Heads Up -- Plumbing problems at OTA

JimMIA · Sep 25, 2016

We received the following email yesterday from Wyndham about a serious plumbing issue at Old Town Alexandria. We have a reservation there for Oct 8-10, but I don't know the full scope of the time period affected.

Dear Owner:

Wyndham Old Town Alexandria is currently experiencing an unforeseen serious maintenance issue, which is affecting the plumbing operations for the resort. Our staff is working diligently with our contractors to address the situation in order to maximize occupancy over the coming weeks.

Due to this circumstance, we will not be able to accommodate all previously confirmed reservations during the time period for which you are scheduled to arrive. Therefore, we are seeking volunteers who can cancel or reschedule their stay at Wyndham Old Town Alexandria. Volunteers will receive a full points refund for their stay as well as an extra 25% CLUB WYNDHAM Points as goodwill compensation for a future vacation in the CLUB WYNDHAM Plus portfolio of resorts. This offer will be available on a first come, first served basis.

If we do not receive sufficient volunteers, we will have to cancel some reservations for the owners who reserved most recently. Please immediately reply to this email if you are interested in this offer (and be sure to provide us your best telephone number) or call us at 866-495-1993. If you are not interested in this offer, we will be contacting you soon to advise you of the status of your reservation.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

CLUB WYNDHAM Plus Owner Care

We actually are in a position to help them out a little if they can move our reservation up a little. I responded to the email, told them what we needed, and received a prompt call back saying they were trying to make the adjustment we requested. They seem to be trying to work with folks to minimize the effect.

am1 · Sep 25, 2016

Impressive they would refund points inside the 15 day cancellation window. In the past they would not do that even when they were short rooms.

But be careful this does not trigger an audit in the future as they wonder where the extra points came from.

DeniseM · Sep 25, 2016

Now that just stinks!

vacationhopeful · Sep 25, 2016

They should put the points into your 2017 Use Year along with the Bonus Points ... last 3 months of the year is NOT a good time to find units nor might you have vacation time off from work.

JimMIA · Sep 30, 2016

Just a quick update. No resolution of our situation yet, but the Wyndham people are definitely working on it. They've been calling just about every day with updates. Unfortunately, I didn't answer several of the calls because the number shown was a partial 800 number and I figured it was telemarketers.

I spoke with them for a few minutes when they called today and learned that about 1/3 of the resort is either out of service, or will be taken out of service. No timeframe for the repairs was given, but it's obviously past our scheduled checkout date of October 10.

They asked if we would consider relocating to National Harbor, but I said no.

And they did say any points refunded would go into our 2017 UY -- without me asking.

JimMIA · Oct 5, 2016

Final update. We had to return home to Miami yesterday because of the impending hurricane, so I called and canceled. The points + the 25% bonus will go into our 2017 UY.

Here There · Oct 27, 2016

Looks like the problem is continuing into November

I just received a similar 1st email regarding my upcoming 11/14-18 stay. Called the resort and was told that 50% of the units are affected.

Will now need to scramble to salvage a pre-thanksgiving family reunion, esp. if I don't wish to crash on daughter's couch.

uscav8r · Oct 31, 2016

Here There said:
I just received a similar 1st email regarding my upcoming 11/14-18 stay. Called the resort and was told that 50% of the units are affected.

Will now need to scramble to salvage a pre-thanksgiving family reunion, esp. if I don't wish to crash on daughter's couch.

If you booked relatively early, you are less in danger of getting bumped. That said, I was there two weeks ago. Originally booked a 1BR back in March... got upgraded to a 2BR as plenty of people had already cancelled.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

55plus · Nov 2, 2016

I hope the issues don't run through January 20. We have 3 sets of reservations during the presidential inauguration that we made using ARP.

Sandi Bo · Nov 3, 2016

Pretty crazy. I started suspecting availability issues in early September.

I had a renter stay at National Harbor recently (because Alexandria wasn't available). The scoop he heard on the plumbing from the National Harbor Wyndham folks was that a disgruntled employee poured gravel/pebbles into the plumbing and that absolutely shut it down. And that they are still making repairs (of course

).

I hope things are back to normal soon.

What does this time of thing to maintenance fee for Old Town Alexandria owners? Someone's got to pay.

55plus · Nov 3, 2016

Sandi Bo said:
Pretty crazy. I started suspecting availability issues in early September.

I had a renter stay at National Harbor recently (because Alexandria wasn't available). The scoop he heard on the plumbing from the National Harbor Wyndham folks was that a disgruntled employee poured gravel/pebbles into the plumbing and that absolutely shut it down. And that they are still making repairs (of course ).

I hope things are back to normal soon.

What does this time of thing to maintenance fee for Old Town Alexandria owners? Someone's got to pay.

Shouldn't this be an issuance issue if it was vandalism?

Here There · Nov 3, 2016

Sandi Bo said:
... that a disgruntled employee poured gravel/pebbles into the plumbing and that absolutely shut it down...

I suspect it must be a major disaster for repairs to take so long. Reminds me of a true story of a guy being immediately evicted from his rent-controlled SF apt for pouring cat litter

down from his 3rd flr toilet. Which resulted in a tear-down & reconstruct of an entire section of the building.

55plus · Nov 7, 2016

Problems at Old Town Alexandria must be fixed. A lot of availability just came online. . .

Sandi Bo · Nov 10, 2016

I was asked yesterday to relinquish a Nov 26th checkin (for a week in a 2 bedroom). They said rooms accidentally came back into the system.

If you booked anything - you might want to have a backup plan.

Owner Care said they expect to have repairs completed by the end of the year - they are still in progress.

BellaWyn · Nov 10, 2016

Sandi Bo said:
They said rooms accidentally came back into the system.

How exactly does that "accidentally" action happen? Seems to be happening at multiple locations lately.

Heads Up -- Plumbing problems at OTA

JimMIA

am1

DeniseM

vacationhopeful

TUG Review Crew: Rookie

JimMIA

JimMIA

Here There

uscav8r

TUG Review Crew: Expert

55plus

Sandi Bo

55plus

Here There

55plus

Sandi Bo

BellaWyn

TUG Review Crew: Rookie