email just received - Important Updates to Your CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Program Guidelines

[md8287]

Upgrades are always nice but I would prefer (usually) same # of bedrooms but nicer view/presidential. Hope upgrade can differentiate as I know others have different preferences.

I was sold cancel/rebook as key piece in December but never did it so no real impact.

An unintended consequence here could (hopefully) be that when most people rent their units they do so at a healthy profit (50-100% over cost) or at least better than break even. It always stinks to try to rent a 2BR when someone else has the same for rent based on points for a studio.

 

[Joe33426]

I don't understand how you can say upgrades are of no interest to you (or agree with someone who said that).

If you can book a 1BR Suite and upgrade to a 1BR for you and your wife, you are better off because you saved some points. For your two 3BR units for family, if you had been able to book two 1BR units and upgrade to 3BR units, you would have been better off. You could have taken another vacation.

Would that not be of interest to you?

Who wouldn't want a good upgrade?

If I'm on an international flight, I'd love to be upgraded to business class. Is it worth $3K or $4K, to buy the business seat in the first place? For some, the cost would be worth it. Too much money for me. I'll squeeze into coach at get to Europe paralyzed, but $3-4K better off.

I think that the post is just saying for the price of VIP, the upgrades aren't worth it in their opinion. I'd have to agree. Although the thought of being able to cancel-rebook-upgrade sounds fabulous, the price of VIP is just a little too much for most of us. That's all. I don't think it was anything disrespectful to anyone that got VIP the honest way.

 

[chapjim]

Got a question about cancellations that arises because Wyndham's wording is different in two places.

Under ADDING GUEST CONFIRMATIONS TO YOUR RESERVATIONS, it says, "if you have not obtained the required Guest Confirmation(s) within 48 hours after the reservation(s) is confirmed, the additional reservation(s) will be subject to cancellation and the corresponding points may be forfeited in accordance with the CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Cancellation Policy."

Two paragraphs later, it says, "If Guest Confirmations are not added to the reservations within 48 hours of the launch of the upgraded systems, they will be subject to cancellation in accordance with the CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Cancellation Policy."

One place it addresses points being forfeited; in the other it addresses reservations being canceled. If in the first instance, Wyndham cancels the reservation outside 15 days from check-in, does this mean points may be forfeited or only if the cancellation is within 15 days?

In the second part, what happens to the points if Wyndham cancels the reservation? Forfeited if within 15 day of check-in, returned to the account otherwise? The CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Cancellation Policy doesn't say anything about who does the cancellation.

Am I being overly picky or suspicious? (Is there some reason not to be?)

 

[chapjim]

Who wouldn't want a good upgrade?

If I'm on an international flight, I'd love to be upgraded to business class. Is it worth $3K or $4K, to buy the business seat in the first place? For some, the cost would be worth it. Too much money for me. I'll squeeze into coach at get to Europe paralyzed, but $3-4K better off.

I think that the post is just saying for the price of VIP, the upgrades aren't worth it in their opinion. I'd have to agree. Although the thought of being able to cancel-rebook-upgrade sounds fabulous, the price of VIP is just a little too much for most of us. That's all. I don't think it was anything disrespectful to anyone that got VIP the honest way.

You may well be right but he didn't say of that. The post said nothing about the cost/value, just that is was of no interest to him. Nothing about how one achieved VIP status, either.

 

[dagger1]

I don't understand how you can say upgrades are of no interest to you (or agree with someone who said that).

If you can book a 1BR Suite and upgrade to a 1BR for you and your wife, you are better off because you saved some points. For your two 3BR units for family, if you had been able to book two 1BR units and upgrade to 3BR units, you would have been better off. You could have taken another vacation.

Would that not be of interest to you?

What I meant was that I wouldn't take the chance. If only one of the 1BR's upgraded, I would be forced to tell some family members they couldn't go. If I got no upgrades, I would have to tell almost everyone their trip was cancelled. So I always book what I need for the family trips, just can't rely on "maybe". Are upgrades guaranteed to VIP owners?

 

[chapjim]

Okay. The way the post was written, it sounded like upgrades have never been of interest. Gottit!

 

[dagger1]

Okay. The way the post was written, it sounded like upgrades have never been of interest. Gottit!

Sorry if the original post was confusing. I totally understand that "cancel/rebook/upgrade" is very interesting to some, these folks have spent $100-$200K to gain these VIP perks.

 

[wed100105]

I'm interested to see how the one night bookings affect the system. We don't live close enough to drive and stay just one night at a resort. However, if we did, I would book a lot of units for Saturday nights throughout the year and go. It would be a blast to take the kids to the Dells and go with friends for just a short weekend getaway. Also, how will housekeeping be affected by these one night stays? More maintenence fees for us perhaps?

 

[Sandy VDH]

In the current system you could book a single night IF a single leftover night was already available.

I would assume in the new system, within 14 days, you could book a single night, EVEN if one was not already available as there were 2 or more nights available. I would also assume that you can continue to book single nights prior to 14 days, provided they are already out there in the inventory.

 

[tschwa2]

One problem with a single night stay at a timeshare is check in is often 4 or 5pm and check out is often 10 am or 11 am with much less wiggle room than a hotel. With a hotel there is usually no problem checking in at 2pm and checking out at noon and sometimes even 1-2pm for staycation type stays.

 

[Sandy VDH]

One problem with a single night stay at a timeshare is check in is often 4 or 5pm and check out is often 10 am or 11 am with much less wiggle room than a hotel. With a hotel there is usually no problem checking in at 2pm and checking out at noon and sometimes even 1-2pm for staycation type stays.

I have done a saturday with a throw away sunday, with no plans to say overnight, just to leave at the end of the day and not have such an early checkout. At least Sunday is midweek night, so that helps with saving points.

 

[tschwa2]

I have done a saturday with a throw away sunday, with no plans to say overnight, just to leave at the end of the day and not have such an early checkout. At least Sunday is midweek night, so that helps with saving points.

I almost always have to do a throwaway night. We travel with my 98 yo grandmother and it takes quite a bit of work to get her ready in the morning and pack up various assistive devices. For places that are less than a 4 hour drive it is usually just easier to leave 5-7pm (after dinner) and then get on the road.

 

[Avislo]

If 2 overlapping reservations are made and a guest reservation is not made for one of them, Owner Care advises that if one is cancelled then the points go back to your account if it is cancelled before the 15 in advance period. They are lost when the 15 day cutoff period arrives if it is cancelled

 

[happyhopian]

That entitlement thing was a stupid mistake. The guy that spent $100000 is entitled to the same vacations at the same cost as anyone else plus the possibility of a free upgrade or a discounted vacation.

he is entitled to one extra, and thats a free newspaper delivered to his door

I disagree with you. In fact under they wyndham guide (prior to these changes) he WAS entitled to an upgrade IF is available within the 60 day window. But we are splitting hairs. Reading the facebook groups there are people who are pissed, people who are happy and people who have no idea what is going on. Everyone can find something to hate and like. I'm just SUPER glad they didn't mess with the resale/VIP math.

 

[happyhopian]

Someone on Facebook posted this

"I just called my Wyndham rep and she says when VIP members do a booking there will be a button called "up/down". When clicked this button will automatically give VIP members their discount and upgrade (if possible) at their designated discount/upgrade window."

If this is true, not only will there be automatic upgrades if available, there will also be automatic discounts. So if I have a one bedroom another one bedroom is available, if Im first in line, Ill get the discount automatically, and then my one bedroom will be available, so the next one bedroom reservation gets their discount...and so on

Now if we carry this to its logical conclusion that means, if I make two one bedroom reservations and I cancel one, that will set into motion a chain reaction so that every one bedroom reservation gets remade at a discount

or if one 2 bedroom gets upgraded into a three, and that makes the two bedroom available, then the chain reaction happens and every two bedroom gets remade at the discount



or am I missing something

the question of course is Are automatic discounts part of the automatic upgrade feature... who knows??

Ron, this was the point I was making in that other thread -- which I why I said the changes were not as bad as first thought...there are going to be several methods with which to make adjustments. As always if you have LOTS of points there will be LOTS of ways to do things.

 

[scootr5]

I'm interested to see how the one night bookings affect the system. We don't live close enough to drive and stay just one night at a resort. However, if we did, I would book a lot of units for Saturday nights throughout the year and go. It would be a blast to take the kids to the Dells and go with friends for just a short weekend getaway. Also, how will housekeeping be affected by these one night stays? More maintenence fees for us perhaps?

You can only book one night stays inside of 14 days. If you're not VIP those would chew through your housekeeping credits pretty quickly.

Also, you'll likely never see a Saturday night in the Dells available.

 

[gottashiner]

Has anyone else not received an email regarding these huge changes? I'm platinum but I've received nothing! They are probably pissed at me because I did submit a complaint to the Florida Dept of Business & Professional Regulation regarding all the crap they did when they put my account on hold. Their responses made me wonder whose account they were referring to because it was nothing that I had done or matched any dates when I was in contact with them. I am pretty disgusted with Wyndham and if I could figure out how to get rid of my points for what I have invested, I'd be done. I think that's sad. We bought over 1 million direct and we get treated like poop.

 

[am1]

Within 60 days of check in will any units, other then the smallest available at the resort be available to be booked by non VIP's/VIPs or will all go to upgrades. Not very good for someone that wants to book last minute. Be careful what you wish for.

 

[paxsarah]

Within 60 days of check in will any units, other then the smallest available at the resort be available to be booked by non VIP's/VIPs or will all go to upgrades. Not very good for someone that wants to book last minute. Be careful what you wish for.

That's what I think will happen. There will probably be a number of studios and possibly 1BRs depending on the location available, but my guess is inside 60 days most available/canceled units will go to automatic upgrades.

 

[chapjim]

That's what I think will happen. There will probably be a number of studios and possibly 1BRs depending on the location available, but my guess is inside 60 days most available/canceled units will go to automatic upgrades.

I agree. The only thing available will be the lowest rated unit in the resort.

For the same reason, skipping a class of unit will not happen. If I have a 1BR unit, the best I can hope for is an upgrade to a 2BR unit. A 3BR unit will be taken by someone who had a 2BR unit. I get the 2BR unit on an upgrade. If there is something smaller than a 1BR Deluxe unit, whoever had that will get the upgrade to my 1BR Deluxe unit.

 

[bnoble]

I don't have a problem with that. Wyndham, like any timeshare, is not designed for last-minute booking. It doesn't take a Ph.D. in linguistics to read the program materials and realize that the close-in inventory is expected to be the leftovers that other people don't want---never mind the fact that Wyndham is allowed to take any inventory they want inside 60 days as well.

 

[am1]

But that makes non VIP owners, Silver Vip and any Vip owner without a reservation impossible to book anything but the smallest unit at the resort locked out from staying there.

 

[OutSkiing]

I agree. If my wife and I are going somewhere, we book a 1 BR. Getting a 2 or 3 BR is if no value to us. When traveling with family (we have 2 x 3BR's booked at Bonnet Creek in December), we book 3 BR's... We would never book 2 x 1 or 2 BR's hoping for an upgrade. We go on 8-10 trips a year, so even if Platinum VIP we wouldn't have enough points to double and triple book rooms to play the system. But I do understand the benefit of upgrading from a 1 BR to a 2-3 BR and getting a points discount. Getting points back would be great, just not worth $100-$200K, to me at least...

When my wife, daughter and I travel we get a 1 br. When its more family we get a 2br (sometimes 3br). If I have enough points, it will still be worth booking an extra 1br to correspond to those 2br stays, and a studio to correspond to the 1br stays. We might get the upgrade on the lower unit and then be able to cancel the original bigger one.

I wonder whether 'odd shaped' reservations will insulate from others taking a cancel? Of course a 6 night stay would not be taken by a 7 night reservation, but what about an 8 night stay? It will be interesting to see whether it would automatically go to a 7 night reservation leaving the orphan day or just not match.

I also wonder whether when we choose to 'auto upgrade' there might be a list of upgrade room types to choose from like there is today inside the window. Might still be able to select a 3br from a 1br reservation even though you'd be risking not getting it because a 2br auto upgrade would pre-empt. Still the reservation timing might allow this one to pre-empt. Having a list would at least enable upgrading from a 1br ocean view to a 2br ocean view (skipping over the 2br parking lot view in some resorts).

Bob

 

[raygo123]

L

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[OutSkiing]

I don't believe so. The language in the supplement that makes me think that:

"As a Club Wyndham Plus Member, you receive specific benefits that are associated with your contract and membership type. Your points allow you to use your benefits, regardless of which contract they came from, and with our upcoming enhancements you will no longer have to worry about different point types and their eligibility."

That is an interesting phrase. Could apply to resale points added to a VIP account as you suspect. I am trying to figure out what else this might mean assuming they disavow any knowledge of resale. One thing it does NOT mean per their other wording is that pooled forward points can still not apparently count toward RARP (they explicitly say these points can only be used during standard and last minute periods). Could it mean that as long as you have any CWA points then all your points can be used to ARP at a CWA resort? For that matter maybe even CWP points that are short of enough for an ARP reservation can be supplemented by other points in the same account. Maybe to get ARP automatically showing up online they will allow this. Or if you have only 105000 points from a specific resort will the reservation system only show small rooms for us at the 13 month window?

Bob