Grande Vista Room Not Ready Until 11PM

[dioxide45]

I agree the @WBP post is a little odd and cryptic. But you have to admit he speaks some truth. The Marriott subforum is definitely the place here on TUG where a few people dominate the conversation to a very large extent. Maybe those voices are simply the most interested in the conversation. Or maybe other people are shouted down and choose not to participate for that reason.

Sometimes you do need a voice to speak up and say the thing that others leave unsaid. So I am not sure I would discount @WBP entirely.

I don't think this is something unique to the Marriott forum. This would be true of any of the major forums on TUG. I see the same thing in the TUG Lounge and Club Wyndham forums. I suspect it is even true of most internet forms overall, Reddit and even niche specific Facebook groups. It kinda goes along the 80/20 rule. 80% of posting volume comes from the top 20% of posters. If you take lurkers into account, it is probably more like 90-9-1 where 1% produce the most content, 9% participate occasionally and 90% are lurkers.

 

[dioxide45]

Does it matter who it is? Its not about individual people, its about whether there can be a community of conversation when a few dominate to the extent that others drop out. But my point was not really about that- its about whether you should discount @WBP because he/she is being vague. I guess my point was- yes vague is non-helpful and weird, but sometimes vague people are actually accurate. So I was encouraging you not to dismiss what @WBP because IMO at least the part that I have knowledge of is actually pretty accurate.

I think sometimes its ok to be a little vague- in my case, its not my intent to call out specific people. Its a forum and I don't get to say how other people should behave. However the general observation that a certain type of posting style shuts down conversation is a fair one to make, because it benefits us all if we can hear 30 or 40 points of view on various aspects of timesharing rather than 3-4.

I don't necessarily take issue with someone being vague, but to use passive aggressive tactics to maligning regular posters as having some kind of mental illness or behavioral obsession is not appropriate. This has been a pattern that covers several posts including this one and this one. Along with one that has since been deleted in this thread but you can still read it quoted in post #42.

I think the whole thing still comes down to a misreading of post #19 and would expect @WBP to go back and read it again. If they did read it correctly then they need to explain their response in post #38 and answer the questions in posts #39 and post #43 with more clarity. If they didn't read it correctly and went off with that kind of response, then I would expect a long groveling public apology to many people here. However, we probably won't know for a few days since their posting pattern is not aligned with a fast moving discussion. That's okay, they can post when and how often they want. I am not here to question them for their posting frequency.

 

[Dean]

I don't necessarily take issue with someone being vague

I think it depends. When there's a direct question to be addressed, I see it as rude and inappropriate to post a vague answer, esp if it is long, drawn out and accusatory. While it's not applicable to this discussion other than to the vagueness issue, I also see it as rude or inappropriate to provide limited information, even when queried further, then expect advice.

 

[heathpack]

I don't necessarily take issue with someone being vague, but to use passive aggressive tactics to maligning regular posters as having some kind of mental illness or behavioral obsession is not appropriate. This has been a pattern that covers several posts including this one and this one. Along with one that has since been deleted in this thread but you can still read it quoted in post #42.

I think the whole thing still comes down to a misreading of post #19 and would expect @WBP to go back and read it again. If they did read it correctly then they need to explain their response in post #38 and answer the questions in posts #39 and post #43 with more clarity. If they didn't read it correctly and went off with that kind of response, then I would expect a long groveling public apology to many people here. However, we probably won't know for a few days since their posting pattern is not aligned with a fast moving discussion. That's okay, they can post when and how often they want. I am not here to question them for their posting frequency.

Why don't you report the posts if you think they're inappropriate?

If they don't violate TUG forum rules, then its just a matter of posting style. You may not like it but that's how the cookie crumbles. I say this not to be unsympathetic if you feel attacked. But I guess for the rest of us- we are stuck with a crumbled cookie at times too. That's just the nature of it.

Don't get me wrong. I think there are behaviors that make TUG worse. I wish those behaviors would change. TUG is a valuable resource and I would like it to thrive. This relies on everyone being on their best behavior. But unfortunately what I think is good behavior may differ from what you think is good behavior, and that is something difficult to reconcile unless it violates TUG posting rules.

 

[Hindsite]

When I've met lurkers they say they appreciate the content I provide, imperfect as it is. I'm sure there are others who don't and that is indeed just a normal thing with the variety of humanity. Mostly it works, sometimes it doesn't.....

 

[dioxide45]

Why don't you report the posts if you think they're inappropriate?

I think there's a reason that the post quoted in post #42 produces an error when you click on it to view the original post. It was deleted. So it must have violated some rule. I just don't understand berating of regular posters in the forum just that someone chooses not to be as regular as others. They seem to imply that their posting frequency is morally superior.

It isn't so much about posting style as it is about personalities. Something that is bound to come up in any online forum and in life. It certainly isn't new here. I suppose we have tools at our disposal to help mitigate most of that (like the ignore function), which I would be wise to make use of more liberally.

 

[jp10558]

Does it matter who it is? Its not about individual people, its about whether there can be a community of conversation when a few dominate to the extent that others drop out. But my point was not really about that- its about whether you should discount @WBP because he/she is being vague. I guess my point was- yes vague is non-helpful and weird, but sometimes vague people are actually accurate. So I was encouraging you not to dismiss what @WBP because IMO at least the part that I have knowledge of is actually pretty accurate.

Ok, I guess my overall question is - I literally have next to no idea what you or @WBP is calling out here.

I think sometimes its ok to be a little vague- in my case, its not my intent to call out specific people. Its a forum and I don't get to say how other people should behave. However the general observation that a certain type of posting style shuts down conversation is a fair one to make, because it benefits us all if we can hear 30 or 40 points of view on various aspects of timesharing rather than 3-4.

Ok, so I guess my issue is just - what is the "certain type of posting"? Am I a member of that "certain type of posting"? If you don't want to call out people - fine. But give me some description of what it is we're talking about beyond gesturing towards "you know - that type of person/post". No. I DON'T KNOW. I have suspicions from the implications about what you all might mean, but that goes back to my whole digression about motte and baily. I can't read your mind so I don't know what I'm even supposedly dismissing from your or WBPs POV.

I dismiss contentless vague statements for what I would think is somewhat obvious reasons - there's no content getting through to me. I'm not going to try and mind read. Also, there's a difference in being vague like

"unnammed sources say Russia will Invade Ukraine in 2022" and "The world is getting worse and wars are going to happen very soon now". The second is basic "fortune telling" and has no content, the first is vague about intelligence resources. These are different.

 

[jp10558]

Why don't you report the posts if you think they're inappropriate?

If they don't violate TUG forum rules, then its just a matter of posting style. You may not like it but that's how the cookie crumbles. I say this not to be unsympathetic if you feel attacked. But I guess for the rest of us- we are stuck with a crumbled cookie at times too. That's just the nature of it.

Don't get me wrong. I think there are behaviors that make TUG worse. I wish those behaviors would change. TUG is a valuable resource and I would like it to thrive. This relies on everyone being on their best behavior. But unfortunately what I think is good behavior may differ from what you think is good behavior, and that is something difficult to reconcile unless it violates TUG posting rules.

This feels like a complete 180 to me from your response to me - if you think the posts aren't inappropriate then what could you have been talking about with "community of conversation when a few dominate to the extent that others drop out."? Either we're live and let live with posting styles that don't break the rules, or we would like different norms / rules. Which is it? What behaviors would you like to see change, especially in response to this thread? Is it simply that you'd like everyone to only post once or twice a day? Per forum? On TUG in general? I am more confused the more you post on this what it is you're objecting to or what you'd like done differently. Same with WBP. It's like anti-clarification.

 

[WorldT]

That's not true. SCOTUS rules that the president could end TPS, sending to the lower court was just to fulfill the order. But once SCOTUS ruled the issue was done besides processing. At that point (at least at that point but really much earlier) MVC should have been preparing.

?????

 

[heathpack]

This feels like a complete 180 to me from your response to me - if you think the posts aren't inappropriate then what could you have been talking about with "community of conversation when a few dominate to the extent that others drop out."? Either we're live and let live with posting styles that don't break the rules, or we would like different norms / rules. Which is it? What behaviors would you like to see change, especially in response to this thread? Is it simply that you'd like everyone to only post once or twice a day? Per forum? On TUG in general? I am more confused the more you post on this what it is you're objecting to or what you'd like done differently. Same with WBP. It's like anti-clarification.

My position is that @WBP can be right even if vague. I agree that a few voices dominate the Marriott forum, IMO to the detriment of that forum. Those posts break no rules, however, so there’s nothing I would do about it (because that’s how the cookie crumbles) except maybe comment on it if it comes up and mostly avoid the Marriott forum.

I think this is substantially different from calling out specific posts by a specific individual. In that instance, if specific posts bother you, there’s two options: 1. Report it if it’s a rules violation, 2. Tolerate it, ignore it, stop participating in that conversation, thread, subforum, or the overall forum if it’s not.

In this dispute, there’s two camps: @WBP and those rebutting him/her. A rebutter thinks @WBP should post an apology because of a specific post. @WBP posts that the rebutters should change their ways. I guess my position is that we each of us may decide to dislike another’s posts or posting style (you are free to dislike mine! which is a shame for me because I enjoy yours) but we don’t get to tell others how to post. If we don’t like it but it’s not a rules violation, well that’s how the cookie crumbles.

I guess what I see is that both of these camps are upset with each other because they don’t like the others’ posts, but each is not willing to accept that maybe they themselves should consider adjusting their actions.

Calling somebody mentally ill in a forum post: that’s worth some inner reflection to consider you might have done something wrong

Shutting someone down repeatedly in a forum to the extent that they call you mentally ill: also worth some inner reflection, perhaps

 

[dioxide45]

Shutting someone down repeatedly in a forum to the extent that they call you mentally ill: also worth some inner reflection, perhaps

I don't see where this happened at all. The mentally ill comments seemed to come unprovoked. Perhaps you could point me to a specific scenario that I might have missed? I don't see where I "shut down" any of @WBP posts before any such comments about frequent posters being mentally ill. Perhaps the first post I see of someone shutting down another poster is post #38.

 

[heathpack]

I don't see where this happened at all. The mentally ill comments seemed to come unprovoked. Perhaps you could point me to a specific scenario that I might have missed? I don't see where I "shut down" any of @WBP posts before any such comments about frequent posters being mentally ill. They seem to take issue with frequent posters just posting frequently. IMO, that doesn't have anything to do with their posting style.

Sorry I am not saying that you shut @WBP down. It seems to me that he/she feels like you shut him/her down. The vibe I was getting is that @WBP feels like he or she has something valuable to contribute and that others in the Marriott forum are dismissive of his/her contributions. I honestly don't know exactly what the problem is that @WBP has with you, and I don't have the insight to know if its justified or not.

If the opposition is just to a number of posts, I would agree that's not your problem.

But could I buy people's contributions getting dismissed in the Marriott subforum? Yes, I can see that happening.

 

[RookWDW]

This thread is getting out of hand and way off topic. I for one (not that I've been here long) appreciate all the help and posts from the so called "regulars" in the MVC forum, and don't get any feeling that they are dominating or shutting down posts. We are all big boys and girls and information is easily available if anyone wishes to counter posts from anyone else.

 

[iowaguy09]

Sometimes the “ignore” button can be just as useful as the “follow” button. Just sayin’.

 

[Superchief]

I just want to know if the OP ever spoke with the GM and received compensation for their unacceptable problems.

 

[travelhacker]

I had initially been offered 20k bonvoy points and $100 resort credit. I don’t really value bonvoy points much and I was just so annoyed by how things played out that I valued speaking to someone with authority more than compensation.

The person I spoke with didn’t want me to speak to the GM, so it just made me want to speak more because I didn’t think the full scope of the failures was considered.

The GM was out for the week for personal reasons but I spoke with the resort manager. I think this is just one position at most resorts but given that Grande Vista is massive, it probably makes sense.

I sent him an email a couple of days before our call (this morning) and he addressed all the issues and identified where the failures occurred.

He didn’t use it as an excuse but mentioned the work authorization change for refugees as causing labor challenges.

He said it was not typical for a room to be unavailable at 9:30, even with the challenges.

They have systems to track urgent issues and this was properly identified as such, but there were several people that dropped the ball.

I wrote up an email to let them know and it was clear that he actually checked different systems to see where the breakdowns occurred.

He took responsibility for those issues and said he planned to follow up on them. He seemed sincere as it was obvious he didn’t just read my email but checked on several details.

I would have been pleased after that conversation. I felt like I was going crazy with how many failures happened. He seemed sincere and I came away from the conversation feeling very positive.

He offered me a replacement interval week and asked me to get in touch when I returned to grande vista.

I was glad I insisted on speaking to someone with authority as I would have just been annoyed when the bonvoy points hit my account.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Glad you were able to speak with someone who took responsibility and acknowledged their failures. For me, that's more important than any compensation, but glad to hear they offered some concessions as well.

 

[vail]

Sorry I am not saying that you shut @WBP down. It seems to me that he/she feels like you shut him/her down. The vibe I was getting is that @WBP feels like he or she has something valuable to contribute and that others in the Marriott forum are dismissive of his/her contributions. I honestly don't know exactly what the problem is that @WBP has with you, and I don't have the insight to know if its justified or not.

If the opposition is just to a number of posts, I would agree that's not your problem.

But could I buy people's contributions getting dismissed in the Marriott subforum? Yes, I can see that happening.

 

[Big Matt]

In thinking about the whole situation again, there is one thing that really sticks out to me. Someone was going to get that room assignment and I'm sure that when you told them that you were going to check in late, you won the booby prize. I'm happy that you ended up with some satisfaction.

 

[Travelingman1]

"you won the booby prize"

I read this and immediately had an image in my head of Monty Hall bringing @travelhacker a goat LOL ;-)

 

[mauiwowie]

I've noticed a distinct correlation between getting an inadequate room and a late arrival. Every time I have gotten one, I have arrived hours after check in and typically during the summer where there is high occupancy.

When Marriott sends out the pre-arrival, I always indicate that I'm arriving at 4pm now and I do try to arrive close to check in if possible, so if there are problems in the unit, I can ask to be moved, before other options are occupied.

I've had several stays at Marriott managed resorts where the rooms have issues. I've had a couple with foul odors in the room. Like a critter died, maybe in the duct work? If others arrived earlier and had the same complaint, it's likely that they got moved to another room (probably your assigned room, since you haven't arrived yet) and you get stuck with that subpar room.

I've also arrived to a partially cleaned room, but was able to get moved.

I had a recent short stay where I had to arrive a day late and even though I notified the resort that I wasn't arriving until the next day, I received a call from maintenance asking to come in and do a significant repair after I arrived. How lame is that? They had a heads up that I wasn't going to occupy the room and yet somehow they couldn't do the repair during that 24 hours? Of course, I refused. Considering it appeared that there was black mold under the sink cabinet, they probably shouldn't have let the room be occupied at all. Did management care? Not at all.

In June, at another Marriott affiliated resort, I was "bumped" from the room I was assigned for a two week stay. I know because in that particular resort, some owners own fixed weeks and units. This was an exchange and showed that information on my confirmation and prior to arrival I called the resort to confirm my reservation and the front desk agent "let it slip" that I was in that unit for both weeks (which they typically don't do because of this exact issue). I was feeling pretty comfortable about arriving late knowing that my preferred location was assigned. I arrived about 9:30 pm to find that I no longer was assigned to the room on my confirmation, but that I also was going to need to change rooms after the first week. There was already another party at reception with a loud complaint about their room(s) assignment. They were supposed to have adjoining rooms in a lock off, but were instead assigned to lock offs in separate units. The front desk agent lied to me when I asked if the assigned room was on an upper floor, so I took the keys and drove to the unit only to discover that he lied. So I drove back to reception and waited in line again. They were still surprisingly busy for after 10pm. The agent who helped me originally was not present and the new agent was not very hospitable. I'm a very understanding person and I never lose my temper and yell loudly to create a scene, but I understand the OP's frustration of arriving tired and being lied to; it's not the way to run a hospitality business, even if the customers are somewhat hostages as timeshare owners/exchangers, rather than retail customers. Exchangers, may become owners, so I don't know why it seems okay to treat them as second or third class when it comes to checking in. I didn't feel it was important to mention that I was told that I was assigned to a particular unit, but if the management hadn't decided to bump me, they wouldn't have had to deal with additional complaints and probably unintentionally encouraged the party who got my unit to complain in the future. I think most people at this resort prefer to be on second floor rather than the first and I think that was probably why I got "bumped". Long story short, sometimes the resort creates avoidable issues and should try to minimize this from the start.

Marriott, handled the OP's situation poorly at check in, as no one likes to lied to, on top of being tired from travel and getting a subpar room. Sometimes there are conditions which are hard to avoid and hospitality employees should be trained in how to handle these situations. I'm glad to hear that the manager took OP's concerns seriously and provided a fair compensation.

In more than a half dozen instances where there's been an issue with a unit at check in, I've only once received a comp, 50k bonvoy points. I guess I need to learn how to complain better, but truly, I'd just prefer for the management to be honest and acknowledge the issue, instead of making it seem like I'm the problem. It's vacation, no one wants to deal with problems on vacation, much less create them

 

[MikeM132]

One phenomenon that never ceases to fascinate me is the confidence with which some individuals, who have never worked for Marriott and have no firsthand knowledge of its internal operations, present themselves as authorities on Marriott policies and practices. Equally striking are those without professional backgrounds in real estate, condominium law, or timeshare law who nevertheless speak with absolute certainty on subjects that are legally and operationally complex.

I find the same pattern among a small number of prolific contributors on TUG. Over time, their thousands of posts often reveal a remarkable level of certainty, regardless of whether the underlying facts support their conclusions. The sheer volume, frequency, and tone of some postings can become as interesting as the topics being discussed. In some cases, if you analyze the timing of their posts, a pattern emerges.

A

I'm not really seeing the problem with a few people who have a ton of timeshare experience at the resorts in question answer questions based on actual experience. In fact, that's the reason I'm here on this forum.
I'm not really sure how 25 years at Marriott relates to the state of affairs in the timeshare end of things since it was spun off. I have stayed at a lot and management does things a little differently at many resorts. I have read both "Dean" and "Dioxide" posts with great interest for years and consider that valuable info. In Dioxide case I've watched many of his videos on both timeshares and restaurants. Doesn't mean he knows everything, just more than me.

 

[CPNY]

They did move me rooms, and it’s as clean as what I’ve come to expect with MVC resorts. I got the keys at 6pm.

MVC cleanliness? sooo toenail clippings on the floor on the balcony or is that only rooms I check into? lol

 

[jp10558]

I've noticed a distinct correlation between getting an inadequate room and a late arrival. Every time I have gotten one, I have arrived hours after check in and typically during the summer where there is high occupancy.

When Marriott sends out the pre-arrival, I always indicate that I'm arriving at 4pm now and I do try to arrive close to check in if possible, so if there are problems in the unit, I can ask to be moved, before other options are occupied.

I've had several stays at Marriott managed resorts where the rooms have issues. I've had a couple with foul odors in the room. Like a critter died, maybe in the duct work? If others arrived earlier and had the same complaint, it's likely that they got moved to another room (probably your assigned room, since you haven't arrived yet) and you get stuck with that subpar room.

I've also arrived to a partially cleaned room, but was able to get moved.

I had a recent short stay where I had to arrive a day late and even though I notified the resort that I wasn't arriving until the next day, I received a call from maintenance asking to come in and do a significant repair after I arrived. How lame is that? They had a heads up that I wasn't going to occupy the room and yet somehow they couldn't do the repair during that 24 hours? Of course, I refused. Considering it appeared that there was black mold under the sink cabinet, they probably shouldn't have let the room be occupied at all. Did management care? Not at all.

In June, at another Marriott affiliated resort, I was "bumped" from the room I was assigned for a two week stay. I know because in that particular resort, some owners own fixed weeks and units. This was an exchange and showed that information on my confirmation and prior to arrival I called the resort to confirm my reservation and the front desk agent "let it slip" that I was in that unit for both weeks (which they typically don't do because of this exact issue). I was feeling pretty comfortable about arriving late knowing that my preferred location was assigned. I arrived about 9:30 pm to find that I no longer was assigned to the room on my confirmation, but that I also was going to need to change rooms after the first week. There was already another party at reception with a loud complaint about their room(s) assignment. They were supposed to have adjoining rooms in a lock off, but were instead assigned to lock offs in separate units. The front desk agent lied to me when I asked if the assigned room was on an upper floor, so I took the keys and drove to the unit only to discover that he lied. So I drove back to reception and waited in line again. They were still surprisingly busy for after 10pm. The agent who helped me originally was not present and the new agent was not very hospitable. I'm a very understanding person and I never lose my temper and yell loudly to create a scene, but I understand the OP's frustration of arriving tired and being lied to; it's not the way to run a hospitality business, even if the customers are somewhat hostages as timeshare owners/exchangers, rather than retail customers. Exchangers, may become owners, so I don't know why it seems okay to treat them as second or third class when it comes to checking in. I didn't feel it was important to mention that I was told that I was assigned to a particular unit, but if the management hadn't decided to bump me, they wouldn't have had to deal with additional complaints and probably unintentionally encouraged the party who got my unit to complain in the future. I think most people at this resort prefer to be on second floor rather than the first and I think that was probably why I got "bumped". Long story short, sometimes the resort creates avoidable issues and should try to minimize this from the start.

Marriott, handled the OP's situation poorly at check in, as no one likes to lied to, on top of being tired from travel and getting a subpar room. Sometimes there are conditions which are hard to avoid and hospitality employees should be trained in how to handle these situations. I'm glad to hear that the manager took OP's concerns seriously and provided a fair compensation.

In more than a half dozen instances where there's been an issue with a unit at check in, I've only once received a comp, 50k bonvoy points. I guess I need to learn how to complain better, but truly, I'd just prefer for the management to be honest and acknowledge the issue, instead of making it seem like I'm the problem. It's vacation, no one wants to deal with problems on vacation, much less create them

I do hate feeling like I need to "become that person" to get problems solved. That just sucks IMHO. And treating only the most complaining people just kind of forces this sort of "arms race" in the customers. It's bad all the way around. IDK why some resorts seem to be able to handle things better than others. It does also seem to me that it's best to do a hotel stay the night before and arrive right at 4 or 5 if possible for check-in.