Hypothesis About Wyndham's Reservation System

[chapjim]

We've been subject to the new reservation system for about fifteen months. Some things are still a mystery but we've figured some things out. Maybe.

Here's one hypothesis that I'm submitting for peer review: There's no point in searching for the same reservation several times a day. If it's not there the first time, it won't be there later the same day. This is because cancellations aren't loaded until sometime after midnight.

What I don't know is when Wyndham loads inventory, at what time of day does that happen?

 

[Braindead]

I’ve experienced the same thing with cancelled reservations not coming back the same day.
I’ve heard different times on when the reservations come back.

 

[JohnPaul]

They keep telling us at Worldmark and Shell that we will soon be getting the terrific new reservations system you guys now have.

 

[wjappraise]

IF ... they come back, I’ve seen them two to three days later. Most of the time they seem to load between 5:00 am and 7:00 am. I’ve also seem a few load back around 7:00 pm. I’ve seen nothing load during the day.

Wes

 

[MaryBella7]

I know I was looking to add one night to a reservation, and at 5 AM, nothing was there. By 7 AM, it was.

Also, whenever they have gone down for a day or more, inventory seems to appear when they go back up. Anytime I want a harder to get reservation, I look after a long shutdown and have found it.

 

[chapjim]

We've been subject to the new reservation system for about fifteen months. Some things are still a mystery but we've figured some things out. Maybe.

Here's one hypothesis that I'm submitting for peer review: There's no point in searching for the same reservation several times a day. If it's not there the first time, it won't be there later the same day. This is because cancellations aren't loaded until sometime after midnight.

What I don't know is when Wyndham loads inventory, at what time of day does that happen?

Mostly I'm looking to avoid wasting time checking several times a day for something that wasn't available at 7 AM. My experience tells me it won't be there if it wasn't there at 7 AM but the collective experience of folks here on the board may prove me wrong.

 

[wjappraise]

Mostly I'm looking to avoid wasting time checking several times a day for something that wasn't available at 7 AM. My experience tells me it won't be there if it wasn't there at 7 AM but the collective experience of folks here on the board may prove me wrong.

I think a reasonable approach is to check at 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. While the 7:00 pm is not as likely it does generate some re-loads.

Wes.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I am assuming ET in all of the times that you are listing. I live in Central time, so I assume an hour earlier.

 

[Avislo]

One rep indicated that there is a 2 to 4 hour delay in cancelled reservations returning to inventory. He can see it to reserve before it shows up on the site. From time to time I have been able to get a reservation that is not on the site.

 

[jacknsara]

Aloha,
We do not own Wyndham so cannot directly comment but do have an idea for testing the hypothesis based on RCI behavior measured many years before RCI switched its weeks system to TPUs (guessing my data collection was more than 15 years ago). I used the results to book flights to Hawaii without having lodging reservations while remaining confident in the probability of getting an exchange in the last couple of weeks prior to check-in at a resort we were specifically interested in. We had a low MF Mexican studio RTU (now expired) that we always deposited and got great last minute exchanges until RCI switched to TPU.

Bottom line, check Wyndham locations to which virtually no one can drive (e.g. Hawaii) multiple times during the day.

During my study period focused on specific resorts in Hawaii, I used to check RCI availability multiple times a day for deposits with check in dates less than 45 days from present - in the morning before work, during lunch break, at the end of work before commute home and during the evening. During non peak seasons, deposits would appear infrequently but somewhat randomly during the day. They might persist for several days. During peak seasons, deposits would appear with about the same infrequency but disappear within minutes to hours. Other tuggers would occasionally complain about the total lack of availability at resorts in which I was seeing momentary availability. I'm guessing that everything I posted about that disappeared with the new forum software in 2005.

I explained the observed phenomena with the conjecture that no one who reserves a timeshare unit way in advance plans to cancel close to check in date but stuff happens at a relatively consistent rate all year. During peak seasons, the frequency of RCI members checking all day long was much higher than during slack seasons. And for Hawaii, if you didn't already have flight reservations, it was unlikely you would grab a last minute exchange the first moment you saw it. OTOH, if you were already going, you might grab a last minute lodging upgrade. For someone checking only occasionally, this would often result in the person concluding that nothing was available.

Jack

 

[ecwinch]

I have seen availability suddenly appear during the day. But not anything I cancelled coming back.

 

[Cyrus24]

May want to watch upgrade timing to learn about when that process is run. Upgrades being handed out may be related to inventory being returned. I had a reservation upgraded last night, the email came through at 11:26pm Eastern.

 

[Sandi Bo]

I suspect they purposely don't send the email at the time of the upgrades.

They don't want us to figure this system out. That's my hypothesis.

I am not on the system nearly as much as I used to be. I'm with you Jim, I think it's a waste of time to watch it like we used to. Recently I've not had much luck finding stuff. If I had to pick when I've been most successful, it's early morning. But I have been successful in the afternoon. I don't think it's a one or two off thing. I've felt like I caught them dumping a considerable amount of inventory (maybe they were holding for some reason and decided to put it back in the system).

The upgrades are working more then they used to. They still do not work all the time, but my experience is that they are happening more frequently.

I've had upgrades that should have left a 1 bedroom, but I don't see a 1 bedroom when I look. Someone may or may not have gotten it. But I looked early and the upgrade happened overnight. I'm guessing a batch job in the wee hours of the morning. But not sure when the freed up rooms come back.

I very much believe this system is working as Wyndham wants it to.

 

[rickandcindy23]

They keep telling us at Worldmark and Shell that we will soon be getting the terrific new reservations system you guys now have.

Heaven help us. I am so sick of Shell, anyway. My WorldMark I loved, until I found out about their ridiculous new guest certificate rules. I am not happy.

Wyndham's system has not allowed us to book anything online in one of our accounts. We have two platinum accounts. When we asked last year what was the problem, we were told, "Of course you cannot log into two different accounts." REALLY? We were able to do it before this new "upgrade." Someone named Josh is supposedly trying to get answers for us. It's been days.