Last call inventory has changed considerably

[rickandcindy23]

Suddenly, no Orlando weeks are available anytime in the near future. That is quite upsetting since there were literally hundreds of weeks available ten days ago. What is behind this drastic change in Last Call week availability?

Perhaps there is a glitch? We have personally never taken advantage of the Last Call weeks but were considering doing so.

 

[klisow]

I noticed this too. At first, I thought something was wrong with the system. I was watching several different weeks in the mid-west, and they were all removed. But, I went to "extra vacations" and found that they are now in this area, listed for more money.

I loved the "last call" area, as it provided us little trips close to home. Oh well, I guess all good things must come to an end. Especially when it comes to dealing with RCI.

Kathleen

 

[Aldo]

It ought to be plain to everybody by now that Cendant, via RCI, is actively trying to DESTROY timesharing. This is just the latest example.

 

[cbogan]

rci

I absolutely agree with Aldo - RCI has another agenda and it isn't helping members to exchange any more! Sad.........

 

[Vodo]

The change happened last Wednesday. See my original thread:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9624

Neither Madge nor the VC's at RCI have provided any insights, so I'm very frustrated. Last Call was the best thing RCI ever gave us, and now, without explanation, it's essentially gone. And the inventory that should be in Last Call is now in Extra Vacations at a greatly increased price over not only the Last Call price but also over the usual Extra Vacation price. I suspect that inventory will just sit there for awhile, unless RCI has a more profitable means of liquidating it that doesn't involve its members.

Cindy

 

[ivysun99]

Did anyone call RCI?

I called, and the Vacation Guide said it was a system error, so we cant see those last calls on the website (I hope she understood what I was asking about). Then I asked her if she knows when this error will be fixed, she said they don't have a time for it.

Did anyone call RCI about our question. What are the responses you got?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Sorry, Cindy, I didn't notice your post on the subject

We were in Orlando last week, staying at Orbit One, and did not get back until early Sunday morning. I just got online Sunday afternoon and noticed the difference in Last Call availability.

So it looks as if the guides at RCI have now given us two different answers on the loss of availability in Orlando. I wonder how many more reasons they could come up with. If I wasn't so busy at work right now, I would call RCI to find out what is going on with Last Call and would probably get another different answer.

 

[pbenham]

I think I know where the Last-Call weeks are going...

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?p=68051#post68051

 

[rickandcindy23]

That is a shame

I will never understand the RCI's supposed ownership of excess inventory.

I guess they will use this one to their advantage to get renewals and new customers, but they are cutting us off from a great benefit at the same time.

There were literally hundreds of weeks that disappeared. They are stealing from Peter to give Paul gifts. It is not impressive.

 

[Vodo]

I simply don't believe RCI's claim that the free Last Call week that they're offering with renewals is what ate up all the Last Call inventory. The depletion of available Last Call resorts was sudden, not gradual. There were almost 100 resorts one hour and then there were five the next. Those same five resorts (and only two destinations) have been constant everytime I've looked for almost a full week now. There has been a fundamental change in RCI's system that is eliminating what would have been normal Last Call inventory from being available. Most of it still shows up in Extra Vacations, but at a suspiciously inflated (almost double) price over what it always has been for this time of year.

Cindy

 

[ivysun99]

Answer?

Looks like Madge is online responsing questions now (5:40pm). Hopfully, she will give us an answer for this one... Let's wait...

 

[CaliDave]

I talked to a very nice VC today.
She helped me with a few account problems.
Then I asked what happened to the LC inventory. I told her that I saw 70-80 last week, then all the sudden there is 5 in the featured destinations.

She said "Last call weeks are from cancellations, people must not be canceling vacations right now"


I guess we know for the future, not to count on these perks forever.


I had a glitch in my account today, where I couldn't see one of my spacebanks online, but the guide could see it. Maybe the last call server has a glitch? We can hope?

 

[Vodo]

One of the times I asked about it last week, the VC put me on hold and checked with her IT department. IT advised that the system was working properly and showing everything that was available.

 

[Harmina]

no problem

As I mentioned before I can see lots of Last Call availability.
Never did I see the supply depleted. I was searching constantly to add to our week in St. Lucia and I did manage to pull it last Saturday.
I was one of the fortunate ones that had the fee waived by extending our membership.

 

[CaliDave]

As I mentioned before I can see lots of Last Call availability.
Never did I see the supply depleted. I was searching constantly to add to our week in St. Lucia and I did manage to pull it last Saturday.
I was one of the fortunate ones that had the fee waived by extending our membership.

so if you go on "featured destinations" you see 70 or 80 resorts like we have been seeing for the past month?

 

[DMB]

I also see only 5 under Featured destinations. There is more caribbean availability, 25 at the moment. Hopefully Harmina will check back in and let us know where the St Lucia week was found, under Caribbean or Featured Destinations. I definitely see lots of east coast inventory that used to be in Last Call now moved to Extra Vacations for much bigger bucks... probably same for west coast, though i haven't been checking those.

I pity the VG that calls me to renew my membership...

 

[Carolinian]

Maybe we should inquire whether they are reducing Last Call in order to feed sites that rent to non-members of RCI like www.afvclub.com/nightly_grid.asp

 

[Vodo]

My husband is USAF Retired and we're particularly thankful for the Armed Forces Vacation Club. However, Last Call was a much better deal and offered more expansive inventory. AFVC offers a subset (but not all) of what can be found in the Extra Vacations inventory. With a $264/week flat rate, it is often higher than Extra Vacation pricing (or at least it was before the sudden price surge on the EV inventory) and was always higher than Last Call. I feel like our military men and women deserve some breaks (and thought so even before I married my ex-military spouse), so I don't begrudge them the AFVC perk. There are other groups though who have similar programs that I'm not so sure about.

Cindy

 

[Harmina]

This is what I see

At 8:50am, I checked Last Call and this is what I saw, Acapulco 4, Carribean 43, East Coast -Virginia Beach to Myrtle Beach 20, SE Florida 16, PV 19, and Inland Texas 16.

DMB - The Oasis Marigot was available on both Last Call and Extra Vacations.
I saw it again on Monday on Last Call.

 

[xzhan02]

All Gone as of 9:25 am

For Nov, all gone except the five in featured destinations.

 

[DMB]

Harmina,

Please check "Featured Destinations." It is a separate list, the first to appear in the drop down. there used to be many many choices, but we are now seeing only 5.

And it does seem that all the others you listed have mysteriously disappeared for the rest of us, can you still see them? I was able to see them until today, RCI must be "finishing the job..."

 

[Vodo]

At 8:50am, I checked Last Call and this is what I saw, Acapulco 4, Carribean 43, East Coast -Virginia Beach to Myrtle Beach 20, SE Florida 16, PV 19, and Inland Texas 16.

DMB - The Oasis Marigot was available on both Last Call and Extra Vacations.
I saw it again on Monday on Last Call.

But what do you see under Last Call "Featured Destinations"? That's where the huge inventory is missing. There were as many as 155 resorts (and heaven knows how many weeks within those resorts) showing up there at one point shortly before everything disappeared. Since then, it's been the same five resorts in the same two cities.

Cindy

 

[donnaval]

Same five resorts under "featured destinations" today, and the other choices have narrowed considerably--Eastern Canada and Puerto Vallarta, no more Florida or East Coast choices. Pretty lame.

 

[IreneLF]

Nothing left but 5?

All I can see for Oct and Nov are 5 festured destinations, everything else says nothing available.

 

[Harmina]

Yup, they are gone!!

What I saw earlier has disappeared. All I can see now in Last call are 19 in PV for Oct. and 14 for PV in Nov. That is it it!
Cindy, I was in the "last call featured destinations" earlier when I pulled the ones that I had listed.
Perhaps I cooked my goose with RCI for reporting on this site...
Who knows?
There is a ton of availibility on Extra Vacations as others have mentioned.
Maybe they are still offering to waive the exchange fee with a membership renewal to make it look like an even bigger saving.
Something odd happened to me last week - As I mentioned I picked up a Last Call for Oasis Marigot on Saturday to extend our stay following the week that we already had.
I called RCI last week after checking with the airlines first to make sure we could change our return date.
I then called RCI and asked to do an ongoing search for the Oasis Marigot with my bonus week.
I asked the guide should something come up, would it be offered to me before it going to their excessive inventory.
He mentioned "absolutely that is the beauty of an ongoing search".
Well they didn't call me. I found it myself in both LC and VE.
Yesterday I received a call from RCI to see if I was flexible with my dates as nothing had come up for the Oasis for Oct.22
I told her I had already booked it last Saturday. She then mentioned, " oh I see it"
Thank goodness I did it with a VG on Saturday and not on line or I would have really been concerned.
I did have back up accommodations if nothing had shown up with RCI for our extended 3 days in St. Lucia.