CHANGED - Reservation Cancellation Policy

[controller1]

Regardless of the email I received 8 days ago, Vistana has reverted, apparently effective immediately, to their standard reservation cancellation policy.

Per their website.

 

[jabberwocky]

Good catch. I don't think this was unexpected. They probably don't want a bunch of 2021 expiry points piling up or having people use this as a free-banking mechanism so close to year-end.

Covid is now a known risk, plan accordingly.

 

[controller1]

Good catch. I don't think this was unexpected. They probably don't want a bunch of 2021 expiry points piling up or having people use this as a free-banking mechanism so close to year-end.

Covid is now a known risk, plan accordingly.

I agree. I hope there were no procrastinators with arrival dates within the next 60 days who waited to cancel so they could preserve their StarOptions albeit restricted.

 

[jabberwocky]

I agree. I hope there were no procrastinators with arrival dates within the next 60 days who waited to cancel so they could preserve their StarOptions albeit restricted.

If they are TUGGERS then there should be no excuse!

 

[controller1]

Someone on Facebook said they just cancelled a reservation for Nov 28 arrival and their StarOptions are showing restricted through 12/31/21 with a 120-day restriction. So perhaps today people can still cancel under the COVID-19 Cancellation Policy even though that policy is no longer shown on the Vistana website.

 

[amycurl]

It says it is effective Nov. 1--so tomorrow. Yes, I would assume that someone cancelling today would qualify for the 120-day restriction through 12/21 policy.

 

[controller1]

It says it is effective Nov. 1--so tomorrow. Yes, I would assume that someone cancelling today would qualify for the 120-day restriction through 12/21 policy.

No, it says for reservations with an arrival date of November 1. It doesn't say anything about an effective date.

 

[echino]

I had some restricted StarOptions expiring at the end of 2021, and I had been able to reserve 120 days in advance with those StarOptions right until midnight EST. Now just after midnight, I can only reserve 60 days in advance with those StarOptions.

 

[dioxide45]

In reality, any 2021 reservations you cancel would already have at least a 2021 expiration. So the only loss on those you cancel inside of 60 days is they have a 60 day restriction (and the cancellation fee). If one hasn't mitigated any 2020 reservations already, it is really on the owner since there has been plenty of time to figure out if you wanted to keep the reservation or not.

 

[CPNY]

It seems a heads up notice would have been nice. I cancelled a reservation last night within 60 days that were previously COVID restricted. And it looks like I can only use them within 60 days now. That’s pretty bad customer service on Marriott’s part. What a terrible company.

 

[echino]

I didn't cancel anything today. I already had restricted StarOptions. They just went from 120 days to 60 days.

 

[CPNY]

I didn't cancel anything today. I already had restricted StarOptions. They just went from 120 days to 60 days.

it’s so confusing. I wonder if the cancellation I made early this morning reverted them to a 60 day restricted option? Their policy is terrible now. At first it was acceptable, but changing it back to the old way when cases are spiking globally is terrible Marriott management.

 

[echino]

Anyone who has restricted StarOptions with 2021 expiry please try and "pretend reserve" something in January or February. Does it work or not?

 

[CPNY]

Anyone who has restricted StarOptions with 2021 expiry please try and "pretend reserve" something in January or February. Does it work or not?

I just tried a reservation for mid feb in Orlando and I could only use unrestricted 2021 SO or banked SO. No COVID restricted SO were available

 

[echino]

So yes, Vistana just changed the existing restricted StarOptions to 60 days.

I thought the policy change only applied to newly cancelled reservations? I cancelled a long time ago and was promised 120 days, and it was 120 days until midnight, but now it's 60 days.

 

[CPNY]

So yes, Vistana just changed the existing restricted StarOptions to 60 days.

I thought the policy change only applied to newly cancelled reservations? I cancelled a long time ago and was promised 120 days, and it was 120 days until midnight, but now it's 60 days.

MVC terrible IT.

 

[DeniseM]

I just tried it, and Staroptions that formerly had a 120 day reservation window, now have a 60 day reservation window. I understand how they can change the policy going forward, but I don't understand how they can do this retroactively - let's hope it's an error.

 

[jabberwocky]

I would submit a complaint to Vistana. Occam’s Razor principle would suggest that this is likely to be bad Vistana IT that is not recognizing a difference between 120-day RSO and 60-day RSO.

 

[Mroze]

Same problem for me.

We canceled this summer and noticed that the Restricted-SO's can only pull 60-Days or less NOT 120-Days like they did before.

Hope its simply a bug [which would also explain a lack of notification] that gets fixed soon.

 

[CPNY]

My issue is the lack of communication. Give people a heads up that the policy is changing back. Maybe I missed communication that went out. Unfortunately I had to make many changes to Christmas break week as of yesterday and I had no idea of the new policy until after the fact. I’m hoping it reverts back to 120 days.

 

[SueDonJ]

I just tried it, and Staroptions that formerly had a 120 day reservation window, now have a 60 day reservation window. I understand how they can change the policy going forward, but I don't understand how they can do this retroactively - let's hope it's an error.

For what it's worth, my Marriott Destination Club points from previously-cancelled 2020 reservations are still showing today the same as they did yesterday, in a Holding Account with the 120-day Reservation Window and 12/31/21 expiration date. Also, historically Marriott doesn't change policies retroactively to the detriment of owners. I'd guess whatever is happening in Vistana accounts is an IT error, and will suggest that you all use whatever contact information links you have available in your accounts to let them know what you're seeing.

Good luck!

 

[dioxide45]

Yes, I suspect this is a real bad mistake on their part.

 

[dioxide45]

My issue is the lack of communication. Give people a heads up that the policy is changing back. Maybe I missed communication that went out. Unfortunately I had to make many changes to Christmas break week as of yesterday and I had no idea of the new policy until after the fact. I’m hoping it reverts back to 120 days.

The problem with Vistana vs how Marriott was doing it was that Vistana had no end date to the policy on their website. Marriott had an end date, bumped it forward a time or two and the latest date was for reservations cancelled through October 31st. So we at least had an idea that it would go away. Given the two companies are owned by the same parent, the suspicion was there that Vistana's would end on 10/31 also. And it looks like it did.

 

[DeniseM]

I was thinking about this last night: This is going to be really hard on owners who have Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years reservations that they want to use, but they aren't sure if they will be able to, due to the fluid situation with C19.

*Where is the notice located on the Vistana website?

 

[CPNY]

I was thinking about this last night: This is going to be really hard on owners who have Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years reservations that they want to use, but they aren't sure if they will be able to, due to the fluid situation with C19. I think it was unethical to cancel the policy with no notice - and obviously intentional.

*Where is the notice located on the Vistana website?

You have to go into the current policies where it says they can be changed at any given time. It seems it was updated with reservations with a check in after 11/1/2020. Not an end date of 10/31, so reservations with a check in date of Christmas cancelled on 10/31 would be subject to the 60 days restriction apparently. If that’s the case, I now have 80K SO with 60 day restrictions, no longer 120. I also have a room booked with 65K SO at the harborside which isn’t even open yet, well, the Atlantis isn’t opened. Harborside resort is not a destination within itself. Atlantis is the draw, without that, I may as well stay home.