I've always been told that the inventory that MVC uses has to match the 'bucket' available for the reservation type. If they are allocating upgraded villas from II reservations to owner or points reservations, that doesn't meet the policies that they communicate and aren't fair to owners who exchange their owned week. My biggest problem is their lack of transparency. If they assign all II exchangers to the lowest level villa, then that should be indicated when I am making my exchange. When I made this exchange, it clearly indicated a Oceanside villa. Since MVC own II, it's hard not to be skeptical regarding recent changes II has made.
As noted, II is clear they do not guarantee view type and unit assignments are made by the resorts. And while they have the codes, they do not track the views and it's like they do not even know what they mean other than using them to confirm ownership. While you're fretting over the issue, there are also advantages to this for exchangers who own at resorts with variations in units sizes, views, etc. A resort with 2, 3 or 4 view types or with smaller/larger units of same sleeping capacity will get the same trade power regardless of what's deposited. Since we're talking HHI, take HP where all units are 2 BR sleep 6 but there is a dramatic variability in view, size and even amenities between the lowest units (D) and esp the A/B units.historicaly a common purchase option there for exchanging was a top week in a D unit for this reason. Or GC which has smaller and larger 1 BR units among others.
As an owner at several MVC resorts, I've never been upgraded to a higher 'view' when exchanging to my home resort. Is MVC doing this at the SC resorts or are they using it for points, Encore, or rental inventory? I wouldn't be upset if a downgrade was due to inventory being unavailable due to maintenance or damage, but that doesn't appear to be the case since points and rental reservations are still being offered for Oceanside villas.
I've been upgraded a few times but there was always a reason for it such as the one I mentioned above but a couple of other times to keep us in the same unit for stays longer than a week to combine a points stay and an exchange. I've also had situations where resorts were so hardline on giving the exact unit deposited that it created issues for us that were easily fixed with a downgrade which we had asked for.
Room controllers and the Front Desk staff have a very difficult job and they get a lot of abuse. I've seen it first hand on many occasions. Knowing this and believing that most of them most of the time are just doing the best they can, I give them a lot of leeway. Lower expectations and an attitude to not be disappointed over small matters have served me well. For example, as I mentioned we have a large group of rooms at HHI with some OF & some OS. There are only 2 of the 10 buildings there where all units could be mostly or all in the same building. My ONLY request therefore is that, to be in the same building IF POSSIBLE. A few yeas ago they contacted me that 2 of our units would be in a different building. I was disappointed because that meant I'd have to effectively tell part of the group they were of lower priority and it created minor issues as I tried to group certain people closer together. But I did not complain at all as I felt like they were doing their best, had set expectations and had communicated the situation. I was prepared and had everything arranged who would be there. I had communicated with those affected in our group, they were likewise disappointed but understood and very accommodating. This was maybe 10-12 days out from our stay. A few days before arrival they contacted me and said we'd be in the same building for all units. I do not know what happened. Dis someone cancel, change requests or did my low stress response cause them to revisit and put additional effort there, I will never know.
Of all my stays over the years I've only complained about unit assignments one time which I chronicled here in 2018. The issue wasn't one of downgrading but rather of location as we were spread out about as far as we could have been at Ko Olina with units on opposite ends of the resort. Even then I wasn't yelling and screaming at the resort staff and actually didn't complain on check in but rather approached the management staff 2-3 days into the stay to inquire what had happened and why. I asked to speak to the FD manager and calmly inquired about the reason for this. We ended up with a meeting of the GM, assistant GM (?), FD manager and actually the GM for Waiohai where we were the next week. My goal was understanding what had happened, learning how to decrease this risk going forward and to possibly help others in a similar situation in the future. There was never any conflict just discussion. While I completely disagreed with what they did and why, I appreciated their communication, honesty and efforts. The end cause was 2 fold, one was absolutely adherence to matching the unit type deposited and the other, caving to someone else who was being difficult earlier that day. Basically they gave our rooms away due to the other person complaining and since they were being absolute about matching the deposited unit type, they simply couldn't then keep us even in adjacent buildings. So rather than have us in all 3 buildings they had one unit on one side of the resort and the rest in the opposite side. I appreciated their honestly in telling me what had actually happened and their efforts to understand plus meet with me.
One pet peeve I have is not telling guests they are receiving a HC unit. I do understand though since many would complain and someone has to get them as generally the resorts have moe HC than those needing/requesting them.
