posted 10-26-2002 20:07            

I know I don't need to remind everyone that Craig Urbine is Vice President of Customer Service for Interval International (is that the right title, Craig?). He is only able to comment on company policy. That is, exchange rules, how things work, etc. Although he has answered a few individual personal situations in the past, he is unable to continue to do this. If we keep asking him, we may very well lose his participation on these boards.

I hope everybody understands this topic is a gift to us, and we shouldn't use it to argue or post personal agenda.

Thanks for joining us again, Craig.

Fern Modena,
TUG BBS Manager

posted 10-26-2002 21:23            

Again, thanks for your patience if this seems to be a silly question to clarify your reply.
\
Your reply: The expiration date of your replacement week is 07OCT03. The replacement week itself reflects the actual checkin date of the week deposited. That has no effect on the expiration date.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by vacationtime:
I had a request first week that was check out Sept 23 2003, and received a confirmation from II that I turned down on Oct 7 2002.
II gave me a replacement banked deposit, and the II supervisor had told me I'd have travel to Oct 7 2003 for the replacement deposit. I received one II postcard that notified me of the cancelled exchange and noted travel must be completed by Oct 7 2003. I also received another postcard acknowledging the replacement deposit and noting last travel date on request was Sept 18 03.
The dates showing up in the online exchange web page show checkout as Sept 23, 2003.

I'm confused. When is the latest check-out date I need to use for my requests? I called II but the rep didn't seem to know.

Thanks for your help!

posted 10-27-2002 03:54            

quote:

---

Originally posted by vacationtime:
Please excuse me, I'm somewhat new to the terminology. Your reply means I can schedule a request to check out as of Oct 7, 2003, which means a request for a resort check in by Oct 1? The II rep I asked to add my requests said they must be checkout by Sept 23, and put my requested dates in with that proviso. I'm understanding your reply to mean I have until Oct 7 to check out, that means or Oct 1 to check in?

Again, thanks for your patience if this seems to be a silly question to clarify your reply.
\
Your reply: The expiration date of your replacement week is 07OCT03. The replacement week itself reflects the actual checkin date of the week deposited. That has no effect on the expiration date.

quote:

---

posted 10-27-2002 03:56            

The way I understood it :

Club Sunterra has affiliated with II & members of Club Sunterra can now exchange through II.

But the individual resorts have not affiliated with II and so owners of fixed/floating weeks cannot exchange through II.

Do I understand that correctly? Or are owners of fixed/floting weeks at Sunterra resorts ( non-Club Sunterra members) able to exchange through II?

I noticed that Greensprings is listed as *Club Sunterra at Greensprings Plantation*.

PS - From the latest closed thread, you were going to find out whether Club Sunterra members had on-line capability.

Thanks.

posted 10-27-2002 04:40            

Fixed/ floating week owners are able to enroll as members with Interval International. I believe we have begun or will soon be soliciting these owners to become members.

My understanding of online access is that it will be available to both GVC and Sunterra owners. I believe this will occur in the very near future.

quote:

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Originally posted by Marina_K:
I'm confused by Club Sunterra's affiliation with II ...

The way I understood it :

Club Sunterra has affiliated with II & members of Club Sunterra can now exchange through II.

But the individual resorts have not affiliated with II and so owners of fixed/floating weeks cannot exchange through II.

Do I understand that correctly? Or are owners of fixed/floting weeks at Sunterra resorts ( non-Club Sunterra members) able to exchange through II?

I noticed that Greensprings is listed as *Club Sunterra at Greensprings Plantation*.

PS - From the latest closed thread, you were going to find out whether Club Sunterra members had on-line capability.

Thanks.

---

posted 10-27-2002 05:31            

I don't know if you've looked in on the GVC members Yahoo Groups recently but we've had the same response from GVC that we will be able to have online access using our points soon. I hope it is as imminent as has been implied. Members are reporting very long waits to get a reply by phone and online access could surely relieve some of this traffic.

Kitty

Quote:

My understanding of online access is that it will be available to both GVC and Sunterra owners. I believe this will occur in the very near future

posted 10-27-2002 05:46            

Kitty,

I don't read it too often any more because of the *them* & *us* attitude held by some members

posted 10-27-2002 10:51            

The 2 blackout periods for using the Accommodation Certificate are Christmas/New Year & Easter.

I feel that this should be relaxed if the unit is available as a Getaway, it is during the Flex period and especially if it's a member deposit. Eg. for Hilton Head Island, the Getaways available for Christmas :

Marriott's Barony Beach Club • MBY
Hilton Head Island, SC, USA Friday, Dec. 20, 2002
Friday, Dec. 27, 2002 / 7 Nights
2 bedrooms, Sleeps 6
Full kitchen $729.00 $704.00

+ 21 other choices beginning either December 20th, 21st & 22nd.

------------------
Marina
Mexico Reviews

posted 10-27-2002 16:55            

My apologies in advance if this has already been discussed in an "Ask Craig" thread (I try to read most of them but may have missed some).

posted 10-27-2002 18:08            

Why does II not allow requests against a confirmed exhange when the member has accepted alternate accomodations not on the original request? To give you some context, I have received several calls from VCs suggesting alternate accomodations for a Key West request that I made saying that this is a difficult request to fulfill and if I don't take this offer I probably won't get anything for the time periods I have requested. I accepted the alternate accomodations but would be more than willing to pay an additional $121 to get into one of my choices on my original request if something were to become available. To me this would be a win-win situation, II would increase its revenue and I would be happier with my upgraded accomodations.

I used the search function and could not find anything on this topic.

posted 10-27-2002 20:08            

on 10/24 allanrose made a post on the Marriott board about a marriott to marriott exchange. He mentioned that his sales rep would help sort out the details of his exchange request with an on-site II rep.

Maybe I'm confused by the wording of the post but is this person saying that a sales rep can connect with someone in II and get a trade for his client when others (Marriott) might already be waiting with a deposit for the same week?

I called my favorite II VC and asked her if this is, in fact, something that happens. She said that while she has never heard of it happening she wasn't sure that it doesn't.

posted 10-28-2002 02:57            

quote:

---

Originally posted by SharonD:
Craig,

My apologies in advance if this has already been discussed in an "Ask Craig" thread (I try to read most of them but may have missed some).

I enjoy searching II online for "all destinations." Would it be possible for the Internet team to consider returning the list of destinations in some order that would make it easier to scan the list, say, alphabetical order, or by region? The current list is ordered by some scheme I haven't yet been able to figure out Just a suggestion. Thank you again for participating on this board!

---

posted 10-28-2002 03:01            

quote:

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Originally posted by Marina_K:
Suggestion for a policy change

The 2 blackout periods for using the Accommodation Certificate are Christmas/New Year & Easter.

I feel that this should be relaxed if the unit is available as a Getaway, it is during the Flex period and especially if it's a member deposit. Eg. for Hilton Head Island, the Getaways available for Christmas :

Marriott's Barony Beach Club • MBY
Hilton Head Island, SC, USA Friday, Dec. 20, 2002
Friday, Dec. 27, 2002 / 7 Nights
2 bedrooms, Sleeps 6
Full kitchen $729.00 $704.00

---

posted 10-28-2002 03:06            

quote:

---

Originally posted by rwilson:
Craig,

Why does II not allow requests against a confirmed exhange when the member has accepted alternate accomodations not on the original request? To give you some context, I have received several calls from VCs suggesting alternate accomodations for a Key West request that I made saying that this is a difficult request to fulfill and if I don't take this offer I probably won't get anything for the time periods I have requested. I accepted the alternate accomodations but would be more than willing to pay an additional $121 to get into one of my choices on my original request if something were to become available. To me this would be a win-win situation, II would increase its revenue and I would be happier with my upgraded accomodations.

I used the search function and could not find anything on this topic.

Thanks

---

posted 10-28-2002 03:08            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Quilter:
I'm glad to see the "Ask Craig" thread again available. I finally have a question. . . .

on 10/24 allanrose made a post on the Marriott board about a marriott to marriott exchange. He mentioned that his sales rep would help sort out the details of his exchange request with an on-site II rep.

Maybe I'm confused by the wording of the post but is this person saying that a sales rep can connect with someone in II and get a trade for his client when others (Marriott) might already be waiting with a deposit for the same week?

I called my favorite II VC and asked her if this is, in fact, something that happens. She said that while she has never heard of it happening she wasn't sure that it doesn't.

Do these kind of favors happen between Marriott sales and II?

---

posted 10-28-2002 03:57            

quote:

---

Originally posted by CraigU:
We do have an on site representive at numerous resorts. These individuals are able to assist with member transactions but do not have any special abilities to facilitate requests.

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posted 10-28-2002 06:01            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dean:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by CraigU:
[b]We do have an on site representive at numerous resorts. These individuals are able to assist with member transactions but do not have any special abilities to facilitate requests.

---

[/B][/QUOTE]

posted 10-28-2002 06:42            

Another question regarding Accommodation Certificates ...

It was suggested to me that I could just reserve a week using the Accomodation Certificate, then call back later to *re-trade* the week (I had reserved) for something that I could actually use.

The only rules I would have to follow are II's *normal* cancellation & exchanging rules.

Is doing that really possible?

posted 10-28-2002 14:02            

Have you heard whether II intends to continuing charging a fee to add weeks to an account?

posted 10-28-2002 16:06            

I'd like to add to the previous suggestions that the online system should not be as restrictive as it is and should better match the actual trading power of the resort.

I understand your comments on how it works (like size unit matches where unit size is based on private/non private sleeping capacity and kitchen facilities). However, I've done some comparisons and the kitchen criteria seems a bit too restrictive for many trades. And yes, I do understand that a Marriott Kauai partial kitchen is very partial (however the resort does have many pluses ;-) ).

I compared: a Marriott Kauai 1 bedroom versus a Marriott Aruba 1 bedroom versus an accomodation certificate from the Marriott Aruba deposit. In a search all destinations, the AC pulled many more resorts over the next year than the Kauai week (of course, the list was reduced by the matrix of valid locations and months). I understand from your previous comments that an ongoing request or VC search should not have this problem and would pull a lot more. I believe the online system should more closely match what the week should pull.

I have the tendency to use an online system over ongoing searches - I've done both and prefer (when it fits) the flexibility to confirm weeks that I find. Of course, since we now have more flexible schedules and can often avoid high seasons so I do a lot of "all destination" searches looking for new destination "gems" or times that might show up that we hadn't considered.

Thanks!

posted 10-28-2002 16:27            

quote:

---

Originally posted by SharonD:
Craig..... I enjoy searching II online for "all destinations." Would it be possible for the Internet team to consider returning the list of destinations in some order that would make it easier to scan the list, say, alphabetical order, or by region? The current list is ordered by some scheme I haven't yet been able to figure out Just a suggestion. Thank you again for participating on this board!

---

Hi Sharon D

I'll "second" that suggestion !
It is kinda "mishmash" isn't it ?

posted 10-29-2002 06:26         

I have also experienced what JeffW has described and would be interested to know how this could be overcome. I find this happening particularly often if I search for European destinations. It looks like a search for "all destinations" does not access the same data base.