New SVO Reservation System

In my call today with Suzanne Clark, she informed me of some changes that are coming for Starwood's reservation system. I took notes on this and so it should be fairly accurate although I'm sure there are a few things that could be off a little or could change. About 2-3 years ago, Starwood started working on this project and they are releasing it in modules. Suzanne agreed that the current system is labor intensive and was built sometime in the 1980s.

The first module is the ICS (inventory control system). This currently allows Starwood reps to view what is available in the inventory. It sounds as if right now the people answering the phones are toggling between this and the old reservation system.

The next phase that is currently being developed is the "rules system". There are alot of different policies that Starwood must code into this new system including things such as ownership weeks, lock offs, elite status, StarPoints, StarOptions, II, etc. No timeframe was given for the completion of this phase but it should save the phone answerers a lot of time when completed. It sounded as if this "rules system" will be tied in directly to the ICS.

The 3rd phase will be the online reservations system for your home resort. I believe that this phase will be released to us although no timeframe was given. When this happens, I would imagine that Starwood will be able to cut their phone answering staff significantly. Again, this phase should be tied in directly to the previous two phases.

The final phase will be the reservation system for exceptions. This should include SPG, SO conversions, and II and will again be tied into the above systems.

The bottom line is that Starwood is aware of the problem and they are fixing it. I don't think that it will be too long (1-2 years maybe) before 90% of us will be making and viewing all of our reservations through a real time automated reservations system; I sure hope so!

Westin5Star said:

In my call today with Suzanne Clark, she informed me of some changes that are coming for Starwood's reservation system. I took notes on this and so it should be fairly accurate although I'm sure there are a few things that could be off a little or could change. About 2-3 years ago, Starwood started working on this project and they are releasing it in modules. Suzanne agreed that the current system is labor intensive and was built sometime in the 1980s.

The first module is the ICS (inventory control system). This currently allows Starwood reps to view what is available in the inventory. It sounds as if right now the people answering the phones are toggling between this and the old reservation system.

The next phase that is currently being developed is the "rules system". There are alot of different policies that Starwood must code into this new system including things such as ownership weeks, lock offs, elite status, StarPoints, StarOptions, II, etc. No timeframe was given for the completion of this phase but it should save the phone answerers a lot of time when completed. It sounded as if this "rules system" will be tied in directly to the ICS.

The 3rd phase will be the online reservations system for your home resort. I believe that this phase will be released to us although no timeframe was given. When this happens, I would imagine that Starwood will be able to cut their phone answering staff significantly. Again, this phase should be tied in directly to the previous two phases.

The final phase will be the reservation system for exceptions. This should include SPG, SO conversions, and II and will again be tied into the above systems.

The bottom line is that Starwood is aware of the problem and they are fixing it. I don't think that it will be too long (1-2 years maybe) before 90% of us will be making and viewing all of our reservations through a real time automated reservations system; I sure hope so!

Click to expand...

The first module should be an upgrade of their database to be completely accurate and have the ability for other programs that they are planning to efficiantly link to it. They may think that this already exists, but I can tell you from first hand knowledge that this is not the case.

If I were willing to pay retail for a SVN villa rental, I can go to any Starwood web site (www.westin.com, www.sheraton.com) and all of Starwood's timeshares with availability pop up right next to all of Starwood's hotels. I can book a timeshare room right then and there, just as quickly and easily as booking a Starwood hotel room.

It is very strange that as owners seeking to book our Starwood villas on-line, we're told that Starwood is still at the "module" planning stage for inventory control blah, blah, blah . . . ..

Now I'm no computer genius or anything, but it would seem to me that whatever system Starwood is currently using to track and book its hotel units (and of course already our villas), it could be easily modified to also allow us owners to book our villas as owners, rather than just as renters.

-nodge

nodge said:

If I were willing to pay retail for a SVN villa rental, I can go to any Starwood web site (www.westin.com, www.sheraton.com) and all of Starwood's timeshares with availability pop up right next to all of Starwood's hotels. I can book a timeshare room right then and there, just as quickly and easily as booking a Starwood hotel room.

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It is not strange at all.

I'm certain that, like Disney, Westin/Starwood has separate reservation systems for timeshares and for cash reservations. The only time the two meet is when a TS owner converts his/her week to points. The resulting villa then becomes part of Westin/Starwood's cash reservations inventory, and they are free to do with them what they please.

Westin/Starwood also owns some unknown percentage of the TS rooms (for purposes of "explorer packages," rehab/maintenance, etc.). A certain portion of these rooms likely is made available for cash reservations as well, and becomes part of the separate cash reservation system.

Anyway -- two different systems. Understandable? Yes. Ideal? No.

Time2Ponder said:

It is not strange at all.

I'm certain that, like Disney, Westin/Starwood has separate reservation systems for timeshares and for cash reservations.

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Thanks Time2Ponder,

Regarding your experience with Disney's timeshare owner reservations systems, can Disney owner's book their villas in real-time on the internet, or like us SVN folks, are you also waiting for your first (of three) "modules" to be implemented sometime in the next 1 to 3 years (maybe)?

-nodge (considering Disney since SVN is quickly losing its luster for me)

Unfortunately, Disney is in the same boat as Starwood/Westin.

They have been promising upgrades and enhancements for years....

DavidnRobin said:

The first module should be an upgrade of their database to be completely accurate and have the ability for other programs that they are planning to efficiantly link to it. They may think that this already exists, but I can tell you from first hand knowledge that this is not the case.

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I'm sorrry David. I did mean to also mention that this is a web based system from inception so the currently used ICS is, I believe, used by Starwood employees via the web.

I am not sure what inaccurate information is in their database, but knowing you, you are right on this. If you are talking about random mistakes by the employees then this will probably be the case. Otherwise, I too agree with you that they should work on fixing this before moving to the next phase.

I believe that what you are talking about as far as linking with other programs is covered in phase 4 (SO, SP, Elite, II, etc.), but I may be misunderstanding what you are referring to without example.

Just read this thread for the first time.

OK the system is old, but the 1980's?! That's a little over the top. It that were said, it was an exageration to imply the system is relatively old.

There could be elements of their routine that date back that far, but unless they maintained their own programmers to maintain whatever crap was around back then, they are not running the same program.

Fix the database first? Guy, please stick to bio-whatever. Once you have a decent system it will look for database exceptions and ask what to do in each case. It will learn as it goes... being able to automatically repair similar instances when found. To manually hand-check the database for errors is... ridiculous! It can't be done. No human will be able to find all the exceptions. In fact, all you're asking for is to introduce another whole class of exceptions.

Westin5Star said:

I'm sorrry David. I did mean to also mention that this is a web based system from inception so the currently used ICS is, I believe, used by Starwood employees via the web.

I am not sure what inaccurate information is in their database, but knowing you, you are right on this. If you are talking about random mistakes by the employees then this will probably be the case. Otherwise, I too agree with you that they should work on fixing this before moving to the next phase.

I believe that what you are talking about as far as linking with other programs is covered in phase 4 (SO, SP, Elite, II, etc.), but I may be misunderstanding what you are referring to without example.

Click to expand...

How about some examples - (as in my case) - if an owner buys 2 weeks (and it becomes 1 contract) and decides to sell 1 week - their database cannot handle the split of the contract. In addition, emails and snail mails seem to either go to me, or the previous owner without real logic behind it. They do not seem to be able to fix issues around this (around 1 year now).

As to the use of a web-based systen - I highly doubt this - just listen to all the clicking that goes on in the background (using the backspace key to edit info - vs. highlight) - sounds like the airport scene from 'Meet The Fockers'.
I have actually asked the reservationist about their screen and what they were doing - it would suprise me if it were web-based.

Or how about - 'please enter you home # when you call '- just to give them all the info again when you get an answer. I have taken to immediately giving them my info without request.

They have actually had my email address on their screen and the email reservation sent has ended up with the previous owners (I know them - we laugh at this) - they actually took to sending it to themselves in order to send it to me.

I receive snail mail intended for the owner of week 23 (previous owner of our week 24) - luckily I know them.

Or... the previous owner ending up with my Tax Bill.

As to the liking of the system (other than the example above) - what I meant by this is that for the their database - any software program that connects to it must be able to read in the fields (variables) and therefore the fields created and info contained within must be correct - and the ability for the software program to read them correctly must be in place.

From my experience - there are far from this - and their IT department is a joke. It doesn'yt really matter whether it stays phone based or not - this issue are inherent in a poor design.

KOR5Star said:

Just read this thread for the first time.

OK the system is old, but the 1980's?! That's a little over the top. It that were said, it was an exageration to imply the system is relatively old.

There could be elements of their routine that date back that far, but unless they maintained their own programmers to maintain whatever crap was around back then, they are not running the same program.

Fix the database first? Guy, please stick to bio-whatever. Once you have a decent system it will look for database exceptions and ask what to do in each case. It will learn as it goes... being able to automatically repair similar instances when found. To manually hand-check the database for errors is... ridiculous! It can't be done. No human will be able to find all the exceptions. In fact, all you're asking for is to introduce another whole class of exceptions.

Click to expand...

Are you sure you don't want to edit the rudeness of the comment above - and perhaps think about something before you post. FOAH

DavidnRobin said:

How about some examples - (as in my case) - if an owner buys 2 weeks (and it becomes 1 contract) and decides to sell 1 week - their database cannot handle the split of the contract. In addition, emails and snail mails seem to either go to me, or the previous owner without real logic behind it. They do not seem to be able to fix issues around this (around 1 year now).

As to the use of a web-based systen - I highly doubt this - just listen to all the clicking that goes on in the background (using the backspace key to edit info - vs. highlight) - sounds like the airport scene from 'Meet The Fockers'.
I have actually asked the reservationist about their screen and what they were doing - it would suprise me if it were web-based.

Or how about - 'please enter you home # when you call '- just to give them all the info again when you get an answer. I have taken to immediately giving them my info without request.

They have actually had my email address on their screen and the email reservation sent has ended up with the previous owners (I know them - we laugh at this) - they actually took to sending it to themselves in order to send it to me.

I receive snail mail intended for the owner of week 23 (previous owner of our week 24) - luckily I know them.

Or... the previous owner ending up with my Tax Bill.

As to the liking of the system (other than the example above) - what I meant by this is that for the their database - any software program that connects to it must be able to read in the fields (variables) and therefore the fields created and info contained within must be correct - and the ability for the software program to read them correctly must be in place.

From my experience - there are far from this - and their IT department is a joke. It doesn'yt really matter whether it stays phone based or not - this issue are inherent in a poor design.

Click to expand...

As far as I know the new ICS system can split contracts now. They had to do it for me last week. EOY (2008) WPORV was sold out in inventory. They had to take an EY (beginning in 2008) and split it into two EOY. I don't think the system used to be able to handle this as it did take them almost two days to get approval and verify that this was indeed possible. Maybe this was an improvement with phase 1 ICS???

The reason that I believe that you both get emails, snail mail, and tax bills incorrectly is exactly becaase they are working off of two different systems; I am not justifying it but it does seem like a rational explanation. It is very likely that they have updated one of the two different databases and not the other. At times they may even try to merge the data which probably sends one or both of their systems into fits.

The reason that you hear all of the clicking in the background (and it is very annoying) is because of the old reservation system that was originally built in the 1980s (I'm sure that they have had many updates but I was informed today that it is not even Windows {not even 3.1} compatible). The toggling to the web based ICS system is less of a burden but then they have to go back in to the old system to try to reserve the room once they see it is in inventory. I actually had a situation last week where the OFD WKORV was available in ICS for the week I wanted and then by the time they toggled and click click clicked it was already reserved.

As for giving the phone number twice, I also have learned to do it and I hope that when the new system is totally completed and linked to the phones (lets hope so) that this will be fixed. I have even learned not to give any of my home phone numbers or addresses which is usually what they ask for. I give my cell number and my mailing address because that is actually what is in their system to verify. Maybe the new system will figure out that some people don't get mail at their houses and to ask for the number or address on file.

From what I understand the new system, although built in phases will be an all in one system and thus will not have to talk between programs. Therefore, all fields won't have to match because the data will be in one program. All the data, all the functionality, one place, one time. Again, lets hope so but this has been what was explained to me when I asked.

I won't say anything about the IT department being a joke except that I would tend to agree with you based on my past experience. Let's hope that Starwood has hired some good programmers! I will say that their 4 phase method of attack does make a lot of sense and at least I will give them props for knowing about the problem and trying to do something to correct. We will see in time if their efforts produce results.

DavidnRobin said:

Are you sure you don't want to edit the rudeness of the comment above - and perhaps think about something before you post. FOAH

Click to expand...

If you're talking about the "stick to bio-whatever", I forgot the smiley face. I imagined it as sitting next to a guy with a beer. After he said something which was just so completely wrong, putting my hand on his shoulder, knowing he'sa bio-engineer and laughing as I said "stick to bio-whatever" as I started my counter point to his clearly erroneous claim.

A funny thing happens on forums. If you don't agree with someone's views, you start to not like them. Then you stop cutting them any breaks. You read everything they write with a snarl and take it in the worst possible ways, irregardless of how they meant it. You feel justified in doing this because you know in your heart of hearts, this guy is a pig.

Then you stop addressing the content of what he wrote and start making rude and snide comments like "wanna think before you write?" I identify this as you're problem, not mine.

You've got your panties in a knot because you don't like my views or something. It's easy to read anyone's post and inflect a snarl into it. Heck, you could read "good morning" with a sarcastic snarl and it takes on the opposite meaning.

I'm from Long Island and we kind of get straight to the point around here... speak matter of factly. It works in person because we smile and our body language gives away the fact that we mean no harm.

That's a long way of saying "No, I don't think what I wrote needs to be changed. I think the way you read my stuff needs to be changed."

If you read something from me and think it's rude, imagine your neighbor saying it with a smile as you shared a beer in the back yard. It will be much closer to my intended meaning than assuming malevolence.

Regardless of what you have heard, “irregardless” is a redundancy. The suffix “-less” on the end of the word already makes the word negative.

Westin5Star said:

In my call today with Suzanne Clark, she informed me of some changes that are coming for Starwood's reservation system. I took notes on this and so it should be fairly accurate although I'm sure there are a few things that could be off a little or could change. About 2-3 years ago, Starwood started working on this project and they are releasing it in modules. Suzanne agreed that the current system is labor intensive and was built sometime in the 1980s.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the information, Westin5Star.

If they started working on improving the system 2-3 YEARS ago, and it's still being released in phases, then: a) Starwood management is too short-sighted and tight fisted to pay for competent programmers; b) they have hire the most grossly incompetent IT department in history; or c) they are the federal government.

I'm going with "a."

LisaRex said:

Thanks for the information, Westin5Star.

If they started working on improving the system 2-3 YEARS ago, and it's still being released in phases, then: a) Starwood management is too short-sighted and tight fisted to pay for competent programmers; b) they have hire the most grossly incompetent IT department in history; or c) they are the federal government.

I'm going with "a."

Click to expand...

There is probably a lot of truth to what you are saying! I also, however, realize that the programmers might not have gotten this project for more than a year from the projects inception.

First they had to indentify the problem. Then I'm sure that they did some sort of survey to find out what people wanted. I know that they also visited Marriott's, Hyatt's, and Hilton's facilities to investigate what was working there and what wasn't. Once they determined what the final product should look like, they had to formulate the best plan for creation and implementation. They couldn't just shut down the current system and start building a new one. They had to find ways to build and implement a system (trying to get us reservations) while they continued to use the old one. Finally, this project could be handed over to the programmers. Then the program had to be tested. ETC.

I am sure that it could have been done better and faster and yes they likely didn't budget or spend enough to do this. They also obviously started way too late on this project. I am just trying to communicate that they have a plan, describe the plan that was shared with me, and hope for the best. We will all see in the coming months and years what the final outcome will be.

KOR5Star said:

If you're talking about the "stick to bio-whatever", I forgot the smiley face. I imagined it as sitting next to a guy with a beer. After he said something which was just so completely wrong, putting my hand on his shoulder, knowing he'sa bio-engineer and laughing as I said "stick to bio-whatever" as I started my counter point to his clearly erroneous claim.

A funny thing happens on forums. If you don't agree with someone's views, you start to not like them. Then you stop cutting them any breaks. You read everything they write with a snarl and take it in the worst possible ways, irregardless of how they meant it. You feel justified in doing this because you know in your heart of hearts, this guy is a pig.

Then you stop addressing the content of what he wrote and start making rude and snide comments like "wanna think before you write?" I identify this as you're problem, not mine.

You've got your panties in a knot because you don't like my views or something. It's easy to read anyone's post and inflect a snarl into it. Heck, you could read "good morning" with a sarcastic snarl and it takes on the opposite meaning.

I'm from Long Island and we kind of get straight to the point around here... speak matter of factly. It works in person because we smile and our body language gives away the fact that we mean no harm.

That's a long way of saying "No, I don't think what I wrote needs to be changed. I think the way you read my stuff needs to be changed."

If you read something from me and think it's rude, imagine your neighbor saying it with a smile as you shared a beer in the back yard. It will be much closer to my intended meaning than assuming malevolence.

Click to expand...

Long Island eh? Must be from the Hamptons

bud_baker said:

Long Island eh? Must be from the Hamptons

Click to expand...

Oh I forgot... ;0)

jerseygirl said:

Regardless of what you have heard, “irregardless” is a redundancy. The suffix “-less” on the end of the word already makes the word negative.

Click to expand...

My degries r in enginearing. It's luky I can rite at all.

From Dictionary.com:

ir·re·gard·less [ir-i-gahrd-lis]
–adverb Nonstandard.

[Origin: 1910–15; ir-2 (prob. after irrespective) + regardless]

—Usage note Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

It maks me feal beter 2 reed oter edumacated peeple have used it 2.

I only used it "to add emphasis"... yeah... that's the ticket... "to add emphasis". That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

bud_baker said:

Oh I forgot... ;0)

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I just HATE it when I do that! :rofl:

Interesting reading further down the "irregardless" dictionary.com page:

Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

saluki said:

Interesting reading further down the "irregardless" dictionary.com page:

Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

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I swear. I only used it "to add emphasis"... really! Ya gotta believe me! :rofl:

KOR5Star said:

I swear. I only used it "to add emphasis"... really! Ya gotta believe me! :rofl:

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Your posts are always extremely literate. We'll give you a mulligan!

snoop dog says..........

Usage Note :Irregardlessis a word that many mistakenly believe ta be correct usage in formal style, wizzy in fizzle it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writ'n . I'm a mutha XXXXX 2-time felon.. Coined in tha United States in tha early 20th century, it has met wit a blizzard of condemnizzles fo` being an gangsta yok'n of irrespectivenregardlessn fo` tha logical absurdity of combin'n tha negative ir-prefix n -lesssuffix in a single tizzy. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different fizzy words wit redundant affixes like debonenunravel,it has bizzy considered a niXXa fo` decades n wizzle probably continue ta be so.


edit note..... the XXX's are mine. gizoogle is a little bit R rated..... but a joy nonetheless.... run the whole thread through it and die laughing.