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SVN NEWS: Online booking now available at mystarcentral.com! [+ Resv. rules changes]

SMHarman

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Word of caution: The online reservation system is having some glitches. I had a confirmed SO reservation at WSJ for 1/17-1/24. I checked the Online reservation system and it showed 3 units available from 1/31-2/7. It very clearly stated on all 3 reservations that it was for 7 nights. So I decided to switch to those dates.

I called the Reservation line at exactly 8:59am and got right through. However, the reservationist was not able to find those dates. I kept refreshing and the dates were still available. She asked me if I wanted to cancel my current reservation and try to complete it online, and I said yes because there were 3 units, and I thought that surely I'd be able to complete one of them.

Nope. When I clicked on the button to reserve the week, it switched from "Complete this Reservation" to "Call Starwood Reservations."

If you have enough SOs remaining to book a reservation, you won't ever run into this situation. I only had enough to book the one, and my original reservation used these, so in order to book another week, I'd have to cancel the original one. That comes with a risk, especially if there's misleading information on the Online booking tool.

Just a watchout so that someone doesn't lose a valuable reservation.

Are you both seeing these always available 2BR units?

Enough SO still gets call for assistance.

Seems a bug in how it is joining nights to make weeks. I managed to get to a book for a single day and a 4 day (did not book) so it does allow completion online at WSJ, just not on these two 2BR.

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk
 

okwiater

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WSJ 3B Plat+ (VGV/BV)
WLR 2B Plat+ Oceanside
SMV 2B Plat+
Sheraton Flex (x2)
Are online reservations blocked for WSJ? I've seen availability (within 8 months) but when I click on the "more information" button it says "call for assistance" with my reservation, where the same dates for other resorts it will bring me to the "reserve your villa" button.

Are the other resorts the same number of StarOptions as WSJ? And are you a multi-week owner or have banked options? I've seen the online system require me to call when there is ambiguity about which "bucket" of options to use to complete the reservation.
 

SMHarman

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Are the other resorts the same number of StarOptions as WSJ? And are you a multi-week owner or have banked options? I've seen the online system require me to call when there is ambiguity about which "bucket" of options to use to complete the reservation.

Similar numbers and all over 148100.
For eexample I can book the 196k point 3br at HRA or 10 days at WPORV but not WSJ.


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LisaRex

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Are online reservations blocked for WSJ? I've seen availability (within 8 months) but when I click on the "more information" button it says "call for assistance" with my reservation, where the same dates for other resorts it will bring me to the "reserve your villa" button.

This is what happened to me as well. It showed 3 villas available for 7 nights. However, when I called, the reservationist said that she was not able to see 7 day availability on her end, but rather only 3 or 4 nights. When I gave her the code, she was still unable to find it.

When she canceled my original reservation, which allowed me to use my SOs to book online, when I clicked to reserve it, it switched to "Call for assistance."

So I don't believe there ever was availability, but that there's a glitch in the system.
 

patsfan

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I called this morning. There is no availability on the dates showing availability online for WSJ (at least the Feb dates I was looking at). Looks like a glitch in the system, but just for WSJ -- I can click to reserve other resorts on the same dates and at similar StarOptions cost.
 

jkrischt

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This is what happened to me as well. It showed 3 villas available for 7 nights. However, when I called, the reservationist said that she was not able to see 7 day availability on her end, but rather only 3 or 4 nights. When I gave her the code, she was still unable to find it.

When she canceled my original reservation, which allowed me to use my SOs to book online, when I clicked to reserve it, it switched to "Call for assistance."

So I don't believe there ever was availability, but that there's a glitch in the system.

Same exact thing just happened to me except I had a totally different experience. I did not cancel anything first because I was worried it was a glitch. There was an impossible Sheraton Steamboat ski week avaialble that sat out there all morning. I was amazed to see this, but needed to clear the switch from Westin Riverfront with the people going with us to this new place. By the time they got back to me I wasn't able to call until 10ish.

I called and the nice lady said she did not see it on her side. But she wasn't going to end it there for me. She tried the online reservation too and she saw the week just as I did. So she had to e-mail (I thought was weird she couldn't reach out directly) the availbility team to see if it was truly available. She was suppose to call me back with the outcome. She never did call back, but I magically got 2 e-mails about two hours later stating my reservation at Westin Riverfront was canceled and there was a new one at Sheraton Steamboat.

Needless to say I'm thrilled with the glitch. I have to imagine other people tried to book that week or called and the person on the phone just told them it was not available. Since the person I called took the extra step, I got the week.

After reading everyone's comments...I wonder if there was something like a 3 day reservation available and another 4 day which needed to be combined? Maybe some extra days needing to be combined were outside the 8 month window? I was booking exactly 8 months out... Just guessing, but whatever I got the week!

Brad
 

Ken555

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Reserved online recently and am quite pleased with the process. As stated elsewhere IIRC, it only offered me to pay via my banked options while I would have preferred a choice between banked options and next years options.


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LisaRex

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FYI, it appears you can cancel SO reservations online from 61 days out. At least that's what the pop-up said when I went to the Villa Finder today. That's great news!
 

DeniseM

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You have been able to do this for awhile, so I'm not sure why the new popup.
 

DavidnRobin

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Reserved online recently and am quite pleased with the process. As stated elsewhere IIRC, it only offered me to pay via my banked options while I would have preferred a choice between banked options and next years options.

I have really liked the on-line booking (so far) - going to make another on tonight.

In a few weeks, I will be able to check out if on-line has a positive (or negative) affect on location priority as it is my 1st reservation made on-line (at 9PM PST - the night before phone reservations open) - interesting to see what happens. My reservation has a time-stamp of 9:06pm PST, and I will be taken it with me.
 

Ken555

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I have really liked the on-line booking (so far) - going to make another on tonight.



In a few weeks, I will be able to check out if on-line has a positive (or negative) affect on location priority as it is my 1st reservation made on-line (at 9PM PST - the night before phone reservations open) - interesting to see what happens. My reservation has a time-stamp of 9:06pm PST, and I will be taken it with me.


I'm sure all the great locations were gone by 9:01. ;)


Sent from my iPad
 

LisaRex

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You have been able to do this for awhile, so I'm not sure why the new popup.

I'm hoping it's not the "cancel your reservation" thing where it just sends a message and it takes them several days to actually do it.

I had that happen earlier this month when I made 2 reservations at WKV. My travel companions backed out, so I had to call and cancel one reservation. I needed those SOs for another reservation, so I was surprised when 2 days later, they still hadn't completed it. So I called in. I told them that I'd already requested it to be canceled via the online tool, and to make sure to communicate to whoever was supposed to handle the online cancellations that they'd already completed it for me. The CSR assured me that they would send a note to that team.

A day later, I got a msg that my reservation request had been processed and my reservation had been canceled. Yup, they canceled the one I wanted to keep. :wall:
 

DavidnRobin

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I had to use the cancel reservation and it worked. I mistakenly reserved the 2Bd LO, instead of the 1Bd side (1-year out) - luckily I could cancel and rebook right away.
 

Henry M.

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I had some issues rearranging some reservations last week. I had made some home resort reservations in early 2015 that I needed to shift to August. I called, and the agent cancelled the appropriate reservations. I later went online, and found the availability I wanted, but when I went to reserve, I kept getting an error message that I needed to own the appropriate week to make the reservation.

Apparently what happened (twice, two different agents) was that I immediately got my Staroptions back, but the agent had to manually do an extra step to reinstate the ownership week so I could make a home resort reservation. Without that step, the system thought I only had Staroptions that could reserve less than 8 months before the check-in date.

Another issue that happened with my reservations early in the year is that I reserved a 2BR at WKORV at less than 8 months in. For some reason, when I originally reserved (on the phone, with an agent), they took the Staroptions from the 1BR at WKORV, and the other from a Studio at WKORV-N. I only noticed this because I went to make a home resort reservation, and the system was saying I didn't have a 2BR to reserve during my home resort period. I had to cancel the reservation to get all the right units back to reserve what I wanted. I needed to cancel anyhow, because my plans had changed, but it would have been upsetting if I had lost my room due to the mix and match of Staroptions that they did, unbeknownst to me.
 

YYJMSP

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Another issue that happened with my reservations early in the year is that I reserved a 2BR at WKORV at less than 8 months in. For some reason, when I originally reserved (on the phone, with an agent), they took the Staroptions from the 1BR at WKORV, and the other from a Studio at WKORV-N. I only noticed this because I went to make a home resort reservation, and the system was saying I didn't have a 2BR to reserve during my home resort period. I had to cancel the reservation to get all the right units back to reserve what I wanted. I needed to cancel anyhow, because my plans had changed, but it would have been upsetting if I had lost my room due to the mix and match of Staroptions that they did, unbeknownst to me.

I've had the same happen to me with phone bookings in the past, so I started making sure I clearly and repeatedly said which unit(s) to use the SOs from when making the reservation. No problems since.

Will have to see how it works for the online bookings when I make my first SO bookings in Oct for next summer -- I'm sure they'll use the wrong one's, as I know at least one of our bookings works best if a specific combination of SOs from halves of 3 different units is used (least wasted SOs to come up with the magic weird number for 10 nights). I bet there will be phone follow-ups to get that one right...
 

Henry M.

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I just cancelled a booking for a July week I had, using MyStarCentral. It specifically said it was restoring my week.

I then made a reservation for April (less than 8 months out), and it told me which specific weeks it was pulling the StarOptions from. I only had the one week left. I don't know if it might give you an option if you had several weeks to choose from.

It also gave me a warning that I would not be able to get the week I own back when I accepted the reservation. I'm not sure what that means. Of course my reservation is not for the view I own, since at 8 months it becomes a StarOption reservation. What it seems to be saying, though, is that if I cancel this StarOption reservation, I will not get the weeks back for a reservation within my Home Resort Period. I'll give them a call when I get a chance.
 

DavidnRobin

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I had to use the cancel reservation and it worked. I mistakenly reserved the 2Bd LO, instead of the 1Bd side (1-year out) - luckily I could cancel and rebook right away.

The feature to cancel using the on-line booking tool was just made available, and worked fine. If you have something complicated (out of norm), then you will need to call OS and (as always) make sure the Rep has made the correct changes/modifications.

Next... soon I get to see if making an online reservation before the call-center opens translates to a better villa location compared to calling Owner Services 9 hours later.
{fingers crossed}
 
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oneohana

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I've had the same happen to me with phone bookings in the past, so I started making sure I clearly and repeatedly said which unit(s) to use the SOs from when making the reservation. No problems since.

Will have to see how it works for the online bookings when I make my first SO bookings in Oct for next summer -- I'm sure they'll use the wrong one's, as I know at least one of our bookings works best if a specific combination of SOs from halves of 3 different units is used (least wasted SOs to come up with the magic weird number for 10 nights). I bet there will be phone follow-ups to get that one right...

You wil have a choice on which options you want to use and how many from the weeks you have left and any banked options if you have them.

I like this feature, because it lockes in the reservation while you search where to pull the options from. In the past, it would take the rep a while to find options to use. By that time I would lose the reservation because it was not locked in while they were searching.
 

YYJMSP

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You wil have a choice on which options you want to use and how many from the weeks you have left and any banked options if you have them.

I like this feature, because it lockes in the reservation while you search where to pull the options from. In the past, it would take the rep a while to find options to use. By that time I would lose the reservation because it was not locked in while they were searching.

Cool, I can't believe it actually looks useful :eek:

Went and played with it using fake dates, and it ends up listing off all the VOIs I own, with lock-offs separated, with eligible/unused SOs, and let's you enter in how many of each you would like to use up in the reservation. Nice! :banana:

Good thing I tried it now, as I just noticed that I have to go cancel a pair of automatic 2015 bookings so their SOs are freed up. :eek:
 

ocdb8r

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Can anyone comment as to whether or not inventory you cancel becomes immediately available online again? I need to shift our reservation and we'll need 4 of the original 7 days we reserved. I'm just wondering if I cancel if I'll be able to pick those 4 days back up right away or not?
 

DeniseM

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Can anyone comment as to whether or not inventory you cancel becomes immediately available online again? I need to shift our reservation and we'll need 4 of the original 7 days we reserved. I'm just wondering if I cancel if I'll be able to pick those 4 days back up right away or not?

I wouldn't chance it - because they could be picked up by the wait list. That is definitely a job for Owner Resolution Services.
 

DavidnRobin

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Got a chance to use the on-line reservation tool again. I am quite happy. It is so nice not haven't to call at 6am in the morning and have to go thru the archaic process at OS. Reservation completed in 30 seconds - and confirmation received at 9:01pm (PST).

I can't answer the question if a cancellation opens up immediately. I am not sure if there is a good way to tell. I canceled and rebooked immediately when I accidentally booked the 2Bd LO vs. just the 1Bd. I think it is somewhat safe to assume that the inventory goes back immediately since I received both confirmations and cancellation requests immediately. The downside is if someone is before you in queue during this process, and gets the days that were released.

I am making a SVN booking for a 1Bd WKORV/N (8-month ahead in Dec) - to go along with our WKORV and WPORV stays in Aug/Sept 2015 (sabbatical time again...), and using the SOs from a prime WKV week. I can check if the week shows as availability as I have another week at WKV that I have rented and can see WKV SVN inventory.

I will post result here.

did I say I love the on-line SVN booking? ;)
{but do feel sad for those nice folks at OS that will/are have a work-force reduction - my general experience with them has been pleasant - just the process sucks}
 
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mauitraveler

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I have really liked the on-line booking (so far) - going to make another on tonight.

In a few weeks, I will be able to check out if on-line has a positive (or negative) affect on location priority as it is my 1st reservation made on-line (at 9PM PST - the night before phone reservations open) - interesting to see what happens. My reservation has a time-stamp of 9:06pm PST, and I will be taken it with me.

Have been following your other post about your current stay at WKORV. Love your pictures! Can't wait to go back next year! Last month you mentioned that you were going to see how the on-line booking affected the villa to which you were assigned. Any conclusions? Did they happen to mention where on the list for your check-in day you were? Since you booked right at 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time, it would have been interesting to see if you were #1!

Enjoy the rest of your week on Maui, and thanks again, for sharing your pics with us! CJ
 
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DeniseM

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Since you called in right at 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time, it would have been interesting to see if you were #1!

Enjoy the rest of your week on Maui, and thanks again, for sharing your pics with us! CJ

Clarification: He made his reservation online at 9:00 pm Pacific (midnight Eastern) - you can't call-in until 9:00 am Eastern the next day.
 
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