Booking Margaritaville Rio Mar, Puerto Rico.

Scottmat28 · Feb 23, 2023

I am trying to book a family vacation for one of our kids At Margaritaville Rio Mar in Puerto Rico. Two adults and two college age children. Since the Wyndham website showed one bedroom units as the largest available, I decided to call the VIP line (VIP Gold) to see if two units were available and if so, to book them. The rep new up front we would need two units to accommodate 4 adult-size people. Booked the first unit, and then when trying to book the second unit the rep kept getting an error message and finally said we were only allowed to book one unit at Margaritaville resorts for the same dates. He suggested we book the second unit through RCI and transferred us to them. The RCI rep just laughed and said they don't have any Rio Mar inventory and rarely ever see it in their inventory.

I can't find anywhere in the Wyndham website that says you can't book more than one unit at a Margaritaville resort. It's probably buried in there somewhere, but I can't find it. Has anyone else had this experience booking a Margaritaville resort? Does anyone have any ideas on how to get a second unit? Try to rent a reservation from another owner? Would I be able to do that and have the same guest name on both reservations or will that get bounced too? Pretty hard to take a family vacation to one of the Caribbean resorts when generally there are only 1 bedroom or hotel style units available. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

HitchHiker71 · Feb 23, 2023

You cannot book two rooms under the same owner name or guest name - using the same date range - you have to use different owners/guest names. I’m not aware of any limitation on booking multiple rooms specific to MVC resorts.

Rio Mar has one or two three bedroom Presidential units and a handful more three bedroom PR units - but they are difficult to get especially at Rio Mar given the very small number of three bedroom units. The other option would be to use WR points or pay out of pocket on the Wyndham Grand side of the resort as opposed to the timeshare MVC side of the resort. The Wyndham Grand side IIRC only has typical hotel rooms - not condo style suites - but it's an option if you're looking for multiple rooms.

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Jan M. · Feb 24, 2023

The pink bar/error message came up because you had already booked the only available unit. Unfortunately it frequently happens that the system still shows availability when there isn't any.

Yes, you can have more than one unit at this resort or any resort. You can even have two reservations in your name but you only have 48 hours if the reservation is more than 15 days out or 24 hours if it's less than 15 days out to change the owner name to a different owner name than your own name or add a guest name.

If the dates you're wanting to book at that resort are on the owner priority list and none of the adults going are listed as owners on your account and you've used both of your two annual exceptions to the black out dates already then there is a problem.

The reps often give incorrect but convenient for him/her answers because he/she lacks the appropriate training and knowledge for the job. Unfortunately this also happens a lot more than it should.

Scottmat28 · Feb 24, 2023

So I guess my best option is to cancel the one-bedroom which does us no good by itself, and get on the waitlist for a 3 bedroom (which I know is unlikely to come through). We're just trying to help out one of our kids for what will likely be their last vacation as a family unit as their kids head to college and their own lives. I didn't want to have to jump through a bunch of hoops to do it.

Thanks for the info.

paxsarah · Feb 24, 2023

You could also hold onto the 1BR, and put in two waitlists - one for a 3BR, and one for another 1BR. Then you have two ways to solve your problem.

Jan M. · Feb 24, 2023

paxsarah said:
You could also hold onto the 1BR, and put in two waitlists - one for a 3BR, and one for another 1BR. Then you have two ways to solve your problem.

I second this suggestion. There's a much better chance of securing a second reservation for another one bedroom unit than there is of getting a three bedroom unit

To wait list the reservation you're wanting to make it must be more than 60 days out or its not worth setting it up. It's my understanding that at day 59 the wait list request automatically cancels out.

HitchHiker71 · Feb 24, 2023

Scottmat28 said:
So I guess my best option is to cancel the one-bedroom which does us no good by itself, and get on the waitlist for a 3 bedroom (which I know is unlikely to come through). We're just trying to help out one of our kids for what will likely be their last vacation as a family unit as their kids head to college and their own lives. I didn't want to have to jump through a bunch of hoops to do it.

Thanks for the info.

How far out are you trying to book? Just curious what your date ranges are for this item. The other option is to rent the second room through Extra Holidays if your date range doesn't span or include any blackout periods. There's likely rooms on EH for your date ranges - though it's not cheap going down the EH path. MVC Rio Mar is a popular EH destination. As others have already said - I'd likely take an "all of the above" approach - if you can rent your second room on EH now - then do it - meanwhile create the waitlist items.

Honestly I wouldn't count on a three bedroom unit - they are really hard to come by unless you're a MVC PR owner - or VIPF/VIPP level and can book right at ten months out. I'm VIPG and can book up to eight months out - and I can find the three bedroom Presidential units on rare occasion - usually during hurricane season though - which is always a toss up from a weather standpoint. We have a three bedroom presidential unit booked at Rio Mar for a week in September for example.

Scottmat28 · Feb 24, 2023

Sorry folks I don't know how to highlight/bring into my post your comments so I'll have to muddle through in my non-technological way...

Jan M. and Hitchhiker71: We are trying to book March 3-8, 2024. Rio Mar is part of CWA so we can book now, but apparently we are too far out to put in a waitlist request. Also, if I am reading the Wyndham website info on waitlists, only VIPPR owners can waitlist at this resort when the 'update' takes effect. I don't know which update the website refers to but it's probable I won't qualify for waitlist.

The travel dates are based on the college kids' spring break and so are inflexible. And the bummer is we paid for points protection on the one reservation we could make just because the dates were so far in advance, things can change! So that money is probably flushed down the toilet.

I do appreciate your comments and advice!

Scottmat28 · Feb 24, 2023

Oops! And paxsarah too.

HitchHiker71 · Feb 25, 2023

Scottmat28 said:
Sorry folks I don't know how to highlight/bring into my post your comments so I'll have to muddle through in my non-technological way...

Jan M. and Hitchhiker71: We are trying to book March 3-8, 2024. Rio Mar is part of CWA so we can book now, but apparently we are too far out to put in a waitlist request. Also, if I am reading the Wyndham website info on waitlists, only VIPPR owners can waitlist at this resort when the 'update' takes effect. I don't know which update the website refers to but it's probable I won't qualify for waitlist.

The travel dates are based on the college kids' spring break and so are inflexible. And the bummer is we paid for points protection on the one reservation we could make just because the dates were so far in advance, things can change! So that money is probably flushed down the toilet.

I do appreciate your comments and advice!

FYI that Rio Mar is technically no longer listed as a Club Wyndham resort - it is only listed as a MVC resort. This is reflected in the 2023-2024 member directory (go look for yourself if you like). Below is a screenshot of a memo sent to the sales and marketing team late last year - the last bullet item addresses this change:

The CWA inventory is in the process of being moved to MVC inventory after which the MVC booking rules will apply to the entirety of Rio Mar inventory online. No idea when this will actually occur though. Get it while you can!

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WyndhamBarter · Feb 26, 2023

Scottmat28 said:
paid for points protection on the one reservation

Um - for future reference, I never pay for points protection until 16 or 17 days
before the check-in date. It can always be added to an existing reservation,
and it really only provides "protection" against cancellation less than 15 days
before the reservation. I truly hope the rep you spoke to didn't say it offered
some kind of protection during the year before that - you can always cancel
an existing reservation up to 15 days before check-in and get the points back.
(I believe you will still have used up a Reservation Transaction in any case.)

https://clubwyndham.wyndhamdestinat...ick-start/dig-into-club-life/point-protection

r4rab · Feb 27, 2023

Scottmat28 said:
Sorry folks I don't know how to highlight/bring into my post your comments so I'll have to muddle through in my non-technological way...

Jan M. and Hitchhiker71: We are trying to book March 3-8, 2024. Rio Mar is part of CWA so we can book now, but apparently we are too far out to put in a waitlist request. Also, if I am reading the Wyndham website info on waitlists, only VIPPR owners can waitlist at this resort when the 'update' takes effect. I don't know which update the website refers to but it's probable I won't qualify for waitlist.

The travel dates are based on the college kids' spring break and so are inflexible. And the bummer is we paid for points protection on the one reservation we could make just because the dates were so far in advance, things can change! So that money is probably flushed down the toilet.

I do appreciate your comments and advice!

Note that CWA only owns particular inventory at Rio Mar (interesting that this inventory is being reverted back to MVC as @HitchHiker71 indicates) and that is the only inventory you can book at 13 months as a CWA owner. As an example, if the resort had 100 rooms and only 5 of them are CWA, those are the only 5 units (and they are specific units) that can be booked as ARP via CWA; the rest of the units are bookable via the normal MVC booking rules. Similar issues for all resorts. CWA unit ownership can be found in the CWA Trust prospectus and its supplements (it's why the books are so thick).

I agree with others. Keep your reservation, put in for waitlist, check EH, etc. Keep checking Rio Mar availability; there may be another CWA room that opens up in the ARP period. Otherwise, check at the earliest time you can book in the MVC SRP period (based on your VIP level). It is very possible you will be able to find another 1BR or studio at that time.