New Website: Upgrade Processing

[Sandy VDH]

How do I check to see if it is really there

Try to book it directly NOT as an upgrade. If it give you a message that the unit is gone then in is a phantom. I have noticed phantoms staying in inventory for up to 18 hours before it finally dropped off.

 

[nicemann]

NM

 

[cyseitz]

Try to book it directly NOT as an upgrade. If it give you a message that the unit is gone then in is a phantom. I have noticed phantoms staying in inventory for up to 18 hours before it finally dropped off.

It will let me book it. So, it is legit.

 

[happyhopian]

That implies a recent Plat reservation gets priority over an older Gold reservation. Since they seem to be taking the simplest approach, I would say they are just ignoring the VIP level for ranking and lumping all eligible requests together sorted by reservation date.

No this is NOT correct. I had it confirmed by two different owner care reps and the IT triage person I spoke with about my account issues.

upgrades in the new system are handed out in two priorities. VIP status (plat, gold, silver) and then booking priority (first in, first up). So if a silver and a plat book at the same time Plat gets the upgrade. If silver books two months ahead of plat, plat still wins. NOW the question is, if they both book inside 30 days and an upgrade becomes available is vip status included in the ranking? Based on what I was told about how upgrades were handed out (and told the above) I would think VIP status is still in the mix.

NOW having said all of this, I think it is important for people to call in and ask and then report back. They are making changes on a daily basis and this question has several layers which might not have been addressed in the answers I've been provided.

 

[happyhopian]

I have a one-bedroom suite that I clicked that I wanted an upgrade. I just saw 2 two bedrooms in inventory for my dates. It looked to be the same type unit as my one-bedroom suite, so, why didn't it upgrade me?

Does that mean that the upgrades happen during the night? Has anyone had an upgrade in the middle of the day or have all of your upgrades occurred during the night?

I had a similar situation and they said the system still has bugs. Book both if you can and then call them and tell them it wouldn't upgrade..OC can fix it if they feel like it today

 

[cyseitz]

I had a similar situation and they said the system still has bugs. Book both if you can and then call them and tell them it wouldn't upgrade..OC can fix it if they feel like it today

LOL..I'll call them and see what they say.

 

[Sandy VDH]

It will let me book it. So, it is legit.

If you have a hearing impaired or handicap unit it will only upgrade you to another like unit.

If it a straight up 1 BR and 2 BR then call a VC and ask them. Just confirming you are in the right upgrade window. I assume so, but I had to ask.

 

[Sandy VDH]

No this is NOT correct. I had it confirmed by two different owner care reps and the IT triage person I spoke with about my account issues.

upgrades in the new system are handed out in two priorities. VIP status (plat, gold, silver) and then booking priority (first in, first up). So if a silver and a plat book at the same time Plat gets the upgrade. If silver books two months ahead of plat, plat still wins. NOW the question is, if they both book inside 30 days and an upgrade becomes available is vip status included in the ranking? Based on what I was told about how upgrades were handed out (and told the above) I would think VIP status is still in the mix.

NOW having said all of this, I think it is important for people to call in and ask and then report back. They are making changes on a daily basis and this question has several layers which might not have been addressed in the answers I've been provided.

I think status will come in weighing first in the upgrade scenario.

Now if you are in a instant upgrade situation, then its first to the booking.

 

[ecwinch]

No this is NOT correct. I had it confirmed by two different owner care reps and the IT triage person I spoke with about my account issues.

upgrades in the new system are handed out in two priorities. VIP status (plat, gold, silver) and then booking priority (first in, first up). So if a silver and a plat book at the same time Plat gets the upgrade. If silver books two months ahead of plat, plat still wins. NOW the question is, if they both book inside 30 days and an upgrade becomes available is vip status included in the ranking? Based on what I was told about how upgrades were handed out (and told the above) I would think VIP status is still in the mix.

NOW having said all of this, I think it is important for people to call in and ask and then report back. They are making changes on a daily basis and this question has several layers which might not have been addressed in the answers I've been provided.

The description they gave you is the inherent way the upgrades work since each VIP window opens separately. Not that it really matters, as I want to learn exactly HOW it works, not how a bunch of people are regurgitating how they were told it works. I would like it to be the VIP status trumps reservation date, but given how haphazard the programming has been, I doubt they would put that much work into it.

The upgrade cycle did not seem to run last night. Both my eligible units did not get upgrades despite inventory being available to book.

 

[Sandy VDH]

The description they gave you is the inherent way the upgrades work since each VIP window opens separately. Not that it really matters, as I want to learn exactly HOW it works, not how a bunch of people are regurgitating how they were told it works. I would like it to be the VIP status trumps reservation date, but given how haphazard the programming has been, I doubt they would put that much work into it.

The upgrade cycle did not seem to run last night. Both my eligible units did not get upgrades despite inventory being available to book.

OK, so post your experiences so we can stop talking about our speculation and can base it on facts.

Add the following for SUCCESSFUL UPGRADES.

STATUS, RESORT, BOOK/Req Upgrade DATES(s), UPGRADE DATE, Notes or observations

Change the font to RED to make it easier to highlight.

 

[happyhopian]

Both my eligible units did not get upgrades despite inventory being available to book.

That is just NUTS. I would call and get OC to explain why this is the case. They have something called triage. I would ask this to be put in there. Not that it matters, but with out asking it damn sure doesn't matter.

 

[cyseitz]

Just spoke to a very nice customer service rep. He said that right now the upgrades are happening at 12:01 EST. But the goal is to have it where the upgrades are happening in real time. By the time someone picked up, my two bedroom I was calling about was gone.
He did say that there are some resorts that still do not have all of their inventory uploaded. He mentioned Myrtle Beach and resorts on the Florida Panhandle specifically.
He also said that he has no idea how long it will take before the website is completely done.

 

[BellaWyn]

He also said that he has no idea how long it will take before the website is completely done.

WOW, we've gone from "sorry, hopefully soon" to "no idea....."

That was faster than anticipated.

 

[cayman01]

WOW, we've gone from "sorry, hopefully soon" to "no idea....."

That was faster than anticipated.

The truth sneaks out of the VC'S at the end of the day. Getting beat up all day by frustrated owners will do that.

One step forward two steps back for the website.nice to see inventory coming online, be even nicer if we could book it.....

 

[chapjim]

It's a system of rewards and punishments, randomly distributed. At least for now.

I think by the first of the year, we might have accumulated a body of knowledge of how this system works. For the time, I can't contribute to that body of knowledge. I can only read other folks' experiences. All my reservations in the upgrade period were upgraded pre-conversion and I don't have enough points to play with new reservations.

So, I'll free ride for a while!

 

[ecwinch]

Just spoke to a very nice customer service rep. He said that right now the upgrades are happening at 12:01 EST.

I think this is more of a "goal". Because for the past three nights they have missed that mark.

 

[cyseitz]

I think this is more of a "goal". Because for the past three nights they have missed that mark.

Yeah, I think it was like 3 am or somewhere around there.

 

[cyseitz]

So, yesterday I had a two bedroom and a one-bedroom suite at Grand Desert. I canceled the two-bedroom right before midnight EST. I was hoping in the morning, my one bedroom would be upgraded. So, I get up at 6am to check it for an upgrade. No upgrade. I go to see what was available for my dates and there was beaucoup there. So, I booked what I wanted with an instant upgrade and canceled the one bedroom that I had. Anyone else has a suspicion that you are not getting upgrades?

 

[Sandy VDH]

So, yesterday I had a two bedroom and a one-bedroom suite at Grand Desert. I canceled the two-bedroom right before midnight EST. I was hoping in the morning, my one bedroom would be upgraded. So, I get up at 6am to check it for an upgrade. No upgrade. I go to see what was available for my dates and there was beaucoup there. So, I booked what I wanted with an instant upgrade and canceled the one bedroom that I had. Anyone else has a suspicion that you are not getting upgrades?

That is just proof that requested upgrades are a BATCH job. Which is what I had been expecting because of the performance drag a continuously performing upgrade check would be on the system. So it would just appear that there is opportunities to jump the upgrade request queue in the window BETWEEN when cancelled inventory shows up back in the system but BEFORE the next batch processing for upgrades happens.

Now the $64,000, how long is that Gap, and is there any predictability on then the matching process batch job gets run? Cancellations returning is still a big black hole to me. I would have thought that the cancellation returning (basically they are held until the next batch) and the running the batch upgrade check were related events, but this is proof they are NOT. If they had been related, your requested upgrade should have happened before you were able to do and Instant upgrade. Interesting.

So it appear with some luck at timing you may bet lucky and JUMP the QUEUE. Happy Hunting for that window.

 

[cyseitz]

That is just proof that requested upgrades are a BATCH job. Which is what I had been expecting because of the performance drag a continuously performing upgrade check would be on the system. So it would just appear that there is opportunities to jump the upgrade request queue in the window BETWEEN when cancelled inventory shows up back in the system but BEFORE the next batch processing for upgrades happens.

Now the $64,000, how long is that Gap, and is there any predictability on then the matching process batch job gets run? Cancellations returning is still a big black hole to me. I would have thought that the cancellation returning (basically they are held until the next batch) and the running the batch upgrade check were related events, but this is proof they are NOT. If they had been related, your requested upgrade should have happened before you were able to do and Instant upgrade. Interesting.

So it appear with some luck at timing you may bet lucky and JUMP the QUEUE. Happy Hunting for that window.

The VC that I spoke with yesterday did say they run a BATCH. I was not quite sure what he meant by that. If you don't mind, can you explain that for me?

 

[jumoe]

Batch job usually means it runs on a schedule. Could be once a month, week, day, hour - whatever they set the schedule for.

 

[cyseitz]

So, am I correct in thinking that if someone cancels a 2 bedroom or above during the day, it gets picked up by the website until there is a match for each reservation the needs to be upgraded. After that, the 2 bedrooms or above will show up in inventory when someone does a search. When the BATCH is run, the reservations waiting for upgrades will be upgraded.

 

[Sandy VDH]

So, am I correct in thinking that if someone cancels a 2 bedroom or above during the day, it gets picked up by the website until there is a match for each reservation the needs to be upgraded. After that, the 2 bedrooms or above will show up in inventory when someone does a search. When the BATCH is run, the reservations waiting for upgrades will be upgraded.

Clearly I do not think it was doing that (unless I am just confused my your terminology). There was a cancellation and it did NOT hold it, the system put it back into inventory and there was time between when that happened and when the Batch job was scheduled to run next (I do not know the frequency of the Batch, there is clearly one that runs overnight, but I would sure hope it is scheduled to run with more frequency than that).

Why do I KNOW THIS, Because you got on a instant upgrade something that should have gone to an upgrade request, as we know there was at least 1 because 1 was your request. I am assuming you booked the instant upgrade ON THE EXACT SAME DAYS at your pending upgrade request. Can you verify that please.

So that do I deduce from this. The cancellation cycle and the batch for upgrade run are INDEPENDENT of each other. There does not appear to be to be a cancellations are collected and then when the Batch runs it also picks form the soon to be released into inventory units. That would have been a smarter way to implement it, but hey WYND and proved that their IT department has ALOT of shortcoming.

 

[Roger830]

So, am I correct in thinking that if someone cancels a 2 bedroom or above during the day, it gets picked up by the website until there is a match for each reservation the needs to be upgraded. After that, the 2 bedrooms or above will show up in inventory when someone does a search. When the BATCH is run, the reservations waiting for upgrades will be upgraded.

I would think that would also be true for a 1 bedroom that could be upgraded from a studio.

12:01 would be a poor time to run the batch, that's when we have to book at 10 months.
The way things have been going, it's probably when it will be done to slow us down.

 

[cyseitz]

I would think that would also be true for a 1 bedroom that could be upgraded from a studio.

12:01 would be a poor time to run the batch, that's when we have to book at 10 months.
The way things have been going, it's probably when it will be done to slow us down.

I spoke to a VC yesterday and he did tell me that they run the batch at 12:01. That must be the same time when the calendar stops working.