Floating Weeks just go away??

I'm not new to TS but new to Floating Weeks.

I called the resort owner and asked to bank my floating weeks. We're just into 4th quarter and it's evident we won't be able to use them, so I'll just bank them and use them next year. NOT!

They told me "sorry, your resort is full, you just lose your weeks". WHAT?? I have two deeded weeks. And I don't want to stay there, but need to get them assigned so I can bank them.

I asked if they had oversold the resort, and she said no. I told her that two weeks of the inventory at that resort were mine, and I haven't used them yet, so they should be available, unless they've sold them to someone else. She of course didn't get it at all.

For years, we had fixed weeks, and I knew that I had week 28 in two specific condos, period. Now this floating stuff was supposed to be "flexible", but it looks like a way to sell units TWICE!

I thought having deeded weeks meant something, but according to her they can say at any time of the year "oops, no weeks left" and we're just out of luck.

Please tell us what resort you own, and what season in order for us to help you.

That's About The Size Of It.

spthomas said:

They told me "sorry, your resort is full, you just lose your weeks".

Click to expand...

Upside of floating timeshare weeks is flexibility -- you're not locked into the same calendar week year in & year out.

Downside is the risk of getting shut out completely if you wait till too late in the year to reserve your floating week(s).

So you wait till mid-October or later to ask for a floating week reservation, & when you call they say all remaining weeks are reserved & there's nothing left for you. In that case, what happened to your fully paid-for timeshare weeks that you're entitled to?

The answer is that back in January or February (or any time, really) when there were unreserved units at the resort that nobody ever checked into -- weeks that went to waste because the units stayed empty all week -- some of those were yours.

To prevent that, owners of floating timeshare weeks have to remember to plan early & make reservations early.

It's like a game of musical chairs. Every week that passes means that fewer weeks are left to reserve. Wait too late & none are left when you call.

Sometimes when that happens, shut-out owners are irate if they see a week offered for rent or exchange at the same resort where they were just told that they were shut out.

What's up with that ?

When that happens, it means somebody reserved a week before they were all gone, then deposited it with RCI or I-I or put it up for rent privately. Those weeks are not available to owners still looking for reservations late in the year, simply because they were grabbed up early in the year by other owners at the resort.

It's a painful lesson. Sorry you learned it the hard way.

Next year, get out your vacation calendar early & make your floating week timeshare reservation as early as you can -- before the choicest weeks are gone, or (worse) before nothing is left to reserve.

Full Disclosure: We own a floating timeshare week. We have never been shut out from getting a week to use. But we have taken a "surprise" vacation once during the only week that was still available to reserve, simply to avoid being shut out altogether. Live & learn.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Alan is right and has explained it perfectly. You may have a deeded week and unit but that doesn't mean you will ever stay in it

I also own at a floating weeks resort . And I learned the hard way too
Thanks for the reminder I need to pay my 2015 fees and make reservations

If you are not sure if and when you want to use your float week, it usually makes sense to book the most popular time as soon as it becomes available, which for most resorts are 1 year out, although some allow 2 years and others less than 1 year. If you don't know when the booking window opens, you should take the time to find out. If you are exchanging, than a popular week deposited is going to get you more trading power. If you decide you want to book another week you can call up and see if your alternate is available. Most resorts won't charge you to rebook as long as you do so 60 or 90 days in advance.

You can keep checking at your resort to see if they have any cancellation but even if they do and you can deposit it with an exchange week it is likely to have fairly poor trading power as it will probably be a low demand week deposited fairly late.

In order to reserve the floating week I want at my home resort, I need to submit my request SIXTEEN MONTHS ahead of time. At 14 months out the resort makes the confirmed reservation, and sends me the notice of assignment. Then I know that I have the week I asked for. It's then up to me to use it at the resort, rent it out, or deposit it to an exchange company.

If the exchange company you're using happens to be RCI, if you wait till this late in the year to deposit a 2014 week, you're going to lose all trade value for the week, and get very little credit for what you deposit. That's just a sheer waste of your deposit.

Tuggers regularly say to plan ahead to make the most of what you own. Unfortunately, in this case, you've just learned the hard way why that credo is so important. Sad to say, but this is a lesson I'm sorry you've had to learn the hard way.

Dave

Alan nailed it. While Wyndham UDI points can be deposited with RCI until end of day on 31st, once weeks go unused they are lost.

Pay those estimated 2015 HOA fees now and nail prime week.

Also, remember the earlier you deposit with RCI the better!

And, RCI requires 60 days of useful life remain.

With TSs generally earlier is better.

Just an FIY to all of you out there like me how own points. Thius same thing can happen to you with points. If you do not bank them to next year early enough, there may not be rooms available for you to use your points this year.

I made a reservation just 61 days before checkin at the only resort in my point system with a full week left so I then could deposit that week with II and still get credit for a "regular" deposit if I had waited just two more days I'd have gotten a late deposit and only be able to use my week with 59 days of travel.

Also keep in mind that some resorts will choose the week if it is being deposited.

I have heard this before on TUG. You can choose a week within your float period to use personally, but if you choose to deposit with an exchange company, the resort will choose the week to be deposited. I choose not to own float weeks. I did it at a couple of resorts years ago, but found that fixed weeks work best for me personally.

I asked if they had oversold the resort, and she said no. I told her that two weeks of the inventory at that resort were mine, and I haven't used them yet, so they should be available, unless they've sold them to someone else. She of course didn't get it at all.

Unfortunately, you did not learn the policies of your resort with reserving and depositing your float weeks. She got it I'm sure. She's probably experienced it before. Owners that don't understand their ownership and blaming the resort. Your best bet is to call back to the resort in order to find out how things work with reserving your week and depositing with exchange companies. Also, most resorts require that the maintenance fee be paid prior to reserving the week. There's resorts that require calling in or being at the office by a particular time in order to reserve the week during prime seasons. I've heard of a resort that has floating weeks and they float a different season each year. This year you can reserve a red week, next year your float is a blue week, etc. Just because one resort handles it one way, doesn't mean another resort handles it the same way.

Gold Key Resorts in Virginia Beach have fixed weeks (float units by type). They require that you submit your usage (owner use, guest use, split lock-out use, etc.). They do remind you prior to the cut-off date. I have read reviews where folks failed to submit their usage and lost their weeks. I can understand that with float weeks, but really can't understand the loss of your week if you fail to submit your usage for a fixed week. But that's there policy.

Hard and expensive lesson, I'm sure; but realize that it is up to you as the owner to know what you own and how it works. Get prepared for next year now by contacting Owner Services at your resort and learning how their float week program works.

I started out with 3 Marriott Floating Weeks (Sabal Palms, Harbour Club and Heritage Club). After a few years I decided I didn't want to have to spend a lot of time managing a moving target (In addition Marriott was changing the rules regarding their Rental and Resale Programs) so I sold and bought 7 Fixed Weeks at HOA Controlled Independent Resorts. For me it was one of the best moves I ever made.

George

You can't bank what doesn't exist. There has to be a reservation week available in order to bank it.

Look at it this way. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Qtr went by. Some of those weeks went completely unused. No banking or anything. They just sat empty. Now in the 4th Qtr all the available weeks are either booked or banked, which means 100% remaining are "claimed".

Where did your weeks go? They were the ones that went unoccupied earlier in the year. They didn't "go away", they just went unused.

What Oft Was Thought But Ne'er So Well Expressed.

Saintsfanfl said:

You can't bank what doesn't exist. There has to be a reservation week available in order to bank it.

Look at it this way. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Qtr went by. Some of those weeks went completely unused. No banking or anything. They just sat empty. Now in the 4th Qtr all the available weeks are either booked or banked, which means 100% remaining are "claimed".

Where did your weeks go? They were the ones that went unoccupied earlier in the year. They didn't "go away", they just went unused.

Click to expand...

You are correct, sir.

That's approximately what I was trying to say.

You just said it better.

And shorter.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

And to add numbers to explain it;

If your resort has 100 units and 52 owners for each unit there would be
5,200 weeks that people could reserve and use.

Let's say you own at Ocean City and the first week of Jan only 25 people reserve a week and 75 units sit empty.

Come week two there are 5,175 people wanting reservations for the remainder of the year but only 5,100 units available for the remainder of the year.

This is what happened to you, each unit that goes unused results in one more person not being able to reserve a week later in the year. You waited too long.

I was going to so the math, but I had a headache . . . .

I Resemble That Remark.

Rent_Share said:

I was going to so the math, but I had a headache . . . .

Click to expand...

That's about the size of it.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

If I had a retail store, and I sold out of products 3/4 of the way through the day, and yet people had already paid for them...

Now maybe I'm out of Cheerios later in the day, so for the last 1/4 of the day they get Cornflakes. But they paid for something, they should get something.
I can sort of see it if you show up December 21st looking for a week. But this was early October.

no wonder people hate timeshares.

Selling Goods Does Not Work The Same As Booking Vacation Accommodations.

spthomas said:

If I had a retail store, and I sold out of products 3/4 of the way through the day, and yet people had already paid for them...

Now maybe I'm out of Cheerios later in the day, so for the last 1/4 of the day they get Cornflakes. But they paid for something, they should get something.
I can sort of see it if you show up December 21st looking for a week. But this was early October.

no wonder people hate timeshares.

Click to expand...

Sometimes people pay for stuff that's out of stock. Usually they get offered their choice of a refund or receiving the item(s) later on backorder.

That works OK with stuff -- Cheerios, corn flakes, electronics, clothing, office supplies, etc., physical things rather than intervals of time.

Timeshare accommodations can't work that way. The inventory consists of specific weeks in particular units. Once the week is past, those weeks in those units are over & done. Mox nix whether anybody was actually staying there during the weeks gone by. They're gone regardless.

If nobody buys my Cheerios this week, no problem -- I can sell'm next week or the week after that. Ditto file folders, No. 2 pencils, cans of beans, bed pillows, bars of soap, sneakers, sox, & I don't know what-all

If nobody ever checks into a timeshare unit during some particular week, however, then the opportunity to use that week is gone. Over & done. Wasted.

The floating-weeks timeshare system does not extend the shelf life of those perishable timeshare weeks. Use'm or lose'm.

That's just the way it is.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

spthomas said:

If I had a retail store, and I sold out of products 3/4 of the way through the day, and yet people had already paid for them...

Now maybe I'm out of Cheerios later in the day, so for the last 1/4 of the day they get Cornflakes. But they paid for something, they should get something.
I can sort of see it if you show up December 21st looking for a week. But this was early October.

no wonder people hate timeshares.

Click to expand...

People who don't understand how to use their timeshares may hate them but I love them.

It happens sooner than Oct in some resorts. Resorts with high occupancy rates will run out of ressies sooner than the less popular ones.

Every time a unit goes unoccupied another person doesn't get a ressie later in the year. It goes into cyber space and can't be brought back no matter how badly you want it to.

Where or how do you suggest your resort come up with a week for you? They are gone.

Why would you think it would take until late Dec to start shutting people out.

Many people have tried different ways to explain it and I don't know how else we can lay it out for you.

TSs are NOT full service travel agents, rather DIY.

If not willing to get in right ball park and learn rules of game then will never be happy with!

That is why TUG is popular as sharing knowledge/experiences enhances one's vacations.

Timeshares are not Cheerios or Corn Flakes...

spthomas said:

If I had a retail store, and I sold out of products 3/4 of the way through the day, and yet people had already paid for them...

Now maybe I'm out of Cheerios later in the day, so for the last 1/4 of the day they get Cornflakes. But they paid for something, they should get something.
I can sort of see it if you show up December 21st looking for a week. But this was early October.

no wonder people hate timeshares.

Click to expand...

A resort cannot, by law, sell more "floating" week deeds than the numerical maximum of potential occupancy (i.e., number of units times 51 or 52 weeks, minus the number of "fixed" week ownerships at that particular facility). Numerically speaking, there is a week potentially available for each and every owner at any given facility.

That being said, the nature of "floating" weeks obviously requires floating week owners to be proactive and make their own reservation(s). The earlier they do so in any given year, the more remaining date and inventory options remain from which to choose. Each day that goes by in the year (and each unit /week that goes unused) means that the remaining numerical possibilities for occupancy decrease day by day. At some point, the proverbial "No Vacancy" sign must go up because every remaining unit / week has been reserved.

I am sorry for your unfortunate situation, but it is frankly a classic example of "If you snooze, you may well lose". In the future, a smarter approach would be to make some kind of reservation much earlier in the year. That way you have something in hand to either use, or rent out to someone else if you don't want to use it yourself, or to "deposit" with an exchange company to later reserve a future week somewhere else instead.

We've been involved with timeshares for over three decades now. We like it, enjoy it, certainly don't hate it (although we admittedly don't choose to get involved with any "floating" week ownerships). Floating week ownerships, by definition, require considerable advance planning and effort. With all due respect, yours was plainly inadequate for this calendar year. The resort can't now just magically create vacant space; it simply doesn't exist at this late date, with fewer than 90 days remaining in this calendar year.

It's too late; all remaining units /weeks have now been claimed. The facility is "full" for the rest of this year and the 'No Vacancy' sign is now out.

I did snooze, but didn't entirely lose...

There was a stretch where my life was so crowded that several months had slipped by before I realized that I was asleep at the reservations wheel. It was tough to accept that I had paid MFs for 2 weeks (at 2 separate resorts) for naught.

So I reached out and pleaded with the managers in charge of reservations at each of the resorts, and I am grateful that each offered me an off-season week (which most likely would have been bulk deposited) that I was able to bank to make good for missing out on my red week.

It was a good occasion to connect personally with someone running the show, as many years later I reached out to these same managers and persuaded them to accept back my deeds when I got tired of owning those float weeks.

Here's a thread about a fixed week owner not getting his week.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218528

Know the rules and how to use your TS before you start to "hate."

Here There said:

There was a stretch where my life was so crowded that several months had slipped by before I realized that I was asleep at the reservations wheel. It was tough to accept that I had paid MFs for 2 weeks (at 2 separate resorts) for naught.

So I reached out and pleaded with the managers in charge of reservations at each of the resorts, and I am grateful that each offered me an off-season week (which most likely would have been bulk deposited) that I was able to bank to make good for missing out on my red week.

It was a good occasion to connect personally with someone running the show, as many years later I reached out to these same managers and persuaded them to accept back my deeds when I got tired of owning those float weeks.

Click to expand...

My first timeshare week was a floating week at Massanutten. I had this same experience, I don't understand how it works - but they assigned me a week that had been been bulk deposited. Whatever it was at least I did not lose the week I had paid for

Got rid of the floating week. We are much happier with our fixed Massanutten weeks!

Bill4728 said:

Just an FIY to all of you out there like me how own points. Thius same thing can happen to you with points. If you do not bank them to next year early enough, there may not be rooms available for you to use your points this year.

I made a reservation just 61 days before checkin at the only resort in my point system with a full week left so I then could deposit that week with II and still get credit for a "regular" deposit if I had waited just two more days I'd have gotten a late deposit and only be able to use my week with 59 days of travel.

Click to expand...

This is not the case with my RCI Points at the Grandview in Las Vegas. Unless otherwise requested (in case I wanted to use my week at the GV, which will never happen), my week is automatically deposited into RCI. Any time during the current year, I can use the following years points if needed: nice, no depositing.

My Marriott is another story. For this TS,I have to look ahead 1 year, reserve a popular/demanded week 52 weeks out, lock it off (so I can get 2 weeks), and then deposit both weeks into II. Use it or lose it.

With HGVC it's easier. Just use your points in the current year or rescue them to the followig year.

Here There said:

There was a stretch where my life was so crowded that several months had slipped by before I realized that I was asleep at the reservations wheel. It was tough to accept that I had paid MFs for 2 weeks (at 2 separate resorts) for naught.

So I reached out and pleaded with the managers in charge of reservations at each of the resorts, and I am grateful that each offered me an off-season week (which most likely would have been bulk deposited) that I was able to bank to make good for missing out on my red week.

It was a good occasion to connect personally with someone running the show, as many years later I reached out to these same managers and persuaded them to accept back my deeds when I got tired of owning those float weeks.

Click to expand...

When asked, Marriott will work with folks who purchase on the external market and are in danger of losing their first year's usage because the purchase date falls after the applicable Reservation Window has opened, usually by way of a replacement Week deposited to Interval Int'l that can be used for an exchange. It's not a perfect solution but it's something.

They've also been known to work when possible with Owners who for one reason or another need a one-time exception from the rules. It doesn't hurt to ask - and there are no guarantees - but I'd guess that they'd be much more receptive to somebody who acknowledges the system limitations and is pleading for mercy than to somebody who starts out the conversation ranting and raving about the inhumanity of it all.