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Kauai Beach Villas - Any changes so far?

ecwinch

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Getting geared up for a week or so at Kauai Beach Villas and curious on what - if any - changes to expect now that Wyndham is no longer the manager. Anyone there with first-hand knowledge?

At least one change I have noticed from afar is that multiple weeks suddenly popped up in the Wyndham on-line reservation calendar for Feb and Mar of this year. Including 1BR and 2 BR Oceanfront units.

Thanks in advance!
 

DeniseM

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This wouldn't have anything to do with new management, because this is points inventory that belongs to Wyndham. Wyndham still controls the units that have been converted to Wyndham points.
 

schenriq

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I'm curious to hear about the latest at KBV as well. I have a confirmation (from a "week" ownership) for December this year but with Wyndham at the letterhead. I don't have to reconfirm with GPR, or do I?
 

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I'm curious to hear about the latest at KBV as well. I have a confirmation (from a "week" ownership) for December this year but with Wyndham at the letterhead. I don't have to reconfirm with GPR, or do I?

It wouldn't hurt to call the resort and ask what the status is. I don't think your reservation would be affected with the management changeover, but in the name of "reconfirming things" a phone call seems like it would be a good idea. And then you can ask the office staff at KBV what the state of things are. The office phone number is (808) 245-6777. Once you've done that, come back and reply in this thread. That way everyone will know what's up. :thumbup:

Dave
 

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I would definitely confirm. I own 7 weeks, and when I called GPR to make a reservation, I found that there were some errors involved in the transfer of data from Wyndham to GPR. You can also ask the owner that you rented from to have GPR send you a GPR guest confirmation, because the confirmation numbers are completely different.

-GPR had my phone numbers wrong
-they were missing one of my deeds
-they had me enrolled in RCI points
-some info. from previous owners' accounts was still on my account
 

schenriq

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Wow, I guess I was too optimistic and thanks Dave and Denise for setting me straight. I will let you all know whatever I hear from GPR. Now I'm a little nervous..
 
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DeniseM

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Even though there were a lot of errors (which may have actually been from the data provided by Wyndham) GPR worked with me until everything was straightened out, and I thought they were far nicer and more genuinely helpful than my interactions with Vistana owner services ever are.
 

schenriq

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Ok, it was a very tame roller coaster ride but got straightened out in the end.

You're right, Denise. GPR's reps are convincingly helpful although I don't have a good point of comparison vs. Vistana's as I've never worked out a problem with them outside of changing my reservation to a renter's name a year ago (for $0 then but that is another topic currently open still).

Getting back on topic, I called 808-245-6777 (thanks Dave) and 808-241-1000 (per my Wyndham confirm letter) yesterday past 5PM Pacific but both just kept ringing. I thought both #s are in Hawaii but realizing they might be automatically routed to Carlsbad, CA, I stopped.

Today, called x6777 again and it still rings forever. Then, I called x1000 and Bryson picked-up. He can't find my reservation number though! He said it's possible that since it's not until December that my reservation may not have been pushed to his system in Hawaii yet. So he asked that I call 888-477-6967 in California. I did call that toll-free# and to cut it short, my reservation was found but since my email was not on (GPR's) file, it was not sent to me(?!). The rest of my account info checked-out fine. Whew.
 

jacknsara

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Aloha,
A few days ago we finished a 6 week stay at KBV. We checked in on 12/24 - four days before the data migration. There were transition issues but all were satisfactorily resolved.
While in the office, I overheard some discontent with the check in process. At least one person told me it took a half hour starting when they were dealing with him (as opposed to waiting in line). I observed some computer function issues. I wasn't going to report themon TUG since they may only be transitional.
The report of Wyndham listing ocean front near term is very interesting for reasons that would take too long to write while sitting on our lanai at the Shearwater. If anyone can capture screen images to document it, I would appreciate them (my profile has one of my emails)
I'll be posting something in the old KBV elections thread in a few days.
The one 'material' change for (not sure if all or only VIP) Wyndham owners is no more late check out and free newspapers at their door.
Adding: our Wyndham generated reservations from 14 months prior were honored but we were initially unable to check in for all our sequential weeks; after a few days it was resoved.
Jack
 

DaveNV

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Ok, it was a very tame roller coaster ride but got straightened out in the end.

You're right, Denise. GPR's reps are convincingly helpful although I don't have a good point of comparison vs. Vistana's as I've never worked out a problem with them outside of changing my reservation to a renter's name a year ago (for $0 then but that is another topic currently open still).

Getting back on topic, I called 808-245-6777 (thanks Dave) and 808-241-1000 (per my Wyndham confirm letter) yesterday past 5PM Pacific but both just kept ringing. I thought both #s are in Hawaii but realizing they might be automatically routed to Carlsbad, CA, I stopped.

Today, called x6777 again and it still rings forever. Then, I called x1000 and Bryson picked-up. He can't find my reservation number though! He said it's possible that since it's not until December that my reservation may not have been pushed to his system in Hawaii yet. So he asked that I call 888-477-6967 in California. I did call that toll-free# and to cut it short, my reservation was found but since my email was not on (GPR's) file, it was not sent to me(?!). The rest of my account info checked-out fine. Whew.

Ok. So at the end of it all, your reservation is good, and you're now in the GPR system? Sorry for the phone number thing - never occurred to me the local phone numbers would change when GPR took over.

Denise's experience with Wyndham not handing over correct data to GPR holds true for me as well. I sold my KBV week last Fall, and the transfer was supposed to have been completed by the time GPR took over. It was, but still got messed up. My Buyer got the deed transferred to his name just fine, but GPR thought it was still in my name, so all the new "Welcome" paperwork was sent to me. I ended up contacting GPR and explaining things to them. We got it all sorted out, but it took awhile. (Complicating matters, was I bought a week at a resort GPR owns in California at about the same time, so I ended up with two account numbers. What a mess. ;) )

Dave
 

ecwinch

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It appears that they are still having some challenges managing the data flow from Wyndham on reservations. Our schedule has been jumping around lately, so we have had to make and then cancel reservations, and then rebook for different days or units sizes for our stay this month. They have had to call me twice this week to ask exactly what dates I will be there. Sounds like they have to reconcile the transactions manually.

Unit F14 - did I draw the peek-a-boo ocean view? This might be payback for all changes I have made.
 

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Unit F14 - did I draw the peek-a-boo ocean view? This might be payback for all changes I have made.

That's the 1br 2ba unit on the ground floor closest to the parking area. Not sure if there is an ocean view from there or not, although technically it is listed as an ocean view unit.

Dave

kbv_map-1b.jpg
 

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It is on the ground floor facing the ocean, but it will have an angled view of the ocean to the left because of Bldg. G on the right. F13, 15, and 17 are the closest units to the parking lot.
 

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Thanks!
 

ecwinch

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Well not a good first impression of new mgt company. Here are the facts:

Arrived at the resort around noon yesterday. Did not expect the room to be ready, but "pre-checked-in". Wyndham still has a sales desk in the tiny lobby, so did the short walk over to the Wyndham sales desk to get my wifi code and parking pass. Gave the front desk my cell phone so they could call me when my room was ready.

Had not heard anything, but called back at 2:30ish, and was told the room was not yet ready. Asked if they still had a refrigerator to store stuff, and was told they did, but our room would be ready when we got back to the resort.

Went grocery shopping, arrived back just before 4. Room not ready. Housekeeping was just getting to building F.

There was about 5-6 owners already camped out in the lobby in a similar situation. While sitting there heard the front desk personnel discussing that they only had 4 housekeepers today (Sunday).

After one false call an hr later, got our room keys at 5:30 or so.

I always say that one data point does not make a trend, but not a good first impression. Front desk people were polite and apologetic, but probably need a few lessons on what to say and not to say in front of guests.

Here are the concerns:
Obviously this raises a number of concerns regarding how prepared GPR is to run a resort like KBV while meeting the expectations of exchangers, time-sharers and the fully-owned condo owners. Just did not get a good sense after talking to the manager that GPR is up to speed on how to run resort where check-ins can occur any day of the week. As I got an indication that they were under-prepared for so many Sunday check-ins. Also wonder about why you wait to clean your unique inventory (ocean-view) after you clean the other buildings. Especially when you have some flexibility to shuffle rooms around with the larger pool of garden and lagoon views.

Hopefully just learning curve issues and not a sign they underbid the contract to win the deal.
 

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Hopefully just learning curve issues and not a sign they underbid the contract to win the deal.

My understanding is GPR was recruited as a replacement. I don't recall KBV owners soliciting a replacement management company.

As to the late hour of you getting your keys, I agree, 5:30 seems a bit late. But technically, check-in is not supposed to happen until after 4:00. So in a hair-splitting world, they were only 90 minutes late - on a Sunday. As a longer-term owner there, I regularly did not get my room keys till around 4, or even later. So what you experienced was probably not all that unusual.

What I completely agree with is the phone calls you got and the pat answers from staff. They've been saying the same sort of thing for as long as I was going there. So I wouldn't hang this totally on GPR - there is a leftover Wyndham perspective there that may take some time to clean out. Especially since Wyndham still has a sales desk there, chances are the staff is the same as well. Housekeeping is likely the same people, too, so work at the pace they are used to.

Time will tell how or if things change at KBV. How was your room when you got into it? Clean? Ready for your stay? I'm guessing it was? Are there any GPR employees on site? Have they started using the key-card gate?

More importantly, how's the weather? How's the view from that unit? And are you enjoying yourself?

Dave
 

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We have never gotten in before 4:00 either, and many times after 4:00. It's frustrating, but I'd rather have a cleaner room, than get in early.
 

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This is our 5th stay. Have always arrived early and never gotten into our room later than 4pm. Usually between 2-3.

The room was clean, and from the chit-chat at the front desk, I got the sense that a number of long-time employees transferred up to Bali Hai. We did not recognize anyone from our previous stays.

They have the keypad for the gate, no key card. View is ok, but would have been better if Wyndham was still in charge. :D
 

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jacknsara

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Aloha,
Per conversation with Brandson (sp?) at front desk, he is only former Wyndham front office person still there. Per one of the Wednesday morning manager meetings only one maintenance person and a maintenance manager transferred to GPR. I'm not sure what the housekeeping personnel situation is. So, there were/are substantial personnel challenges. Wyndham still has the AOAO maintenance contract which covers all the grounds keeping that goes on almost every day, so some of the former maintenance people (Tony at a minimum) transferred to that. I got the feeling that the transition was minimally professional in terms of hand-off between the two companies, but cannot identify specific facts to support such a conclusion so I choose to not share the observations (stated another way, there are alternate potential causes for the observations). However, if my inferences are reasonably correct, I suspect that Wyndham exchangers checking in will be more likely to be dissatisfied during check in than regular old unconverted Pahio KBV owners. I hope that my inference/hypothesis is wrong.
Jack
 

linsj

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I suspect that Wyndham exchangers checking in will be more likely to be dissatisfied during check in than regular old unconverted Pahio KBV owners. Jack

As an owner of two of those old Pahio deeds, I had no problem checking in on Friday before 4:00 last month. There was no line either. Branson was the only front-desk person I recognized, but the other one I interacted with was great.

This is a small change, but I was glad to see three laundry detergents instead of two and four dishwasher packets instead of two.
 

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Aloha,
In recent days I noticed that RCI weeks is offering exchanges into KBV units as far into the future as Dec 22, 2018 (20+ months). I inquired why this could be happening given the long standing lead times of 16 months to request and 14 months to confirm for non converted weeks owners. Here is the answer that I got today:
. . . during the transition there was very few errors made and we did experience a short gap where some reservations got through that should not have. This was a minimal time period and the issue was immediately corrected, however the inventory that had already been deposited could not be pulled back. I have been advised that going forward, new process are in place so this does not happen again.
Jack
 

schenriq

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Wow! This is fishy. How can reservations "get through" at more than 16 months? Could this be a case of "It's Good To Be King" or in this scenario "To be the ex-Mgmt. Company"?
 
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GPR also had the wrong contact information for us including email, address, and telephone number. It was quickly sorted out and glad to report that I was able to book our requested unit and dates with no issues for 2018. When I inquired about check in days for specific units, especially the oceanfront units, the agent mentioned that GPR had thought that was just a myth. She did look into it and assured that we will be staying in our requested unit for our stay. We will not be checking in until next year, so between now and then, I hope that doesn't get changed.

We really hated the two step check in process to get wi-fi access code and parking pass (the disguised sales pitch to attend a Wyndham presentation). Have they discontinued that practice?
 

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We really hated the two step check in process to get wi-fi access code and parking pass (the disguised sales pitch to attend a Wyndham presentation). Have they discontinued that practice?

No. Wyndham still owns the concierges who are still in charge of wifi codes and parking passes.
 
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