WKORV Random Scatterings

[DavidnRobin]

Just back from WKORV - some random scatterings... (as I can recall and post them)

The first and funniest (sarcasm) is that the OceanFront Deluxe (corner) units are now called Premium, and the Premium units (center) are called Deluxe.... yep - you read that right. I first picked up on this when I went to reserve for next year and my reservation confirmation said 'Premium' - when I called SVO that said 'don't worry - you will get what you own'.

When we checked in on Saturday - they front desk guy used the term 'Premium' again. When I asked for clarification - he said the corner units are Premium and that the Salespeople have been using the wrong terminology. I said the same 'mistake' is on SVO's WKORV website as it shows Deluxe as the large corner layout - he had no response (of course).

I mentioned this also at the Owners Update (more on this nonsense later) - the saleperson also had no meaningful response.

sigh - another thing to follow-up. I would rather have them use the same teminology across resorts (as 'Premium' is the larger unit at WKV), but c'mon SVO - get it together!

 

[DavidnRobin]

We were third on the call-in list (I didn't call unit 1 hour after the call center opened) - and requested top floor - poolside.

We got 5th floor poolside (B2 #2529). We were early - arrived at 3:30 - they were not ready for us - so they stored our stuff and we went for a drink at the pool bar. I went back at 4 and got our room key and went up and... the room was not ready. A manager was there (very apologetic) and said they made a mistake. They offered us 4th floor - but I said we would wait. They gave us a $50 credit - not bad - and it paid for the drinks and pupus. We didn't get in the room until about 5:30 - never did find out why they were not ready. They did put our groceries away for us since we had perishables. {microwave was still dirty - yuck}

 

[DeniseM]

David - Did you ask for compensation, or did the offer it?

Did they come back and clean the microwave promptly?

Besides that, how was your trip?

 

[LisaRex]

At least your room was ultimately clean. When we got to our villa, the cleaning crew was still there. We patiently waited but when we finally got in, it was apparent that they rushed through it.

Hope you had a wonderful time in Maui. I miss it already!

 

[DavidnRobin]

David - Did you ask for compensation, or did the offer it?

Did they come back and clean the microwave promptly?

Besides that, how was your trip?

They did - we would never asked. We were not bugged by it since we were enjoying ourselves at the pool bar. It was a nice gesture (by the manager) - not sure why the unit wasn't ready yet - but management seemed pretty bugged by somebody (either the cleaning staff - which seemed abundant - or that the guests did not get out in time - probably one of those 5*/PFL elitists... )

I am more peeved about the Deluxe/Premium thing - that is just silly - all of these years - and they finally realize it???!!! {hmmmm....}
What is better - Premium or Deluxe? - why don't they call it Premium-Deluxe?

We cleaned the MW (ok... Robin did...). We are not the complaining type of folks (at least not about the little stuff...). The LR screen was also broken - I fixed it.

The dryer was also broken (wasn't tumbling) - they came quickly and exchanged it entirely. How did the previous occupants not notice this?

Our trip was great (but too short) - there was a cold front that came in so it was cooler than usual (and a bit raining) - no worries though - we made the most of it

 

[Westin5Star]

I'm glad that you had a great trip; sorry about the colder than normal weather. It was early last December that we had 7 straight days of rain there.

How did you know that it was me that didn't vacate your room on time You should have told the manager to build a swim up bar instead of the $50 credit. We will be there in our OF Premium or Deluxe on December 6th and I will let everyone know how they refer to my room type.

 

[pharmgirl]

last 2 times we were there, the lock off room cleaning was completed and we could put our luggage there and use the small room while the cleaning of the larger side continued. We were quite happy to be able to get in prior to 4 pm and had thought that would be the new routine.

 

[LisaRex]

If the previous users rented both sides, they may have noticed that the dryer wasn't working, but just used the other side's. I love having washer/dryers in the unit. It's silly but that's one of the major reasons that I bought at WKORV vs. MOC.

 

[califgal]

It's silly but that's one of the major reasons that I bought at WKORV vs. MOC.

That's not silly...it makes life much easier! you can travel with less and bring home clean clothes! Great minds think alike!

 

[DavidnRobin]

Owners Gift: Nylon Duffy Bag (very useful)

Owners Update (1 hr):
4500 SPs or
50 minute SPA massage or
round of golf

We took the 50 minute massage - the Westin SPA was real nice. I do not do massages often - this one was really great - nice rainy day activity.

The Owners Update was brutal - I actually got the salesperson a few times with comebacks to which he had zero response to... he claimed he owned 4 EOY at WPORV just for the SO-SP conversion... LOLOLOLOL

the Closer (real ahole) actually rose his voice to me twice - and insuated I was stupid for passing up such a 'deal' - right... trying to convince me that WPORV with the SO-SP conversion and incentive SPs would pay for the villa - he was using fuzzy math (e.g. use SPs to upgrade flight to 1st class - which to Rome would be like $10K and then with the 5th nite free and converting the villa to SPs for 10 years = 860,000 SPs - such a deal - how could I be so deft)

I called him on his BS - and told him so. He got way quiet when I informed him that MFs have been rising >10% per year and SP have been continously devaluated - I even offered to show him how bad his fuzzy math was... he left miffed - it was quite humorous

 

[DeniseM]

Oh that sounds miserable! I bet you needed that massage! I have heard the whole "upgraded flight to Europe deal" too - it must be one that they teach in salesperson indoctrination! Of course the fact that the Avg. person would not PAY $10K to upgrade to first class is never acknowledged!

How did Robin enjoy the whole ordeal?

 

[Maui_ed]

Owners Gift: Nylon Duffy Bag (very useful)

the Closer (real ahole) actually rose his voice to me twice - and insuated I was stupid for passing up such a 'deal' - right... trying to convince me that WPORV with the SO-SP conversion and incentive SPs would pay for the villa - he was using fuzzy math (e.g. use SPs to upgrade flight to 1st class - which to Rome would be like $10K and then with the 5th nite free and converting the villa to SPs for 10 years = 860,000 SPs - such a deal - how could I be so deft)

We had a similar experience at WKORV the first year we were there. We were on an explorer package and went to the presentation. We were total novices at the time. The "closer" was real nice up until I told him that we needed time to think about it. At which, he pretty much got up and left. No "Take your time", or "I understand that this is a big commitment, so be sure it is right for you". No more Mr. Nice Guy. He just left. We complained about it to the sales rep. To their credit, when we went back the following year to listen to another update, they had it in their notes that we did not want to talk to or hear from that "closer". So at least they do listen!

 

[Catazog]

The Owners Update was brutal - I actually got the salesperson a few times with comebacks to which he had zero response to... he claimed he owned 4 EOY at WPORV just for the SO-SP conversion... LOLOLOLOL

the Closer (real ahole) actually rose his voice to me twice - and insuated I was stupid for passing up such a 'deal' - right... trying to convince me that WPORV with the SO-SP conversion and incentive SPs would pay for the villa - he was using fuzzy math (e.g. use SPs to upgrade flight to 1st class - which to Rome would be like $10K and then with the 5th nite free and converting the villa to SPs for 10 years = 860,000 SPs - such a deal - how could I be so deft)

I called him on his BS - and told him so. He got way quiet when I informed him that MFs have been rising >10% per year and SP have been continously devaluated - I even offered to show him how bad his fuzzy math was... he left miffed - it was quite humorous

Wow, that's terrible. It really irritates me when I hear about these bad owner update experiences. You'd think that Starwood would have the sense to treat their owners with extra courtesy and respect, since many owners do buy additional weeks and we are their best brand ambassadors. It's bad enough to present a justification for buying more weeks that is fuzzy or false, but to add rudeness on top of that is unacceptable. We reluctantly went to an update at WKR recently that was actually painless, but our at our last update at WKORV about 3 years ago we noticed some increased pressure tactics. Nothing as bad as you describe, but it turned us off.

And, as was mentioned in an earlier post, who spends $10,000 to upgrade to first class? We use frequent flyer miles to do that (no need for Starpoints for that reason), otherwise we'd never consider it. It's pretty funny that mentioning the devalued StarPoints and the increasing maintenance fees pretty much silenced the "closer." I guess they can't respond to anything that's outside of their canned spiel.

 

[dss]

Thanks for the great update... Very jealous we aren't heading back to WKORV anytmie soon.

I love bringing up the starpoint devaluation. I brought up the potential on my first tour (pre construction in 2002) of WKORV and smoke literally came out of their heads trying to understand the question. They actually brought over the "closer" to address the concern and tell me "it will never happen" and it if did, they would naturally have to raise the conversion rate. Uh-huh.

I actually enjoy taking the tour to hear what is going on at the property and try to extract some nuggets of info. I love that the spa credit is now part of the mix as that seems a much better value than the SPG points. Sometimes you get lucky and get a professional salesperson who will actually listen and do their best to overcome your objections with reasonable thought, but more often, they take the low road and try to use bluster to get their point across. Last time we did the owners tour, we were literally excused about about fifteen minutes since it was very clear we weren't interested in their line of BS that morning. I've gotten pretty good at knowing which buttons to push but I've found their staying cool and mentioning resale is an easy way to get excused if that is your goal.

On the other hand - we did a a Hyatt tour at Highlands Inn earlier this year that was surreal. The rep was planning on taking up 3-4 hours of our day even though we had clearly told them we were planning to buy resale. We stayed the 90 minutes and he was just warming up (not even halfway through his pitch) and we literally got up and walked out as politely as we could.

 

[DavidnRobin]

We knew going in to the Owners Update what BS to expect - so it did not catch us by surprise (although they were not ready for me...)

Robin sat quietly - just waiting out the 60 minutes - whereas, I make the most of it by trying to find out any tidbits I can.

I have the paperwork from the update - and can list the details when I find it. They wanted $27,300 for an EOY WPORV - plus they were 'willing' to sell me a bunch of SPs (I will post details later) - thanks, but no thanks.

They claimed WPORV was almost sold out (right...) - they also claimed that out OF (corner) WKORV was worth $109K. They wanted to 'upgrade' me into the 'newer' OF WKORVN - I told them that would be a downgrade.

 

[DavidnRobin]

The restaurant.com certificates for the Mai Tai Lounge in Lahaina are not being honored - they did for a few weeks but stopped - they did not tell me what the issue was, but I classified it as "if it is to good to be true..." they said to contact restaurant.com for a refund. We had a cocktail (Robin's Mai Tai was the worst I have had) and an appetizer and left - went next door to Kimo's.

I just saw that this was posted on teh TUG HI board.

 

[DavidnRobin]

If you have drinks at one of the bars at WKORV/N - make sure you get the 'drink of the day' since they are $6 versus the $11 for the other tropical drinks.

 

[Catazog]

Mmmm, yes -- love that drink of the day!

 

[DavidnRobin]

snorkling:

we only had about 3 days of good snorkling outside of WKORV/N

there was about 1-1.5 mph current going north - we would drop our stuff outside of B2 (in front our unit) - shade in the morning - and walk up to the public beach - get in - and float down to the end of the reef right beyond WKORVN - and walk back - very sweet. tons of things to see - both close and far from shore. lots of float time with turtles in front of B2. Robin saw a very large stingray (that I missed) crusing fast.

rinse off in the resort shower - then hot tub - we loved it

(although the whole 'no kids' in the hot tub is not enforced - i really only have issues with the very small kids folks bring into a very hot hot-tub - a couple had swim diapers on - yuck... no ones says anything - me included - we just get out)

 

[tomandrobin]

(although the whole 'no kids' in the hot tub is not enforced - i really only have issues with the very small kids folks bring into a very hot hot-tub - a couple had swim diapers on - yuck... no ones says anything - me included - we just get out)

When we were at WKORV in October, there was no enforcement either. It would have been better if they had located the sign at the front of the hot tub, instead of in the back, and off to the side.

 

[wannagotoo]

I haven't had time to read all the posts but we are at WKORV-N right now and also went to the presentation. We mentioned the devaluation, changing the benefits, etc. I was most interested in the proposed building. "It will be a long time until it is built." The planning commission is requiring that any new construction be self sufficient. So Starwood is in the early process of building a desalinization plant. Any new building has to be totally off the grid (water/sewage/power). Also, there will be no lockoff. He said that if it is a lockoff, there is a possibility of more cars, more people. So by making 1-3 bedroom units that do not lockoff, there will be less cars.... My other concern was the "returns" and how the maintenance fees are paid on those units. He said that Starwood has to pay the fees on units that they own. Other concern was the Starwood promo rentals that are a fantastic deal for the renter. How are those allotted as far as view and it seems that Starwood is allowing renters to have the better units in hopes that they would result in a sale. He kind of agreed to that. I am quite certain that this is all redundant considering the knowledge of the people on this board.