This shouldn't impact that many members until the end of the year, since most contracts are now on a January anniversary. However, if you are a member who pushes unused points forward into a future use year be aware of the following: In the past, Wyndham's system would automatically use the points with the nearest expiration date whenever possible. This helped to insure that points remaining at the end of a member's use year could still be pushed forward. It also benefited members who own multiple contacts and multiple use years. Since the latest "upgrade", the system no longer uses expiration as a consideration when reservations are booked. It actually appears to be doing the opposite and using current years points before banked points.. Neither reservations or owner care are currently trained to deal with the issue, so be prepared to spend a long time on the phone..
If you have this issue and call reservations, you'll be told that it cannot be helped. The "system" just won't allow the remaining points to be pushed forward into a future use year, but you will be told you can still push them into RCI.. Politely decline, and ask to be transferred to owner care. Don't be upset, these first call center reps just don't have the authority or ability to handle anything other than basic requests.
Owner care will start with some basic scripted arguments.
You will likely be told that the new system considers all points the same, or "points are points". This is not correct. Never has been.. Never will be... This issue is being caused by a programming glitch and should be manually corrected as a system error.. The reservation system already differentiates specific points and recognizes when points expire. This is why owners with more than one contract have to abide by the reservation rules and priority periods for each set of points independently.. In other words, if you own a Club Wyndham Access contract and also a deeded ownership at Wyndham Grand Desert- only the points you own via Access will have the advance reservation priority for resorts within the Access category. You can extend the same example by using points categorized as Presidential Reserve. The system identifies which points are designated as Presidential Reserve, and only allows applicable reservations using those specific points.
Next, you'll likely be told that when reservations were booked- the system had to use the current years points instead. To respond to this, you'll also have to ask Owner Care to look at when any reservations made with the current points were booked.. Normally, anything booked inside the ten month advance window would use expiring points first. As long as you have existing or used reservations that were booked within the ten month window- the previously banked points should have been used before your current use year points. Simply put, the points left over in your account should be able to be deposited to a future use year if the system was working properly.
Finally, the owner care rep will tell you that they can only create a "ticket". Again, be polite but firm and ask that instead of dealing with the delay and frustration of waiting for some type of reply from tech support- Owner Care can provide you with a "good will award" equal to the points in question. There have been some recent restrictions put into place regarding "good will" policies and how Wyndham employees can use them- but Owner Care reps are still allowed to offer good will points to resolve member complaints.
Hopefully, the issue will be corrected by December when most platinum members will be trying to push points forward- but this may help if you are a mid-year anniversary or perhaps a gold level owner who pushes points earlier in the year....
If you have this issue and call reservations, you'll be told that it cannot be helped. The "system" just won't allow the remaining points to be pushed forward into a future use year, but you will be told you can still push them into RCI.. Politely decline, and ask to be transferred to owner care. Don't be upset, these first call center reps just don't have the authority or ability to handle anything other than basic requests.
Owner care will start with some basic scripted arguments.
You will likely be told that the new system considers all points the same, or "points are points". This is not correct. Never has been.. Never will be... This issue is being caused by a programming glitch and should be manually corrected as a system error.. The reservation system already differentiates specific points and recognizes when points expire. This is why owners with more than one contract have to abide by the reservation rules and priority periods for each set of points independently.. In other words, if you own a Club Wyndham Access contract and also a deeded ownership at Wyndham Grand Desert- only the points you own via Access will have the advance reservation priority for resorts within the Access category. You can extend the same example by using points categorized as Presidential Reserve. The system identifies which points are designated as Presidential Reserve, and only allows applicable reservations using those specific points.
Next, you'll likely be told that when reservations were booked- the system had to use the current years points instead. To respond to this, you'll also have to ask Owner Care to look at when any reservations made with the current points were booked.. Normally, anything booked inside the ten month advance window would use expiring points first. As long as you have existing or used reservations that were booked within the ten month window- the previously banked points should have been used before your current use year points. Simply put, the points left over in your account should be able to be deposited to a future use year if the system was working properly.
Finally, the owner care rep will tell you that they can only create a "ticket". Again, be polite but firm and ask that instead of dealing with the delay and frustration of waiting for some type of reply from tech support- Owner Care can provide you with a "good will award" equal to the points in question. There have been some recent restrictions put into place regarding "good will" policies and how Wyndham employees can use them- but Owner Care reps are still allowed to offer good will points to resolve member complaints.
Hopefully, the issue will be corrected by December when most platinum members will be trying to push points forward- but this may help if you are a mid-year anniversary or perhaps a gold level owner who pushes points earlier in the year....