# [2012] Anyone else denied use of their week?



## peakview (Jun 24, 2012)

We have been owners for 14 years at Vacation Villas at Fantasy World in Orlando. When I went in two weeks ago to either reserve a week in November at our home resort or request a week number to deposit in Interval, there was a message that the resort sold out in early June. No more units available for reservations or II deposits. What??!! I have never heard of this. After phone calls and e-mail exchanges with the resort, they told me there is no resolution and that we have lost our week because we tried to reserve too late. (We were deeded week 52, though technically it is a floating week.) And this after we all paid a big assessment for resort upgrades. We are furious and wonder if we have any recourse. Has anyone else had this happen to them? I feel like they have stolen our week. VV has units for exchange/rent all over Interval, Expedia, Hotwire, etc. Lots and lots of availability to everyone but owners who did not "follow the rules and reserve early," we were told.


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## northovr (Jun 24, 2012)

how can they denied you a week if you paid for it?


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## timeos2 (Jun 24, 2012)

While we are not owners at that specific resort we do own at another 100% float time resort in Orlando (although this would apply to any float ownership regardless of location).  There are only so many weeks to assign each year and, at our resort at least, the early part of the year has some go by with no reservations made for some units.  That means if the resort is sold out there will be owners with use rights that will NOT have any time available when they wait too long to reserve as those use weeks/units are lost. 

It tends to not be an issue in the earlier years of ownership when you can often wait to nearly the last minute to reserve and the Developer - who is likely still running the resort - bends over backwards to get get every owner in & keep them happy (and buying). Once the resort sells out - or even close to sell out - things tighten up and the rules are enforced more strictly. Owners who got used to the freewheeling early days are surprised when the availability is based on actual use. Once most weeks are owned by individuals the flexibility that even the Developer/Management used to have to assign the unsold time virtually at will is gone. 

So yes, this is very possible and does happen to owners at float resorts if they wait too late to reserve. it appears your resort has turned that corner and you need to start planning 10-14 months ahead not wait until 2-6 months out or you risk being one that loses out on a year.  

I'm sorry it happened - it is a rude awakening.  But it isn't tough to avoid you just have to plan ahead.  The management is doing nothing wrong but merely informing you of the available time left and that this year may be fully reserved.


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## timeos2 (Jun 24, 2012)

northovr said:


> how can they denied you a week if you paid for it?



If they read the documents it says you must make a "timely request for annual reservation".  If an owner waits too long things are full - it is first come, first served. For some reason too many wait and the demand for the end of the year is higher than the early part. So when early weeks go unused they go to waste & some owners, despite paying, get no week.  It is a reality of any float resort. it is up to the owners to make the effort to get a reservation early.


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## peakview (Jun 24, 2012)

Well, thanks for your response, timeos2, which is exactly what the resort told us. But it would have been polite to have some warning this may happen, which never came, and has never been a problem for 14 years. How could we have anticipated that? And no one answered our repeated question: So what happened to our week? And after the assessment and maintenance fees, we paid over $3200 in the past three years. A very rotten situation for people who work very hard for their money and find it was wasted.


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## jerseygirl (Jun 24, 2012)

I would write to the resort and ask them to send you an accounting of the weeks deposited to Interval to determine if any were "bulk banked," which basically means assigned to Interval without actual owner requests.  It seems to me that if a resort runs out of weeks before June 30th, it's irresponsible of them to NOT deposit unrequested weeks to interval that can then be assigned to owners like you who end up with no availability to reserve anything.

I think something's fishy .... I would demand a full accounting if I were in your shoes.  I'd be surprised to find a single timeshare resort in Orlando that's 100% booked from now until the end of the year ....

Can this happen, as timeo describes?  Yes.  Do we ever hear of it happening in June ... In Orlando?  Never.


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## bogey21 (Jun 24, 2012)

My first three TS Weeks were Floating Weeks.  After I got tired of the planning that was required and realized there was a possibility I would lose my Week(s) if I procrastinated, I sold all three.  Everything I bought after that were Fixed Weeks at Independent Resorts which were prudently managed by their HOAs.  I never regretted making the change.

George


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## timeos2 (Jun 25, 2012)

peakview said:


> Well, thanks for your response, timeos2, which is exactly what the resort told us. But it would have been polite to have some warning this may happen, which never came, and has never been a problem for 14 years. How could we have anticipated that? And no one answered our repeated question: So what happened to our week? And after the assessment and maintenance fees, we paid over $3200 in the past three years. A very rotten situation for people who work very hard for their money and find it was wasted.



The week becomes one of the (likely) many that went unclaimed earlier in 2012 even as dates later in the year are filled up with requests. In an area such as Orlando where there are practically no bad use times having a fixed week is a pain as different years you may desire different use times. Having to exchange & pay those costs just to change week is a real negative (I know - we've owned both types in Orlando & float is MUCH preferable). However it does require owners to make a request each use year - not that hard but you must be early enough to be fairly sure you'll get what you want. This time you waited too long. I'll bet you'll never make that mistake again. 

Asking if there are any banked weeks you can get from RCI, II or any other exchange company is a good idea.  Our float resort does bank some week in anticipation of this happening but those also run out after awhile. The real answer is to be earlier. Our resort does hand out multiple reminders to book early yet virtually every year there are some owners who end up with no use week.  It seems to be human nature to wait too long to ask. Good luck to you - I hope you can get something as this is a rough lesson to learn by the loss of a weeks use.


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## ronparise (Jun 25, 2012)

timeos2 said:


> The week becomes one of the (likely) many that went unclaimed earlier in 2012 even as dates later in the year are filled up with requests. In an area such as Orlando where there are practically no bad use times having a fixed week is a pain as different years you may desire different use times. Having to exchange & pay those costs just to change week is a real negative (I know - we've owned both types in Orlando & float is MUCH preferable). However it does require owners to make a request each use year - not that hard but you must be early enough to be fairly sure you'll get what you want. This time you waited too long. I'll bet you'll never make that mistake again.
> 
> Asking if there are any banked weeks you can get from RCI, II or any other exchange company is a good idea.  Our float resort does bank some week in anticipation of this happening but those also run out after awhile. The real answer is to be earlier. Our resort does hand out multiple reminders to book early yet virtually every year there are some owners who end up with no use week.  It seems to be human nature to wait too long to ask. Good luck to you - I hope you can get something as this is a rough lesson to learn by the loss of a weeks use.



John

I suppose that if every owner paid their dues before Jan 1 and attempted to make their reservation or deposit to an exchange company before Jan 1 then every owner could expect to get a week. But if you wait until after Jan 1 then  you might get burned.  I would think that no matter how early I make my reservation, if Im the last guy to call.and its after Jan 1  I might get locked out

If the hoa was really acting in the interest of all owners. Wouldnt it make more sense to require owners to pay their dues before the the year begins, and to reserve their week at the same time. In other words not accept a payment without a reservation request. 

and/or

RCI accepts deposits right up to day before check in (reduced TPU) Couldnt the hoa, if say on the Wednesday before check in, sees that there are units that will be vacant the next week, deposit those weeks to RCI (or another exchange company). That way If someone comes forward in August to make their October reservation, they could be given the option of an exchange, instead of being turned away...Sure there would be exchange fees, but thats the penalty for late reserving,  and better than getting nothing


and to the op

to answer the question posed in the title of this thread.....yes its happened to me. Slightly different circumstances.  I bought a floating week towards the end of the year, that came with maintenance fees paid by the seller, and current years usage included.  When I called to make my reservation I was told, that there was nothing available....So I didnt get my week that I thought was included in the purchase price, but I did learn a valuable  lesson..ie pay early and reserve early..make sure some other guy gets screwed, not me.(sorry it turned out to be you.)And as John said, thats the nature of floating weeks (and points programs) ...there is no guarantee that you will get what you want or even anything at all


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## suzannesimon (Jun 25, 2012)

timeos2 said:


> If they read the documents it says you must make a "timely request for annual reservation".  If an owner waits too long things are full - it is first come, first served. For some reason too many wait and the demand for the end of the year is higher than the early part. So when early weeks go unused they go to waste & some owners, despite paying, get no week.  It is a reality of any float resort. it is up to the owners to make the effort to get a reservation early.



So are they really selling more weeks/units than actually exist?  There should be a law against that.  It's one thing if you miss the dates you really want, but there should be a week available sometime during the year for every owner.


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## dumbydee (Jun 25, 2012)

There probably are weeks avaliable sometime during the year for every owner, however, if everyone tries to book at the end of the year there are not enough units to accomadate all the owners.  The bookings have to stretch out throughout the entire year for the float weeks to work.


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## timeos2 (Jun 25, 2012)

suzannesimon said:


> So are they really selling more weeks/units than actually exist?  There should be a law against that.  It's one thing if you miss the dates you really want, but there should be a week available sometime during the year for every owner.



No - it's that every week has an owner yet some (many?) weeks in the first part of each use year do not get claimed. As Ron says a sharp resort management will try to identify when there appears to be time that will go to waste and make a deposit with an exchange company just to save something. But they can't take all the time or too early or the reason weeks wouldn't be available would be from over banking!  It is a fine line to walk but every float system (and points) has to do it.  

Even the weeks that are delinquent can't be assigned to owners as they are held in Administrative hold for rental to maximize the income for the Association. If a week goes unpaid by the owner it is not in the use pool it is in the rental pool.  It is one of the most complicated parts of resort management that the resort has to administer. I don't envy them that work. 

As Ron also states many float resorts do push the idea of pay & reserve as a package.  Yet still some will say they don't know when they want or when they can get time & then forget to request until it's too late. It seems to be part of the normal pattern and no amount of warnings or prods changes it for every owner.


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## suzannesimon (Jun 25, 2012)

OK.  I get it now.  Apparently units sat vacant during the less popular time and they don't have any left of the good weeks.  Glad all my units are fixed weeks!  I don't have to think much unless I want to trade.


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## Larry (Jun 25, 2012)

bogey21 said:


> My first three TS Weeks were Floating Weeks.  After I got tired of the planning that was required and realized there was a possibility I would lose my Week(s) if I procrastinated, I sold all three.  Everything I bought after that were Fixed Weeks at Independent Resorts which were prudently managed by their HOAs.  I never regretted making the change.
> 
> George



Completely agree!!!! We own 16 weeks all are prime fixed weeks at Independent resorts and at 3 we have the ability to either use our week or reserve a different week within season. We rent out about half of our weeks and it is great to not have to worry about first reserving a week to rent out.

We also have a few weeks including RCI points that we always deposit with RCI, II or most recently SFX.

We have owned since our first purchase in 1992 and we have never lost a week.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 25, 2012)

As others have pointed out, this can be an issue where there is a floating week system. It often happens that at the beginning of the float period there are weeks that go unreserved.  If the resort is sold out that inevitably creates a crunch at the end of the season, as everyone of those unused weeks early in the season represents an owner who is not going to be able to make a reservation later in the year due to lack of availability.

I am a minority participant at TUG in my defense of bulk spacebanking by resorts that have floating reservation systems.  The situation described is one key reason why I believe bulk banking is a benefit to owners with floating time usage.  In a well-run bulk banking system the resort has some ability to anticipate when weeks are going to go unused, and the resort then banks those weeks with the exchange company.  Later in the year, when the reservation crunch occurs, the resort can make one of the bulk banked weeks available to the owners who are unable to reserve.

It has worked this way for us as well. One time when we purchased a unit at a float time resort, by the time the sale closed there was no available time left to reserve.  The resort however transferred a bulk banked week to our account so were able to get usage of our unit via an exchange.

*****

I also have to say that in our original timeshare presentation - at the Marriott Kauai Beach Club in 1999 - our salesman was quite clear during the presentation about the importance of reserving early and explaining how if we waited too long to make reservations we could lose our usage, particularly when the resort reached sell out.


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## peakview (Jun 25, 2012)

Thanks all. Very helpful. And JerseyGirl, I like your idea and will do that. Thanks for taking time to respond everyone.


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## cmh (Jun 25, 2012)

I'm still learning the ropes and these comments are all good advice - Thanks!


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## Beefnot (Jun 25, 2012)

Best to plan/reserve early and and rent it out or deposit with an exchange company if you subsequently can't use the date rather than get shut out altogether from using your week.


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## dougp26364 (Jun 26, 2012)

peakview said:


> Well, thanks for your response, timeos2, which is exactly what the resort told us. But it would have been polite to have some warning this may happen, which never came, and has never been a problem for 14 years. How could we have anticipated that? And no one answered our repeated question: So what happened to our week? And after the assessment and maintenance fees, we paid over $3200 in the past three years. A very rotten situation for people who work very hard for their money and find it was wasted.



I do feel for your situation but, it highlights the reasons for understanding every little aspect about your ownership.

Years ago we learned a lesson the hard way as well, although not to the extent your experiencing. We had purchased a fixed week/fixed unit ownership in Vegas. At the time of purchase (it was our first purchase), they assigned us a random week and told us it would be no problem, the developer was allowing fixed wee/fixed unit owners to "float" their usage weeks. 

Well this worked fine up until the resort sold out. Some owners actually wanted to use the fixed week they had purchased. Since there were no more developer owned weeks or, since there were no longer enough developer owned weeks, floating our usage week was no longer an option offered by the developer. There was no written notice of this change in policy except for our ownership documents, which clearly stated we only had the right to use the fixed week/fixed unit we had been assigned.

Remember, they didn't ask us which week we wanted and we weren't smart enough to know which week would have worked best for us. They just assigned us a week and told us not to worry about it. Needless to say, this put a big dent in our travel plans as the week assigned didn't always work well for our plans. 

Unlike you we were fortunate enough that we still had our fixed week and it could be deposited with I.I. for exchange. It was unfortunate that we now had to pay an exchange fee to get usage from that particular week as we had been using it to stay at our home resort, just not during the week we owned. 

At this point I would consider paying the MF's early rather than waiting until they're due on Jan. 1st. All the resorts we own offer this option and about half of them require advance payment of the MF's before they'll allow us to reserve/deposit a unit. The advance MF payment has been based on the previous years MF. At the end of the year, we're billed the difference between what we've paid in advance and any inrease in the MF for the next year. I usually have most of the MF's at resorts requiring advance payment made by the end of June or, at the very least, one year in advance of when I think we might want to take vacation. If it's a resort week I know we'll exchange, I select a week that I believe will be a strong exchane week and pay the MF that week, one year in advance, and just go ahead and reserve/deposit that week. By doing this I believe I'm locking in the highest possible exchange power, it gives me a three year window to work with and it locks in a week for vacation.

I know this doesn't help your situation as it stands now but, maybe it can help you avoid this nasty situation in the future. I hope you can work something out with your resort so that you're able to get at least some value from your ownership week.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 26, 2012)

dougp26364 said:


> I do feel for your situation but, it highlights the reasons for understanding every little aspect about your ownership.



Ditto.  That's a big reason why when we bought at Poipu I made an appointments with the resort manager and the reservations manager and had them walk me through the reservations process and inventory control system.


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## gregb (Jun 26, 2012)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> I am a minority participant at TUG in my defense of bulk spacebanking by resorts that have floating reservation systems.  The situation described is one key reason why I believe bulk banking is a benefit to owners with floating time usage.  In a well-run bulk banking system the resort has some ability to anticipate when weeks are going to go unused, and the resort then banks those weeks with the exchange company.  Later in the year, when the reservation crunch occurs, the resort can make one of the bulk banked weeks available to the owners who are unable to reserve.



I don't see how bulk banking will address the issues.  I think about it this way.  Pretend there is only one unit in the resort.  There are 52 people who own a week in that room.  Now if none of the 52 want week 1, then once week 1 has past, the resort has 52 people trying to fit into 51 week.  Someone loses.  

I don't see how bulk banking can fix this.  If II was successful int renting out that week 1 unit, the resort gets an occupied week, but those 52 owners are still trying to fit into 51 weeks.  

Now in reality, there are many more than one unit at each resort.  And statistically, some of the owners will either trade or not use their unit during the year.  In that case, if the resort previously bulk banked some late season weeks, it may be able to call one of them back.  

But at a sold out resort, once a week passes without being used by an owner, there is an imbalance between the number of weeks available, and the number of owners who could want to use their week.

Greg


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 26, 2012)

gregb said:


> I don't see how bulk banking will address the issues.  I think about it this way.  Pretend there is only one unit in the resort.  There are 52 people who own a week in that room.  Now if none of the 52 want week 1, then once week 1 has past, the resort has 52 people trying to fit into 51 week.  Someone loses.
> 
> I don't see how bulk banking can fix this.  If II was successful int renting out that week 1 unit, the resort gets an occupied week, but those 52 owners are still trying to fit into 51 weeks.
> 
> ...


It seems as if you are assuming that the resort doesn't try to bulk bank until it's almost check in date, and of course that won't work.  In actual practice the resort has a pretty good idea of what percentage of owners are likely to want exchanges in any given year and what the most popular and least popular periods are.

Using that information the resort then creates a schedule for depositing units such that the units deposited mostly come from time the resort is expected to be empty.

Of course the reality with any floating reservation system is that there are going to be people who don't make reservations near the beginning of the reservation period. That results in situations where 20% of the owners are competing for the last 15% of inventory at the end of the year.  Not everyone  is going to get a reservation.  But if the resort has bulk banked those units that sat empty at the beginning of the season, the people who get squeezed out at the end can at least get an exchange week to use.  

On the other hand, if those unreserved units at the beginning of the season just wound up sitting unused and undeposited, the owners who get squeezed out at the end of the  year will get nothing at all.


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## Larry M (Jun 26, 2012)

bogey21 said:


> My first three TS Weeks were Floating Weeks.  After I got tired of the planning that was required and realized there was a possibility I would lose my Week(s) if I procrastinated, I sold all three.  Everything I bought after that were Fixed Weeks at Independent Resorts which were prudently managed by their HOAs.  I never regretted making the change.



Exactly! All I have ever owned or ever bought are fixed week.  No gambles. No calling in at 12:01 am or 8:01am New Year's Day to try to pin down something for Halloween (I don't even know at New Year's if I'm going to be in the US at Halloween!).

In fact, have I got a deal for the original poster!! I have a marvelous 2-bedroom unit in the beautiful Ozark Mountains at Fixed Week 12.  Swimming, tennis, golf, bicycling and more, in the Mountain Ridge section of Fairfield Bay. And I will sell it to you with all maintenance fees paid up through this year for the princely sum of *one dollar*. Better hurry, though, because other folks will see this posting and start calling me at 919-271-8885.


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## dougp26364 (Jun 26, 2012)

Larry M said:


> Exactly! All I have ever owned or ever bought are fixed week.  No gambles. No calling in at 12:01 am or 8:01am New Year's Day to try to pin down something for Halloween (I don't even know at New Year's if I'm going to be in the US at Halloween!).
> 
> In fact, have I got a deal for the original poster!! I have a marvelous 2-bedroom unit in the beautiful Ozark Mountains at Fixed Week 12.  Swimming, tennis, golf, bicycling and more, in the Mountain Ridge section of Fairfield Bay. And I will sell it to you with all maintenance fees paid up through this year for the princely sum of *one dollar*. Better hurry, though, because other folks will see this posting and start calling me at 919-271-8885.



Huh? I have never had to call in for a reservation on New Years Day. Every resort that I own allows reservations at the 12 month window and some, at 13 months. When reserving a home resort week to use, they don't even require payment of the MF until it's due. If I want to reserve 12 months in advance and deposit that week for exchange, most will require an advance deposit against that years MF. It's a simple thing to do and I've never had to call by a certain time to acomplish what I need. 

Floating weeks do take a little more planning but they're not the hassle you seem to believe them to be.


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## peakview (Jun 26, 2012)

Larry M said:


> Exactly! All I have ever owned or ever bought are fixed week.  No gambles. No calling in at 12:01 am or 8:01am New Year's Day to try to pin down something for Halloween (I don't even know at New Year's if I'm going to be in the US at Halloween!).
> 
> In fact, have I got a deal for the original poster!! I have a marvelous 2-bedroom unit in the beautiful Ozark Mountains at Fixed Week 12.  Swimming, tennis, golf, bicycling and more, in the Mountain Ridge section of Fairfield Bay. And I will sell it to you with all maintenance fees paid up through this year for the princely sum of *one dollar*. Better hurry, though, because other folks will see this posting and start calling me at 919-271-8885.



Well if I didn't already live in a beautiful mountain resort area, I might take up up on that! Thanks anyway!


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 27, 2012)

Larry M said:


> Exactly! All I have ever owned or ever bought are fixed week.  No gambles. No calling in at 12:01 am or 8:01am New Year's Day to try to pin down something for Halloween (I don't even know at New Year's if I'm going to be in the US at Halloween!). [snip]





dougp26364 said:


> Huh? I have never had to call in for a reservation on New Years Day. Every resort that I own allows reservations at the 12 month window and some, at 13 months. When reserving a home resort week to use, they don't even require payment of the MF until it's due. If I want to reserve 12 months in advance and deposit that week for exchange, most will require an advance deposit against that years MF. It's a simple thing to do and I've never had to call by a certain time to acomplish what I need.
> 
> Floating weeks do take a little more planning but they're not the hassle you seem to believe them to be.


Doug is exactly correct.  Every floating time resort that I'm aware of opens reservations on a rolling basis, usually 12 months before check-in date.  Some require payment of annual fees when a reservation is made; some simply require that fees be paid as normal, though almost all will require that the account be current before allowing checkin.  

The situations when one does need to be on the phone right away are when trying to reserve a particularly popular week, such as 4th of July at a beach resort. That's because on the day reservations open for that week more owners will submit requests than there are units available.  

But that's just the nature of life with a floating reservation system. And we've certainly appreciated not being tied down to a specific check-in date for our floating resorts.


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## laura1957 (Jun 27, 2012)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> In a well-run bulk banking system the resort has some ability to anticipate when weeks are going to go unused, and the resort then banks those weeks with the exchange company.  Later in the year, when the reservation crunch occurs, the resort can make one of the bulk banked weeks available to the owners who are unable to reserve.
> 
> It has worked this way for us as well. One time when we purchased a unit at a float time resort, by the time the sale closed there was no available time left to reserve.  The resort however transferred a bulk banked week to our account so were able to get usage of our unit via an exchange.
> 
> ...


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## Beefnot (Jun 27, 2012)

There were a decent number of FantasyWorld weeks in II. I wonder if they were all owner deposits or some bulk-banked weeks in there. If so, maybe work that angle with the resort?


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 27, 2012)

laura1957 said:


> The same thing happened to us with our first timeshare - a floating week at Massanutten.  There was nothing left that we could/wanted to use when we tried to reserve - they gave us a "pre-banked" week, and at least we had a week we could exchange.  Not sure really _HOW_ it works - but it did



Another advantage of a bulk banking system is that if you have to make a late cancellation, you can "turn in" the week that you reserved and receive a bulk banked week instead of depositing your reserved week.  Then instead of having a week that almost no trade power because it was deposited late, you receive a week that has it's full trade power.


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## dougp26364 (Jun 27, 2012)

Many developers realize the issues of owners having difficulty reserving the very high demand weeks like NYE, Presidents week with ski resorts, 4th of July or other popular weeks at any given resort (popular varies by location). They've even learned how to turn a buck on those weeks and make life "easier" on owners by selling them as premium weeks. If you want that ever popular week, they'll sell it to you as a fixed week........for a price. 

Some developers tend to oversell a season. Marriott does this by extending high demand seasons a few weeks past the true high demand time. Ask Newport Coast owners how they feel about Platinum season extending before/after the high demand summer months. Marriott's greed actually creates issues for families who must travel during the June/July/August timeframe by extending Platinum season outside of those months and that does create the call-at-the-moment reservations open crisis. 

You just have to learn the systems and how they're managed. Some are good, others aren't as good and some are just plain rotten.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 27, 2012)

dougp26364 said:


> Many developers realize the issues of owners having difficulty reserving the very high demand weeks like NYE, Presidents week with ski resorts, 4th of July or other popular weeks at any given resort (popular varies by location). They've even learned how to turn a buck on those weeks and make life "easier" on owners by selling them as premium weeks. If you want that ever popular week, they'll sell it to you as a fixed week........for a price.
> 
> Some developers tend to oversell a season. Marriott does this by extending high demand seasons a few weeks past the true high demand time. Ask Newport Coast owners how they feel about Platinum season extending before/after the high demand summer months. Marriott's greed actually creates issues for families who must travel during the June/July/August timeframe by extending Platinum season outside of those months and that does create the call-at-the-moment reservations open crisis.
> 
> You just have to learn the systems and how they're managed. Some are good, others aren't as good and some are just plain rotten.



I know of one owner-controlled coastal resort that had two floating seasons - essentially summer and non-summer - but abolished them to create one big floating pool.  They did that because the number of units foreclosed or in default was climbing, and most of those weeks were in the off-season pool.  by giving all owners possible access to summer reservations they were able to increase the value of the offseason weeks sufficiently to get them remarketed.  The summer pool owners apparently accepted the change as a necessary pill to swallow to keep the resort afloat.  Of course it's now even more of a mad rush to make summer season reservations.


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## Mel (Jun 27, 2012)

dougp26364 said:


> Huh? I have never had to call in for a reservation on New Years Day. Every resort that I own allows reservations at the 12 month window and some, at 13 months. When reserving a home resort week to use, they don't even require payment of the MF until it's due. If I want to reserve 12 months in advance and deposit that week for exchange, most will require an advance deposit against that years MF. It's a simple thing to do and I've never had to call by a certain time to acomplish what I need.
> 
> Floating weeks do take a little more planning but they're not the hassle you seem to believe them to be.


You've obviously never tried to reserve an extremely high demand week at a floating week resort.  I'm sure many here can attest to the need to call within minutes of reservations being available to get coveted July 4th weeks, or Christmas weeks at many resorts.

Perhaps the best solution is a form of bulk banking, where a reservation period exists that does not extend right up until the use week.  Thus, they can reserve 12 months out (or whatever the resort chooses), or wait, but once it is 2 months out (or again, whatever the membership agrees to) any unreserved weeks will be deposited for exchange.  If those January weeks in Orlando are not reserved, they end up banked, and when the OP calls in June to get a reservation in December, and finds that even the first week of December is reserved, there will still get an exchange week - and might even be able to exchange into the week they want, albeit including an exchange fee.

I recall several years back, someone complained about a similar issue - he wanted to reserve a particular week, something of high demand.  His resort told him the week he wanted was not available through them, as they were all reserved by other owners.  He got upset because he saw rentals of the week he wanted online, and the resort itself told him he could probably get an exchange back into the resort that week.  He objected, and felt this wasn't fair because he wasn't an exchange company member, and this would cost not just an exchange fee, but membership fee as well.  He insisted those weeks should be held for owner wanting to use them, rather than allowing other owners to trade them away or rent them out.

Needless to say, he got minimal sympathy here.  If this was the first time your resort experienced this problem, but glad - and ask what they are doing to avoid the situation next year.  Not only should they post a notice when the well is dry, but they should post a notice once a set number of weeks go unused, so members understand that they have reached a point of no return.   Perhaps you could ask that the send reservation statistics with the annual maintenance bill.  If that is mailed in November, and you can reserve a year ahead, people will have had the opportunity to reserve most weeks.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 27, 2012)

Mel said:


> I recall several years back, someone complained about a similar issue - he wanted to reserve a particular week, something of high demand.  His resort told him the week he wanted was not available through them, as they were all reserved by other owners.  He got upset because he saw rentals of the week he wanted online, and the resort itself told him he could probably get an exchange back into the resort that week.  He objected, and felt this wasn't fair because he wasn't an exchange company member, and this would cost not just an exchange fee, but membership fee as well.  He insisted those weeks should be held for owner wanting to use them, rather than allowing other owners to trade them away or rent them out.
> 
> Needless to say, he got minimal sympathy here.  If this was the first time your resort experienced this problem, but glad - and ask what they are doing to avoid the situation next year.  Not only should they post a notice when the well is dry, but they should post a notice once a set number of weeks go unused, so members understand that they have reached a point of no return.   Perhaps you could ask that the send reservation statistics with the annual maintenance bill.  If that is mailed in November, and you can reserve a year ahead, people will have had the opportunity to reserve most weeks.


And in my mind this is a perfectly valid reason for a resort to prohibit owners from selecting weeks for deposit with an *affiliated* exchange company.  I have no problem at all with a resort that declares that the first and foremost operating objective is to accommodate as many owner usage requests as possible - for the use of owners and their guests.

I'm not saying that all bulk banking resorts need to operate that way.  Unlike some other TUGgers, though, I believe that it's perfectly fine for some resorts to incorporate that into their usage rules.


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## Beefnot (Jun 27, 2012)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> And in my mind this is a perfectly valid reason for a resort to prohibit owners from selecting weeks for deposit with an *affiliated* exchange company.  I have no problem at all with a resort that declares that the first and foremost operating objective is to accommodate as many owner usage requests as possible - for the use of owners and their guests.
> 
> I'm not saying that all bulk banking resorts need to operate that way.  Unlike some other TUGgers, though, I believe that it's perfectly fine for some resorts to incorporate that into their usage rules.



Eh, I don't like that idea.  I would be supportive of the idea that specific weeks can be deposited with an exchange company only if they have been newly reserved (i.e., not just cancel and rebooked), say, 7 months or less prior to check-in date. Any weeks to be deposited earlier than the 7-month mark would be selected by the resort.

As a corollary, guest certs or substitution of the owner on the reservation can only be done, say, 60 days prior to check-in.  This might help mitigate the proliferation of prime rentals since many renters may not feel so comfortable putting down earnest money while having to wait until 60 days out to verify that they will have the unit.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 27, 2012)

[changed my mind - might respond more later]


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## gregb (Jun 27, 2012)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Not everyone  is going to get a reservation.  But if the resort has bulk banked those units that sat empty at the beginning of the season, the people who get squeezed out at the end can at least *get an exchange week to use*.



Steve, what I was missing was that the frozen out owners were getting *an exchange week* to replace their owned week.  Now it all makes sense.

Thanks,
Greg


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Jun 27, 2012)

gregb said:


> Steve, what I was missing was that the frozen out owners were getting *an exchange week* to replace their owned week.  Now it all makes sense.
> 
> Thanks,
> Greg


Yeah - that's the idea.  In fact, I can't imagine running a floating reservation system where the float pool is sold-out or near sold-out without operating a bulk banking system to provide something to owners who get squeezed out.


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## peakview (Jun 28, 2012)

*Update!!*

Well, good news. Our resort, Vacation Villas at Fantasy World, came through yesterday and offered us the week we originally requested. Situation resolved to our satisfaction. And now we know the consequences of not requesting or depositing early. Thanks everyone for your advice and comments.


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## shebagirl (Dec 21, 2012)

*Denied a week for 2012 too*

2012 was the first year I was denied too   I've owned here since 1992.

I was sooo mad when it happened and I'm still not too happy.  I requested the my week be deposited on August 2nd and they told me that they were sold out for the rest of the year and had over 200 people on the waiting list in case a week opened up.   They also said that there was a letter on their website stating that as of June 4 they were sold out and that they only own 205 out of the 302 townhouses that exist on the site. What I would like to know is if they have over 10,660 members then they are sold out and that should be illegal since there is NO way all of the owners could get a week.  

I explained to the person that I usally schedule or bank my week around this time and never have has an issue.  They said since they renovated (which we had to pay and extra fee for) that people wanted to come to the resort.  Uhhh wouldn't there be almost the same amount of owners in 2011 as there was this year???  I think they have oversold the resort.

I will probably never buy another floating Timeshare again.  I like my week 17 in Mexico!!

Thanks for letting me vent~ Sherri Powers


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## bogey21 (Dec 21, 2012)

ronparise said:


> If the hoa was really acting in the interest of all owners. Wouldnt it make more sense to require owners to pay their dues before the the year begins, and to reserve their week at the same time. In other words not accept a payment without a reservation request.



At one time I owned a MROP Week.  MROP did something like this.  Annually they had a day where everyone had the opportunity at the same time to submit their requests for the upcoming year.  I think you could make and prioritize three choices.  The inference was if you didn't participate, you could be left without a Week late in the year.

George


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## Tacoma (Dec 31, 2012)

I own a floating week at Fairmont resort (someone on TUG generously gave it away) in BC.  I need a prime summer week so I call at exactly a year out.  This year I didn't get through till 15 minutes after opening and could not get any top floor corner unit so I had to take the lower floor.  As it turns out I will have to rent it as I will be in Mexico but last year I had a lor ot interest in a similar week so it should be easy to rent.

 My friends who bought both of their timeshares from the developer (you can't help some people) tried to book too late and got nothing last year.  His answer is to sue the resort. His other resort is Royal Haciendas and now that they have gome all inclusive I'm sure he won't have a lot of luck trading it either.  Although fixed weeks are easier sometimes floating allows more flexibility.  ANy regular poster on TUG has probably learned what they need to do to secure a good week.

Joan


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## travelplus (May 16, 2013)

The least the resort should do for you is refund you your maintenance fees or allow you to book bonus weeks for the next year. Or the resort should give you bonus weeks with your exchange company and pay for any annual fee or exchange fee. Since you paid for your week and assessments you should be able to use it.

I agree it helps to have a Google Calendar setup with your family's engagements and to plan around it.  However I would at least expect the resort to accomodate you in another of their family's resorts or give you other options.


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## Sandy VDH (May 16, 2013)

There are pros and cons for fixed vs floating weeks. 

If the resort sat empty for the first half of the year, and all owners want to stay only in the end half of the year, will that just plain won't work. 

Now it the resort was smart enough it would have deposited those unused weeks early enough and provide those who want to exchange via RCI (or II) a weeks from one of the deposited inventory unit. 

If you plan well, floating gives the opportunity to allow anyone to obtain a holiday or event week.  But is it first come first serve.  

For fixed weeks, the good thing is, especially for those who are not good planners, is that it allows you to keep you week without having to plan and think about booking it.  However with a fixed week you are stuck with that one week and have not flexibility.


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## vacationhopeful (May 16, 2013)

Floating weeks could work GREAT if every week in the resort is desireable AND everyone HAD to book their usage before Jan 1 of the upcoming year. That way, EVERYONE and every unit would be either occupied or placed into the exchange company (via a bulk depoist).

But, if no one books the month of January, all those units still have to be paid for - taxes, employees, electric, etc. Giving people the RIGHT to get their MFs refunded is like the medical insurance provider rebating you your premuims paid because you didn't use it. MFs pay for the resort's operating costs and future bills (like new furniture).

Some resorts have seasons for floating weeks - buy a summer season, book a summer week. But then you get everyone who want July 4th week and few people wanting the full Labor or Memorial Day weeks (kids still in school or sports). Or in Florida, everyone wanting Feb and March Weeks, but not January and April.

And that is WHY I own soome Fixed Week and some points systems, but I have NOT interest in owning a Float Week.


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## simpsontruckdriver (May 16, 2013)

My in-laws own at Orange Lake. A few years ago, the same thing happened, their fixed week was booked. But, the resort allowed them to exchange to RCI, and they stayed at Wyndham Orlando International Resort. 

TS


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## bogey21 (May 16, 2013)

Sandy VDH said:


> ......However with a fixed week you are stuck with that one week and have not flexibility.



Not exactly true.  At some of the HOA controlled Independent Resorts where I owned Fixed Weeks the Resort would facilitate swapping usage with other Owners.

George


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## swditz (May 16, 2013)

our ts is a fixed (week 52) and a fixed unit. nice to know it is always available. it also has the option to exchange in house as a flex week , at no cost except to another holiday week which would cost $139.


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## suzannesimon (May 18, 2013)

More and more, I'm opting to rent my fixed weeks if I'm not using them, then rent where I want to go.  I've always come out ahead financially and it eliminates the real chance I won't get the trade I want.


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