We should be at Samoset Resort right now .......

[susieq]

I was so excited when I finally made the exchange into Samoset, and did lots and lots of research on the area. We were so looking forward to our vacation. You can imagine our disappointment when three weeks prior to check in I broke my foot. Still looking forward to relaxing, I called the resort to see if we could be assigned to a second floor unit, (floor you enter on - there are no elevators), I explained the whole situation, but was told emphatically NO - you're on the first floor!! :annoyed: We did call RCI and complain, and got our TP back ~ but I just wanted to vent ~ thanks for letting me do that! I wonder how they keep their Gold Crown status with that attitude??

 

[e.bram]

It is RED season in Maine now. I am sure the entire resort is booked. Do you expect the TS to kick out an owner in their week to put you in. If a resort commandeered my owned week, there would be hell to pay with me calling the police to remove the trespassers.

 

[theo]

I was so excited when I finally made the exchange into Samoset, and did lots and lots of research on the area. We were so looking forward to our vacation. You can imagine our disappointment when three weeks prior to check in I broke my foot. Still looking forward to relaxing, I called the resort to see if we could be assigned to a second floor unit, (floor you enter on - there are no elevators), I explained the whole situation, but was told emphatically NO - you're on the first floor!! :annoyed: We did call RCI and complain, and got our TP back ~ but I just wanted to vent ~ thanks for letting me do that! I wonder how they keep their Gold Crown status with that attitude??

I am very sorry --- for both your injury and for your involuntarily cancelled plans to visit Samoset.

Bear in mind that the people who handle any and all incoming calls at Samoset are hotel employees at the hotel front desk (i.e., they are not timeshare or timeshare management company personnel). As you probably know, there is a large (and very busy) hotel and restaurant and golf course on the expansive Samoset property.

This is the peak time of year for usage and occupancy at Samoset. There may well have been no vacant middle-floor unit into which you could have been placed.
In fact, you might very well have been the only "exchanger" among all 24 units in whichever one of the three timeshare buildings into which you were pre-assigned.

RCI or II (i.e., not Samoset personnel) make all unit assignments for Samoset "exchanges", obviously based upon precisely what was initially deposited (there are no "floating" ownerships at Samoset). Most Samoset occupants at this time of year are either actual owners occupying their owned unit / week, or "tenants" of such owners. The front desk folks (who again, aren't even affiliated with the timeshare buildings at all in the first place, beyond just checking people in and out at the beginning and end of a week) would have no right (and no option) to ever "move" any fixed unit / week owner (or any owner's tenant) out of their unit / week and into a different unit.

I'm certainly not making excuses for any "phone attitude" that you may have experienced; I am merely noting that assignment to "a different unit" (regardless of the floor level and regardless of employee "attitude" --- whether good, bad or indifferent) was likely just simply never an option at all at this particular full occupancy time of year.
I don't know how / by whom resorts get "rated", but I seriously doubt that hotel employee phone demeanor is at all relevant to Samoset Timeshares' Gold Crown status.

Heal and be well. I hope that you will get another chance to exchange into Samoset sometime in the future and I'm sorry that the hotel personnel with whom you spoke were apparently both less than well informed and less than polite too. They frankly probably don't know any of the details or information that I have provided above, except perhaps that only RCI or II can ever assign "exchange" units at Samoset, but lack of subject knowledge is still no reason to not be courteous on the phone).

 

[silentg]

I broke my ankle just before going to Orange Lake a few years ago, a friend of mine lent me a wheelchair and we decided to go. We went to a sales presentation, me in a boot and wheelchair, they tried to sell us hard sell update, my husband kept telling them I was not up to touring, and they finally relented. Luckily the resort gave us a room that was accessible. I hope you feel better soon. Just glad you got your TPU back, go somewhere else. You will have a better time.
Silentg

 

[missyrcrews]

Samoset

Were you on the bottom floor? Most (If not all) of the units have a slider out the back that would have been on the ground level for you. There may have been a way to maneuver you in without negotiating stairs. I'm sorry that you're home...but wishing you a speedy recovery. Congratulations on getting your TPU's back, too.

Edited to add: I had a 3 am moment about this...we were in a 2 BR that had the master downstairs, which DID have a slider. But that wouldn't have helped you...because you'd still have had to get UPSTAIRS to eat. I'm not sure if any of the others have that slider out to ground level. Bless your heart...I hope you get another vacation once your foot heals. Something to look forward to!

 

[GrayFal]

Were you on the bottom floor? Most (If not all) of the units have a slider out the back that would have been on the ground level for you. There may have been a way to maneuver you in without negotiating stairs. I'm sorry that you're home...but wishing you a speedy recovery. Congratulations on getting your TPU's back, too.

Edited to add: I had a 3 am moment about this...we were in a 2 BR that had the master downstairs, which DID have a slider. But that wouldn't have helped you...because you'd still have had to get UPSTAIRS to eat. I'm not sure if any of the others have that slider out to ground level. Bless your heart...I hope you get another vacation once your foot heals. Something to look forward to!

It would have been nice if someone at the resort could have explored these options with the OP rather then just a flat out NO, we can not help you.
Maybe her unit could have been accessed by the balcony slider.
It just seems as if no one took the time to find out.....

Possibly some customer service training is in order.

 

[theo]

It would have been nice if someone at the resort could have explored these options with the OP rather then just a flat out NO, we can not help you.
Maybe her unit could have been accessed by the balcony slider.
It just seems as if no one took the time to find out.....

Possibly some customer service training is in order.

As related in some detail already, the hotel desk folks know next to nothing about timeshare operations at Samoset, although that's no reason for them to ever be rude. However, the simple and truthful fact, even if too tersely conveyed, was indeed accurate: "no, we cannot help you", for the assorted reasons detailed already above.

Don't know if you've ever actually been to Samoset, but fwiw the "sliding doors" referenced are actually are on the opposite side of the timeshare buildings. There are no pedestrian walkways to reach those sliding doors from the outside and it is a bit of a walk around the building (on grass and sloped terrain) to access those "sliders" from outside at ground level at all. The topography and layout offers no practical solution for anyone ambulating with a broken foot (or any other mobility restriction, frankly).

All the same, the hotel people on the phone should still be courteous, even if they are completely unable to entertain or accommodate non-standard requests.

P.S. That being said, I have occasionally wondered how the Samoset timeshare buildings can so very clearly not be even remotely ADA-compliant. Perhaps it's simply because the timeshares are privately owned, as opposed to being something offered for rent to the general public --- like motel or hotel units. I honestly dunno.

 

[WinniWoman]

I was so excited when I finally made the exchange into Samoset, and did lots and lots of research on the area. We were so looking forward to our vacation. You can imagine our disappointment when three weeks prior to check in I broke my foot. Still looking forward to relaxing, I called the resort to see if we could be assigned to a second floor unit, (floor you enter on - there are no elevators), I explained the whole situation, but was told emphatically NO - you're on the first floor!! :annoyed: We did call RCI and complain, and got our TP back ~ but I just wanted to vent ~ thanks for letting me do that! I wonder how they keep their Gold Crown status with that attitude??

No one has any people skills anymore- no empathy, nothing. I find this almost everywhere I go and I am in the "in-person" marketing/PR fields and visit numerous businesses every single day. It is like pulling teeth to get anyone to even look at you, never mind engage them in a decent conversation. I think that is why now it is even harder to work with the general public. People come up to the front desk already in a defensive mode because they pretty much expect to be handled in a poor manner. Same with the phone.

 

[GrayFal]

As related in some detail already, the hotel desk folks know next to nothing about timeshare operations at Samoset, although that's no reason for them to ever be rude. However, the simple and truthful fact, even if too tersely conveyed, was indeed "no, we cannot help you", for the assorted reasons detailed already above.

Don't know if you've ever actually been to Samoset, but fwiw the "sliding doors" referenced are actually are on the opposite side of the timeshare buildings. There are no pedestrian walkways to reach those sliding doors from the outside and it is a bit of a walk around the building (on grass and sloped terrain) to access those "sliders" from outside at ground level at all. The topography and layout offers no practical solution for anyone ambulating with a broken foot (or any other mobility restriction, frankly).

All the same, the hotel people on the phone should still be courteous, even if they are completely unable to entertain or accommodate non-standard requests.

P.S. That being said, I have occasionally wondered how the Samoset timeshare buildings can so very clearly not be even remotely ADA-compliant. Perhaps it's simply because the timeshares are privately owned, as opposed to being something offered for rent to the general public --- like motel or hotel units. I honestly dunno.

I read your very detailed response and in fact looked up information about the resort before I posted.

Instead of saying, 'no, we can not change you'
They could have said
'No, we can not change you, because all units are individually owned and all exchangers are placed in the unit that was given up for exchange.'

It would have taken a few more seconds to give that response but the OP would have hung up with a bit more knowledge and probably a better feeling about the resort in general.

The Hotel Operators (that the Samoset HOA must pay some of their salary as part of their MFs) could be trained to deliver the slightly longer version to people who call up and ask "Can I change my timeshare unit"

 

[presley]

Instead of saying, 'no, we can not change you'
They could have said
'No, we can not change you, because all units are individually owned and all exchangers are placed in the unit that was given up for exchange.'

It would have taken a few more seconds to give that response but the OP would have hung up with a bit more knowledge and probably a better feeling about the resort in general.

The Hotel Operators (that the Samoset HOA must pay some of their salary as part of their MFs) could be trained to deliver the slightly longer version to people who call up and ask "Can I change my timeshare unit"

I agree. In the hospitality industry, excellent customer service is a priority. Whoever answered the phone didn't have the skills to answer the question and should either be trained properly before being allowed to answer the phone or should have handed the call off to someone who is trained.

 

[Ty1on]

It is RED season in Maine now. I am sure the entire resort is booked. Do you expect the TS to kick out an owner in their week to put you in. If a resort commandeered my owned week, there would be hell to pay with me calling the police to remove the trespassers.

Perhaps they can find a hapless young couple with an infant in a Studio to put on the street. :hysterical:

 

[geekette]

...
Don't know if you've ever actually been to Samoset, but fwiw the "sliding doors" referenced are actually are on the opposite side of the timeshare buildings. There are no pedestrian walkways to reach those sliding doors from the outside and it is a bit of a walk around the building (on grass and sloped terrain) to access those "sliders" from outside at ground level at all. The topography and layout offers no practical solution for anyone ambulating with a broken foot (or any other mobility restriction, frankly).
...
P.S. That being said, I have occasionally wondered how the Samoset timeshare buildings can so very clearly not be even remotely ADA-compliant. Perhaps it's simply because the timeshares are privately owned, as opposed to being something offered for rent to the general public --- like motel or hotel units. I honestly dunno.

Thank you for identifying what the heck "a slider" is!!

 

[susieq]

Thank you all for listening to and allowing me to vent ~ makes me feel a LITTLE better!! Was looking so forward to this ~ I just felt cheated. I already have next year booked ~ guess I'll look forward to that!!

 

[theo]

<snip> Instead of saying, 'no, we can not change you'
They could have said
'No, we can not change you, because all units are individually owned and all exchangers are placed in the unit that was given up for exchange.'

It would have taken a few more seconds to give that response but the OP would have hung up with a bit more knowledge and probably a better feeling about the resort in general. <snip>

I concur. They could even go just a small step further and make it clear to callers that only RCI and II (Samoset is dual affiliated) determine or can ever change unit assignments for Samoset "exchanges" in the first place (but in peak season, the odds of another "exchange" unit even being available at all would frankly be very slim).