Auto Upgrade decreases the value of your points

[dghenri]

I don't know if anyone realizes this or even uses the method I was taught by Wyndham Sales Representatives of cancelling your reservation once you enter your upgrade window and rebooking it to get a discount on the points you had to spend on that reservation. I am a Platinum member and I saved 50% of my points all the time. Because of the auto upgrade feature if I attempt to use the same strategy their is a 99.9% possibility that I will lose that room. So now the buying power of my points have decreased by 50% and so now I can settle for half the vacation time I used to take or book the smallest room possible to squeak out more weeks. Is anyone frustrated or pissed off about this or is it just me? I hope that I am not the only one. I fell like I was sold a bill of goods in that the sales department promoted a benefit and then someone decided to take it away. My money is already spent, my membership paid in full. This is not fair and I suspect not even legal and if so what other benefit are they promoting to get you to buy or upgrade that they will renege on?

 

[MaryBella7]

All the VIPs are furious - you are not alone. That and much more is discussed in this thread if you dare to go through it all http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/the-new-club-wyndham-website-general-discussion.256063/

 

[dghenri]

All the VIPs are furious - you are not alone. That and much more is discussed in this thread if you dare to go through it all http://tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/the-new-club-wyndham-website-general-discussion.256063/

Thank you that is good to know. I hope they, Wyndham, responds to the backlash in a meaningful way. I am ready for a fight, exploring options. We are far to invested to just walk away leaving our money on the table. It's unbelievable. I will be going through that thread, thanks again.

 

[dagger1]

Wyndham created this new "enhanced" experience on purpose...

 

[dghenri]

I agree they are too savy to have not too. Within 5 minutes of reading about the auto upgrade it occurred to me that the C/R strategy could be adversly impacted and as it turns out I was right. Now I imagine they are going to pitch that I buy more points to enhance my ownership in spite of that lack of ability. Which will cost me more in maintenance fees. Unreal.

 

[tschwa2]

Thank you that is good to know. I hope they, Wyndham, responds to the backlash in a meaningful way. I am ready for a fight, exploring options. We are far to invested to just walk away leaving our money on the table. It's unbelievable. I will be going through that thread, thanks again.

If you want to fight than get ready for a fight- hire yourself a good lawyer be prepared to fight win or lose and pay several thousand(s) for your lawyer fees and hope you get a settlement offer that at least covers your legal costs and a little more and gets you out with a non disclosure settlement so you can't talk about your experience. Good luck.

I am not sure what you think Wyndham did that they legally weren't entitled to do. They have the right to change the program at any time. Those terms are very clear. I think you would be lucky to get any purchases more than 1-3 months before the change refunded and only if you had very compelling evidence that you bought only because of the cancel-rebook strategy.

I think Wyndhams meaningful response is going to be what it has always been when they make changes that some owners don't like. Yes we made the change, we are not going back, get used to it. Make the most of what you have or better yet buy more and if you don't want to do that feel free to sell what you have for what you can or use Ovations, and give us what you bought back for free at this point we are happy to take it from you.

I think there bigger problem legally might be the fiasco of a rollout where many owners after 6 weeks still can't get into there accounts and no one knows why and various other problems within hundreds of accounts.

 

[chapjim]

Thank you that is good to know. I hope they, Wyndham, responds to the backlash in a meaningful way. I am ready for a fight, exploring options. We are far to invested to just walk away leaving our money on the table. It's unbelievable. I will be going through that thread, thanks again.

Hire a lawyer, take Wyndham to court. Chase bad money with more bad money.

 

[ronparise]

I don't know if anyone realizes this or even uses the method I was taught by Wyndham Sales Representatives of cancelling your reservation once you enter your upgrade window and rebooking it to get a discount on the points you had to spend on that reservation. I am a Platinum member and I saved 50% of my points all the time. Because of the auto upgrade feature if I attempt to use the same strategy their is a 99.9% possibility that I will lose that room. So now the buying power of my points have decreased by 50% and so now I can settle for half the vacation time I used to take or book the smallest room possible to squeak out more weeks. Is anyone frustrated or pissed off about this or is it just me? I hope that I am not the only one. I fell like I was sold a bill of goods in that the sales department promoted a benefit and then someone decided to take it away. My money is already spent, my membership paid in full. This is not fair and I suspect not even legal and if so what other benefit are they promoting to get you to buy or upgrade that they will renege on?

Welcome to the party. All us VIPs here on tug used the cancel rebook trick, some more than others. But most of us knew that it was a "trick" we used to exploit a loophole, and that one day it would end. That day has come.

And you weren't the first to realize the intent and effect of the new auto upgrade "benefit" We've been talking about it here since the day the new rules were announced

Wyndham has been planning something to end the cancel and rebook trick ever since they started planning Voyager. (10 years or so)

Bottom line is that we had a good ride. And now it's over. Discounts are for the stuff that's left at 60 days

Another possibility for more reservations would be to buy more points on the secondary market

 

[SherryFingerlin]

I don't know if anyone realizes this or even uses the method I was taught by Wyndham Sales Representatives of cancelling your reservation once you enter your upgrade window and rebooking it to get a discount on the points you had to spend on that reservation. I am a Platinum member and I saved 50% of my points all the time. Because of the auto upgrade feature if I attempt to use the same strategy their is a 99.9% possibility that I will lose that room. So now the buying power of my points have decreased by 50% and so now I can settle for half the vacation time I used to take or book the smallest room possible to squeak out more weeks. Is anyone frustrated or pissed off about this or is it just me? I hope that I am not the only one. I fell like I was sold a bill of goods in that the sales department promoted a benefit and then someone decided to take it away. My money is already spent, my membership paid in full. This is not fair and I suspect not even legal and if so what other benefit are they promoting to get you to buy or upgrade that they will renege on?

A sales rep told us that if it is not "written" in the Member's Directory, it doesn't count and Wyndham is not liable for the way points were used or sold to us.

 

[SherryFingerlin]

Thank you that is good to know. I hope they, Wyndham, responds to the backlash in a meaningful way. I am ready for a fight, exploring options. We are far to invested to just walk away leaving our money on the table. It's unbelievable. I will be going through that thread, thanks again.

Immediately after the new "update" was implemented - Wyndham stock soared. They are not going to "fix" it. They have your money and stockholders are happy. I intend to attend the Owner's Meeting wearing a T-Shirt protesting. Couldn't get a RSVP for the meeting hours after they opened for reservations online.

 

[55plus]

Cancel and rebook was not a trick as some refer to it as. It was advertised and a played up feature to sell VIP level ownership's by Wyndham sales weasels. They will continue to push that feature in one form or another. Eventually they'll play it up as auto upgrades done automatically so you don't have to keep checking, or something alone that line. They'll make it sound great in reality it's crap. Timeshare salesman can sell you a bag a dirty diapers for a lot of money and make you feel good about it. By the time you realize they stink it's too late to return it. The website is the bag of dirty diapers.

Since Wyndham took over years ago benefits for all owners have diminished and fees have gone up. Now they have gone too far with that piece of crap they call the new website. This will come back to haunt Wyndham and all the Richard Craniums (political correct term) calling the shots.

 

[ronparise]

Cancel and rebook was not a trick as some refer to it as. It was advertised and a played up feature to sell VIP level ownership's by Wyndham sales weasels. They will continue to push that feature in one form or another. Eventually they'll play it up as auto upgrades done automatically so you don't have to keep checking, or something alone that line. They'll make it sound great in reality it's crap. Timeshare salesman can sell you a bag a dirty diapers for a lot of money and make you feel good about it. By the time you realize they stink it's too late to return it. The website is the bag of dirty diapers.

Since Wyndham took over years ago benefits for all owners have diminished and fees have gone up. Now they have gone too far with that piece of crap they call the new website. This will come back to haunt Wyndham and all the Richard Craniums (political correct term) calling the shots.

I'm not sure what you mean "since Wyndham took over"

Fairfield was purchased by cendant in 2000 and then when cendant broke up the new Wyndham worldwide was born. There were three divisions. Hotels, Rentals and Exchanges and Timeshares

The recently retired head of the timeshare group, Franz Hanning started his career as a salesman with Fairfield. The name changed over the years but Club Wyndham has been the same club since the beginning with continuity of management and the Fairshare Trust and the owners association have remained the same

 

[vacationhopeful]

A sales rep told us that if it is not "written" in the Member's Directory, it doesn't count and Wyndham is not liable for the way points were used or sold to us.

Was the sales rep's lips moving?

As for Wyndham's failure to keep proper account of our points in our member accounts ... those points are 'cash equivalent' items in terms of paying for our vacation stays at Wyndham resorts. In simple English, it is not the same as taking sand off the beach in little buckets, but taking the cash indirectly which we used to pay our MFs with.

Yes, IMHO ... Wyndham did NOT manage or account for the cash equivalent points computer system which they and they ONLY developed, manage, control and audit. And to prevent SOME users access to a system they are still being billed for ... for almost a YEAR now. Wyndham's computer did NOT GET HACKED by outside persons ... it has just been BADLY maintained & audited by Wyndham and its computer personal.

Hey, if I painted my HOUSE hot pink with lime green trim, the HOA with CCRs might be real unhappy with me .... but they could not locked me out of my home or prevent me from using the park around the corner. But they could give me 60 days to repaint the house to approved colors or be fined per day with a lien attached on my property.

BUT I PAINTED MY HOUSE .... Wyndham's agents WROTE the computer system. WHO is responsible for the points issue?

 

[ronparise]

And call it what you will, but cancel and rebook was not a "benefit" It was never intended that VIPs would get discounts on every reservation. The discount benefit was only supposed to be for inventory available at 60 days before check in

 

[Sandy VDH]

It was an unintended consequence of the last system implementation.

As I, Ron and others have said, it was Never intended to be a method to cancel and rebook every reservation. It was never conveyed that way in the members guide. It was talked up by sales, no doubt about that, but if it is not in the member rules, rules which Wyndham is allowed to alter, then it is not an enforceable benefits.

Hell, many of us have been long enough to have other options removed like transferring points, unlimited Guest Certificates, blah blah blah.

Bottom line, Wyndham makes the rules and can change the rules.

I do not like this auto upgrade feature they have in place, but if it was actually working then maybe I would. But it is not working as far as any of us can tell.

 

[Bigrob]

It is hard to say what it will actually work like once it has been "stabilized". The inventory seems very unstable with some reservations/upgrades being rolled back, other resorts showing no availability at all with many units going unused, etc. So it is not clear at this point what happens to that reservation you cancel, nor what is supposed to happen to it... some possibilities:

1) it is supposed to be returned to available inventory immediately (basically the way it worked for most resorts most of the time prior to May 18th)
2) it is not returned to available inventory until after the next "upgrade matching batch" (at this point it appears that the auto upgrade function, which does not seem to be currently enabled, is a batch job). If this is the case, the reservation would not likely come back to available inventory as there will likely be an auto upgrade request for at least a portion of the reservation.
3) it is not returned to available inventory until after an indeterminate interval unrelated to the auto-upgrade batch job. In this scenario it might still be possible to rebook your reservation... if you keep checking for it and it isn't withheld for other reasons (see below)
4) it is not returned to available inventory unless it is beyond the amount Wyndham can hold for its Extra Holidays rental arm (90% of all available inventory inside of 60 days). In this scenario neither you nor a would-be upgrader gets it, instead a renter coming through EH gets it.

If it was intended for VIPs to always get the VIP discount, the VIP discount could/should be offered at time of booking whether inside of 60-days or not. That is not nor has it ever been the case.

My guess is that they were trying to implement option 2 above. But something happened (upgrades were given out when the inventory didn't exist) so they had to disable the auto-upgrade feature. And because of inventory loading issues at several resorts, even though that reservation may not be getting used for an upgrade, it still isn't coming back once cancelled.

YMMV. A lot of this does seem to be resort-specific.

 

[wlg4700]

I attended a sales presentation at the Wyndham Grand Riverfront this past weekend with a guest. They did not know that I was an owner. The sales person told us and I over heard being told to others to use the cancel and rebook with discounted points. Still selling this as an incentive to be VIP yet it isn't possible. I was very annoyed when I heard this and was shocked when I asked them to explain how to do it again. The sales rep brought over a "manager" to explain it in a different way. Yet same benefit, that no longer exists.

 

[raygo123]

I attended a sales presentation at the Wyndham Grand Riverfront this past weekend with a guest. They did not know that I was an owner. The sales person told us and I over heard being told to others to use the cancel and rebook with discounted points. Still selling this as an incentive to be VIP yet it isn't possible. I was very annoyed when I heard this and was shocked when I asked them to explain how to do it again. The sales rep brought over a "manager" to explain it in a different way. Yet same benefit, that no longer exists.

Highly unlikely, but not impossible

Sent from my LGLK430 using Tapatalk

 

[Baby Jane]

And call it what you will, but cancel and rebook was not a "benefit" It was never intended that VIPs would get discounts on every reservation. The discount benefit was only supposed to be for inventory available at 60 days before check in

Most times I rebooked with available inventory then cancelled original reservation unless I didn't care about losing it then I may c/r. It was sold to us that you should book 2 rooms and get it every time but I didn't do that either. I see a lot of you guys are major renters that worked the system but most owners who bought from Wyndham direct just want nice vacations.

I'm not sure what you mean "since Wyndham took over"

Fairfield was purchased by cendant in 2000 and then when cendant broke up the new Wyndham worldwide was born. There were three divisions. Hotels, Rentals and Exchanges and Timeshares

The recently retired head of the timeshare group, Franz Hanning started his career as a salesman with Fairfield. The name changed over the years but Club Wyndham has been the same club since the beginning with continuity of management and the Fairshare Trust and the owners association have remained the same

Well when we were still fairfield the resort staff and sales were a lot nicer.

 

[Kozman]

I almost always got an upgrade because I looked for it manually every day while others may have been lazy and didn't check Now they will be getting any available upgrades automatically with little effort. The pool of available upgrades will be more difficult to come by.

 

[55plus]

I almost always got an upgrade because I looked for it manually every day while others may have been lazy and didn't check Now they will be getting any available upgrades automatically with little effort. The pool of available upgrades will be more difficult to come by.

Has anyone received an auto upgrade since the piece of crap website came online? I have a one bedroom booked with a request for an upgrade and 2 and 3 bedroom units came available during the upgrade period for the same timeframe of my reservation. They should have been given to those who requested upgrades, but weren't. They were there for several days and slowly disappeared. If auto upgrades were working those would have been assigned to those who requested an upgrade when the upgrade window opened. I guess one can say, Wyndham went a round about way to eliminate the VIP upgrade benefit after a reservation is made.