Exchangeers treated poorly at some resorts

[gophish]

Madge,
I am reposting this question as the moderator moved it off this board due to the amount of additional posting and he was concerned that it would not work its way to a point where it could get answered.

Could you comment on RCI's point of view on Resorts that look at exchangers as kind of a "second class" category. I'm not saying that all resorts do this or that even those that do, do it all the time, but, I have read and heard of many complaints from exchangers saying that they were given the least desirable units, because they were exchangers. I can understand if a resort wants to give certain benefits such as free parking or things like that to owners, but, to purposely give an exchanger a unit that is less desireable, maybe not in as good maintenance or in a very undesirable location withing the resort, this seems wrong to me and I would think that RCI as an exchange company would have some rules or guidelines in place to protect their members. After all when I put my FF resort in as a deposit I fully expect that someone trading in will get as good a vacation as I would if I were to go to my resort. Anyway, it seems that for some resorts, exchangers are sometimes treated unfairly and I was wondering if RCI had any policy on this or at least a point of view as to how an exchanger (an RCI customer) could avoid this as it has been said many times that the resorts have the right to assign units as they see fit. I do realize that RCI allows resorts to make unit assignments, but, again it seems a disservice to us your customers (I also realize that the resorts are your customers also) to have us get put out by the trashcans or in broken units just because we are exchangers. I also realize, as it has been pointed out by other posters, that I can exercise my option to give the resort a bad review and fill out the comment cards with poor marks, but, that doesn't save a bad vacation and most likely if I was treated that way I wouldn't go back to that resort anyway. I'd rather have a way to avoid this problem to start with.
Thanks for any info you could could give us on RCI's position or opinions as to this process.
Ken H.

 

[Madge]

Ken,

Resorts are in complete control of unit assignment at their properties.

However, there is a kind of checks and balances in our system. Resorts may tend to favor their owners, but our members are also at liberty to submit their honest impressions in the RCI Comment Card. This affects VEP, Trading Power, and award eligibility. These things in return affect sales, and even sold out resorts have an interest in maintaining an active affiliation relationship with RCI for their owners.

We do monitor trends that we see in the comment cards - even specific freeform comments. If we see patterns developing, we take those issues up with management at the resorts. They are generally interested in knowing and pleased that we brought it to their attention.

 

[BILBO]

Exchangers Inferior?

Interesting you should make this point. My family had a terrible appt in Whisky Jack at the Ironwood, Whistler, Canada last summer. The resort people insisted it was RCI who dealt with that and the reception people told me this was always happening.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Interesting you should make this point. My family had a terrible appt in Whisky Jack at the Ironwood, Whistler, Canada last summer. The resort people insisted it was RCI who dealt with that and the reception people told me this was always happening.

Whiski Jack Ironwood in summer is a fixed week, fixed unit. The unit your family received is the exact one that was deposited by the exchanger. The WJ staff had no involvment in assigning a unit to your family. Nor would they have had any latitude to move your family to a different unit, since all other units are controlled by the person who owns that unit and that week, not by WJ.

Thus, if your family had a problem with the unit, the only resolution possible would have been through RCI.

 

[TravelSFO]

One way in which I have seen RCI exchangers treated as "second class" is at resorts where there is an "energy surcharge" ONLY for RCI exchangers. In a recent experience, we were charged $5 per day extra for being RCI exchangers.

This surcharge is not charged to the owners -- it is in addition to the exchange fees that we pay on top of our own maintenance fees, taxes, etc for our own week that we used to exchange.

 

[Keitht]

Whiski Jack Ironwood in summer is a fixed week, fixed unit. The unit your family received is the exact one that was deposited by the exchanger. The WJ staff had no involvment in assigning a unit to your family. Nor would they have had any latitude to move your family to a different unit, since all other units are controlled by the person who owns that unit and that week, not by WJ.

WJ aren't without responsibility or fault when it comes to exchanges. A few years ago we exchanged for 2 weeks into one of the Whistler resorts. We contacted WJ before travelling to ask if we could retain the same unit for both weeks. We received written confirmation that we could. We also confirmed that upon arrival. On the basis of that information we actually spent a few nights away over the middle weekend.
We had only been back in the unit about half an hour when I received quite a rude call from reception saying that they had been forced to relocate an owner because we hadn't moved at the end of the first week. Even showing them their own written confirmation resulted only in a very grudging acceptance that they were in the wrong.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

WJ aren't without responsibility or fault when it comes to exchanges. A few years ago we exchanged for 2 weeks into one of the Whistler resorts. We contacted WJ before travelling to ask if we could retain the same unit for both weeks. We received written confirmation that we could. We also confirmed that upon arrival. On the basis of that information we actually spent a few nights away over the middle weekend.
We had only been back in the unit about half an hour when I received quite a rude call from reception saying that they had been forced to relocate an owner because we hadn't moved at the end of the first week. Even showing them their own written confirmation resulted only in a very grudging acceptance that they were in the wrong.

WJ has both fixed week and floating week (depends on the season). I don't know if your overlapped or what the situation would be.

The person above said it was a summer week, which is fixed week season. He could not have been moved to another unit without booting from that unit the person who owned that unit and that week, or a person to whom that owner had granted the use of that specific unit and that specific week.

What time of year did you stay at WJ? It may have been during the float season when you could have stayed in the same unit. What might have happened then is that a float owner also booked and requested a specifc unit, and that request was granted without realizing the conflict.

But in the post mentioned above, as a summer week, the resort would have had no discretion in switching the exchanger to a different unit except in rare circumstances.

 

[Keitht]

Thanks for the clarification Steve. We were there in mid September.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Yeah, Keith. I'm pretty sure mid-Spetember is in the float period. So WJ might have said it was OK to occupy the same unit, but the wires got crossed inside WJ as I described.

 

[Madge]

Whiski Jack Ironwood in summer is a fixed week, fixed unit. The unit your family received is the exact one that was deposited by the exchanger. The WJ staff had no involvment in assigning a unit to your family. Nor would they have had any latitude to move your family to a different unit, since all other units are controlled by the person who owns that unit and that week, not by WJ.

Thus, if your family had a problem with the unit, the only resolution possible would have been through RCI.

T_R_Oglodyte,

RCI's contract with its resorts provides that the resorts will have sole discretion over unit assignment. Many resorts choose to use the unit numbers that appear on the RCI Exchange Confirmations because it is perhaps simpler for them. However, just as many resorts completely ignore the unit indicated on the Exchange Confirmation. They are perfectly at liberty to so, even for fixed weeks.

This is a point of much confusion for our members. If a resort sticks with our unit numbers, then the member would indeed need to cancel the exchange and search for a different unit. However, this is because of the resort's practices and policies. RCI still cannot guarantee a specific unit.