Housekeeping Credits

[DaveNV]

Dave, you don't want to work for Wyndham. My impression is they hire too few people without adequate time or resources to do the work. A pressure cooker situation.

Sue

Actually, Sue, my comment was meant more as a joke. I've been in IT my whole career, coming up on 46 years, (Yikes!!), and I'm trying to be retired. Working for anyone isn't something I want to do, and especially not for Wyndham.

A few months ago I was pointed to a Field Service Tech job with Marriott on Kauai. They were looking to set up a new position to support the systems used at the three Marriotts on the island. It was a great fit and I was very intrigued. I even applied (Hey, it's Hawaii, and who doesn't want to live there?) But after researching the cost of living on the island, and availability of decent housing, and knowing what I would have to give up to move there, I reluctantly withdrew my application. I'd rather go to Hawaii when every day is a day off, and enjoy every moment, than to try and survive in an economy that would have cost me too much to try and recreate what I have here in Washington. I have a nice home, nice cars, a great job, all that. Moving to Hawaii at this point would be a big step backwards, even with the substantial pay raise the job carried. I hope whoever gets the job is very happy with it.

Dave

 

[CO skier]

There are 2 types of WM owners: those whose accounts have been screwed up by Wyndham and those whose accounts will be screwed up by Wyndham.

If there was any truth to your statement, there would not be more than 200,000 WorldMark owners. But everyone is entitled to an opinion and bitterness based on experience.

 

[HudsHut]

I think you've gotten the wrong impression. Sue is not bitter. She makes excellent use of her ownership. She knows WM inside and out and is one of the most helpful Owners I know. She is just cautioning other Owners that they need to stay on top of their accounts. Her suggestion to make frequent screen prints of reservations and available credits w/ expiration dates is valuable advice.

 

[sue1947]

If there was any truth to your statement, there would not be more than 200,000 WorldMark owners. But everyone is entitled to an opinion and bitterness based on experience.

I know, you really can't understand how anybody would dare to criticize Wyndham. You can continue believing that Wyndham is a benevolent corporation always looking out for the best interests of their owners and always producing the highest quality product when it comes to IT work. Do you really think the changes to the Wyndham reservation system is an example of competent IT work? Give me a break. A new owner who hasn't experienced Wyndham needs to be alerted to protect their financial information.
If you haven't had any issues with your WM or Wyndham accounts, then you are very lucky. But everyone is entitled to keep their head in the sand.

Sue

 

[VacationForever]

As a former IT person, it is true that many software applications out there are not as secure as they should be, or as buggy as they should not be. Somehow many IT shops have forgotten or lack the skills to properly code applications to specifications and test before releasing into production.

If you do not trust the Autopay function in Worldmark system, you should also not use Autopay in any payment systems out there. It is a balance of convenience vs. paranoia.

I have used Worldmatk Autopay for 5 years and have not had a single issue with over or under payment.

 

[sue1947]

As a former IT person, it is true that many software applications out there are not as secure as they should be, or as buggy as they should be. Somehow many IT shops have forgotten or lack the skills to properly code applications to specifications and test before releasing into production.

If you do not trust the Autopay function in Worldmark system, you should also not use Autopay in any payment systems out there. It is a balance of convenience vs. paranoia.

I have used Worldmatk Autopay for 5 years and have not had a single issue with over or under payment.

and because it hasn't happened to you, it doesn't happen at all? I don't, in fact, use Autopay for anything. I learned my lesson when my mortgage was sold to a slimy company that wasn't paying my insurance on time. Getting those automatic payments to stop was a lesson in itself. In addition, over the past 17 years of WM reservations, with 40 reservations in the past year and another 35 already reserved for next year, I'll put my experience against most other owners. I used to work in financial planning and know a thing or two about IT work. Any company that does not adequately test before putting anything into production is not to be trusted with my financial information. You may be willing to take that risk, but I'm not.

And I really don't understand those who are threatened by criticism of a company.
Enough of this, I have better things to do with my time.
Sue

 

[VacationForever]

and because it hasn't happened to you, it doesn't happen at all? I don't, in fact, use Autopay for anything. I learned my lesson when my mortgage was sold to a slimy company that wasn't paying my insurance on time. Getting those automatic payments to stop was a lesson in itself. In addition, over the past 17 years of WM reservations, with 40 reservations in the past year and another 35 already reserved for next year, I'll put my experience against most other owners. I used to work in financial planning and know a thing or two about IT work. Any company that does not adequately test before putting anything into production is not to be trusted with my financial information. You may be willing to take that risk, but I'm not.

And I really don't understand those who are threatened by criticism of a company.
Enough of this, I have better things to do with my time.
Sue

You have something against Autopay in general, but you warned others against using Autopay in the Worldmark system. It is called partial disclosure of your disdain of the Autopay feature in Worldmark, when you simply not trust Autopay - period. Quite a difference I would say.

We can all go back to stone age, no computers, no cell phones, no internet. Everyone who lives in a connected world has to decide on their level of comfort with each technology that is available to them.

I no longer own Worldmark but my opinion of this timeshare system does not change. It is by far the best timeshare system out there, in terms of costs, ease of use and fairness to owners. Their online system is not any worse than other timeshare systems that I own.

 

[CO skier]

I know, you really can't understand how anybody would dare to criticize Wyndham. You can continue believing that Wyndham is a benevolent corporation always looking out for the best interests of their owners and always producing the highest quality product when it comes to IT work. Do you really think the changes to the Wyndham reservation system is an example of competent IT work? Give me a break. A new owner who hasn't experienced Wyndham needs to be alerted to protect their financial information.
If you haven't had any issues with your WM or Wyndham accounts, then you are very lucky. But everyone is entitled to keep their head in the sand.

Sue

Yeah, I and the majority of WorldMark owners who vote for more of the same great vacations election after election have our heads in the sand. I think it is important that new owners do not take the opinions of a few, bitter owners as the rule.

(An emoji, like a picture, can save posting a thousand words.)

 

[ecwinch]

I know, you really can't understand how anybody would dare to criticize Wyndham. You can continue believing that Wyndham is a benevolent corporation always looking out for the best interests of their owners....
Sue

Sue - no one is suggesting Wyndham is "perfect" or without criticism.

Just that on balance - Worldmark is a great value in the timeshare world - by any metric.

I have been on autopay for 9 years without a problem. I am sorry to hear you had a problem, but I doubt your experience is the typical one.

So a takeaway is that it has been a big problem for one user, and they are do not recommend it. Ok.

 

[DaveNV]

Being new to all this, I have less than minimal experience with WorldMark. I've never had automatic payments to Wyndham for anything, so I can't weigh in on the Wyndham/WM parts of this Autopay conversation, or how well it has or hasn't worked for others. But I can state that in the last 20+ years of paying for things online, by and large, the times I recall having an issue was with some form of Autopay system, regardless of the vendor. I'm talking about payments taken too soon or late, payments taken after the service was cancelled, and such. The most troublesome - payments taken after a credit card expired and nobody mentioned it, resulting in blocked services or attempts at collection processes - convinced me to take back control of what I pay, and when. I don't use Autopay for anything. I maintain a convenient manual payment record of what is due and when, and it works perfectly. Payments are made exactly on time, every time. I know what I owe, when I owe it, when to send the payment, and when I paid it. It's very helpful to me.

Dave

 

[izzymail]

Well, that was very interesting! I just went through the booking process, and I lived to tell about it.

First, I made a bogus reservation that took my 2017 HK token. Then I made a second bogus reservation, and it prompted me to Borrow the HK token from 2018. I agreed, and it took that one. Then I made the real reservation I wanted, and it said I owed money, but didn't say why. I figured it was to pay for a HK token, since I had none in my account. I agreed, but when I tried to pay for it, the website said I didn't have a credit card on file, and did I want to enter one. I agreed, went through the process, and said Book It. Aaaaanndd...

It failed. Then I tried it again, and it said I had to complete the first reservation before I could enter a second one. Hmm. So I tried a different credit card. Nope. Then I tried PayPal. Nope again. After several more tries, logging out and back in, all with the same failed results, I called WM. The pleasant lady on the phone politely explained that because I didn't have a credit card on file, the website needed one, but the process to register a new credit card online has been broken for over a year. She asked if I'd like her to complete the reservation for me, and I agreed. She took the card number, got it registered to my account, and completed my reservation, including charging me for the HK fee. It was all good, and Confirmation emails were received for all three reservations.

After I had the Confirmation email for the real reservation, I cancelled the two bogus reservations, one at a time. It immediately gave back my credits, and the HK tokens it had taken, then sent me a cancellation email. The borrowed token now shows as available to borrow again, my points are back, and we're all set. I have just one reservation in place, the real one I wanted, and the rest have been cancelled, so life is good.

Overall, it was pretty painless, and I feel a certain sense of accomplishment. Thanks for the help here! Tuggers rock!

Dave

This happened to me my first time as well (could not add a payment method during my initial reservation). I could tell it was a known issue, but the representative was so friendly and answered more questions so I almost didn't mind. Kind of disappointing to hear it's been broken for a year though.

 

[DaveNV]

I think I know the answer to this, but I'm wondering: How many days does one housekeeping credit cover? I know if I only stay a few days, I have to pay one so the unit can be cleaned. What if I stay a long period - like two weeks? Does it still take just one token?

Dave

 

[chemteach]

That was kind of what we did. pieced together a 11 nights stay at Solvang, Marina and Pismo Beach in the summer of 2016.

Wouldn't this be very difficult? I thought you can't book less than a full week until 10 months out, and that Marina Dunes and Pismo Beach get completely reserved at 13 months out. How would someone put together 11 nights in 3 high demand place?

 

[geist1223]

I think I know the answer to this, but I'm wondering: How many days does one housekeeping credit cover? I know if I only stay a few days, I have to pay one so the unit can be cleaned. What if I stay a long period - like two weeks? Does it still take just one token?

We stay for 2 to 3 weeks quite often. Only 1 HKC is used. When we stay more than 7 days we always get a complimentary quick clean.

 

[DaveNV]

We stay for 2 to 3 weeks quite often. Only 1 HKC is used. When we stay more than 7 days we always get a complimentary quick clean.

Good to know. Thanks. I was thinking that was how it worked.

This first year for me in WM is focusing on using credits that will expire in a few months, so I'm booking several shorter stays. But starting next year (if I can retire like I want to) I want to plan longer trips of maybe more than a week, to really see places I've wanted to visit.

Dave

 

[VacationForever]

Wouldn't this be very difficult? I thought you can't book less than a full week until 10 months out, and that Marina Dunes and Pismo Beach get completely reserved at 13 months out. How would someone put together 11 nights in 3 high demand place?

The full text that I posted above was "
IN THE PAST, say you want to book a "grouped" reservation, say in my example, Solvang, Marina and Pismo Beach. Marina and Pismo Beach are really hard to book, these are the resorts that I really want to go to. Since Solvang is easy to book into, I used Solvang at the start of the grouped reservation as the first day at 13th month. Marina and Pismo Beach would not have hit 13th month yet and I used Solvang-Marina-Pismo booking to give me an advantage over others who did not know of the workaround.

A year ago, WM closed this workaround and every resort in a grouped reservation needs to be within the 13th month. So my workaround no longer works. I can still book a grouped reservation but Marina and Pismo Beach may no longer be available by the time 13th month comes around for all of them.

You can still workaround this problem if you are willing to throw away a few days ahead of your stay. Let's say July 4th is high demand. You may want to book many more days before July 4th and forfeit the points for the days that you won't be staying."

You no longer can do this and Wyndham (Worldmark) closed this loophole. When you book more than a week that comprises different resorts, you can still do this at 13 months. The new rule is that every one of the resort has to be within 13 months. It used to be that only the first resort needed to be within the 13 months and then you chain add other resorts to chain the reservation. This is no longer possible. Everyone of the resorts must be within 13 months for a group reservation.

 

[geist1223]

The work around is that you Book your first Resort at 13 months for 1 week. A few days later when the 2nd Resort is within the 13 month window you call and Book it for 1 week overlapping and drop off a couple days on your first Resort. You continue doing this until you have your road trip all scheduled.

 

[DaveNV]

The work around is that you Book your first Resort at 13 months for 1 week. A few days later when the 2nd Resort is within the 13 month window you call and Book it for 1 week overlapping and drop off a couple days on your first Resort. You continue doing this until you have your road trip all scheduled.

To clarify: If I have a resort booked for longer than I need, and I book a second resort starting while I'm still booked at the first resort, I can delete the overlapping days at the end of the first resort time, so I can move to the second resort? What does that gain me? Why not just book the first resort starting and ending when I want, and then book the second resort starting the day after the first resort ends?

And am I to understand that if I don't need all the days I've booked at a resort, I can call and have the latter part deleted? (e.g. I have three nights booked at Leavenworth this August, but I may only need the first two. Can I cancel that third night?)

Dave

 

[bizaro86]

To clarify: If I have a resort booked for longer than I need, and I book a second resort starting while I'm still booked at the first resort, I can delete the overlapping days at the end of the first resort time, so I can move to the second resort? What does that gain me? Why not just book the first resort starting and ending when I want, and then book the second resort starting the day after the first resort ends?

And am I to understand that if I don't need all the days I've booked at a resort, I can call and have the latter part deleted? (e.g. I have three nights booked at Leavenworth this August, but I may only need the first two. Can I cancel that third night?)

Dave

The first idea is to allow you too book less than a week in red season at 13 months.

You can shorten a reservation as long as it would have been legal to book the reservation you end up with. For example, you can't book 3 weeks at 13 months and then cancel the first two weeks. You could cancel the last two weeks, because that reservation would have been legal when you booked. If you have 3 nights, you can shorten to two any time before your cancel deadline.

 

[NewbieMom]

The full text that I posted above was "
IN THE PAST, say you want to book a "grouped" reservation, say in my example, Solvang, Marina and Pismo Beach. Marina and Pismo Beach are really hard to book, these are the resorts that I really want to go to. Since Solvang is easy to book into, I used Solvang at the start of the grouped reservation as the first day at 13th month. Marina and Pismo Beach would not have hit 13th month yet and I used Solvang-Marina-Pismo booking to give me an advantage over others who did not know of the workaround.

A year ago, WM closed this workaround and every resort in a grouped reservation needs to be within the 13th month. So my workaround no longer works. I can still book a grouped reservation but Marina and Pismo Beach may no longer be available by the time 13th month comes around for all of them.

You can still workaround this problem if you are willing to throw away a few days ahead of your stay. Let's say July 4th is high demand. You may want to book many more days before July 4th and forfeit the points for the days that you won't be staying."

You no longer can do this and Wyndham (Worldmark) closed this loophole. When you book more than a week that comprises different resorts, you can still do this at 13 months. The new rule is that every one of the resort has to be within 13 months. It used to be that only the first resort needed to be within the 13 months and then you chain add other resorts to chain the reservation. This is no longer possible. Everyone of the resorts must be within 13 months for a group reservation.

I'm currently running into this very issue. I'm looking to do a roadtrip next summer anytime between May-Aug down the CA coast and want to book 3 nights each at Marina Dunes and Pismo Beach (and then making our way down to Anaheim). I've been checking availability every day, but it seems that they're mostly booked even before the 13 month window opens. I just checked for 6/26/2019 (13 months from tomorrow) and it's already partially full. Does this mean the only way I can book these locations is to book 7 nights and throw away 4 nights? That's a lot of credits! I only have a small account and this is becoming really frustrating!

 

[CO skier]

I'm currently running into this very issue. I'm looking to do a roadtrip next summer anytime between May-Aug down the CA coast and want to book 3 nights each at Marina Dunes and Pismo Beach (and then making our way down to Anaheim). I've been checking availability every day, but it seems that they're mostly booked even before the 13 month window opens. I just checked for 6/26/2019 (13 months from tomorrow) and it's already partially full. Does this mean the only way I can book these locations is to book 7 nights and throw away 4 nights? That's a lot of credits! I only have a small account and this is becoming really frustrating!

The answer is in post #67 -- reserve, drop and combine.

5/26/2018 6 a.m. PST Reserve Marina Dunes for 7 nights

5/30/2018 6 a.m. PST Reserve Pismo for 7 nights

6/2/2018 8 a.m. Call in and ask for your grouped reservation with as many nights as you want at Anaheim, using 4 nights as an example:

Book Anaheim for 7/2/2019 to 7/6/2019, tack on 5/30/2019 to 6/2/2019 at Pismo -- dropping the other 4 nights, tack on 5/26/2019 to 5/30/2019 at Marina Dunes -- dropping the other 4 nights.

10-night grouped reservation and no wasted credits.

If you have enough credits, you can reserve Anaheim at 6 a.m. for 7 nights, then call later to drop and combine just the nights you want.

Another option is to book Anaheim for 7 nights, waitlist the dates for Marina Dunes and Pismo, then group the reservation as the waitlist nights become available.

 

[NewbieMom]

The answer is in post #67 -- reserve, drop and combine.

5/26/2018 6 a.m. PST Reserve Marina Dunes for 7 nights

5/30/2018 6 a.m. PST Reserve Pismo for 7 nights

6/2/2018 8 a.m. Call in and ask for your grouped reservation with as many nights as you want at Anaheim, using 4 nights as an example:

Book Anaheim for 7/2/2019 to 7/6/2019, tack on 5/30/2019 to 6/2/2019 at Pismo -- dropping the other 4 nights, tack on 5/26/2019 to 5/30/2019 at Marina Dunes -- dropping the other 4 nights.

10-night grouped reservation and no wasted credits.

If you have enough credits, you can reserve Anaheim at 6 a.m. for 7 nights, then call later to drop and combine just the nights you want.

Another option is to book Anaheim for 7 nights, waitlist the dates for Marina Dunes and Pismo, then group the reservation as the waitlist nights become available.

Thanks for the example! I'll get up at 6am tomorrow and see if I can get it. At least I have all summer to try to snag something.

I would need to borrow credits (never done this before) in order to book the two 7 nights at Marina and Pismo. When I group the reservation, will the borrowed credits be returned to the next anniversary's allocation? Or will they be moved into the current credit year and must be used before the anniversary?

Also for Anaheim, we're planning to use our DVC. Does the grouped reservation have to be a minimum 7 nights? If so, I'll drop one less night at either Marina or Pismo.

 

[CO skier]

Thanks for the example! I'll get up at 6am tomorrow and see if I can get it. At least I have all summer to try to snag something.

Exactly.

Borrowing credits is easy and automatic. When you group and drop, the credits will automatically shuffle back to the original use year.

The grouped reservation must meet the 7 night minimum more than 10 months in advance.

 

[NewbieMom]

OK, so I am very much not a morning person. For the past 3 days, I've set the alarm for 6am and have been unsuccessful in implementing the plan above. Sat: got on by 6:15am, all gone. Sun & Mon: gone at 6am.

If I just setup a waitlist, what are my odds of getting a match? I'm just wondering if that's easier rather than me fumbling around at 5:59am trying to click, click, click half awake.

 

[geist1223]

Wait List works best if you make it as Broad as possible - 7 days any time during a 30 day period in a 1 bedroom (or perhaps 2 bedroom) or larger. With 60 days notice I was able to piece together a 7 day stay at Kihei. My request was 1 to 7 days any sized Unit for X week. The days trickled in until I had the whole 7 days. The 3 separate Reservation were then consolidated into 1 Reservation with 1 Housekeepimg.