradier and do care to respect the property of others.

I am so happy to have found TUGBBS as there is a wealth of information and it has been extremely helpful. I just sometimes deploy all the negativity. I look forward to seeing additional positive / helpful information.



Denise, This really went off on another topic so move it where you want, or delete.

So Starwood can do no wrong? It's wrong of us to hold management accountable to their commitments? We should ignore issues which adversely affect a visit?

I'm not sure you fully understand what you wrote.


Sent from my iPad

 

[DeniseM]

You are obviously unhappy that you purchased from the developer as others have and are also unhappy. However, some purchasers are happy the way they became owners and let's just leave it at that. Everyone has a different reason for doing puchasing as they did and should be respected for their reasoning.

I feel neither happy, nor unhappy about the fact that I bought from the developer - it was more than 10 years ago - it's old news.

However, when I look at the financial aspect of it, I know that I could have saved $30,000 if I bought resale. That has nothing to do with my satisfaction with the resort - it's simple dollars and cents.

When I post about buying resale - I am advising newbies that they can save a significant amout of money by buying resale. It has nothing to do with being "unhappy," nor should you take it as criticism of YOUR developer purchase.

Your post have have often commented on your unhappiness of Maintenance Fee's.

Again - maintenance fees have no impact on my "happiness." It's simple math. Starwood has HIGHER maintenance fees than comparable resorts in the same region. Why?

Like many of us, you probably bought your first timeshare at the resort, where you were swept away by the wonderful experience, and you "drank the Kool Aid." So did I - so did lots of people - no biggie.

If you are happy you bought from the developer, great! But why do you need others to validate your decision? No one here is asking you to defend your developer purchase - most of us have bought from the developer at least once. It's just not a big deal to us.

 

[YYJMSP]

Wow, we've completely gone off the road, swerved at the barrier, and over the cliff...

Let's see if I can put some more gas on the fire (hey, no smilie for evil grin!)


I own 5 developer VOIs and 3 resale VOIs, all in SVN. I've drunk the Kool-Aid and asked for seconds and thirds. I go to every owner presentation, let them have their way with me, and then teach them a thing or two about how it really works.

Our combination works for us, but only because I'm an extreme planner and I force the family to take that 5-6 weeks of holidays every year. I think I've gotten extremely good for value for what I own (my fuzzy math says I've made a profit I'm sure ), how I can use it, and what I've done with it over the last 10 years since we bought our first unit at WKORV. Our family and friends marvel at our trips, and we gush about how well it works, and don't tell them that we end up paying 20% of the "full cost" of those vacations after taking all the points and ownerships in to consideration. All they see is where we went and where we stayed and for how long -- I still love telling the story of how we stayed in the "Kurt Cobain suite" at the Westin Excelsior in Rome for 5 nights which would have cost some crazy person $3K/nt, or the wrap-around 1500sq.ft. penthouse suite at the former Sheraton Cable Beach in the Bahamas for 13 nights. Yes, neither was a SVN property...

SVN has its flaws, but I think it's better than most. For me the killer feature is the SPG points conversion, and how I'm treated like, well Platinum, at their hotels. That may not work for others, and I would not suggest it to someone else unless they had enough units over which to spread the cost. I figure I'm in $200K so far, or say $20K/year, but I think I've gotten good value for that, and consistently lots of stories to tell and pictures to show.


Back on topic, my issue is that I have relatively high expectations from SVN given the amount of Kool-Aid I've drunk. I do not like how this particular situation turned out (especially given it was all their fault to start with, and their "fix" was explicitly ignored, and it happened to guests to whom I'd been gushing about SVO, so the ball definitely got dropped on someone who was a good candidate for purchase), but I have not had the opportunity yet to discuss it with them.

This is only the second time in 10 years where I've been unhappy with events, and the other time was not as significant (I know I only have a ~10% chance of getting one of the two specific units I want within my ownership view at WKORV for one of my weeks, so I take it in stride that I wasn't the first or fourth to book because of the way they give out the units from my understanding).