Are the auto upgrades working for anyone?

[Avislo]

Moral of the story it appears that, in the case of at least Bonnet Creek, a cancelled reservation may only go to the automatic upgrade system after it shows up for a available reservation without a automatic upgrade for a period of time.

 

[bendadin]

I had an interesting conversation today with WYN Owner Care.

I had a reservation for a 1 Bedroom Deluxe at Bonnet Creek and had opted in for an upgrade.

This morning, a 2 Bedroom Deluxe was available on the website. My 1 BR had not auto upgraded.

I booked the 2 Bedroom (this happened before OC opened).

I called and was told there isn't anything they could do and no compensation for the difference in points (I asked that they cancel the 1 Bedroom and reimburse the points difference between a 1 Bedroom and 2 Bedroom).

OC's words:
* I'm not in IT, so I can't really explain, but
* Someone else is ahead of you for an upgrade, it takes time for the upgrades to process
* When I said, but anyone can book the 2 bedroom he'd agreed and said, no one is guaranteed an upgrade

My words:
* I am in IT
* This is poor requirements, poor design, poor coding, and/or poor testing
* This is not how this should work and shame on Wyndham to think this is acceptable

So, they do think it's working. What a sham.

I got that silly excuse when my Sedona wouldn't upgrade.

No joke! I have 17 reservations for myself from November 19-December 7 (not including the week of RCI that I already booked.) I cannot get anything to upgrade and I have any variety of unit sizes with upgrade requests at various locations (all 2 night reservations.)

 

[regatta333]

I have a reservation for a 1BD suite at Daytona for a week beginning Jan 12 with an upgrade requested. There has been a 1BD deluxe unit available for several weeks, but no upgrade. This morning, I called Wyndham and the VC said it would only upgrade into a unit with more bedrooms, even though the upgrade page clearly states "a larger unit", which is what I checked.

Basically, she said that this is how the system is programmed and there is nothing she can do.

 

[Jan M.]

I have a reservation for a 1BD suite at Daytona for a week beginning Jan 12 with an upgrade requested. There has been a 1BD deluxe unit available for several weeks, but no upgrade. This morning, I called Wyndham and the VC said it would only upgrade into a unit with more bedrooms, even though the upgrade page clearly states "a larger unit", which is what I checked.

Basically, she said that this is how the system is programmed and there is nothing she can do.

Yes that is correct. Since the new website in May 2017 a one bedroom or one bedroom suite does not upgrade to a one bedroom deluxe. It used to, but no longer.

On a reservation I was trying to make recently I was looking for an upgrade on a one bedroom unit and it skipped over the 2 bedroom lock off and went straight to the three bedroom deluxe. This time I didn't want a three bedroom deluxe because we wanted to have separate units for some privacy. I had to wait a few days before the three bedroom deluxes all disappeared to get the upgrade to the two bedroom lock off that I wanted.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I don't think the instant upgrade is working any better than the auto upgrade and I'm surprised that someone who hangs out here on the board as much as you do could think otherwise.

Both work some of the time; neither works as advertised or in any predictable, consistent manner. There are dozens of examples here on the Wyndham forum of units being available that the system won't upgrade to, even if we acknowledge that an upgrade means more bedrooms, better view, or Deluxe to Presidential.

IME the instant upgrade works without any issues. I'm VIPP and if I see that a larger unit than I need is available during my initial search while also having the smaller unit available (like a 1 bedroom and a 2 bedroom unit shows during the initial search), I have picked a smaller unit and without exception I have received an instant upgrade to the larger unit when booking within the 60 day window. Never have I come across a situation where I'm not offered the instant upgrade when taking this approach.

In so far as auto-upgrades go, I've never received an auto-upgrade for a longer term booking as yet. I'd have to keep searching periodically to see if a larger unit frees up in order to test this theory I guess - but I don't have the time and/or interest to go down this path really. Happy to see some other TUG members are making the effort though!

 

[chapjim]

IME the instant upgrade works without any issues. I'm VIPP and if I see that a larger unit than I need is available during my initial search while also having the smaller unit available (like a 1 bedroom and a 2 bedroom unit shows during the initial search), I have picked a smaller unit and without exception I have received an instant upgrade to the larger unit when booking within the 60 day window. Never have I come across a situation where I'm not offered the instant upgrade when taking this approach.

<snip>

Instant upgrades work most of the time but frequently not the way you'd like. You may get something but not always what you want. Try getting an instant upgrade to a specific unit type at say, Ocean Boulevard (e.g., 2BR Deluxe Oceanfront Upper Level). If you can get there, it will be after having tried upgrading from a half dozen different unit classes. Is it size, view, or level that is the key? Who knows?

Try upgrading a Studio LL at Panama City Beach to anything. I have some 2BR Pres units and one 3BR Pres unit at PCB in Last Minute Rentals. All of them were upgraded from Studio UL units. None were upgraded from Studio LL units. If I booked a Studio LL unit, it went straight to the reservation form, skipping the upgrade options altogether. All the Studio UL units upgraded to PresRes units even though there might have been 1BR and/or 2BR units also available. The reservation went straight from Studio UL to 2 or 3BR Pres. Maybe it figured a PresRes owner wouldn't opt for a Deluxe unit if Presidential units were available but that's pretty sophisticated for Wyndham's reservation system

Try upgrading to a 2BR LO at Ocean Walk. There should be SOMETHING that will upgrade to a 2BR LO at Ocean Walk. If there is, I haven't found it. 1BR units can upgrade to 2BR Deluxe units. 2BR Deluxe units can upgrade to a 3BR Deluxe unit but not to either class of 2BR LO unit.

There are many, many oddities and anomalies in the upgrade logic.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Instant upgrades work most of the time but frequently not the way you'd like. You may get something but not always what you want. Try getting an instant upgrade to a specific unit type at say, Ocean Boulevard (e.g., 2BR Deluxe Oceanfront Upper Level). If you can get there, it will be after having tried upgrading from a half dozen different unit classes. Is it size, view, or level that is the key? Who knows?

Try upgrading a Studio LL at Panama City Beach to anything. I have some 2BR Pres units and one 3BR Pres unit at PCB in Last Minute Rentals. All of them were upgraded from Studio UL units. None were upgraded from Studio LL units. If I booked a Studio LL unit, it went straight to the reservation form, skipping the upgrade options altogether. All the Studio UL units upgraded to PresRes units even though there might have been 1BR and/or 2BR units also available. The reservation went straight from Studio UL to 2 or 3BR Pres. Maybe it figured a PresRes owner wouldn't opt for a Deluxe unit if Presidential units were available but that's pretty sophisticated for Wyndham's reservation system

Try upgrading to a 2BR LO at Ocean Walk. There should be SOMETHING that will upgrade to a 2BR LO at Ocean Walk. If there is, I haven't found it. 1BR units can upgrade to 2BR Deluxe units. 2BR Deluxe units can upgrade to a 3BR Deluxe unit but not to either class of 2BR LO unit.

There are many, many oddities and anomalies in the upgrade logic.

I just tried upgrading a PCB Studio LL tonight via instant upgrades. I was offered an instant upgrade per the screenshot below:

I suspect we have different ownership profiles though.

That said, I share your general observation that the instant upgrades are not consistent across the entire system. I suspect each resort location has its own rulesets for upgrade processing.

I also really wish the automatic upgrade system would honor categories. Meaning if I booked a Studio PR Ocean View unit, the automatic upgrade would only upgrade me within the same category - PR ocean view.


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[chapjim]

Wow! And, it offers an "upgrade" to a Studio Upper Level.

What dates are your search? I want to see what I get.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Wow! And, it offers an "upgrade" to a Studio Upper Level.

What dates are your search? I want to see what I get.

Location: PCB
Date range: Jan 19-26 (Sat to Sat)
Type: Studio LL

I also just tried the same criteria except Studio UL, screenshot below for instant upgrade option:

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[chapjim]

I checked January 19-26 at PCB. Five units available -- 1BR Deluxe UL, 1BR Deluxe LL, 1BR UL, Studio UL, and Studio LL. So, unless availability changed overnight, it seems we're looking at different inventories -- CWP v. CWA.

(Come to think of it, availability could have changed overnight. January 4 was the last day for penalty-free cancellations.)

If I book the Studio LL, it goes straight to Traveler Information. No upgrade is offered. Studio UL will upgrade to a 1BR Deluxe LL and there's a radio button for upgrading to a Presidential unit if one becomes available. I didn't bother trying the others.

 

[Cyrus24]

I just tried the exact same dates, as well. Lots of availability. On the LL Studio selection, I was offered the exact same options as Hitchhiker71. On the UL Studio, I was offered a LL 1BR Deluxe. The LL Studio is either offering a better view or a larger unit, seems reasonable. The UL Studio gives you a larger unit, but, worse view.....odd.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I just tried the exact same dates, as well. Lots of availability. On the LL Studio selection, I was offered the exact same options as Hitchhiker71. On the UL Studio, I was offered a LL 1BR Deluxe. The LL Studio is either offering a better view or a larger unit, seems reasonable. The UL Studio gives you a larger unit, but, worse view.....odd.

This is exactly what I mean by the system not honoring category upgrades properly. If you have an ocean view unit, and you select an instant upgrade (or an automatic upgrade), you can lose your ocean view in return for a larger unit with no view. Not cool. In this case, I simply forgo the automatic upgrade (like I did with our reservation for late May at St Thomas - because we have a PR Studio Ocean View unit currently reserved - and I don't want to lose the PR ocean view category - and I was told directly by the VIP hotline that it's entirely possible we would lose it if we selected the automatic upgrade option. :-(

 

[HitchHiker71]

I checked January 19-26 at PCB. Five units available -- 1BR Deluxe UL, 1BR Deluxe LL, 1BR UL, Studio UL, and Studio LL. So, unless availability changed overnight, it seems we're looking at different inventories -- CWP v. CWA.

(Come to think of it, availability could have changed overnight. January 4 was the last day for penalty-free cancellations.)

If I book the Studio LL, it goes straight to Traveler Information. No upgrade is offered. Studio UL will upgrade to a 1BR Deluxe LL and there's a radio button for upgrading to a Presidential unit if one becomes available. I didn't bother trying the others.

Here’s the availability I see for the same date range today:

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[chapjim]

You know what I think? We'll never figure it out.

 

[HitchHiker71]

You know what I think? We'll never figure it out.

Agreed - there are too many variables in play given it's a complex system. Interesting to me that CWP seems to have less availability for you than CWA (I'm a CWA owner). I'm generally to understand that CWP is supposed to be the better of the two especially for your "home" resort.

 

[Braindead]

You know what I think? We'll never figure it out.

Agreed - there are too many variables in play given it's a complex system. Interesting to me that CWP seems to have less availability for you than CWA (I'm a CWA owner). I'm generally to understand that CWP is supposed to be the better of the two especially for your "home" resort.

So do both of you no longer believe points are points at 10 months let alone in 15 days???

 

[HitchHiker71]

So do both of you no longer believe points are points at 10 months let alone in 15 days???

Points are points yes - we saw the same availability for booking - however our instant upgrade choices were indeed different. Points are points doesn't appear to be the case for the instant and automatic upgrade processes.

 

[Cyrus24]

Interesting to me that CWP seems to have less availability for you than CWA (I'm a CWA owner).

Not so fast, I'm CWP, VIP-G. My LL Studio results were identical to yours and my UL Studio still delivered an upgrade, albeit a different upgrade.

 

[north]

I have CWP only, and I get the upgrade options on the Studio LL.

 

[Cyrus24]

 

[chapjim]

So do both of you no longer believe points are points at 10 months let alone in 15 days???

I don't think that has ever been the issue in this thread. The only possible points issue in this upgrade discussion has been CWA v. CWP.

 

[Braindead]

I don't think that has ever been the issue in this thread. The only possible points issue in this upgrade discussion has been CWA v. CWP.

If points are points they should upgrade the same way. At 10 months there isn’t suppose to be inventory locked to CWA or CWP. Why would a CWA Platinum upgrade be different than a CWP Platinum?

Suppose to be one pool of inventory at 10 months available to all so why wouldn’t upgrades be available to all ?

 

[Cyrus24]

Suppose to be one pool of inventory at 10 months available to all so why wouldn’t upgrades be available to all ?

3 of the 4 testers received upgrade options. One tester was CWA and the other 2 were CWP. Points appear to be points. The one tester who was not offered an upgrade may need to check with Wyndham as to why no upgrade was offered. It's not a CWA/CWP issue.

 

[Wolf&Sprite]

I don't think that has ever been the issue in this thread. The only possible points issue in this upgrade discussion has been CWA v. CWP.

I am also a PR owner and I have the same issues that you have. At PCB I can upgrade a Studio UL but the LL goes straight to the check-in name. I have seen a similar issue at other resorts also, all PR resorts. At Emerald Grande I can sometimes upgrade a 1BR and sometimes I can't. It's been a while since I tested that because 1BR availability during the upgrade window is scarce. At the Great Smokies Lodge I can upgrade a pool view room but not a regular deluxe. If a PR room is available that is the only option I am offered.

I don't have an issue at Bonnet Creek and I suspect that is because the room structure is simpler. There are no UL/LL rooms or pool view options. I should test some other PR resorts but I suspect that they have just screwed up the upgrade options for PR owners. It's been this was for several months now.

 

[55plus]

Yes! Made a reservation several weeks ago at Wyndham Sundaes Cottages for a family friend. Booked a two bedroom presidential; no upgrades available at that time, but requested an upgrade. A few days before check-in I was notified of the upgrade to a 3 Bedroom Presidential. The same goes for about half of the weekend reservations I made at Wyndham Glacier Canyon over the several months. Upgrades showed up several days prior to check-in.