Westgate exchange into II

[chestnut]

Hi Folks,
Hopefully I have a relatively easy question for the experienced out there

I have a 4 bedroom at Westgate Town Center (2 bed + 1 bed + 1 bed).
My 'deeded' week is Week 22, which Westgate classify as an 'All season' floating week.

I have searched the forum before posting and spotted this thread regarding Westgate giving Interval International a different week than what you own when depositing
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46610

I would like to deposit my 2012 Westgate units (probably both the 1 bedroom units) into II.
I understand I have to obtain 'authorisation' from WG first.
But my question is, can I instruct them to deposit Week 22, or one of the other 'All Season' weeks which have a higher demand rating (on II's demand chart) - or do WG have the upper hand and could they ultimately deposit a DOG of a week into II ?
I assume if I have no say in the matter, they can only authorise the deposit one of the other 'all season' weeks into Interval and not some low-end, low demand week from the value season?


Any help or pointers in my exchange going a little more smoothly would be gratefully appreciated.

Many thanks


Steve

 

[sstug]

Hi,

I also have a 4 bedroom floating week. You will need to call them and tell them you want to deposit the two 1BRs to II. They will look at their inventory and assign you a week for each that is available and give you a reservation number. I don't remember exactly how, but they then notify II and your deposited weeks will appear in your II account. I think my deposits were almost immediate, but they say it can take a few days. Westgate may even be able to enter deposits into the II system directly.

Monitor what they do very carefully - each configuration has a different code (1BR w/ full kitchen is differenty than 1BR w/ kitchenette). They have made many mistakes depositing mine. Just make sure when it's done you have two 1BR deposits and one 2BR available on II.

Looking at my history (they had a tough time depositing for me and had to keep canceling and redepositing) I see:
0BED (efficiency)
G1B (1 bedroom)
1BDBG (1 bedroom)
1BDLB (1 bedroom)
S3BLK (3 bedroom)

You can ask and if the rep is knowledgeable they may be able to tell you what each code indicates. Just make sure if you have a 4 BR with full kitchen and 2 kitchenettes they don't ever deposit an efficiency for you.

You don't have much control over what week they assign but if you have a specific week you want you can ask them to check if it's available. They will tell you all weeks are equal or they are giving you a great week, but I don't know what weeks are stronger than others. I'm not even sure if that matters in II at all.

Westgate has been very good about extending expired weeks and using them to book future exchanges for me (I didn't ask - they offered). They have also reserved a week in the next year for a current year deposit.

My suggestion is to ask lots of questions and become your own expert as it relates to how they handle a 4BR floating week (the 'deeded week' is pretty much meaningless - it's a floating week). Keep good records so you can tell them what week from what year you are using. You can only deposit current/future year with II, but you can have prior years unused and still depositied for internal exchange. They always seem confused what week to use so I ask them multiple times which week they see.

Maybe just deposit a single 1BR at first to see how it works and verify II shows the 1BR deposit + 3 BR available. Then you can call again and deposit the 2nd 1BR.

I forget what 'deeded week' I have, but I have 6 weeks blacked out in FL and all others are available.

Westgate has a very bad reputation but their reps have been very helpful to me. I can't stress enough to learn as much as you can (and ignore all the negative comments) so you can direct the reps while you are on the phone. Just have them tell you exactly what weeks they can give you and don't just blindly accept what they say. When in doubt, say thank you I need to think about it and call back later to see what the next rep says.

Hope this helps a little
Sheila

 

[frenchieinme]

I also have a 4BR but at Westgate Lakes. It is a fixed week so our II deposits are a little different than yours but otherwise have many similar characteristics. As defined, ALL SEASON is wks 5, 8-13, 21-25, 27-34, and 47. When you deposit with II, Westgate will deposit with II any ALL SEASON week they have in their inventory. You don't have much choice in the matter unless you own specific,fixed weeks in which case you can ask that your specific week be deposited.

Like you, I have had good results with both estgate and II for depositing my weeks. When referencing Westgate one needs to separate their atrociously high pressure sales staff from their other business affiliates. Their exchange staff I have found to be very helpful as when dealing with II.

As the prior post mentioned, you need to stay on top of things to verify what you asked for is in fact what is found in your II online account.

The process is contacting Westgate telling them what you want to deposit with II. You need to have your maintenance fees paid in full before Westgate will give you a deposit ID/Reservation # for the unit you are depositing. I know all has been going well when I deposited the smaller units omy 4BR units with II. It usually takes 5 to 8 business days for the deposit to show up on my II online account. Good luck.

frenchieinme

 

[montyjb]

OK-- here's a newbie question

I have deposited two weeks (2010and 2011) of 2BR lockoffs (PH Vegas) from Westgate into II. Rather than go thru all the trial & error, what would be best or easiest process to exchange either week for something I could use - we're not picky or ignorant, but no one ever explained exactly how we were to do it and now the 2010 week will expire later this year.

I'd like a week in New Orleans in Sep or Oct, but have yet to see anything anyplace with 2BR.

Mainly I just don't want to lose 100% on the 2010 weeks - the beating I took when we bought into PH was bad enough - we came to TUG too late.

Thanks for any advice in advance

 

[Dave*H]

How does it work with request first? If you reserve a week 25, will Westgate deposit that? If not, what happens if Westgate deposits a week 20, but you decide to use it? What guarantees they will actually have a week 25 available if you don't make an exchange? If they do deposit the week 25, isn't that a way to get around Westgate giving you a dog week to deposit?

 

[sstug]

How does it work with request first? If you reserve a week 25, will Westgate deposit that? If not, what happens if Westgate deposits a week 20, but you decide to use it? What guarantees they will actually have a week 25 available if you don't make an exchange? If they do deposit the week 25, isn't that a way to get around Westgate giving you a dog week to deposit?

I'm guessing you are asking about a floating week like the OP. I admit I don't really use the II request feature; but if I select my WTG 4BR unit and click on request it brings up the 4BR with a field for reservation #. I don't know if it validates the reservation number against anything, but I assume you could put in any number to force the request. But I have no option to change the number of bedrooms, so I would be requesting an exchange for my full 4 BR unit. Most likely anyone with a 4 BR only wants to exchange a portion of the full 4 BR unit. This is why you need to call Westgate in advance and get them to deposit a 1 or 2 BR unit on your behalf.

Once Westgate deposits your week it is gone and you can only do an II exchange with it. If you don't make an exchange then you still can't use your week 25 (with Westgate) because it is already deposited in II. I don't think the request first feature will work with a floating unit (even if I were willing to give up my full 4 BR).

Remember there is a difference between Westgate reserving a week for you (internally) and depositing in II. Maybe you could reserve a week with Westgate and use the res# for browsing/request first. But if a match is found by the request and you don't have that week deposited in II then I assume you would lose the exchange while waiting for it to get deposited

Previously the II screen allowed me to select the # of bedrooms so I could browse with a 1, 2 or 4 BR unit. They took that away (it didn't work well anyways) and now I just have a 4BR 'placeholder' that I can use for browsing if I fake a res #. But even if I see something awesome I can't book an exchange since I don't have a real WTG week behind my II "placeholder".

One more point, I don't believe there is any Westgate charge to deposit to II (for any size unit) but you can only deposit a current year unit to II.

I'm not sure there's any way around having to contact Westgate to reserve and deposit into II if you want to place a request using a floating week. If anyone else with floating weeks has better insight I would be interested in learning new ways to use II myself.

 

[eellerman]

What I found so far in depositing Westgate weeks to II, is that Westgate gives me a lousy week to exchange and my options within II are limited as a result. When I purchased from Westgate, I made sure to obtain a deeded July 4 high-demand week for Branson, MO but the weeks deposited into II were for March which is low-demand. According to the Westgate representative that I talked to, Westgate chooses the week to deposit. Does anyone have any recommendations for getting an optimal week to deposit into II?

 

[tschwa2]

What I found so far in depositing Westgate weeks to II, is that Westgate gives me a lousy week to exchange and my options within II are limited as a result. When I purchased from Westgate, I made sure to obtain a deeded July 4 high-demand week for Branson, MO but the weeks deposited into II were for March which is low-demand. According to the Westgate representative that I talked to, Westgate chooses the week to deposit. Does anyone have any recommendations for getting an optimal week to deposit into II?

So you own a fixed week or a float week? If a float week have you tried reserving a specific week and then going to II and depositing that week yourself?

 

[eellerman]

I own a float week. When I spoke with Westgate Reservations, they explained that they get to choose the week that is deposited to Interval and I cannot request a week for deposit.

 

[tschwa2]

I own a float week. When I spoke with Westgate Reservations, they explained that they get to choose the week that is deposited to Interval and I cannot request a week for deposit.

Have you ever tried just reserving a week, telling them it is for your personal use and then depositing the week? It may not work but I wouldn't simply rely on the reservation person.

 

[eellerman]

I have not tried, but Interval's website shows that I must contact the resort first. I also went through the process on the Westgate owner site and the deposit workflow does not enable any selection of dates. What I have not tried to do is to reserve time as-if for myself, then to call them and ask to deposit the time instead.