[2/10/17 UPDATE] VSE charging for 3rd party reservation changes! [+Contact Info. for complaints]

[vacatiionking]

It appears that Vistana is not responding to the 2nd round of complaints that quote the "no confirmation fee" rule.

This may indicate that they were not aware of the rules, and have no prepared response.

I sent an email to Suzanne showing excerpts from WKV, SDO and WLM governing docs. Have not received a reply. I asked her for a reasonable policy to at least waive the fee for ownership weeks which I don't believe Vistana has any business interjecting themselves between the owner and the resort HOA.

 

[WBP]

I sent an email to Suzanne showing excerpts from WKV, SDO and WLM governing docs. Have not received a reply. I asked her for a reasonable policy to at least waive the fee for ownership weeks which I don't believe Vistana has any business interjecting themselves between the owner and the resort HOA.

How much do you want to bet Suzanne has taken cover behind a wall of attorneys?

 

[WBP]

It appears that Vistana is not responding to the 2nd round of complaints that quote the "no confirmation fee" rule.

This may indicate that they were not aware of the rules, and have no prepared response.

I'm guessing that they are scrambling behind the scenes to see how they can over-turn the rules.

If this means getting board approval, they may get it, because of course, Starwood hand picked the board members by collecting the applications for the elections, and selecting who they will allow to run for the board. And then when they don't have a quorum for the election, they tell the sitting board who to appoint.

Yeah - it's all rigged...

Denise, you are 100% correct it is all rigged. There is much to be learned from the former Club Intrawest, and the arduous work of the Club Intrawest Owner's Group to convene a Special General Meeting of Club Intrawest members, the first such meeting in Club Intrawest's 20+ year history. In all of my years in timesharing, I had never before seen a stellar performance like that of the Club Intrawest Owner's Group, and the Special General Meeting that they demanded of the Management Company.

 

[gmarine]

This new nonsense with Starwood/Vistana makes me more glad I got rid of my weeks. Some of you may remember back in 2009 when Starwood stopped allowing owners to deposit their reserved weeks with II or RCI. We had hundreds of people emailing, calling and writing letters to Suzanne. I personally spoke to several attorneys, including one who was involved in the previous RCI lawsuit.
All the attorneys had similar opinions. Starwood was in the wrong and violated the contracts and ownership agreements but none would take it on a contingency basis. All advised that the litigation costs would be enormous and because of that it went nowhere.

Back then eventually Suzanne and all the Starwood management stopped responding to complaints which is what may end up happening here. I hope those of you that are affected get somewhere with this. I wish you good luck.

 

[DeniseM]

Hi gmarine - Yes, I'm still tilting at windmills!

 

[jhac007]

It varies from resort to resort - but you can look it up on your own Vistana Acct:

Log into your Vistana Acct
Go to the dashboard
Find the Owner Association Tab
Click on Governing Documents
Select VOI to view
Click on Association Info.
Click on Governing Documents
Scroll down to GUESTS

Sorry to confuse you but I had already found the document info (for WKV, one of my resorts) and had posted to the fact in an earlier post. However, my questions was in reference to your statement as follows:

I'm guessing that they are scrambling behind the scenes to see how they can over-turn the rules.

If this means getting board approval, they may get it, because of course, Starwood hand picked the board members by collecting the applications for the elections, and selecting who they will allow to run for the board. And then when they don't have a quorum for the election, they tell the sitting board who to appoint.

Yeah - it's all rigged...

To your knowledge how wide spread is this?

 

[DeniseM]

I only know what has been posted here - I can only look at the rules for my own resorts (WKORV & SDO.)

 

[dss]

No response to my email sent over the weekend as well.

 

[Helios]

No response to my email sent over the weekend as well.

Same here...

 

[LisaRex]

Careful, or they might try imposing a "Reply to Email" fee!

 

[tropical1]

I received this response today...

Dear Susan,

Vistana is preparing clarification of this new policy and will communicate swiftly.

Thank you for your feedback,

Suzanne Clark

 

[alohakevin]

I have sent two emails to Suzanne with no response as of yet. Just got this in an email. Wonder what I will comment on?


CLOSE HEADER CONTENT // START

KEVIN

Thank you for reaching out to us recently.

As we continue to strive towards excellence, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. Please take this short survey to help us improve our quality of service.

Thank you for your participation and thank you for being a member of Vistana Signature Experiences.

Sincerely,


Suzanne Clark
Vice President, Owner Services
CTA

START SURVEY

CTA // END

 

[bizaro86]

Dors anyone know if the SDO docs require a no charge guest usage similar to the wording posted for wkv etc?

 

[Ken555]

Dors anyone know if the SDO docs require a no charge guest usage similar to the wording posted for wkv etc?

Yes, it does. I checked mine when I first saw this thread and it was clear to me. There should not be any charge.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[rubbernyc]

No reply for me either...

 

[bizaro86]

Thanks! Off to send my email now...

 

[DanCali]

My email went out to Suzanne over the weekend; no response yet.

We own some ILG shares; I emphasized that being both a shareholder of ILG and a member of SVN, I want to avoid the inevitable litigation over something clearly stated in the bylaws that will cost me litigation expenses on both sides of the issue.

Ah - but remember that as of last year they forced owners to agree to arbitration unless you specifically opted out...

http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/svn-new-arbitration-provision.234529/

I wouldn't be surprised if Interval imposed that as a condition of the acquisition. Few will go to arbitration for $60 and if there is a class action it's a small class...

 

[DeniseM]

Just keeping this topic at the top of the forum - where Vistana can see it.

If you haven't sent them an email - please do so - you can copy and paste if you like, to make it easy:

Vistana Email: suzanne.clark@vistana.com

Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-clark-7786852/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.clark.357​

To: Suzanne Clark, Vice President Owner Services at Vistana Signature Experiences

Charging owners to add a guest to their reservation is a violation of the published Rules and Regulations on the Vistana website:

"Guests. You may permit another person to occupy your Assigned Unit during your Use Period(s) without charge by the Association subject to the following restrictions:
(i) the maximum allowable occupancy limits may not be exceeded, (ii) guests must observe the Check-In and Check-Out procedures If you intend for a person other than yourself to use your Use Period or to accompany you during your Regular Use reservation, you must provide the Managing Agent with the name and address of such person(s) in writing not less than three days prior to commencement of the occupancy period. You will be responsible for all personal charges and/or damages to the Unit you have occupied resulting from use by your guests. Persons under twenty-one (21) years of age must be accompanied by you or a guest twenty-one (21) years of age or older. Additional rules and regulations governing the recreational areas and the use of such areas by guests will be adopted by the Association and/or the Managing Agent, and may be amended from time to time."​

 

[ciscogizmo1]

I'm late to the party but I just rented my week today and I was of course charged the fee:

I took up as much time as possible of the customer service rep to make sure I got my $59 worth out of it. I tried to obtain a receipt for the transaction and was told no receipt was able. So, I got transferred to a supervisor who just repeated the same thing the rep said. I took up at least 20 minutes of her time. I begged for an address to send a letter to. At first she gave me her supervisor's address but I asked if the supervisor would waive the fee and she said no. So, I said I need someone higher up. She gave me another name but it was just a resolutions group. I said I need someone's name with the title "VP" in it. She finally gave me Suzanne Clark's name.

Anyways, I emailed Suzanne. I'm sure I'm too late but I asked why I couldn't get receipt for the transaction. I also asked what was my $59 getting me. I still have to wait 24 to 48 hours for an email confirmation. I can't get a receipt that you charged my credit card. I also threw in the security feature as well. My questions were very specific so hopefully, I don't get a canned response. I also emailed again with the governing docs quote as well and I asked for refund.

 

[taffy19]

All SO ridiculous!

 

[dsmrp]

Just keeping this topic at the top of the forum - where Vistana can see it.

If you haven't sent them an email - please do so - you can copy and paste if you like, to make it easy:

Vistana Email: suzanne.clark@vistana.com

Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-clark-7786852/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.clark.357​

To: Suzanne Clark, Vice President Owner Services at Vistana Signature Experiences

Charging owners to add a guest to their reservation is a violation of the published Rules and Regulations on the Vistana website:

"Guests. You may permit another person to occupy your Assigned Unit during your Use Period(s) without charge by the Association subject to the following restrictions:
(i) the maximum allowable occupancy limits may not be exceeded, (ii) guests must observe the Check-In and Check-Out procedures If you intend for a person other than yourself to use your Use Period or to accompany you during your Regular Use reservation, you must provide the Managing Agent with the name and address of such person(s) in writing not less than three days prior to commencement of the occupancy period. You will be responsible for all personal charges and/or damages to the Unit you have occupied resulting from use by your guests. Persons under twenty-one (21) years of age must be accompanied by you or a guest twenty-one (21) years of age or older. Additional rules and regulations governing the recreational areas and the use of such areas by guests will be adopted by the Association and/or the Managing Agent, and may be amended from time to time."​

So far I've read on this thread that the guest without charge rule only applies to SDO, WKORV/N, WKV and WLM.
Unfortunately it does not apply to SVR (at least my units); maybe to people who bought earlier???
Maybe I missed it, but anyone own at and checked SVV, SMV, WMH, WDW (Desert willow) WPORV etc docs??

I submitted my email a few days ago, but no response....will be surprised to get one.
Since I have no R&R exception, I phrased my message differently and compared VSE less favorably to HGVC

 

[tschwa2]

Harborside and Sheraton Broadway Plantation also contain the no fee for guest cert language.

 

[SMHarman]

Harborside and Sheraton Broadway Plantation also contain the no fee for guest cert language.

So far I've read on this thread that the guest without charge rule only applies to SDO, WKORV/N, WKV and WLM.
Unfortunately it does not apply to SVR (at least my units); maybe to people who bought earlier???
Maybe I missed it, but anyone own at and checked SVV, SMV, WMH, WDW (Desert willow) WPORV etc docs??

I submitted my email a few days ago, but no response....will be surprised to get one.
Since I have no R&R exception, I phrased my message differently and compared VSE less favorably to HGVC

I speculate that SVN never imposed this fee because their lawyers knew the content of the underlying docs better than ILG/Vistana.

It's not as if it is an unusual fee in the peer group. Who else does not charge? Disney, Marriott?

Though arbitration does make this a tough nut to fight.

 

[VacationForever]

My guess is that with the protests from owners, they will rescind on the reservation guest fees... an oops moment for them.

 

[Helios]

HAR Language:

"Guests. You may permit another person to occupy your assigned Unit during your Vacation Period(s) without charge by the Association subject to the following restrictions: (i) the maximum allowable occupancy limits may not be exceeded, (ii) guests must observe the check-in and check-out procedures, and (iii) you must be in compliance with the Governing Documents. You will be responsible for all personal charges and/or damages to the Unit you have occupied resulting from use by your guests. Persons under twenty-one (21) years of age must be accompanied by you or a guest twenty-one (21) years of age or older. Additional rules and regulations governing the recreational areas and the use of such areas by guests may apply, and may be amended from time to time."