My biggest issues with the no fee and other ACs they are giving out as compensation is that the customer service reps don't know what restrictions there are and thus don't communicate the restrictions that are on them. Even after asking pointed questions about the restrictions. So you can't make an informed decision on what option to choose when cancelling an exchange. We cancelled an exchange and the AC given was very poor. We had traded a Marriott in to another Marriott, but the AC we got could not see any Marriott properties. Not even the one we cancelled our exchange for. Had I known the restrictions, I probably would have chosen a different option.
That said, I reached out to the TUG II Members mailbox and got a satisfactory result from the no fee AC.
I agree completely. When I asked the II rep what kind of certificate they were giving, I was told it was a "replacement week". If you've gotten a replacement week from II, you know that it is not quite the same as your original week, but is a whole lot better than most other ACs that II issues.
When I originally received it a few weeks ago, it had very few restrictions, mainly just blocking out So Cal, a bit annoying since my resort is in So Cal, but not a big deal overall because it did show other parts of CA and HI. I was able to see a lot of locations and quality resorts through December, but because no one knows how things are going to play out, I didn't rush to book anything. I was generally pleased with the AC initially as it seemed to be like the "replacement week", I had received in the past and not like the fairly restrictive "freebies" they deposit in user accounts, so I believed that the rep had been honest with me. Also, the replacement was based on the size of the unit traded into, not the size of the deposit, which was also a bit disappointing, but I was trying to remain positive.
But a few days ago, I noticed that I wasn't seeing any Hawaii weeks in May, which I have seen regularly for the past month. I thought perhaps II had pulled them since many resorts are not available and its kind of unfair that II still has them available to book only to find out that the resort isn't really open. But after starting a searching with my "freebie" AC that most II members got last year, I saw the Hawaii resorts were still available with it. So I went back and looked at the restrictions on the replacement AC and sure enough a bunch of new restrictions had been placed on it and then today even more restrictions were implemented.
It's one thing to offer a time limited "replacement week" as compensation instead of a refund, because no one involved was at fault for the situation, but I think it's not reputable to continually make changes to the terms of that certificate, that weren't disclosed and especially after it's been issued. The only terms the replacement policy stated for the "fee free" certificate was that it needed to be used by 12/31 (but in reality 12/24, because Christmas week is excluded) and that II might limit the search to 30 days, as needed. But it does not say that II can severely restrict locations and/or specific resorts/vendors as II sees fit even after the AC is deposited into your account. II was responsible for training it's reps to honestly disclose restrictions on these ACs and II stated and revised its written policy regarding these ACs, but was not transparent about the fact that they could change the terms even after the ACs were issued. Also, there was someone on the II community board who repeatedly told others that he had an AC booked and II gave him a replacement AC which he used to book a 2bd Marriott in Hawaii in December. The person does not own a Marriott but boasted that the replacement AC pulled a better unit than what was available with what he owned!! Well it worked great for him, but not so much for others, especially anyone who relied on his advice and then had the terms of the certificate changed. Since II can modify posts in its community, and does so regularly, perhaps they should consider deleting his misleading posts, now that they have blocked Hawaii from these ACs. Then again, maybe it's just me that they are manipulating and they are manipulating others differently, depending on where they live or typically travel. I don't really know since I can only see my certificates and know what I search regularly.
Has anyone else noticed changes in their replacement AC recently?
What is the Tug II Member mailbox?
And yes, it was the Marriott Pulse the OP booked in the Fisherman's Wharf area of SF. I'm figuring he knew we would realize that he has talking about the Pulse timeshare since it was an exchange through II.