Reservations that suddenly appear

[Bigrob]

I'm just curious... I've noticed that sometimes reservations will suddenly appear... inside of the 15-day cancellation window. Sometimes well inside that window.

Where do reservations such as these come from? Owners that aren't getting points back wouldn't be releasing them. A recent example is suddenly a couple of 3BR showed up at Grand Desert for 9/17, just 8 days away. One of them was a presidential so it probably wasn't an extraholidays release...

Just wondering.

 

[scootr5]

My first thought would be a units that were being held out of service for something, such as maintenance issues?

I would also bet you might have the casual owner who would still cancel inside of 15 days, even though they weren't getting points back. These would be the same owners that often go for years without ever actually using their units...

 

[vacationhopeful]

In rare instances, an owner can appeal to Owner Care to cancel and get back their points - I did after the terrible storm to my area over the July 4th weekend.

Crap does happen ... I had 2 Royal Vista reservations for me and the family ... I had $16000+ worth of tree damage plus no electric or cable or internet at my home for 4 days.

 

[ronparise]

I will often carry a reservations inside 15 days because I think I can get it rented. Then sometimes I give up and cancel

I have a technique I use that so far has worked so I dont lose my points

 

[Bigrob]

I will often carry a reservations inside 15 days because I think I can get it rented. Then sometimes I give up and cancel

I have a technique I use that so far has worked so I dont lose my points

Yes, I think I'm aware of that technique. But typically I wouldn't see these pop into inventory in the middle of the day as I did today. I suspect that it's just a couple of units getting released from a maintenance hold and I got very lucky.

Also, using the technique you refer to means you should also be checking to see if you are suffering from points evaporation as reported by many folks regarding not all the points coming back from cancelled reservations. Just sayin'.

 

[ronparise]

Yes, I think I'm aware of that technique. But typically I wouldn't see these pop into inventory in the middle of the day as I did today. I suspect that it's just a couple of units getting released from a maintenance hold and I got very lucky.

Also, using the technique you refer to means you should also be checking to see if you are suffering from points evaporation as reported by many folks regarding not all the points coming back from cancelled reservations. Just sayin'.

Like I said, sometimes I just give up and sometimes that happens in the middle of the day

and I havent been checking that all my points come back, like I should. I havent run out yet so I havent been worried

 

[Sandi Bo]

Well, I asked that very question of a salesperson I caught in the hall at Bonnet Creek about 2 weeks ago. I, too, have a special code on my account and am not invited to presentations (not complaining, enjoying my vacations a bit more these days).

She said she had no idea that rooms were being not coming back into inventory when cancelled, for much of the summer, at Bonnet Creek. I got the typical, it's busy and they are sold out.

Then she told me that the owners control the inventory. Completely. And the day I saw at least 8 - 4 Bedroom Presidentials (and any other room type you would like) come available about 10 days from checkin? Well, there are princes that own at Bonnet Creek. Maybe some prince cancelled last minute.

We would just be amazed at who owns at Bonnet Creek, she said. :hysterical:

 

[jebloomquist]

If I have a reservation within 15 days, and I know for some reason that I can't use it, I will cancel it.

My logic is that I will lose the points either way, just keeping an unused reservation or by cancelling it. I am going to lose the points either way, so I might just as well give it up so that someone else might be able to book the unit.

What good, to everyone else, is an unused unit when no other units are available? It doesn't help me financially, but it does help psychologically. It's a feel good thing.

Jim

 

[Bigrob]

If I have a reservation within 15 days, and I know for some reason that I can't use it, I will cancel it.

My logic is that I will lose the points either way, just keeping an unused reservation or by cancelling it. I am going to lose the points either way, so I might just as well give it up so that someone else might be able to book the unit.

What good, to everyone else, is an unused unit when no other units are available? It doesn't help me financially, but it does help psychologically. It's a feel good thing.

Jim

How do you know you won't rent it? I have actually rented units where the reservation had already started.

I think there is another possibility too, because I was on the other end of it a couple of times last month. If an owner has overlapping reservations and the resort is sold out for that day, the people that work the "overlapping reservations report" (yes, it is done manually by people from a system-generated report) will cancel the last-booked of the overlapping reservations. Perhaps someone had reservations cancelled because they didn't have guest confirmations on something.

 

[Bigrob]

Well, I asked that very question of a salesperson I caught in the hall at Bonnet Creek about 2 weeks ago. I, too, have a special code on my account and am not invited to presentations (not complaining, enjoying my vacations a bit more these days).

She said she had no idea that rooms were being not coming back into inventory when cancelled, for much of the summer, at Bonnet Creek. I got the typical, it's busy and they are sold out.

Then she told me that the owners control the inventory. Completely. And the day I saw at least 8 - 4 Bedroom Presidentials (and any other room type you would like) come available about 10 days from checkin? Well, there are princes that own at Bonnet Creek. Maybe some prince cancelled last minute.

We would just be amazed at who owns at Bonnet Creek, she said. :hysterical:

Well I suppose that's true, counting Wyndham as an Owner/Operator.

I still wonder if there wasn't a maintenance event that didn't get publicized at Bonnet Creek. There were very odd things going on with availability. If they had put a maintenance block on a number of units, it would explain the cancelled reservations not coming back; and when the maintenance was completed, it would explain the release of units back into availability.

 

[Shelbyd95]

Well I suppose that's true, counting Wyndham as an Owner/Operator.

I still wonder if there wasn't a maintenance event that didn't get publicized at Bonnet Creek. There were very odd things going on with availability. If they had put a maintenance block on a number of units, it would explain the cancelled reservations not coming back; and when the maintenance was completed, it would explain the release of units back into availability.

My take on it...rooms at BC seemed to be released AFTER the more common checkin days (Fri., Sat., Sun.) so that owners could not upgrade....once you have checked in, it is difficult to upgrade. The front desk seemed to encourage you to use Extra Vacations for upgrades (therefore you have to pay) The CS Rep I spoke to at Extra Vacations was very smug and suggested that in the future, it may be in my best interest to book last minute through extra vacations because it may be the only way I get what I want...WTH? FYI...we wanted to extend our vacation and of course there was nothing on the system so they told us to check with the front desk on the Saturday I was checking out (8/8)...not wanting to take a chance to wait until Saturday (8/8)...a reservation (with upgrade) showed up for Star Island on Friday (8/7) so I booked it...on Saturday (8/8) we decided to still check at the front desk and lo and behold they had availability for the week but nothing showing on the system...we did call to try to switch things around but it became a big pain in the butt so we just moved to Star Island.