New Wyndham Website (2020)

[HitchHiker71]

Sorry about that. I’d read through most of it, I promise LOL!

No need to apologize, there’s a ton of information logged across multiple threads here on TUG so it’s difficult to find every reported item.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HitchHiker71]

Super appreciate your and Richelle's work on this. I was talking to someone from Michael Brown's office yesterday (I had a security concern) and my comment to her about the website... nice to have the add-a-night feature, but really wish they'd focus on fixing the original rollout first. That 10 months plus later we are still viewing 3 transactions per page, with no filtering is just crazy. I still don't have transaction details. Maybe we've been too quiet? Should we all, on a regular basis, continue to provide feedback (on the tab on the website)? No we aren't happy, just in acceptance mode and moving on. But, never have thought it's acceptable. And have never understood the premature release of this website. 10 months and counting premature, IMO.

Yes we should absolutely continue to provide persistent feedback via the website feedback mechanism. The way most feedback loops for development work is by volume metrics. So if a particular issue or enhancement request is reported repeatedly and creates higher volume metrics in the process - it will get more attention. Our reporting sheet cannot capture volume metrics in comparison - so our voice only has so much weight as a result. We do establish priorities for the items we are tracking - but that is anecdotal at least to some extent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FLTravs]

Agreed - but the front end website platform Wyndham is using is elastic (within certain confines from the cloud provider of course) - so there should not be a hardware based performance resourcing issue in play for any of the front end components, at least from what I’ve learned.

That said - there are still limitations from the back end database systems - which is why we haven’t seen broader search capabilities introduced such as regional or system wide availability searches. The DT team wants to be able to offer these website functions - but they have limits placed on them from the back end team that have yet to be remediated.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good to hear they're using elastic options for the front end, guessing AWS?

Curious what db they're using for the back end. Wonder if it's a legacy system or they just chose the wrong db platform.

In any case, I'm sure they're working on it. People don't understand how complicated everything is and the risk involved in making changes. Even with solid QA testing it's difficult to catch all bugs and issues.

 

[paxsarah]

I also find it odd that they only provide it during certain hours. Guess beggars can’t be choosers.

I have a vague recollection that this may have been true back on the old website where it was available.

 

[Sandi Bo]

I also find it odd that they only provide it during certain hours. Guess beggars can’t be choosers.

RE Assessment Info... Or that we just happen across such things? I wouldn't have know to look had I not seen it on TUG. Or that the PDF download available is last years assessment info, this years isn't available, but the info online is 2021. But at least there is something there (sometimes).

P.S. I would love to leave feedback but I don't have a feedback tab at the moment. I think it comes and goes :-(

 

[ladawgfan]

That 10 months plus later we are still viewing 3 transactions per page, with no filtering is just crazy. I still don't have transaction details. Maybe we've been too quiet? Should we all, on a regular basis, continue to provide feedback (on the tab on the website)?

This is by far still one of my biggest complaints. I normally have 30-50 upcoming reservations at a time and most of the reservations I need to view are at the end of the list. Also, it would be helpful helpful if you could at least use the back button to return to the previous page visited instead of taking you back to the beginning of the list!

 

[Sandi Bo]

And I still don't have a feedback button, anyone else?

 

[FLTravs]

And I still don't have a feedback button, anyone else?

Maybe they got tired of getting feedback? lol!

No feedback button for me. I did get a pop up last week asking if I wanted to provide feedback. I closed it and then realized how many problems the site had lol! Ah well.

 

[Braindead]

And I still don't have a feedback button, anyone else?

Maybe they got tired of getting feedback? lol!

No feedback button for me. I did get a pop up last week asking if I wanted to provide feedback. I closed it and then realized how many problems the site had lol! Ah well.

I still have the feedback button

 

[VacayKat]

Maybe they got tired of getting feedback? lol!

No feedback button for me. I did get a pop up last week asking if I wanted to provide feedback. I closed it and then realized how many problems the site had lol! Ah well.

This is a long shot, but sometimes websites are poorly coded and the content disappears if you shrink the window size too small. If you’re using a smaller window size than normal try expanding it wider and see if it comes back.

 

[paxsarah]

I have an ad/popup blocker and I've turned it off for the Wyndham site. With it off, I see the feedback tab, but if I turn it back on, I do not see the feedback tab.

 

[geist1223]

Boy all these issues does not give me much confidence in Wyndham as they are about to totally redo/rewrite/recode the Worldmark Page on the Internet. Not that I had much confidence in their IT ability to start.

 

[HitchHiker71]

This is a long shot, but sometimes websites are poorly coded and the content disappears if you shrink the window size too small. If you’re using a smaller window size than normal try expanding it wider and see if it comes back.

The cloud system used adjusts the experience automatically based upon the screen real estate. It actually works better on mobile devices and tablets (touch devices) as opposed to desktops/laptops with larger screens. I use my iPhone Safari browser most often and have always had ready access to the “Give feedback” link at all times. It’s more likely you will have an issue using a desktop browser. Lastly, avoid the MS browsers - particularly IE - as they aren’t supported.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ladawgfan]

Not having a feedback button may be a blessing . It’s in a spot which gets accidentally touched frequently and interrupts whatever you were doing previously. Extremely frustrating.

Also, is anyone but me having problems with the transaction history button functioning properly? On both the desktop and mobile version I have to press numerous times to get it to work. In addition when pressed there is no indication that the history request was activated, such as a spinning circle somewhere on the screen. I now need to press the button and wait to see if get the “transaction year options” eventually appear & if not start the process all over again. I wouldn’t mind waiting as much to be able to see this data if at least I knew the history was being gathered.

 

[troy12n]

I can tell you one of the most frustrating things about the site is how when you search for a resort, then click on one of them, if you want to go back to the previous search you had, you can't... clicking the back button takes you to some random grouping of resorts. It was not like this in the previous version of the website.

Also, something you could do on the previous website was for any link, you could right click and open it in a new tab or window, and stay logged in. You can't in the new website. It will take you to the page, but then you will have to log back in for instance, to check the calendar.

All this leads to searching for availability taking more time and effort, and a generally negative user experience. These are things that if they did Q/A testing and/or focus groups prior to launch, they could have discovered and fixed.

Here we are a year later and some of these things still don't work as well as the old website.

 

[FLTravs]

I can tell you one of the most frustrating things about the site is how when you search for a resort, then click on one of them, if you want to go back to the previous search you had, you can't... clicking the back button takes you to some random grouping of resorts. It was not like this in the previous version of the website.

Also, something you could do on the previous website was for any link, you could right click and open it in a new tab or window, and stay logged in. You can't in the new website. It will take you to the page, but then you will have to log back in for instance, to check the calendar.

All this leads to searching for availability taking more time and effort, and a generally negative user experience. These are things that if they did Q/A testing and/or focus groups prior to launch, they could have discovered and fixed.

Here we are a year later and some of these things still don't work as well as the old website.

Yeah, frustrates me too.

 

[kaljor]

Agreed. I'm not by nature a complainer, but I have no trouble stating an observation that it's now more difficult to do things that were simpler to do in the past. But I acknowledge that I can do everything I need to do, and it's only a little more difficult. Maybe it takes me 25% more time to search possible future bookings and book them.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I have an ad/popup blocker and I've turned it off for the Wyndham site. With it off, I see the feedback tab, but if I turn it back on, I do not see the feedback tab.

So the lesson learned is - disable pop-up blockers for the Wyndham website. Easily done with any of the pop-up blockers out there.

 

[FillSmith]

Hello, i got problem with blockers, can't disable them on Wyndham website. I entered it into the exclusion lists but it didn't help

 

[regatta333]

I agree the new website is far from perfect - but there have been a ton of bug fixes over the past 10+ months, and some nice new features like Add Nights for one - which I for one really like - and the site is overall working better than it was when it was introduced prematurely in May 2020 during the initial heights of the pandemic.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is anything being done to fix the automatic ugrade feature on the VIP side? It does not work. I've have 3 instances this year where reservations have not been upgraded.

 

[HitchHiker71]

Is anything being done to fix the automatic ugrade feature on the VIP side? It does not work. I've have 3 instances this year where reservations have not been upgraded.

It worked for me multiple times over the last two years. This process has nothing to do with the website itself - it’s a back office process that runs independently. We have no visibility into anything back end - we only have the ability to influence website related initiatives.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sandi Bo]

It worked for me multiple times over the last two years. This process has nothing to do with the website itself - it’s a back office process that runs independently. We have no visibility into anything back end - we only have the ability to influence website related initiatives.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I suspect it fails more than it works. It's worked for me, too. But I also see rooms sitting there that should upgrade and they don't. It only needs to work once in a while for people to proclaim how wonderful they are. Reality, no idea how they work, when they work, how often they fail, or what the upgrade paths are. Nice VIP benefit, lol.

 

[HitchHiker71]

I suspect it fails more than it works. It's worked for me, too. But I also see rooms sitting there that should upgrade and they don't. It only needs to work once in a while for people to proclaim how wonderful they are. Reality, no idea how they work, when they work, how often they fail, or what the upgrade paths are. Nice VIP benefit, lol.

Actually we cannot say it fails - at most we can say that from what we can see - it doesn't appear to be working correctly - but that's just an assumption given we don't know the logic used. For example, there are certain rooms at resorts that are exempted from the automatic upgrade processes for various legitimate reasons - including the fact that the resort itself can, to the best of my understanding, remove rooms from eligibility for automatic upgrades/instant upgrades. There's also the fact that the rules for automatic/instant upgrades for accessible rooms are very specific - so if for example you were to book a one bedroom accessible unit that had a roll under sink - and choose an upgrade - if the two bedroom accessible unit doesn't also have a roll under sink - it will not process the upgrade. This is why there's a checkbox when leveraging the VIP upgrade benefit for accessible rooms that essentially says "will you accept an automatic upgrade to a room that doesn't have the same accessible options that your current room has" (paraphrasing).

I've tried probably a dozen times, literally, to obtain visibility into the back office automatic upgrade logic. It's managed by an entirely disparate IT team within Wyndham. I have no contacts from that team. Even the team I do regularly deal with - hasn't had any luck obtaining the logic from what I've been told (either that or they are prevented from sharing anything about it - which is equally likely). At this point I've largely given up on trying to deal with anything automatic upgrade related as a result. It is persona-non-grata.

 

[troy12n]

All I know is that the idea that it doesnt work, ever, flies in the face of what i've personally experienced recently. I booked at Palm Aire with a 1BR and it upgraded me to a 2BR Deluxe instantly. I ended up cancelling that reservation a week later and booking at Sea Gardens when a 1BR Deluxe at Ocean Palms opened up, when I went to book that stay it wanted to upgrade me to a 2BR at one of the other buildings at Sea Gardens, and I declined. So my last 2 bookings I either received, or was offered an instant upgrade...

Also started a booking at Bonnet Creek and I could upgrade from a 1BR Deluxe to 2BR Deluxe, but I cancelled out of the reservation before finishing because of some last minute plan changes...

So it's working. It might not be working to some of your desires, but it's working. Like @HitchHiker71 said, it's likely there are some restrictions behind the scenes that inventory may not be eligible for instant upgrades... or maybe you are reserving at a resort which VIP benefits don't apply

 

[HitchHiker71]

All I know is that the idea that it doesnt work, ever, flies in the face of what i've personally experienced recently. I booked at Palm Aire with a 1BR and it upgraded me to a 2BR Deluxe instantly. I ended up cancelling that reservation a week later and booking at Sea Gardens when a 1BR Deluxe at Ocean Palms opened up, when I went to book that stay it wanted to upgrade me to a 2BR at one of the other buildings at Sea Gardens, and I declined. So my last 2 bookings I either received, or was offered an instant upgrade...

Also started a booking at Bonnet Creek and I could upgrade from a 1BR Deluxe to 2BR Deluxe, but I cancelled out of the reservation before finishing because of some last minute plan changes...

So it's working. It might not be working to some of your desires, but it's working. Like @HitchHiker71 said, it's likely there are some restrictions behind the scenes that inventory may not be eligible for instant upgrades... or maybe you are reserving at a resort which VIP benefits don't apply

Thanks Troy. In this instance we are talking about non-instant upgrades though. What most owners here are saying is that they booked a reservation ahead of the 60 day window - requested an upgrade - and then “see” the next larger room available when performing an availability search within the 60/45 day free upgrade window. There’s no direct way to test this theory however. The best way to test the theory about the upgradability of the room in scope would be to attempt an instant upgrade to the same room type that appears as available and see if the instant upgrade actually works. If the instant upgrade works for the same room type then it’s harder for Wyndham to make the case that the automatic upgrade process is working correctly for those owners who requested an automatic upgrade originally outside of the 60 day window.

Has anyone tried this approach? So for example if you have reserved a one bedroom unit (not accessible mind you), and “see” a two bedroom unit as available for booking. First test - can you actually reserve that two bedroom unit? Sometimes there’s ghost inventory in the system for example. Second test - can you attempt to book a one bedroom within your upgrade window and if so, do you receive the two bedroom as an instant upgrade option? If so, we can at least point out the discrepancy, if not, then there’s something in the system preventing that particular piece of inventory from applying to the upgrade functions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk