Koala warns Wyndham is cancelling reservations based on Wyndham's "updated policy" Anyone know what's up?

[Jethro37]

Got an email from Koala warning Wyndham had cancelled several reservations and I should check mine.

Mine appear to be in tact, though I have yet to apply a guest certificate and add the guests name. I planned on doing a couple a year in keeping with their blackout policy on non-accompanied guests and my freebie guest certificates.

Do y'all think I'll have trouble when i go to add the cerficates? Also, do I need to apply the guests to the reservation before the 48 hour to checkin day window?

Thanks for your input.

 

[r4rab]

Got an email from Koala warning Wyndham had cancelled several reservations and I should check mine.

Mine appear to be in tact, though I have yet to apply a guest certificate and add the guests name. I planned on doing a couple a year in keeping with their blackout policy on non-accompanied guests and my freebie guest certificates.

Do y'all think I'll have trouble when i go to add the cerficates? Also, do I need to apply the guests to the reservation before the 48 hour to checkin day window?

Thanks for your input.

I've seen a couple of FB posts where people are complaining that they had reservations cancelled. These were cases where a user had multiple (often 2) overlapping reservations in the same name.

 

[comicbookman]

got the e-mail as well. None of mine (and I have a bunch because of all my co-vid points that were moved forward). Any of mine that overlap are not in the same name or have a guest cert already applied. They also don't run afoul of the blackout dates

 

[rickandcindy23]

I've seen a couple of FB posts where people are complaining that they had reservations cancelled. These were cases where a user had multiple (often 2) overlapping reservations in the same name.

That is exactly right. That is what is happening. It happened to some of ours. None of ours were rented already, so no big deal. Be sure to update guest names as you get money deposits from your renters, if you rent, and you should be okay.

 

[chapjim]

I think Koala is just being pro-active, trying to avoid having to tell customer-renters that the listing is in error and that the underlying reservation does not exist.

[edit} It's a credibility issue for Koala. Along the same vein, Koala sends rather frequent emails requesting listings be reviewed.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I think Koala is being pro-active, trying to avoid having to tell customer-renters that the listing is in error and that the underlying reservation does not exist.

It's their reputation on the line. I think it's a wise move, especially since 3 of ours were cancelled. We are fortunate that we have all of our kids' names on the account and can have five names on the same dates.

Wyndham is a mess.

 

[HitchHiker71]

From what we have gathered, it's due to one of two primary causes:

1. Overlapping reservations in the same name that haven't been corrected by the owner (who should know better than to do this in the first place).
2. Owners who have already received "cease and desist" letters for commercial activity - that continue to rent for commercial purposes. This very small subset of owners should not be surprised that rental reservations are being canceled as they have been legally warned already to cease and desist.

 

[rickandcindy23]

From what we have gathered, it's due to one of two primary causes:

1. Overlapping reservations in the same name that haven't been corrected by the owner (who should know better than to do this in the first place).
2. Owners who have already received "cease and desist" letters for commercial activity - that continue to rent for commercial purposes. This very small subset of owners should not be surprised that rental reservations are being canceled as they have been legally warned already to cease and desist.

Oh, yes, all of those evil people who rent should be punished by Corporate Wyndham for doing what they have always done and were encouraged to do by salespeople.

It is really about overlapping reservations with the same name on them. Add names if you have rentals that comply with Wyndham's new rules against renting on weekends, etc. Whatever the dates and rules are. I have not a clue.

 

[paxsarah]

1. Overlapping reservations in the same name that haven't been corrected by the owner (who should know better than to do this in the first place).

This is exactly what I've been seeing in multiple FB groups. They all seemed to hit at once. Many owners even seemed to know the policy, they just apparently assumed that since they'd been able to get by without having same-name overlapping reservations canceled up to this point, that they could continue to do so. Welp.

 

[troy12n]

Once again, here's my "world's smallest fiddle" playing in sorrow for all the renters who got caught with their panties down at 3am.

This is not a "new policy", this is not "big bad wyndham", this is enforcement of a rule which has to my knowledge existed for years.

This is about people trying to avoid paying for something (a GC) that they KNOW they have to.

This is about wanting a free ride. This is about lack of responsibility and accountability. By people who know, or should know it.

One of the people complaining on facebook says their MF exceed $15,000 per month and had 16 concurrent reservations cancelled, which to me is a dead giveaway that they are a mega renter...

Boo hoo... I applaud Wyndham for taking steps toward thwarting system abuse.

 

[Rolltydr]

I’m getting a little tired of the “we’ve always done it” defense. That doesn’t fly. Even if you did it for years and got away with it, you have been warned for at least the last couple of years, and really, going back to 2017, that it’s over. If I broke the speed limit for 10 years and didn’t get caught, that doesn’t mean the police are giving me permission to keep doing it. If they catch me, they will write me a ticket and if I tell the judge I’ve been speeding for 10 years and getting away with it so they can’t fine me now, the judge will laugh me out of court. If you are running a commercial enterprise with your Wyndham timeshare, you are breaking the terms of the contract THAT YOU SIGNED! Does your signature mean nothing?

 

[HitchHiker71]

This is exactly what I've been seeing in multiple FB groups. They all seemed to hit at once. Many owners even seemed to know the policy, they just apparently assumed that since they'd been able to get by without having same-name overlapping reservations canceled up to this point, that they could continue to do so. Welp.

Wondering aloud if they just ran a script to shore up these duplicate reservations manually - or if the back end team has implemented a new process that will do this automatically on an ongoing basis moving forward. Only time will tell.

 

[paxsarah]

One of the people complaining on facebook says their MF exceed $15,000 per month and had 16 concurrent reservations cancelled, which to me is a dead giveaway that they are a mega renter...

The $15k person and the 16 reservations person are two different people. Also, the 16 reservations person never said that all 16 were all concurrent with each other. They could have had 8 different timeframes with 2 concurrent reservations for all we know.

EDIT: And it was $15k per year, not per month.

 

[Sandi Bo]

Such nastiness, a huge reason I've not been posting so much. But here goes...

Overlapping reservations hasn't been allowed for a really long time. So comments about finally getting caught, looking for free rides, are really out of line (and make you look ugly).

There used to be warnings/alerts so people were aware of an overlapping reservation. That functionality was lost a few years back. Wyndham was warning if you had more than 2 overlapping reservations. I assumed due to them either on purpose allowin 2 or to compensate for the lost alerts, they were allowing 2 before even warning (and I would assume cancelling - all along folks - again, this is not a new policy).

My guess is someone tweaked the algorithm back to 1. A shame that people likely found out the hard way not to overlap at all.

And again, the reporting fuctionality super sucks. Since we got the lovely 3 per page transaction view, it is no longer visible on the coming reservations page who the owner or guest on the reservation is.

I've identified 2 system issues that made owners vulnerable to what's going on. If people got caught with their pants down, it's cause Wyndham pulled em down. Were owners set up?



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[chapjim]

The $15k person and the 16 reservations person are two different people. Also, the 16 reservations person never said that all 16 were all concurrent with each other. They could have had 8 different timeframes with 2 concurrent reservations for all we know.

EDIT: And it was $15k per year, not per month.

Troy has a narrative. Don't mess it up with facts.

 

[chapjim]

Such nastiness, a huge reason I've not been posting so much. But here goes...

Overlapping reservations hasn't been allowed for a really long time. So comments about finally getting caught, looking for free rides, are really out of line (and make you look ugly).

There used to be warnings/alerts so people were aware of an overlapping reservation. That functionality was lost a few years back. Wyndham was warning if you had more than 2 overlapping reservations. I assumed due to them either on purpose allowin 2 or to compensate for the lost alerts, they were allowing 2 before even warning (and I would assume cancelling - all along folks - again, this is not a new policy).

My guess is someone tweaked the algorithm back to 1. A shame that people likely found out the hard way not to overlap at all.

And again, the reporting fuctionality super sucks. Since we got the lovely 3 per page transaction view, it is no longer visible on the coming reservations page who the owner or guest on the reservation is.

I've identified 2 system issues that made owners vulnerable to what's going on. If people got caught with their pants down, it's cause Wyndham pulled em down. Were owners set up?



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I have received the warning about overlapping reservations when I have booked reservations that overlapped by six or seven nights. I knew what I was doing -- I was going to change the traveler or cancel one of them.

However, if you book reservations that start with different days of the week, it's pretty easy to book reservations that overlap by one night. I've never been warned about those. I only find those on my Excel sheet.

 

[chapjim]

Once again, here's my "world's smallest fiddle" playing in sorrow for all the renters who got caught with their panties down at 3am.

This is not a "new policy", this is not "big bad wyndham", this is enforcement of a rule which has to my knowledge existed for years.

This is about people trying to avoid paying for something (a GC) that they KNOW they have to.

This is about wanting a free ride. This is about lack of responsibility and accountability. By people who know, or should know it.

One of the people complaining on facebook says their MF exceed $15,000 per month and had 16 concurrent reservations cancelled, which to me is a dead giveaway that they are a mega renter...

Boo hoo... I applaud Wyndham for taking steps toward thwarting system abuse.

Do you know any other songs? This one has been old for a long time.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Extra Holidays has a lot of May rentals at Bonnet Creek. What's good for the gander is not always good for the Wyndham goose (who lays the golden egg).

 

[rickandcindy23]

I’m getting a little tired of the “we’ve always done it” defense. That doesn’t fly. Even if you did it for years and got away with it, you have been warned for at least the last couple of years, and really, going back to 2017, that it’s over. If I broke the speed limit for 10 years and didn’t get caught, that doesn’t mean the police are giving me permission to keep doing it. If they catch me, they will write me a ticket and if I tell the judge I’ve been speeding for 10 years and getting away with it so they can’t fine me now, the judge will laugh me out of court. If you are running a commercial enterprise with your Wyndham timeshare, you are breaking the terms of the contract THAT YOU SIGNED! Does your signature mean nothing?

We had a lawyer look at our contract from 2007. No such wording.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Wyndham's website is so much harder to use than it used to be. Now they messed up WorldMark's website. It was so nice before.

 

[lost patience]

@HitchHiker71

From what we have gathered, it's due to one of two primary causes:

1. Overlapping reservations in the same name that haven't been corrected by the owner (who should know better than to do this in the first place).
2. Owners who have already received "cease and desist" letters for commercial activity - that continue to rent for commercial purposes. This very small subset of owners should not be surprised that rental reservations are being canceled as they have been legally warned already to cease and desist.

When you say "from what we have gathered" - is the "we" your Wyndham contacts? Or, some other group?

I've only seen FB posts where reservations with name duplicates were cancelled. Have you seen other cases? Ones that support further targeting of commercial activity? I'm also curious as to how owners were "legally" notified? I saw posts of owners who were sent letters. I suppose the sending of letters is legal, your choice of words sounded like it was something more official than that.
I'm asking as we have a large account that we share with our family and extended family, as well as some rentals. (yep, as suggested by the lovely sales team).

We are modifying how we use our Wyndham membership. Our family is now trying to go on fewer longer trips with our extended family so that an owner is present. Long term, we might add our extended family to one of our smaller contracts. Frustrating that we are having to even consider doing this.

 

[dioxide45]

In the blue corner, weighing in at 10,234,000 points we have the mega renters. In the red corner it is the remaining owners weighing in at 10,500,000 points. The referee officiating the match has a heavy bias on one side....

 

[rickandcindy23]

In the blue corner, weighing in at 10,234,000 points we have the mega renters. In the red corner it is the remaining owners weighing in at 10,500,000 points. The referee officiating the match has a heavy bias on one side....

So very true.

 

[HitchHiker71]

EDIT: And it was $15k per year, not per month.

That’s not out of sight really - I pay about half of that now for just over 1.4mm points annually with my PICs.


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[HitchHiker71]

We had a lawyer look at our contract from 2007. No such wording.

IIRC it’s not in the frontline contracts it’s embedded in the underlying trust documentation that the contracts reference. The generic statement in the Member Directory wasn’t put in until 2012 timeframe I think.


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