How exchange companies are handling cancellations thread

[sfwilshire]

I feel like everyone should travel. What happened to all of the people on the JetBlue flight with the man from nyc to palm beach? Did the whole plane test positive? I suspect not. Go on vacation. Buy Lysol, Lysol down the room and relax and get your mind off this situation.

If this was a "normal" illness, I'd be inclined to agree with you. The horrible part of this situation is that you can be infected and not realize it right away or at all and still put others at risk. We have elected to keep our family separate from all others, even my daughter and her family who live next door. We go over and wave through the storm door at our grand-daughters from about 6' out in the yard. Our son-in-law is still going to work every day, so we will likely continue this separation for an extended period. We have had no physical contact with the outside word except to pick up our mail once a day since Wednesday afternoon. We have sufficient food to easily go for a couple of more weeks and in a pinch, longer. The days have been very long, but I have been cleared to work from home until the situation resolves, so our income is not impacted. Our retirement account is taking a big hit, of course, but we are very fortunate compared to others. We are saddened by some of our events that have been cancelled, but small price to pay to do our part to avoid catching or passing along the illness.

I will be planning vacations for next year and looking forward to our Fall plans, should the crisis be over by then. I have a long list of chores around the house to keep me busy in the meantime.

Sheila

 

[Wmbriano2grad]

I own points at a resort and use them through II. In January I booked multiple hotel exchanges for a family trip in June in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. I’m into it for about $600 and almost 350k points. I also have flight reservations from Virginia to Vegas that start June 7 on United.

Has anyone had experience getting hotel exchange points and fees refunded bc of CV?

Right now II is only refunding on exchanges through the end of May. Virginia currently has a stay at home order until June 10!

 

[dctravlr]

Nevermind, just saw a related post........

Anybody have any examples of what II may be doing? I have a 3/15 check-in on an exchange. Didn't purchase trip insurance but also was not thinking a national state of emergency. Would hope companies realize how unique this situation is.

My Covid-19 experience with Interval International was totally unsatisfactory. My week#16, starting 19APR, deposit for my Provincetown, MA waterfront studio unit was reported to me via an II postcard as "rejected by your resort..," or words to that effect. My resort sent me copies of THREE Approved emails they had sent to II.
When I phoned Ii for an explanation, i was subjected to over TWO HOURS of telephone "hold" time to move up their managerial food chain to determine why they had sent me a cancellation postcard notice which, in fact, lied to me about their reason for cancellation. Finally, an II "supervisor," who never revealed her name, told me that their II "resort rejection" postcard was a "generic" communication, and acknowledged that it was sent to me upon II being informed that my resort had been shut down by city authorities as a Covid-19 precautionary action; my week #16 could not be exchanged.
My attempts to get some kind of "we're in this corona virus thing together" acknowledgment from either II or my home resort, I was told, basically, "Tough Luck, Fell.," My requests for even a goodwill gesture from Interval International (ie coupons, waiving of future exchange fees, etc) to help offset my Corona Virus-related 2020 week#16 100% personal loss were rejected by II.
Anyone interested in taking on a Provincetown MA timeshare week. It's all yours, for just the legally-required fees to transfer ownership!

 

[Judy]

The resort I exchanged into is also closed. I had a slightly better experience with II on April 4. See my post #47 here: https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/ii-response-to-covid-19.302727/page-2 but I also received a postcard. I threw it out in disgust. It said something like, "Since you cancelled so late, your your replacement exchange is only good for 30 days in advance of check-in." I checked my account and the replacement certificate, good until mid December 2020, is still there. It has a lot of restrictions, but it would work for exchanges more than 30 days prior to check-in. It appears that II doesn't know what they're doing. Does anyone these days? Check your online II account and see if there's a certificate there. It might take several days to show up.

 

[TrvlwhnIcan]

I had a very similar situation with II. My Las Vegas resort closed a couple weeks before our April 3 checkin date. I called II to find out what to do, and I got the certificate online, good through the end of the year. This didn't help us much because all vacations at my husband's workplace were cancelled through December. A week later, the generic postcard came describing the terms of the replacement week with a 59 day-out booking limitation, but at least it was good through March 2021. The online certificate could be extended through June 2021 for $99, but when I called, they told me that extending the certificate would change the terms so that I could only book 30 days before check-in, similar to the replacement week described on the postcard. After a lot of time on hold, a rep with more authority lifted the 59 day booking limitation on the replacement week and removed the certificate from my account. The only issue was that the booking fee would have to be paid again; however, this didn't affect me because my home resort pays for that. I was able to immediately go online and book the same Vegas resort for next March. I would have preferred April (desert wildflowers), but the replacement week had to be used by one year from the date of the original cancellation. All in all, I feel lucky.

 

[travel maniac]

I think RCI was late to start their response but have done a better job of keeping up. They just revised their cancellation policy so one can cancel reservations beginning before May 31, 2020.

Generally I'm not an RCI fan but have to admit they have handled it very well so far. And IMO better than II.

 

[rickandcindy23]

This thread is tough to read. It's supposed to be about exchange companies and how they are handling cancellations.

I think RCI is doing a better job, but I understand that people just love II, and I love II, but II isn't being all that great because they make you pay additional money to get another exchange, and they are limiting it to within 60 days. I am not happy with that at all. RCI weeks has been good to me. They gave me coupons for my exchange fees and allowed me to use the coupon by 6/30 and book within a year of that time.

 

[elaine]

I was also very satisfied with RCI. Swapped cancelled RCI May DVC trade for Key West in Dec obtained via ongoing search. Used C19 free exchange voucher.

 

[Judy]

II isn't being all that great because they make you pay additional money to get another exchange, and they are limiting it to within 60 days. I am not happy with that at all.

Have you tested your certificate out online? In my case, even though it says, "A redemption fee will be required", when I used it to partially book an exchange, a charge of zero appeared.

 

[hurnik]

I have a feeling that this topic is going to be all over the board and it may be helpful to keep all the info in one place as lots of us are interested in knowing.
As we all get information. Please share here.

Personally, I have a RCI TPU exchange into Disneyworld that starts next week. Technically the resort itself isn't closing, just the theme parks.
I cant still buy Trade Power Protection on this exchange via RCI for $104. This will get my TPUS back.
Worse case I'm out $333 (exchange fee at protection costs) I'm ok with that and may even be able to try a claim with Chase UR insurance.

But...I wonder, Disney is allowing guests to reschedule for a year. Will this apply for RCI exchanges as well.

This will all take time to unfold.

This is old information, from an email from SFX on 3/20/20, so it *may* have changed. I have one exchange for November that I may need to cancel (although I did purchase the $99 insurance for it) for Vidanta. Won't know yet for a few more months.

Executive Management and Staff at SFX Preferred Resorts are all aware of the current threat of COVID-19 and fully appreciate all the input our members have provided. With your best interests in mind, we want to take the opportunity to update you on the status of your vacation booking, our cancelation process, and most importantly our commitment to ensuring you have an opportunity to travel once this challenging time is behind us.

Due to the concerns over COVID-19 we have been inundated with requests to cancel vacations. The CDC has recommended that seniors aged 60 or older not travel at this time. Many flights are being cancelled and several countries have implemented travel restrictions.

Considering these are unprecedented times, we are allowing anyone who is scheduled to travel on a vacation from the dates of 3/19/20-4/26/20 to cancel their vacation without penalty, outside of our normal cancellation policy.

We will provide a full credit to our members and allow them to rebook for new travel dates (subject to availability), along with a rebooking fee. If your week was scheduled to expire in the next few months, as a courtesy, we will extend it out till the end of the year.

On a separate note, if you have not yet deposited your 2020 week and will not be traveling this year, it would also be a good time to deposit your timeshare week with SFX, so it's one less thing to deal with right now. You will have 2-3 years to exchange it towards another vacation at a later date.

We are all optimistic that this crisis will be over soon, and life will go on and you and your family will continue to vacation. With this in mind we can immediately begin assisting you with a future vacation as soon as you are ready. Current extremely low pricing for airline tickets will make Summer, Fall and Winter vacations the best value they have ever been!

We have assured all our staff and can assure all of you that we will get through this together and come out stronger and more united that ever before. We look forward to working with you on getting your next vacation booked.

 

[Wmbriano2grad]

I own points at a resort and use them through II. In January I booked multiple hotel exchanges for a family trip in June in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. I’m into it for about $600 and almost 350k points. I also have flight reservations from Virginia to Vegas that start June 7 on United.

Has anyone had experience getting hotel exchange points and fees refunded bc of CV?

Right now II is only refunding on exchanges through the end of May. Virginia currently has a stay at home order until June 10!

I finally called II on Monday. I called around 9:30am EST and got right through. I explained the situation and the result was more than satisfactory. They canceled all 3 of my reservations. My points and all fees for each booking were added to a Credit. I have 6 months to re-book and can travel until 12/31/2021 without additional cost. So I have 3 credits waiting for rebook. All points, booking fees, and extra hotel payments will be reapplied. She didn’t even question the fact that my travel dates were beyond their current extended cancellation policies. This all works fine - I’m planning on booking the same trip, only next June.