Disappointed with Palm Aire

[Sandy VDH]

And in all fairness to the OP they booked the higher point building Areca, not the Royal Palm, which is less points.

At this resort different building has different points.

I have had this happen to friends of mine at Sea Gardens. I booked them Ocean Palms which is more points, and the front desk tried to put them in Cabanas. I warned her about them trying this and they did. I told her to call me if they tried it, and sure enough they did.

If points are higher for some buildings and lower for others, and you book the higher points you should have an expectation that you will be in that building.

That is NOT asking for an upgrade. That is asking for what you booked.

 

[troy12n]

And in all fairness to the OP they booked the higher point building Areca, not the Royal Palm, which is less points.

At this resort different building has different points.

And in fairness to me, I mentioned multiple times that this one point is a legit gripe. Perhaps the OP's only legit gripe. I would have requested a points adjustment and moved on, not just leave the resort. It couldn't have been that bad.

Admittedly I would have been mad too about this. But some of the other stuff like "room had tile floors" and "view of parking lot"? Really.

I think you would agree that we don't know the exact reason why the resort had to move them, there could have been a legit reason. We don't know and to speculate would be irresponsible. I would definitely agree they are due a points adjustment. Maybe plus some.

I've stayed at this resort a couple times, in Areca and Sabal. I would not have been wanted to be put in Queen Palm, and admittedly Fountain palm looks kind of run down from the outside, but it wasn't in the DMZ like Queen...

 

[dioxide45]

3. The Internet not working... this was most likely an issue outside of their control. Not a legit complaint.
- No recourse here

IMO, bad internet is a legitimate complaint. While the service might be sourced to a vendor, the resort is still responsible for making sure it works and getting whomever is responsible for it in there to fix it.

 

[Sandi Bo]

IMO, bad internet is a legitimate complaint. While the service might be sourced to a vendor, the resort is still responsible for making sure it works and getting whomever is responsible for it in there to fix it.

And they are notorious for bad internet. I've had a reservation and their system was down, they couldn't get the update. And then in general seem to see alot of compaints about their internet. Definitely more than the average. I say some internal issues going on. Not an excuse for them, but I always use a hot spot. I do not use resort wifi. Ever, lol. Maybe comes from remote working and needing to always have reliable internet with a twist of paranoia regarding security.

Palm-Aire, IMO, is very hit or miss. Lots of misses, and when they miss, it seems to be quite miserable.

 

[dioxide45]

1. You reserved Areca Palms section and they placed you in Fountain Palm. Legit complaint.
- Your recourse or way you can be made whole is a points adjustment. Period. That's it. You don't know WHY (and aren't entitled to know why...) you were moved, It's possible (likely) that the room you reserved became unavailable last minute because of some sort of maintenance issue. You don't know, we don't know, nobody knows, so to try to claim anything is just pure speculation. Take your points adjustment and move on.

I would think a better remedy is a refund of all points and leaving...

 

[rapmarks]

Curious why troy takes her complaints personally. Let it go

 

[Sandi Bo]

Curious why troy takes her complaints personally. Let it go

I hope OP @lotus921v doesn't take it personally. @troy12n spares no one his opinion nor his 'congeniality'.

 

[lotus921v]

I hope OP @lotus921v doesn't take it personally. @troy12n spares no one his opinion nor his 'congeniality'.

I don’t take anything that Troy says seriously. I’ve noticed he just likes to bash anybody with a different opinion than his and likes double down enough to try to convince everybody he knows what he’s talking about. Enough other people validated my experience to know that the “outlier” experience I had is more common than he would like to admit.

 

[lotus921v]

I would think a better remedy is a refund of all points and leaving...

I left Tuesday morning. I’m asking for a refund. Apparently they had to wait until my checkout day to even address the issues.

I sent another follow up email and also will be calling again on Monday.

 

[lotus921v]

And they are notorious for bad internet. I've had a reservation and their system was down, they couldn't get the update. And then in general seem to see alot of compaints about their internet. Definitely more than the average. I say some internal issues going on. Not an excuse for them, but I always use a hot spot. I do not use resort wifi. Ever, lol. Maybe comes from remote working and needing to always have reliable internet with a twist of paranoia regarding security.

Palm-Aire, IMO, is very hit or miss. Lots of misses, and when they miss, it seems to be quite miserable.

If I had cellular service, I would’ve ran out and just got a hotspot as a workaround. I contacted the company that handles their internet for a refund, because I paid for premium internet and couldn’t get any at all.

 

[troy12n]

IMO, bad internet is a legitimate complaint. While the service might be sourced to a vendor, the resort is still responsible for making sure it works and getting whomever is responsible for it in there to fix it.

Ok, I will do an about face and admit it's a legitimate complaint, but not one worthy of a full points refund because of it. Maybe a slight adjustment, but not a full refund. The can of worms that would open would be one they could never close. We have all been hit by this at some point i'm sure. I was at the Glade once and a backhoe cut through the main line into the entire resort and it was out for 2 days. This was during summer of 2020 right after the resorts re-opened and me and my family were on a working vacation, so it directly affected us. We ended up working off of our cell phones, but it would have never been in my thought process to demand any sort of refund because of something the road work crew did.

Also just last week at La Cascada, for the life of me, one of my laptops would not connect to the resort wifi, every other device did, didn't affect me enough to even complain.

YMMV...

Palm-Aire, IMO, is very hit or miss. Lots of misses, and when they miss, it seems to be quite miserable.

It's my least favorite resort in Pompano, but also one that you can usually get last minute, AND pretty easily get VIP suite upgrades, so if I needed a 2BR and couldn't get one at Sea Gardens, I wouldn't bat an eye to do Palm Aire.

Not every resort can be Bonnet Creek or Royal Vista, and this fact seems lost on some owners. Especially new owners. I'm writing this from the Austin resort, which is beautiful, btw... first time here. The newer resorts do spoil you.

 

[schreff]

Booked the Areca building on the recommendation of others. Was informed via text that I would be in the fountain/sabal building. I called and spoke to the front desk to make sure that at the very least I would be in an updated room with a view. I don’t like being difficult. The guy assured me he put notes on my account.

When we checked in it later in the evening appeared the guy was having difficulty finding a room for us at all and we got put in the Royal Palm. It’s a nice sized room but that’s prob the only nice thing I can say about it. The hallways smell, the building doesn’t look well maintained, the showers have soap scum all in it, and my view overlooks a parking lot. My husband hates it here.

Our style of vacation is not to explore, but to relax in a nice room and have convenient swimming for our young children.

There’s no way I’m staying til Saturday. I’ll prob check out tomorrow. It has all the ambience of a motel 6 and I’m just uncomfortable here.

Just a total disappointment and a shame

I can sympathize with you and this should not happen but I am afraid it will become more common in the future in resorts like Areca during high demand weeks. Wyndham's reservation system does not work simply because one hand does not know what the other is doing. And yes, Wyndham Cares but only about your buying more points and paying your maintenance fees on time.

We just left Palm Aire and this was the first year we did not stay in Areca Palms. We even had to beg to get into Sabal for our 2 plus month stay. It is not worth it for folks close to 80 years of age to get for something they have paid six figures for. We were Founders but recently were downgraded to Platinum due to the bankruptcy of Wyndham Fairfield Plantation's Tara III which we bought many years ago. Palm Aire is our home resort. We have stayed in Areca Palms for the winter months over half the time since retiring in 2004. Until recently there have only been a few problems which were resolved to our satisfaction.

I should note that we became VIP members for the benefits. The VIP benefits have slowly eroded to the point of not being worth it from a cost benefit analysis standpoint. One of which is the benefit of reserving the specific unit based upon availability (at the time of booking). This was once a valid benefit but is no longer. Wyndham now says it means at the time of your arrival which is utterly ridiculous. This would be of no benefit at all. It is a matter of common sense when we all know that most Wyndham resorts, Palm Aire notoriously, have non existent room inventory control in-house systems caused by mismanagement. Inventory is based on a first come, first served basis only. I complained to the resort manager after we had a problem with this a few years ago. We had to be moved into Areca after we had to stay in Sabal due our reserved room being given to a non VIP, non Palm Aire owner. I was promised that this would not happen again by the resort manager. Not so.

We are now on our way home stopping at Bonnet Creek and then Williamsburg. After we arrive home, I will be contacting Michal Brown of Wyndham about the many latter day problems we've been having including Palm Aire. I am also considering contacting Ashley Moody, the Florida Attorney General, to file a formal complaint. Her website has

 

[schreff]

Just a quick update. We arrived safely at Bonnet Creek and the managerial difference between Palm Aire and here is astounding. Our request for a lakeside unit with fireworks view in our usual tower was honored. Also, we had our first owner's update in many years and it was just an update. The salesperson, RIO, did not try to sell us and was great. It only lasted about 40 minutes and updated us on all the new and future changes. We also had a minor issue with our unit which was promptly and professionally taken care of. Professional management does make a drastic difference.
The only shocking thing that negatively has negatively affected us recently is Wyndham has lost our account?????? Yes, our internet account stopped working again and when I called Wyndham to book at Lake Marion I was told by the rep that our account did not exist anymore???? Strange and am still awaiting an answer as to how this could occur.

 

[lotus921v]

As an update, I contacted corporate and got a little bit more than the unused points refunded to my account.

Glad they took care of it

 

[flindberg]

I always travel this week because of the school schedule and have stayed in the Royal Palm building during this week. I felt like I got high off the fumes in the hallway and the beaches were still too cold for Floridians. I decided to do New Orleans this week and had a much better spring break experience. I will probably come back here during the break again soon. I have an 8 year old and I would say 7+ is perfect for NOLA. I wouldn't bring a non school aged kid though. We are at La Belle at the moment. Everything is walkable or a simple trolly ride. The weather is the similar to FL and as long as you get back to the resort by 6pm, it's family friendly as well. You should look into seeing what the drive time is for you. You can often get Panama City Beach discounted this week as well on your drive to/from NOLA. I got PCB 50% off on resale points on my way back home.

How was LaBelleMaison? Is there still a lot of remodeling going on?

 

[cbyrne1174]

How was LaBelleMaison? Is there still a lot of remodeling going on?

Just one small section of the common area on the first floor. The rooms are done and look good.

 

[schreff]

On the last leg of our trip home, we are now at Williamsburg, Wyndham Governor's Green. This is another home run compared to a 3 strike and your out WYNDHAM PALM AIRE management fiasco we put up with every year.

 

[noreenkate]

Palm Aire has a bad reputation for overbooking during snowbird season in the nicer buildings and moving people to buildings that they did not book.

Palm-Aire has a history of putting owners wherever is easiest at the moment for them regardless of what the owner booked. And you'll always get told it's the only unit available. Sure, it is. Not! Yes this is a busy time but someone else got put in a unit in Areca Palms building and it wasn't you who actually booked it.

Go back down to the check in and tell them your unit is unacceptable. It's dirty, stinks and isn't what you booked. Areca Palms building is more points to book than Royal Palms building. If they were going to put you in Fountain or Sabol Palm buildings those buildings only have two bedroom units not two bedroom deluxe. However Fountain or Sabol Palm buildings would be an acceptable substitute.

Be nice when you go down and tell them they can move you tomorrow but make sure they let you stay in the unit you're in until the new unit is ready. The manager should do something for you for your inconvenience. You'll probably have to ask but if they won't then you should contact Owner Care.

Guys, you have me pretty nervous about our thanksgiving trip...am I better off looking for something else nearby?
So is there a workaround for this besides calling owner care after the fact?
Is it just random based or do they have some sort of method for who gets bumped?

 

[Sandi Bo]

Guys, you have me pretty nervous about our thanksgiving trip...am I better off looking for something else nearby?
So is there a workaround for this besides calling owner care after the fact?
Is it just random based or do they have some sort of method for who gets bumped?

What type unit (buliding - it should say on your confirmation or in the transaction log anyway) did you book into? That gives you leverage.
I would still call Palm-Aire and make a room (building) request.
I would get there early and again reiterate my room request.
You are an owner - I still say that always helps. What level?

I would stay there, I would do as I noted above and be firm (and polite) on checkin. My sister likes it there, the activities, has stayed several times (most recently Christmas). It's not a great part of town, but if you are staying on resort, you're good.

 

[noreenkate]

What type unit (buliding - it should say on your confirmation or in the transaction log anyway) did you book into? That gives you leverage.
I would still call Palm-Aire and make a room (building) request.
I would get there early and again reiterate my room request.
You are an owner - I still say that always helps. What level?

I would stay there, I would do as I noted above and be firm (and polite) on checkin. My sister likes it there, the activities, has stayed several times (most recently Christmas). It's not a great part of town, but if you are staying on resort, you're good.

booked 2 Bedroom Deluxe Areca Palms thanksgiving week- used APR -
I am lowly a resale owner so no level.

 

[tschwa2]

booked 2 Bedroom Deluxe Areca Palms thanksgiving week- used APR -
I am lowly a resale owner so no level.

I think you will be ok. Snowbird season seems to be the worst and I imagine it is because of multiple multi-week reservations. I also suggest you plan on arriving earlier in the day (not later than 5pm).

 

[dioxide45]

I also suggest you plan on arriving earlier in the day (not later than 5pm)

THis bothers me. What happens exactly? People booked on the cheap with points then arrive and complain about their unit and demand to get moved to other sections that may actually cost more points?

 

[noreenkate]

THis bothers me. What happens exactly? People booked on the cheap with points then arrive and complain about their unit and demand to get moved to other sections that may actually cost more points?

Kinda bothers me too as I will be driving… so arrival time is always questionable & mostly that is is November…if g-d forbid there is a problem and as others have suggested “owner care” returns points I would have to use them in 6 weeks

 

[Sandi Bo]

Kinda bothers me too as I will be driving… so arrival time is always questionable & mostly that is is November…if g-d forbid there is a problem and as others have suggested “owner care” returns points I would have to use them in 6 weeks

Kinda bothers me too as I will be driving… so arrival time is always questionable & mostly that is is November…if g-d forbid there is a problem and as others have suggested “owner care” returns points I would have to use them in 6 weeks

If you did have an issue, and points were returned - I'm pretty certain they would credit you to next year (they would ask or you could ask them to deposit to next year).

It's always dicey getting in late. We get great rooms, as a rule. We are VIP Founders and owners at Bonnet Creek. At a recent visit we got in at 11pm and got Tower 1, parking lot. I've come to expect that getting in late. It's not just timeshares. It's life. The squeaky wheel earlier in the day likely got my lakeview requested room The person that gave it to them isn't the one to deal with me at 11pm. Our next stop was Ocean Walk and we made sure to be there by 1pm. We got an oceanfront and our room was ready. I think the resorts try as best they can.

Palm-Aire is a little different (thank] OW or BC). At Palm-Aire you actually book into a particular building (and pay different point levels). I suppose the more veteran snow-birds (or anyone with experience) knows if you complain and they can move you, they likely will. They really need to stand their ground and keep people booking into Queens in Queens, etc... It's not that different than if you were booking an ocean front at Myrtle Beach, Ocean Boulevard and then being put streetview. I do not believe that happens - at Ocean Boulevard you get what you book. Palm-Aire needs to do the same!

 

[tschwa2]

THis bothers me. What happens exactly? People booked on the cheap with points then arrive and complain about their unit and demand to get moved to other sections that may actually cost more points?

I am not sure if it is that or just that the regularly slightly overbook during peak season, the better section knowing that if everyone shows up they can put someone in the lesser section. They aren't going to bump the person who shows up at 5pm when there is a chance that those coming later may not show for whatever reason. But if you get there at 11:30pm and all the rooms have people already in them, then complaining loudly can't get you anywhere.