RCI Cancelled our December 27 Vacation

[marcmuff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close marcmuff]

Apparently Inverness at South Padre decided to shut down until further notice to repair damages from Hurricane Ike.

What to do now? We have our plane tickets, of course.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Oh no, that's awful!!! An RCI "Specialist" should be assigned to help you find alternate accommodations. They won't do diddly about your plane tickets, though, and trying to find flights elsewhere for those dates will cost a queen's ransom. They may offer you an extra week.

Call RCI, demand a supervisor, get them started on looking in the area. Also consider letting them look somewhere drivable for you as a backup, then you can cancel your air and use the tickets for something else later (with a penalty, but better than nothing). You could also start looking for last minute rentals in the area, not that you should have to, but unless you want to cancel your trip, it makes sense to look into all options.

What other timeshares are around there? Let us know and we'll keep an eye out for you.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Sorry to hear this , Rci should be finding you a room in the area and they will not look at trading power. So if by chance you used a poor trader they will give you the power of a tiger and first come on any exchanges in that area or any other area.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

What a shame, you poor thing. Glitter has given you some very good advice.

I sure hope that it works out for you.....Let me know if you'd like me to keep an eye on II, for you. Good luck!!!!!

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Sorry to hear this but one correction is in order. RCI did not cancel your exchange/vacation. The closure of the resort - out of RCI's control - did. Misleading to say RCI was at fault. I hope they can find you another place in time.

[BoardGirl Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BoardGirl]

I had an exchange cancelled by the resort one week before check-in and RCI did right fine by me - no extra charges, worked on me to find big enuf quarters in a convenient location. She told me this was the best I would find, and it was a GREAT RESORT. I had no trip insurance.

sorry for the chaos, but give RCI a chance to help you.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

I agree with everything here, and will further say that RCI does have a small department to handle situations like this, and they do handle them very well. If you do not have someone at RCI working on it for you, get on it, assuming you still want to go to that area at that time.

During the Weston overbooking we had two units at a SW FL resort. One of those RCI specialists tried to contact us to get one or both of them, offering us free units at an actually-better nearby resort. That was on a Friday, for the following day.

Unfortunately, we were at Orange Lake with the do not answer the phone because it will be a call from Orange Lake Sales policy in affect. I did not pick up the message until Friday night after RCI closing time in Indy (and only because it might have been message from someone from a certain other TS forum who was there that week).

Saturday, on our way to our next resort, I called and spoke to the lady at the next desk at RCI, and, unfortunately, just missed their generous offer.

We could have given up our 2 1-bedroom units for a 2-bedroom unit, and a 2-bedroom unit for the next year, and got our exchange fees refunded.

Anyway, that's an example of how they try to accomodate people.

Because of the economy, people are cancelling vacation plans, so there may be units available where you want to go, somewhere.

But, everyone will be in the same fix as you.

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

Consider accepting a spot in San Antonio--not the beach, but absolutely delightful, especially during the holidays. The river walk is charming, and there's lots to do in the area.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

Apparently Inverness at South Padre decided to shut down until further notice to repair damages from Hurricane Ike.

What to do now? We have our plane tickets, of course.

Let us know if you get it resolved with RCI, Muriel. It looks like RCI will help you in this case.

By the way, I love your cat Avatar. Red cats are sweet almost always.

[Hophop4 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hophop4]

Inverness at South Padre was already shut down until next year. It was not open when we were there in September due to Hurricane Dolly last summer. They had lots of damage. Check and see if they can get you into Royale Beach and Tennis Resort. I saw some weeks on their Extra Vacations (not sure of dates tho) but as usual nothing for exchange. Good Luck.

[marcmuff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close marcmuff]

Well, we cancelled that trip and had to pay $50 each to get Continental FF miles back (husband) and NWA (my sister), and for my non-refundable $705 ticket, I can get another ticket on Continental within a year and pay $150 to use it.

I didn't call RCI after that first day when I got the Email since they said there wasn't anything anywhere near there for that time period and I didnt know where or when we could go anywhere again.

Today, I found a 1-bedroom unit at Pueblo Bonito (Blanco) for check-in Monday, January 26, 2009. I couldn't reserve it on-line, but called RCI and got it. So I'm happy. Since it has a Monday checkin, it takes fewer FF miles -- we got two RT from Sacramento to SJD for 70,000 FF miles.

Anyone know where Unit 412 is at the PB Blanco?

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

Not sire but I think Faust and Fern have been there try emailing them for info

[Fern Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fern]

I don't know a thing about Cabo. But I think KarenG might own there. She owns at one of the PB's there.

Fern

[marcmuff Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close marcmuff]

Today, December 27 (THE DAY WE WERE SUPPOSED TO CHECK IN TO INVERNESS AT SOUTH PADRE) I received a letter (dated December 8, 2008 and wiht the correct address) telling us the resort has informed them that they will be unable to welcome guests for the dates we had confirmed and "Since it was cancelled as a result of a natural disaster, the deposit used for the confirmation is no longer eligible for another exchange and the fee is not refundable."

Well, luckily, they actually did return my week and refunded the exchange fee, and I have used it. Scarey, though.

If I hadn't received the Email notice on December 10, we couldl have been in South Padre today without a place to stay.

[grest Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close grest]

Glad this worked out for you...I'd have panicked for sure!
Connie