Going to buy a Lotto Ticket Today / Inventory Release website issues

rthib · Mar 10, 2016

First time booking at 12 month (usually do a 13 month)

Got ready at 8:59.
Two browsers running both on endless loading.
So I pick up phone, call and get the "not open until 9" message.
Hang up dial - phone answered and week booked by 9:02.

I had drink and pop tart ready for long hold, all the preparation and done in minutes. I fell like I missed out on the experience.

SkyBlueWaters · Mar 10, 2016

website overloaded. Can't get through. System maintenance. Maybe because you opened two browsers.

Aztraveler · Mar 10, 2016

Same experience here. Never had this issue before. Is this a new issue?

SkyBlueWaters · Mar 10, 2016

iPad says system maintenance. Desktop is just going around in circles.

Terrible customer experience. Now says nothing available. Feels like I bought a lotto ticket with Interval, not a week with Marriott Vacation Club.

Aztraveler · Mar 10, 2016

I now get a "Gateway timeout" Message. Must be a problem. If they are doing maintenance, they sure picked a weird day to do it.

Retired to Travel · Mar 10, 2016

Share those lottery winnings?

I had just clicked the final "accept reservation" button when this occurred. Any chance I got my unit booked?

Aztraveler · Mar 10, 2016

I am now on hold using the phone. Haven't needed to do this in years. What a mess!

Retired to Travel · Mar 10, 2016

Aha! My email just chimed and I have a reservation confirm. It wasn't our first choice of check-in date, but I'm too relieved to be picky. Good luck to you others........

jpc763 · Mar 10, 2016

Same experience here!

I ran through the whole drill yesterday, only to find out I was a day early

Today I started at 6:55 MST and got the endless spinning circle with Chrome. Tried with IE and the same thing. Eventually got logged in but could never get to the "Book My Stay" page. At 7:00 MST I called and got right through and booked my week.

I am now at work and am seeing the same problem and hour after the window opened.

In 16 years owning Marriotts, I have never had to call in until today :wall:

J

Aztraveler · Mar 10, 2016

I lost the lottery! Wanted to book my MOC "Weeks" unit at 12 month period. I started to login to my account at 8:45 am ET and could login, but when I chose "Book my Vacation" the system just kept spinning. Called reservations and all units already booked by 9:45 am. Reservations said the web system was "overloaded". Funny, I did a dry run the week before with no issues. Is this just a fluke or is this the new normal? If so, what advice can others give me in working with the new system.

jpc763 · Mar 10, 2016

Aztraveler said:
I lost the lottery! Wanted to book my MOC "Weeks" unit at 12 month period. I started to login to my account at 8:45 am ET and could login, but when I chose "Book my Vacation" the system just kept spinning. Called reservations and all units already booked by 9:45 am. Reservations said the web system was "overloaded". Funny, I did a dry run the week before with no issues. Is this just a fluke or is this the new normal? If so, what advice can others give me in working with the new system.

This happened to my Brother in Law at Thanksgiving. He kept checking inventory and after a few hours, he was able to book. Good Luck.

Aztraveler · Mar 10, 2016

I did keep trying and at 10:10 ET finally got the online reservation system to work. We have a lockoff and by splitting it and checking in on Friday, we can stay in the lockoff unit next year. We may try again next week and stay two weeks. Luckily, just my wife and I are planning to travel next year.

I am interested in what others are finding with this "improved" website. In the back of my mind, I wonder if this is another way to make life difficult for "weeks" owners.

Again, I welcome any tips that others have.

SkyBlueWaters · Mar 10, 2016

Incompetent IT department. Servers are too slow to handle the surge in traffic. :crash:

radmoo · Mar 10, 2016

Inventory Release website Issues

Did anyone else have difficulty this morning? At 8:56 am, the site went down due to server maintenance and the phone lines were overloaded. Frustrating!

mjbaran · Mar 10, 2016

Website crashed for me at precisely 9:00:00 and was down for 45 minutes. Called owner services but on hold for 20 minutes. Bottom line, missed my spring training week reservation at MCV.
Complained to a supervisor but obviously she couldn't do anything since the inventory was gone. Fortunately my timing is flexible and I'll try again next week. Nothing hurts a brand image more than unreliable customer service.

We can search for galaxies thousands of light years away but can't seem to keep a timeshare reservation website working reliably at peak time!

davidvel · Mar 10, 2016

jpc763 said:
This happened to my Brother in Law at Thanksgiving. He kept checking inventory and after a few hours, he was able to book. Good Luck.

I second this recommendation. Many (including myself) have reported that inventory pops up in the days after the first day to reserve a popular week. Keep checking back a few times each day for the next 4 days, especially the weekend.

NTP66 · Mar 10, 2016

I mentioned this in the other website issues thread, but Marriott does not host their Vacation Club website. That is all hosted offsite by a 3rd party vendor (by a poor vendor, I might add).

Quilter · Mar 10, 2016

I didn't get started till late this morning. Wasn't even planning to make any reservations until I read this thread.

We're driving to OP (finally) so I have lots of time to play with phone. Decided what I wanted to book and got it. Website was bit whacky but we were driving through mountains that can mess with the signal. While I was working with website I Also put in call which had long hold time. Think I got phone rep right as we reached the middle of a tunnel so the call was dropped.

That was so much fun I tried later to get another but not successful.

Feeling even better about snagging the first reservation.

dioxide45 · Mar 10, 2016

It seems that almost everyone had an opposite experience than the OP. Did everyone else do as the OP did? That being logged in AND on the telephone at the same time. Waiting until the website crashed to pick up the phone seemed to be many people's down fall.

jpc763 · Mar 11, 2016

dioxide45 said:
It seems that almost everyone had an opposite experience than the OP. Did everyone else do as the OP did? That being logged in AND on the telephone at the same time. Waiting until the website crashed to pick up the phone seemed to be many people's down fall.

I tried the website before 7AM MST. When I felt that it was not going to work, I called before 7AM MST. I got in and got my reservation but the website did not recover until about 8AM MST.

J

Aztraveler · Mar 11, 2016

jpc763 said:
I tried the website before 7AM MST. When I felt that it was not going to work, I called before 7AM MST. I got in and got my reservation but the website did not recover until about 8AM MST.

J

It seems that almost everyone had an opposite experience than the OP. Did everyone else do as the OP did? That being logged in AND on the telephone at the same time. Waiting until the website crashed to pick up the phone seemed to be many people's down fall.

At 8:45 ET, I started trying to login. When it became obvious that something was wrong, I grabbed the phone and started to call. However, I have not had to call to make a reservation in years, and I grabbed a wrong number from the website. I guess it was the general sales number. It kept saying they were closed and stated they opened at 9:30 ET. When I got through at 9:30, and after a 15 minute wait, everything was gone. This is all on me of course, and I learned to be better prepared.

We are flexible and split our unit. We'll try to get the other half next week, and I'll be better prepared.

Glad to have TUG around to know that I was not the only one with issues. I did play around with the MVC website today and found that about half the links can not be opened. They must really have issues with the website provider and probably need to make some changes.

I don't post much to TUG because I do not have the time to watch it every day. I hope this thread will help others realize that we can not get comfortable that the web reservation system is dependable -- especially on the day inventory is released. If it does, TUG has again helped its users!

spottie · Mar 11, 2016

I have been booking through website only for the past 10 years, but this year, I figured why not try the phone as well just in case.
I called on Tuesday, couple of minutes before 9AM and got the "not open until 9" message as well. So I logged on to the website and called again at 9 and was immediately put through to a rep. She was able to make the reservation for us. In the meantime, I can not see any availability through the website. The website was slow on Tuesday and the rep was saying her system was slow as well. Anyway, I got my reservation and I am glad that I called.
In the future, I think I will always call & check the website same time.

SkyBlueWaters · Mar 17, 2016

At exactly 9:00:01 am EDS, nothing available online. Early by an hour? :ponder:

Aztraveler · Mar 17, 2016

SkyBlue, same as you as I wanted to book the Master Suite of our lock off at MOC. Website indicated no availability for the entire first part of the year. I have never seen it like this. Usually, there are available dates for the first several hours during the release date, and even, dates in early January. After my experience last week, I was on the phone at the same time and booked the week through an agent. I told the agent of my website experience. She said she knows of other complaints and that there seems to be many problems and they are working on them.

About three hours later, I tried the website again (with my second 2br week). Same message for the full unit and master suit. I could find one date to use the lock off. I have never experienced this issue. I wonder if reservations are available using DC points. If so, is this a trend that legacy week owners are, and will be, short changed.

BJRSanDiego · Mar 17, 2016

A few times I've been frustrated with Marriott and made a post on their Facebook page. In one case I got a phone call from the GM in 3 hours along with an apology and a confirmation that my problem would be fully resolved. It was.

So, if you want to get some attention, try Facebook. Someone in Corporate is reading the posts. :cheer:

Going to buy a Lotto Ticket Today / Inventory Release website issues

rthib

SkyBlueWaters

Aztraveler

SkyBlueWaters

Aztraveler

Retired to Travel

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

Aztraveler

Retired to Travel

TUG Review Crew: Veteran

jpc763

Aztraveler

jpc763

Aztraveler

SkyBlueWaters

radmoo

mjbaran

davidvel

NTP66

Quilter

Tug Review Crew: Rookie

dioxide45

TUG Review Crew: Expert

jpc763

Aztraveler

spottie

SkyBlueWaters

Aztraveler

BJRSanDiego

TUG Review Crew: Expert