Solvang Problems

[geist1223]

Got this email yesterday from Wyndham. I do not understand why they waited until 10 days before checkin. Tried to call at 1705 yesterday. No answer. Called this morning. After about 10 minutes this "Emergency Office" answered. Apparently this small understaffed Office hands these issues for Wyndham, Worldmark, and Shell.

They were pretty useless. They do not have have access to our Accounts or to our Reservations. I tried to explain this was part of a 3 Resort Road Trip with Solvang being in the middle. I asked for his help in scheduling a replacement. No could do. I asked about canceling Solvang plus the third leg of the Road Trip. Even though we are within the 30 day Window. Could not help. He could only take a cancelation of Solvang and return 150% of Credits.

He is suppose to have someone call me that can handle everything. I am not going to hold my breath.

Dear Valued Owner:

Our records indicate you have an upcoming reservation at WorldMark Solvang.

WorldMark Solvang is undergoing a renovation project, which includes replacing the current HVAC system. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate all reservations booked with check-in dates from May 12 through May 31, 2023. In an effort to reduce the number of reservations we may not be able to accommodate, we would like to make you aware of an offer we are extending to help minimize the impacts of the renovation.

At this time, we are seeking volunteers who are willing to cancel their upcoming WorldMark Solvang reservation. Volunteers who cancel their reservation/s will receive a return of 150% of the credits used for the reservation back to the account, as an incentive for cancellation. For example, if your reservation used 10,000 credits, you would receive a refund of 15,000 credits for the cancellation. The additional 50% of the total credits used for the original booking are offered as a goodwill gesture to compensate for the inconvenience.


If we do not receive enough volunteers, we may be forced to cancel your reservation or secure alternative accommodations at our discretion. We urge you to consider postponing your visit to WorldMark Solvang or shift your vacation plans to another destination. Please visit WorldMarkbyWyndham.com to inquire about future availability and to book your next vacation.


You will be notified by Tuesday, May 9, on the status of your reservation via an email update.


If we do not receive enough volunteers, we will need to cancel reservations based upon most recently booked dates and will have a member of our Resort Emergency Team contact those are in danger of a cancellation directly to review options we may have.


Please contact our Resort Emergency Team at 866-495-1993 if you can cancel your reservation for a 150% return on your credits.

Please do not contact the resort regarding this matter as they do not have any additional information and are unable to make changes to reservations.

We understand this is not an ideal message to receive and we appreciate your patience and understanding.

Thank you,

WorldMark Owner Services

 

[scootr5]

I am not a WM owner, but I thought I recently read a similar discussion with regards to the Avenue Plaza renovations. That discussion stated that the WM underlying documents state they must find you alternate accommodations if they can not honor the reservations.

Edited to add - it was actually a discussion on the WM owners forum, and it is actually in the Club's declaration:

In the Club's Declaration:
2.11(c) Unavailability of Unit. If a Member has a
verified reservation for a vacation credit use, and there is no
Unit available at the Resort for which the reservation was made,
then Club shall arrange comparable alternate accommodations for
such Member at Club's expense, in the same Project if possible.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Best guess as to why they waited until now to send this alert - the renovations are taking longer than originally scheduled (as is almost always the case with contractors), and they are having to now deal with less available inventory than anticipated during that date range. I'm not a WM owner (Club Wyndham myself). but they often use the same email templates for these sorts of announcements, and it's interesting to see that this latest template is using the same overall approach that the airlines are using. Essentially, "Hey, we're overbooked, we're looking for volunteers to help offset the fact that we've overbooked. Here's some vouchers for free flights (or monies) to help make up for the inconvenience." If not enough volunteers go for the offer, then people are bumped from the flight on a FILO basis usually. Same thing with Wyndham when it comes to being overbooked at certain resorts.

 

[geist1223]

Never got called back. I called again and this time I got a very helpful person. She offered to help make a replacement Booking. But I had already made another Booking - Angels Camp. So I just accepted the Offer on Solvang. The extra 50% Credits are only good for 1 year. She explained that Maintenance was scheduled on the HVAC Systems but once they started they discovered it was going to need to be a complete Replacement.