Interval Woes

[travelhacker]

I had an ongoing search with Interval for a week that would allow me to extend a trip that I have been planning for a LONG time now, I was really hoping it would match, but didn't want to get my hopes up.

I log in on a fairly regular basis and when I went to see what inventory was online, I noticed that one of my ongoing searches was no longer displaying. I didn't recall getting a confirmation e-mail, so I looked in my history for it and it showed as cancelled.

I called up Hyatt to ask what happened and she said "Well, you probably didn't have enough points", I pointed out that I had 1750 points in CUP (all pre-paid) which should have been more than enough. She looked at the notes and before confirming my stay, the agent made note that I hadn't pre-paid maintenance fees for a separte week (week 28) of next year so the agent cancelled my request.

I explained that it shouldn't have made any difference because I had points available that had nothing to do with week 28. I also pointed out that there wasn't any way for me to pay short of calling and it's only been a few weeks since HRPP has been available for that week.

She agreed, but explained that's what the agent did and that the agent should have looked at the CUP points and there wasn't anything that could be done. She also reminded me that I should always pre-pay my maintenance fees to avoid this situation in the future.

They restored my waitlist request, but I'm not holding my breath that it will ever hit. I also have zero confidence that they actually restored it since it's still not showing up when I log into Interval.

I realize that there really isn't anything that they can do once the week has confirmed with someone else, but it's just annoying that human error caused this and then I kept getting lectured on the importance of prepaying maintenance fees (which should not have made a difference in this case).

Do you guys just pre-pay your maintenance fees as soon as possible? Should I just make it a regular practice?

 

[Tucsonadventurer]

That happened to us when we owed 12 extra on the years maintenance fee one yr, no notice or bill sent. Now we always prepay extra to be sure. It's annoying for sure but our Westin week doesn't even have a waitlist so we are at least happy about that

 

[GTLINZ]

This should not happen.... but i wonder... i have never had an issue like this but I always move points for II upfront into EE. I wonder if the points had been in EE if they could have screwed this up....

 

[travelhacker]

It sounds like if the points were in EEE I wouldn't have had an issue and it would have confirmed. I don't particularly like moving points to EEE since I prefer Hyatt. I am very selective about my II OGS exchanges, so I would have been ecstatic had it confirmed.

I'm guessing when my request went pending the person that looked at my account to pull the points and confirm the vacation goofed. never

As a follow-up, my Exchange request hasn't shown back up in my interval account. Sounds like I'll have to call again tomorrow.

Maybe I am incredibly unlucky, but I've only had a couple of reps that have been any help at all. I typically only call when there is a tricky issue (but I find I can do most everything else online).

 

[sjsharkie]

Hyatt's automated waitlist isn't very good either. It seems to stumble on non-prepaid maintenance fees all the time -- although yours was manual because it went through Interval, maybe the screen that popped up indicated this and the agent unfortunately went ahead and cancelled.

1. I wouldn't move points to EEE unless I was absolutely sure I was going to use them. Same as you -- I don't think it's a good idea because once you move it to EEE, you are stuck.
2. The Hyatt reps are pretty helpful in my experience. The system they use is not -- it has all sorts of restrictions. Side note: I just had a internal waitlist entry that didn't fire for some reason and checked today, and the reservation is available... frustrating.

-ryan