The New Club Wyndham Website (General Discussion)

[wanderround]

My account used to work. Now when I try to book anything I get "Please review and confirm the travel details above." after I click the complete button. A VC is unable to book anything in our account either.

 

[55plus]

Can't get on on my phone now, says I am in a PRIVACY mode and to change it. I am in NO privacy mode.

Got on my laptop and actually found the dates I wanted and then tried to BOOK - NOTHING! Unable to book. How do they think people can "go on vacation" - as listed on the home page. Unbelievable

Looks like your phone and Wyndham's dysfunctional website are related somehow. Maybe they are cousins?

 

[ronandjoan]

Looks like your phone and Wyndham's dysfunctional website are related somehow. Maybe they are cousins?

Oh, I meant I cannot get on the Wyn website on my iPhone... used to be able to do almost everything on it... I can get on other websites, just to clarify that my phone is working but why can't I get on Wyn?

 

[raygo123]

I believe they will feel a decline in direct developer sales. In the past they say that a huge portion of their sales was to upgrade users who had made an initial purchase and 'experienced' Wyndham. I cannot see how anyone would make an additional purchase after attempting to use this website and/or get help from a vc or oc. We've made repeat purchases in the past (before buying into resale) and they were significantly based on the confidence the old website gave us about the fundamentals of making / seeing / canceling reservations.

Bob

That's just it, how many owners have to use the website right now? I know I don't, with 900,000 owners maybe 10 %? And of rthose, how many are simple look up and book, and haven't had a problem? The new buyers are told how great the newly created website is, and how easy it is to find and book your dream vacation. What do they know?

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[ronandjoan]

My account used to work. Now when I try to book anything I get "Please review and confirm the travel details above." after I click the complete button. A VC is unable to book anything in our account either.

I am so sorry for you... I am totally upset myself, cannot book online and haven't found hours avail to wait for a VC to try to call.

What will you do? Was it ever resolved?

Does anyone know the best time to call?

 

[ronandjoan]

The new buyers are told how great the newly created website is, and how easy it is to find and book your dream vacation. What do they know?

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But are the new owners being successful?

 

[raygo123]

But are the new owners being successful?

Who cares as long as they buy?

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[Railman83]

Ron had said "Wyndham wants happy owners" and he is correct as he is about most things Wyndham.

This is not a nefarious plan, as some have suggested, to drive owners to turn in memberships to Ovation so the have CWA to sell. It is, Occam"s razor, the most simple explanation, a botched IT rollout.

How long it takes to fix is anyone's guess, but it will be fixed to allow functional use of what people have purchased. In the meantime the pessimism reminds me of the 2009 market crash where the DOW was at 6600 and it was the end of capitalism. Everyone was selling while Buffet and smart money were buying cheap. Same here reflected in EBay pricing as of late....as if it will never be fixed.

The rule changes are to put the mega renters out of business in favor of the small and medium owner. It is long term strategy like when Netflix went to online content vs discs and everybody was calling Hastings and idiot....1000% market cap later it was clear they made the right call.

Same with Wyndham....a lot of small happy owners is better than a handful of happy mega renters...that said, if it isn't fixed soon, nobody will be happy.

 

[55plus]

What a piece of crap website Wyndham crammed down our throats. My account is inactive again for a second time this week. What's going on at the other end? Searching for availability was much easier and faster on the old website. Why would someone design a website to make its primary function more difficult? It has to be by design. I wish they would stop playing with themselves and get to work and fix the website.

 

[55plus]

The rule changes are to put the mega renters out of business in favor of the small and medium owner. It is long term strategy like when Netflix went to online content vs discs and everybody was calling Hastings and idiot....1000% market cap later it was clear they made the right call.

Same with Wyndham....a lot of small happy owners is better than a handful of happy mega renters...that said, if it isn't fixed soon, nobody will be happy.

I believe the policy changes are to curb the mega renters and point managers and create more availability for us. But the website is a whole different story. Why would someone design a website to make its primary function more difficult and limited unless it was by design. The new website benefits Wyndham and Extra Holidays, not us.

 

[wanderround]

I am so sorry for you... I am totally upset myself, cannot book online and haven't found hours avail to wait for a VC to try to call.

What will you do? Was it ever resolved?

Does anyone know the best time to call?

It still isn't resolved. We opened a case over 2 weeks ago and at that time we thought it was only related to the one resort we were trying to book. Since then we have discovered we can't book anything. We are going to Hawaii in mid August so were trying to get our discount and upgrade and have since found we are unable to book anywhere. We were on the phone with them for about 3 hours yesterday and wouldn't give up until we were assured that somebody was actually working on our ticket. We are supposed to get a call back within 72 hours.

 

[Free2Roam]

Does anyone know the best time to call?

A couple times I've called about 15 min before the call center closed.

Others may have different experiences, but for me, both times they answered (even though it was after closing time by then)... and my wait was less than 30 min. Last time was probably 2 weeks ago.

 

[ronparise]

I believe the policy changes are to curb the mega renters and point managers and create more availability for us. But the website is a whole different story. Why would someone design a website to make its primary function more difficult and limited unless it was by design. The new website benefits Wyndham and Extra Holidays, not us.

I think you have it exactly right, although wyndham wont say they made the rule changes to put megarenters out of business, thats what they expect. Wyndham would say its being done to make the reservations process fairer... Either way the practical effect will be that the megarenters will be out of business. They dont seem to care, however about the points managers, as long as they are managing multiple smaller accounts. I dont get the sense that wyndham wants to stop smaller owners from renting what they own to recover some of their maintenance fees. And the smaller accounts are. most of any magarenters supply. It may be paranoia but I think the only owners that wyndham really wants gone, are guys with accounts from 20 or 30 million points and up; at least thats my best guess.

The website issues I dont think were intended to do anything more than implement the rules and manage the inventory. I dont think that the botched roll out of Voyager was intended to capture inventory for Extra Holidays, or force anyone out of the club, alyhough that does seem to be happening

 

[cayman01]

It still isn't resolved. We opened a case over 2 weeks ago and at that time we thought it was only related to the one resort we were trying to book. Since then we have discovered we can't book anything. We are going to Hawaii in mid August so were trying to get our discount and upgrade and have since found we are unable to book anywhere. We were on the phone with them for about 3 hours yesterday and wouldn't give up until we were assured that somebody was actually working on our ticket. We are supposed to get a call back within 72 hours.

Call 1-800-251-8736, option 3, option 2. Don't wait to listen to choices. Should get through pretty quick.

 

[cayman01]

What a piece of crap website Wyndham crammed down our throats. My account is inactive again for a second time this week. What's going on at the other end? Searching for availability was much easier and faster on the old website. Why would someone design a website to make its primary function more difficult? It has to be by design. I wish they would stop playing with themselves and get to work and fix the website.

This is NOT going to be a quick fix. By letting people make reservations before all the inventory data was passed to the new system Wyndham has made a gargantuan mistake. It may take months, as several with IT experience have stated, for them to get it right. And that's just the reservations. Nevermind the horrendous search function. That is a whole different can of worms.

OTOH think of Wyndham's position now. Half of their sales come from existing owners. Do you think ANY of these existing owners are going to buy direct right now? Not a chance, and they are telling the marks at the updates. WYndham sales are going to tank over the rest of the year.

 

[Baby Jane]

I think you have it exactly right, although wyndham wont say they made the rule changes to put megarenters out of business, thats what they expect. Wyndham would say its being done to make the reservations process fairer... Either way the practical effect will be that the megarenters will be out of business. They dont seem to care, however about the points managers, as long as they are managing multiple smaller accounts. I dont get the sense that wyndham wants to stop smaller owners from renting what they own to recover some of their maintenance fees. And the smaller accounts are. most of any magarenters supply. It may be paranoia but I think the only owners that wyndham really wants gone, are guys with accounts from 20 or 30 million points and up; at least thats my best guess.

The website issues I dont think were intended to do anything more than implement the rules and manage the inventory. I dont think that the botched roll out of Voyager was intended to capture inventory for Extra Holidays, or force anyone out of the club, alyhough that does seem to be happening

We are just regular Platinum owners who bought for our Golden years but in the meantime we like to rent out the points we can't use. There is no way not to lose money with the new system. Each time we upgraded we were sold on rent what you don't use. So we did and now they don't like it. Maybe mega renters lose more but the reality is regular owners like us probably can't afford the loss

 

[Jan M.]

Club Wyndham
We recognize that some of you are having trouble logging in or navigating the new owner website. We understand how much you value your travel and we’re dedicated to successfully onboarding every owner. As we continue to assist those still experiencing challenges, these resources may help: http://wy.ndh.am/2sVPi3T

I was just on Facebook and saw this post from Club Wyndham. I read the 115 comments that are recent within the past day. There are so many more unhappy owners out there than the few, by comparison, posting here on TUG. Every issue with the new website that we've talked about here on TUG is mentioned repeatedly in the comments.

There are owners who have recently, are currently or will be soon staying at the various resorts. They are making it a point to tell the other people at the resorts not to buy Wyndham. Several said that in the past they were the ones who talked up Wyndham and recommended buying. It appears that there is/will be a larger number than I speculated there would be of rightfully disgruntled owners making it their mission to warn people off! Hey Wyndham, can you hear us now?

 

[ilya]

Club Wyndham

I was just on Facebook and saw this post from Club Wyndham. I read the 115 comments that are recent within the past day. There are so many more unhappy owners out there than the few, by comparison, posting here on TUG. Every issue with the new website that we've talked about here on TUG is mentioned repeatedly in the comments

I am not seeing many defend Wyndham on facebook as they have before. Seeing some defend Wyndham here on TUG that didn't before. Hmm..

 

[erniecrews]

We are just regular Platinum owners who bought for our Golden years but in the meantime we like to rent out the points we can't use. There is no way not to lose money with the new system. Each time we upgraded we were sold on rent what you don't use. So we did and now they don't like it. Maybe mega renters lose more but the reality is regular owners like us probably can't afford the loss

What makes it more difficult to rent via the new website? Why would you lose money now as opposed to before? Believe me - I hate the new website, but I was just wondering?

 

[Baby Jane]

What makes it more difficult to rent via the new website? Why would you lose money now as opposed to before? Believe me - I hate the new website, but I was just wondering?

Just length of time it takes to book. The cancel and rebook probably will not work. Especially if Wyndham is scooping cancellations up in 60 day window to either rent themselves or for others upgrades. I have people who regularly rent from me and have always just tried to get cost of maintenance points used and always got the points discounted. Already had two of those renters say no to full points rentals Also booking betting on a rental now doesn't work as you have to have renters name on if you have 2 overlapping reservations. So makes cancel and rebook harder to do too as it wastes valuable guest confirmations. I may be wrong and hope I am but it isn't looking promising.

 

[erniecrews]

Thank You

 

[ohdewer]

As former Oracle DBA, here’s what I think is the problem. A properly designed database needs 3 main things besides a good structure; processing power, disk space and memory. Processing power allows you to handle multiple transactions at a time, disk space allows your database to grow without issues and memory lets you manipulate data and keeps the system from bogging down.

Databases store info in tables that look exactly like the points chart for Wyndham. Your user information is also stored in a similar table, with your membership number being used at the focus point for that table. All the data in the table can be linked to your membership number.

Now you run into problems when 2 users log in and want to access the same table.

For example, Member 1 and Member 2 both want to look at Bonnet Creek availability. They each select the same table and the database will take that information, move it memory and create a workspace for each person to pick the dates they want. Once the users are done, then it will make the official change to the table when the member hits a button like done, complete or apply. It 2 users hit apply at the same time, the database will use some type of algorithm to see whose information is saved first. If they both chose the same thing, then one will get the reservation and the other will get a message saying that the week was taken.

I think Wyndham is probably using cloud services for their resources instead of physical devices. They either underestimated the amount of processing power, disk space or memory they would need or were too cheap to pay for it. The database either can’t handle the number of transactions taking place at certain times or does not have enough memory to hold the complete table information for you to view. Member’s points are being hosed up because the database can’t either pull the correct data, the table is corrupt or the data hasn't been written back into a table. You can't find availability for probably the same reasons.

Just my in the weeds version and 2 cents on the problem. I think it will get better over time, once they figure out the correct amount of resources. Anyone who has ever worked with virtual machines knows the tedious job of trying to find the right mix of resources to give each device. Of course, testing is the key, it doesn’t look like Wyndham took the time to do that.

 

[55plus]

What makes it more difficult to rent via the new website? Why would you lose money now as opposed to before? Believe me - I hate the new website, but I was just wondering?

The main problem with the website is it works against us retirees who can get away anytime. With no 'first available' option the process is very time consuming. We have to search each resort, each size unit at each resort, each type (disability) of unit for each size unit at each resort to find something first available. Whereas, with the 'first available' option we had in the old website we could search up to 5 resorts for every size unit available with one click of the mouse. What use to take seconds now can take an hour or even more.

Think about it, what logic is there in designing a new website that make its primary function more difficult to use and limits its search capabilities unless it was by design. The new website benefits Wyndham and Extra Holidays, not us who are retired and can get away at the drop of a dime. What Wyndham did was devalue the product for us retirees and probably thousands upon thousands of others owners. When we travel we will voice our opinion to perspective buyers and other owners and tell them about TUG and eBay until we get the 'first available' option back. Maybe when sales drop off they'll stop circle jerking and make the website right. A new website with updated technology shouldn't perform like website's from the early '90s.

 

[ronparise]

The main problem with the website is it works against us retirees who can get away anytime. With no 'first available' option the process is very time consuming. We have to search each resort, each size unit at each resort, each type (disability) of unit for each size unit at each resort to find something first available. Whereas, with the 'first available' option we had in the old website we could search up to 5 resorts for every size unit available with one click of the mouse. What use to take seconds now can take an hour or even more.

Think about it, what logic is there in designing a new website that make its primary function more difficult to use and limits its search capabilities unless it was by design. The new website benefits Wyndham and Extra Holidays, not us who are retired and can get away at the drop of a dime. What Wyndham did was devalue the product for us retirees and probably thousands upon thousands of others owners. When we travel we will voice our opinion to perspective buyers and other owners and tell them about TUG and eBay until we get the 'first available' option back. Maybe when sales drop off they'll stop circle jerking and make the website right. A new website with updated technology shouldn't perform like website's from the early '90s.

Your complaints seem to be more how it works rather than does it work at all

I agree the search function isn't what it should be but more important to me at this point is knowing that I can't trust what i find in a search is really there. Ie phantom availability, upgrades disallowed and inventory never loaded bother are the problems that bother me

 

[ronparise]

What makes it more difficult to rent via the new website? Why would you lose money now as opposed to before? Believe me - I hate the new website, but I was just wondering?

Regarding lost money:


In the past I could get a three bedroom for half the price of a studio. The profit potential for folks that rent reservations was pretty good

Now I can't do that and the rent I can get for a 3 bedroom isn't enough to cover the fees