Issues with Booking 2017 Reservations Online

There have been a number of threads this year detailing what appears to be widespread issues with the online Weeks reservation system. The most common is that intervals don't show as available online when the Reservation Windows open but the telephone reps can see/book them. Today I asked my usual contact at MVW if they've had eyes on the various TUG threads and received this response:

"I actually put in an executive update this past week as I had seen the multiple threads about it. It also included the feedback on the new PULSE brand and the Vacation Homes option. I think it’s good for them to see what Owners are saying online to hopefully drive some action. If you do get anymore Owners talking about availability issues, can you have them contact us at Customer Advocacy to provide detailed examples of what is going on? With the IT department, they can fix things quicker if they can recreate or review logs of an issue."

So please, if you have problems, help them help us by sending a detailed email to Customer Advocacy at MVCICustomer.care@vacationclub.com. The rest of us Marriott TUGgers will appreciate it if you also let us know of any problems/solutions. Thanks!

(The many related existing threads are remaining as they are but from this point on, all threads related to online availability issues will be merged into this one.)

After trying unsuccessfully this morning to reserve online I called and spoke with a rep who said that legacy weeks are now restricted from online reservations. I suspect that is the latest excuse for the poor website design, but wondered if there is any truth to that. Anyone else experienced this?

***Moderator Note: Post moved to thread that we know MVW is watching.***

1st Class said:

After trying unsuccessfully this morning to reserve online I called and spoke with a rep who said that legacy weeks are now restricted from online reservations. I suspect that is the latest excuse for the poor website design, but wondered if there is any truth to that. Anyone else experienced this?

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I didn't go through the complete confirmation process but last night I was able to see availability for Gold Weeks at both Barony and SurfWatch. Can you confirm if you're seeing availability and not able to book it, or not seeing availability at all? Also, will you consider sending an email detailing your experience, as requested? Thanks!

Does anyone know if any of the corporate docs reveal the outfit that Marriott retained to create this debacle?

SueDonJ said:

I didn't go through the complete confirmation process but last night I was able to see availability for Gold Weeks at both Barony and SurfWatch. Can you confirm if you're seeing availability and not able to book it, or not seeing availability at all? Also, will you consider sending an email detailing your experience, as requested? Thanks!

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Thanks for moving my post to the appropriate thread.

I was seeing availability for previous weeks in my season but not the week/check-in day I needed which should have been available to me at 9:00 a.m. this morning. Interestingly, after seeing your reply I decided to log in again to see if my week showed as being booked. Well, not only wasn't it showing as booked, but now at 3:30 p.m. the calendar was updated and I was able to click through to rebook the same week the rep booked! In the past, once a reservation was made, owner's ability to book online disappeared and showed as booked indicating the appropriate date and reservation #. I'm not seeing that.

... and what's with the password that's already filled in?

Sorry I missed your previous post regarding all this booking trouble. I will be more than happy to send the details to Customer Advocacy. C'mon MVCI! Get your act together!!!!

Update: Comments sent to MVCI, awaiting reply

1st Class said:

Thanks for moving my post to the appropriate thread.


... and what's with the password that's already filled in?

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That's a function of your browser settings. You usually can turn this on or off at your will usually under the Tools Options Security menu

Art said:

That's a function of your browser settings. You usually can turn this on or off at your will usually under the Tools Options Security menu

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In this case, I don't believe it is function of the browser. I have something (appears as ********) in the password box, but it is not my password. It just started appearing there recently when I go to the login page.

I tried just entering my user id then hitting enter with these stars in the password box (I did not key anything there), but got an error message. So it was not my password, but it is unclear what it is and why it shows up in the first place.

1st Class said:

Interestingly, after seeing your reply I decided to log in again to see if my week showed as being booked. Well, not only wasn't it showing as booked, but now at 3:30 p.m. the calendar was updated and I was able to click through to rebook the same week the rep booked!

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When I experienced the same thing (reported a couple months ago), a rep had booked for me (since the website showed no availability), and then later the website showed me as now bookable, the rep had told me that "re-booking" (which should not have been possble) would cause a duplicate reservation.

So you best check! You may now have a duplicate reservation, and only a rep/tech can remove it for you.

I am feeling pleased because once again I have got my booking using DC points so I have no complaints about the system.

But I did experience some quirks in the booking process which I thiught I would share.

I phoned MVCI Europe just after inventory release (9.02 EST 13 months out) to request stays at Lakeshore Reserve and Oceana Palms. There was no availablility. I checked shortly after online and again no availabilty. Tried again about two hours later and got Lakeshore Reserve booked. Several tries and about four hours later I got the Oceana Palms reservation. So I am happy but it does seem that the inventory dribbles through the system. Maybe this is because the IT system is reacting live so minute by minute inventory can be released due to, say, a weeks owner exchanging for points. It does though point to the importance of checking availability regularly.

A second quirk is that I have just received an email saying that 36,750 DC points have been deducted from my account to cover the Oceana Palms reservation. I do hope this is not right as if I owned that number of points the member fees would sure bankrupt me.

answeeney said:

I am feeling pleased because once again I have got my booking using DC points so I have no complaints about the system.

But I did experience some quirks in the booking process which I thiught I would share.

I phoned MVCI Europe just after inventory release (9.02 EST 13 months out) to request stays at Lakeshore Reserve and Oceana Palms. There was no availablility. I checked shortly after online and again no availabilty. Tried again about two hours later and got Lakeshore Reserve booked. Several tries and about four hours later I got the Oceana Palms reservation. So I am happy but it does seem that the inventory dribbles through the system. Maybe this is because the IT system is reacting live so minute by minute inventory can be released due to, say, a weeks owner exchanging for points. It does though point to the importance of checking availability regularly.

A second quirk is that I have just received an email saying that 36,750 DC points have been deducted from my account to cover the Oceana Palms reservation. I do hope this is not right as if I owned that number of points the member fees would sure bankrupt me.

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You have no complaints about the system?

davidvel said:

You have no complaints about the system?

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Fair point. I suppose I just think that a system error that I am pretty sure will be corrected is less important than getting my bookings successfully confirmed.

I've been away for a few days unable to check e-mail. Here is the reply I received from MVCI on 5/20/16:

"I appreciate you taking the time to share your experience when trying to book today. I am sorry for the issues you encountered and know, we are taking the feedback about the website seriously. Would you be able to provide additional details on the issue experienced including the browser you were using, if it was exactly 9AM when the search was processed and any other additional details? The better our IT team can pin point the issue and try to replicate it, the easier it is for them to correct.

I look forward to hearing from you,"

Today, 5/25/16 I replied and received this in return:

"Thank you for your message. I will be out of the office until Friday, May 27th, and will have limited access to email messages. I will reply to your email upon my return to the office. If you require immediate assistance, please direct your email to customer.advocacy@vacationclub.com or call 800-860-9384 and a representative will be pleased to assist you."


I'm not a programmer, but shouldn't the website have been tested for compatibility with ALL browsers BEFORE being fully implemented?

Regarding the password being filled in, tiel is correct. The password doesn't work for me either. It appears after I open the website, before I log in.

It shouldn't be too difficult to replicate. If MVCI put the word out here on TUG I'm sure others would be happy to comply.

I've been reading on TUG about these issues for months now and appreciate Susan's attempt to finally bring some attention to the matter. I'll keep this thread updated if/when I receive updates.

Clark said:

When I experienced the same thing (reported a couple months ago), a rep had booked for me (since the website showed no availability), and then later the website showed me as now bookable, the rep had told me that "re-booking" (which should not have been possble) would cause a duplicate reservation.

So you best check! You may now have a duplicate reservation, and only a rep/tech can remove it for you.

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That was what I was thinking too, so I did not complete the reservation. No small wonder that owners are finding no available check-in days when the booking window opens if owners can make multiple reservations with a single week.

At times, I only see my 2017 weeks listed, other times I have also seen 2018 with the option to elect vacation club points on those. It doesn't seem to be impacting my ability to book weeks. I was able to book a Full Villa with lock off at Grande Vista. I tried booking the same at Harbour Lake but got the message that there was no availability in May 2017. I was however able to select dates using just the 2BR non lock off unit type. There are not many 2BR lock off unit types at Harbour Lake.

1st Class said:

I'm not a programmer, but shouldn't the website have been tested for compatibility with ALL browsers BEFORE being fully implemented?

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Yes of course.

And they should know full well that it is not a browser issue anyway if they had done the least bit of checking into the problem.

New One - Online system sees availability that the VOAs cannot

Add one to the "Gee, that's strange file..."

I called this morning at 9AM to use some points we have stuck in the Holding Account to add a night to an existing reservation for late July. Prior to calling, I verified online that the extra night was still showing available.

When I called, the VOA said the room category I was looking for wasn't available for the requested night. My first assumption was it had been booked in the few minutes between my pre-check and my call. But while on the phone, I went back online and looked again, and it was still there online. So The VOA suggested I try to book it as a separate reservation, which I did successfully. She confirmed it had booked on her end. She still couldn't see any availability for that date in that room type.

The only explanation the VOA had was that when I went in online to check before the call, the system had held the only room available, so that was why she couldn't see it. That didn't make sense to me, since I didn't actually try to reserve it and had left the reservation page before my call. I had to go back online to book it. After the call, out of curiosity, I went back in and searched again and that night was still showing as available.

I'm familiar with the issues where the VOA could see availability but the online system couldn't - but this is a new one - the online system sees availability that the VOA could not.

Possible Explanation...

I kept poking around online and may have a possible explanation for the issue I posted in the previous post.

The two nights prior to the day I was trying to add are showing as not available online. So if instead of just adding the extra night to my existing reservation, the VOA was instead trying to re-book the entire stay with the extra night added, then she would have definitely not been able to do that because of the two unavailable nights (which we had booked previously). That is the only logical explanation I have found for what happened.

Website still seems to be having issues. I cannot access the Inventory Release Calendar or Resort Seasonal Calendar in the Helpful Tools Section of the Education and Owner Resources tab. Getting an Error Message for both. :annoyed:

kds4 said:

Website still seems to be having issues. I cannot access the Inventory Release Calendar or Resort Seasonal Calendar in the Helpful Tools Section of the Education and Owner Resources tab. Getting an Error Message for both. :annoyed:

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From the day this new website was implemented, more times than not I find that the first try returns an error message but the second is successful, although sometimes even more tries are necessary. That's what's happening now for me - the Inventory Release Calculator (Points release dates) and Resort Seasonal Calendar links both took two tries, the Inventory Release Calendar (Weeks release dates) link took four.

When you get an error message on any of them, use your browser's "back" button to try again. I don't usually give up until after 10 tries. Good luck!

SueDonJ said:

From the day this new website was implemented, more times than not I find that the first try returns an error message but the second is successful, although sometimes even more tries are necessary. That's what's happening now for me - the Inventory Release Calculator (Points release dates) and Resort Seasonal Calendar links both took two tries, the Inventory Release Calendar (Weeks release dates) link took four.

When you get an error message on any of them, use your browser's "back" button to try again. I don't usually give up until after 10 tries. Good luck!

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I didn't even realise until a recent search that there were Inventory Release Calculator (Points release dates) and the Inventory Release Calendar (Weeks release dates) that were different.
Very frustrating, do they really need different calendars?

bazzap said:

I didn't even realise until a recent search that there were Inventory Release Calculator (Points release dates) and the Inventory Release Calendar (Weeks release dates) that were different.
Very frustrating, do they really need different calendars?

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Yes, because generally throughout the calendar the Inventory Release Dates for Points inventory fall a couple/few days after the dates for Weeks inventory.

I wish they'd rename the tools on the website to read "MVC Weeks Release Dates" and "DC Points Release Dates" to make it easier to understand. It seems that a lot of folks think one or the other can be used interchangeably which causes problems when trying to book the highest-demand inventory, with Points users trying too early and Weeks users trying too late.

SueDonJ said:

Yes, because generally throughout the calendar the Inventory Release Dates for Points inventory fall a couple/few days after the dates for Weeks inventory.

I wish they'd rename the tools on the website to read "MVC Weeks Release Dates" and "DC Points Release Dates" to make it easier to understand. It seems that a lot of folks think one or the other can be used interchangeably which causes problems when trying to book the highest-demand inventory, with Points users trying too early and Weeks users trying too late.

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That would most certainly help, as I had to look through it several times before knowing which was the right one for me.

no 2017 calendar

wondering if today anyone has a similar problem. The calendar when it opens up shows two months of this year 2016 and won't advance any further. Obviously I used my 2016 week already so I need 2017 calendar. What a big time failure on the web developer So frustrating!

and a follow up question....is the online booking restricted to the same phone booking time window 9:00 am to whatever time?

mjkkb2 said:

wondering if today anyone has a similar problem. The calendar when it opens up shows two months of this year 2016 and won't advance any further. Obviously I used my 2016 week already so I need 2017 calendar. What a big time failure on the web developer So frustrating!

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I'm also having an issue today, the inventory didn't show up at 9am and still not showing online for week reservations 12 months from now. I had exactly the same problem last week - the inventory was not showing up online even though I was able to book over the phone. Not happy at all with the supervisor's response -all I can do is file a report but don't expect to hear back from us-