MVC Presidential Line comes through

[StevenTing]

This afternoon I was planning the remainder of my trips for 2020 and 2021. Previously I had booked Newport for August 2020. One of our plans was to use our week in Ko Olina in June 2021 and then add on a week on Big Island right after. But then we got this great idea to book Shadow Ridge in April 2020 for Spring Break. Everything was all booked up but when I refreshed, there it was.

I snagged it and put it on hold. But, to make everything work and to make sure I had enough points to book Big Island in 2021, I needed to cancel Newport. Called in and canceled my week. I began filling out everything else for Shadow ridge, entered in names, and the clicked the check box regarding 60 days, etc. Hit submit, and then Error, and panic.

I refresh the page, but the week was now gone. The only thing that was available was a studio. Waited about 5 minutes, still nothing. Told my wife we lost the week. Then I decided to call the Presidential line.

I explained to Thomas what happened. He was able to find the week and book it for me. He said I was very lucky, and I knew it. I think after the error, the system still had the week on hold, as that's where I had it originally while I searched the other resorts in Palm Desert. I'm guessing when I refreshed the page, it probably reset the timer on the hold, but at the same time disassociated from my account.

There are times I hate Marriott's IT infrastructure but I'm glad the Vacation Advisors are able to make up where there are shortcomings.

Next thread will be what to do at Shadow Ridge with Kids. Stay Tuned.

 

[mjm1]

This afternoon I was planning the remainder of my trips for 2020 and 2021. Previously I had booked Newport for August 2020. One of our plans was to use our week in Ko Olina in June 2021 and then add on a week on Big Island right after. But then we got this great idea to book Shadow Ridge in April 2020 for Spring Break. Everything was all booked up but when I refreshed, there it was.

I snagged it and put it on hold. But, to make everything work and to make sure I had enough points to book Big Island in 2021, I needed to cancel Newport. Called in and canceled my week. I began filling out everything else for Shadow ridge, entered in names, and the clicked the check box regarding 60 days, etc. Hit submit, and then Error, and panic.

I refresh the page, but the week was now gone. The only thing that was available was a studio. Waited about 5 minutes, still nothing. Told my wife we lost the week. Then I decided to call the Presidential line.

I explained to Thomas what happened. He was able to find the week and book it for me. He said I was very lucky, and I knew it. I think after the error, the system still had the week on hold, as that's where I had it originally while I searched the other resorts in Palm Desert. I'm guessing when I refreshed the page, it probably reset the timer on the hold, but at the same time disassociated from my account.

There are times I hate Marriott's IT infrastructure but I'm glad the Vacation Advisors are able to make up where there are shortcomings.

Next thread will be what to do at Shadow Ridge with Kids. Stay Tuned.

Steven, glad to hear it worked out for you and the advisor was able to help you. I have been happy with my interactions with them as well. It’s great to hear some good stories like this. Congratulations!

Best regards.

Mike

 

[Quilter]

This afternoon I was planning the remainder of my trips for 2020 and 2021. Previously I had booked Newport for August 2020. One of our plans was to use our week in Ko Olina in June 2021 and then add on a week on Big Island right after. But then we got this great idea to book Shadow Ridge in April 2020 for Spring Break. Everything was all booked up but when I refreshed, there it was.

I snagged it and put it on hold. But, to make everything work and to make sure I had enough points to book Big Island in 2021, I needed to cancel Newport. Called in and canceled my week. I began filling out everything else for Shadow ridge, entered in names, and the clicked the check box regarding 60 days, etc. Hit submit, and then Error, and panic.

I refresh the page, but the week was now gone. The only thing that was available was a studio. Waited about 5 minutes, still nothing. Told my wife we lost the week. Then I decided to call the Presidential line.

I explained to Thomas what happened. He was able to find the week and book it for me. He said I was very lucky, and I knew it. I think after the error, the system still had the week on hold, as that's where I had it originally while I searched the other resorts in Palm Desert. I'm guessing when I refreshed the page, it probably reset the timer on the hold, but at the same time disassociated from my account.

There are times I hate Marriott's IT infrastructure but I'm glad the Vacation Advisors are able to make up where there are shortcomings.

Next thread will be what to do at Shadow Ridge with Kids. Stay Tuned.

I had similar thing happen yesterday. I put 2 reservations on hold (OP). Then I went to reserve and when I was done with the first reservation the 2nd hold was gone. I went back to begin again but there was no availability. I figured the computer didn't recognize the inventory was again available. I called OS (Chairman line). Told rep what happened. Rep couldn't see availability and I did consider someone else was looking and booking at the same time I was. Still I held out hope the availability would show up again today. It did.

 

[davidvel]

I had similar thing happen yesterday. I put 2 reservations on hold (OP). Then I went to reserve and when I was done with the first reservation the 2nd hold was gone. I went back to begin again but there was no availability. I figured the computer didn't recognize the inventory was again available. I called OS (Chairman line). Told rep what happened. Rep couldn't see availability and I did consider someone else was looking and booking at the same time I was. Still I held out hope the availability would show up again today. It did.

These are interesting findings. I have posted before that when searching at 12 months+ a few minutes all inventory is often gone. However, more inventory often shows up again at 12 months+day. I figured people were booking then cancelling.

I wonder if in the frantic rush to get the week people encounter this type of error which ties the units up for a few hours (or more.)

 

[Quilter]

Here's my reservation experience from today. Sometimes the call to OS is smooth, sometimes you go down rabbit holes. Today I went down a tunnel.

I have some points in holding that are leftover from April reservations that weren't used. I have booked and cancelled many times since then while trying to find a reservation someone can use. Finally the 60 day booking period got me to a reservation I wanted, well almost. It was a Sat.-Sat. Even better would have been Sun.-Sun. but 10/27 was just one day outside my 60 day window. I grabbed the Sat.-Sat. with the idea that it would be good, even if not great. If 11/2 was available today I would cancel (a gamble) and try to rebook 10/27-11/3.

I call to cancel. Rep is very nice and chatty. I give him info for reservation I want to cancel. I have learned to be specific, i.e., reserved with DC points, resort, dates, year, even have confirmation no. handy. He had a hard time locating it. He's talking to himself about maybe it's in another one of our accounts (hubby and I both have owner numbers which, only at times, causes this exact response from OS reps), puts me on hold. Finally, he's located it. I ask what was the trouble finding it. He explains I have lots of reservations (actually begins to count them until I stop him and said I don't need to know), says they were all expanded on his screen and he had to scroll to the bottom and found it. He said he should have done this in the first place.

Reps have explained their screens are much different than the ones we see. He also talked (I'm paraphrasing) about reps being paid a wage where they're just getting by and working with an inferior IT system. . . and at the end of the day he's exhausted. I asked if he had a search function to plug in the confirmation number would that have immediately brought up the reservation. He didn't answer my question but went into his way to plugging in the resort name, finding the reservation, looking up the method it was reserved (owned week, DC points, hotel reservation) and then modifies/cancels it. I was beginning to think he was making things harder than he needed to.

Somewhere in this call he talks about all the cancellations listed. Once again he begins to count and before I can stop him he comes up with a number. I explain I have these hold points and have been trying to find something someone wants to use.

Anyway, I explained I wanted to take 10/26 off my reservation, get the points and reserve 11/2. When he tried to hold onto 11/2 he reminded me that it was outside the 60 day period and my holding points weren't working. Oh yes, duh. . . I forgot that I had to cancel it all because 10/27 is the furthermost 60-day reservation start day. I told him I was online ready to refresh the availability and rebook entire reservation when he cancelled my other reservation. He reconfirmed that what I was trying to do was cancel 10/26 and add 11/2. I tell him that's it and he says he may be able to help with that, put's me on hold to see if their IT people can help. Comes back to say they can't and cautions me that I might lose it all and I should wait until next week when 11/2 is available in 60 day window and can be booked. I didn't want to gamble that it will still be available. I tell him I understand and ask him to cancel my other reservation. He cautions me again saying he fears a bad review is on the horizon but does cancel. I refresh availability, find what I want, click to hold and proceed to reserve. The wheel of reservations freezes during the reservation stage and comes back with "we apologize" page. I refresh and find my hold still there. Whew! I try again to reserve and get "we apologize". . .twice. I quickly log out. Log in. Start over. It's still there and I reserve.