Availability issues

[Rdub79]

So I’ve been doing an experiment for the past couple of months to see what availability is like as soon as the 10 month window opens. Every Thursday morning when I get up about 6 am I check for the sat check in 10 months out to see if any of the hard resorts/units are available. My findings are Panama City beach resort is never available in late spring/summer, the new Myrtle beach has very limited availability. Some in early summer but recently only a one bedroom here or there. Royal sands does not have much. The 4 bedrooms at river island are normally gone. But here is the kicker. I went in IHG website to see if I could use their calendar function to spot a couple days here or there and they actually have availability 10 months out for Panama City beach and the new Myrtle in all the room sizes. What gives here. Shouldn’t we get the first crack at availability being the owners?

 

[Magster1125]

Good work and I totally agree with you. In fact, I have always thought we as owners/members do have first crack. I do love our timeshare but can never get the units I want when I want them - always have to juggle or go to RCI and settle for something else.

 

[procowtipper]

Exact same experience for me. I've stayed up to midnight several times looking for PCB openings and have never seen one. But they'll happily charge you $400+ a night to book it with cash.

No idea how to book it. I'd take any week at this point.

 

[Rdub79]

We were able to book it several years ago like probably 8 or more years ago. But since HICV has grown it’s gotten seemingly impossible.

 

[Bmatrose]

Panama City is a very small resort and PCB owners and Elites and higher can book it before the 10 month window. I usually book a few weeks in June and July

 

[PlumberMike]

So I’ve been doing an experiment for the past couple of months to see what availability is like as soon as the 10 month window opens. Every Thursday morning when I get up about 6 am I check for the sat check in 10 months out to see if any of the hard resorts/units are available. My findings are Panama City beach resort is never available in late spring/summer, the new Myrtle beach has very limited availability. Some in early summer but recently only a one bedroom here or there. Royal sands does not have much. The 4 bedrooms at river island are normally gone. But here is the kicker. I went in IHG website to see if I could use their calendar function to spot a couple days here or there and they actually have availability 10 months out for Panama City beach and the new Myrtle in all the room sizes. What gives here. Shouldn’t we get the first crack at availability being the owners?

We had same problem ( Panama Beach, Marco Island, River Island during holidays) until we became diamond owners with 13 month booking window. I was told by counselor that they always hold a percentage of rooms for retail sale, that is why you see rooms on the web and no availability on member site

 

[Bmatrose]

We had same problem ( Panama Beach, Marco Island, River Island during holidays) until we became diamond owners with 13 month booking window. I was told by counselor that they always hold a percentage of rooms for retail sale, that is why you see rooms on the web and no availability on member site

Elite has a 13 month booking window as well. Why did you have to go to Diamond?

 

[joybuzzer]

Availability seems to be one of the largest weaknesses of the point system. Everyone has the opportunity to book but only a few actually get the booking. Does HICV have a limited number of points they can sell based on actual timeshare inventory, or are they just like the Federal Reserve and create new points from thin air, thus devaluing everyone's purchased points? Creating a scarcity issues.

Or it this just a demand problem at highly sought after resorts. Im guessing its partially of both, demand and devaluing.

 

[Bmatrose]

Availability seems to be one of the largest weaknesses of the point system. Everyone has the opportunity to book but only a few actually get the booking. Does HICV have a limited number of points they can sell based on actual timeshare inventory, or are they just like the Federal Reserve and create new points from thin air, thus devaluing everyone's purchased points? Creating a scarcity issues.

Or it this just a demand problem at highly sought after resorts. Im guessing its partially of both, demand and devaluing.

HICV has a limited amount of points to sell. They are all backed by some sort of deed. Issue has magnified since the purchase of silverleaf resorts. In my opinion they overvalued the amount of points silverleaf weeks were worth. Now there a lot more points in the system but everyone is using them for the nicer hicv resort instead of the older run down silverleaf resorts. Those are sitting empty while people cant get into the nicer resorts. Another factor is the size of the resort. Both Marco Island and Panama City are tiny and the booking window is not the same for everyone. In those cases owners at those resorts or higher point owners get first dibbs and take most of the popular times.