Wait list isn't making me happy

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

This response is NOT to criticize SOME owners that use their qualified and unqualified points for rentals. It is to point out what I think is a flaw in the waitlist procedure and the loophole of using unqualified points for waitlisting. I wish BG would review the waitlist rules.

Keep in mind that July 4th weeks are a preferred rental weeks for many owners that rent with Big Cedar their 1st choice and Shorecrest I (not II) their 2nd choice. This year June 29th and June 30th were the days you wanted to waitlist with the 29th being the most preferred.
Many BG owners using BG rentals as a business will do the following to maximize their, qualified and unqualified, points.

2bdrm Lodge
Midweek check-in 5 days Monday - Friday 3,600 points
Full week check-in 7 days 15,000 points
At the platinum level you have least 60,000 points. Divide that by 3600 points (midweek check-in) and 16 - 2bdrm lodge units can be waitlisted and booked. Use this same scenario for a studio, a 1bdrm, a 2bdrm cabin, and a 3bdrm cabin. Using midweek check-ins takes a lot inventory out of the system and a lot of premier level owners that do rentals do this. So by you waitlisting a Sunday check-in you limited your chances of getting a unit. Like it or not using your points this way is within the rules.

Using unqualified points for waitlisted requests is way to maximize your investment in BG points. When a premier level owner gets to a preferred level they can use unqualified points as if they were qualified points. So a platinum owner with 60,000 qualified points and 150,000 unqualified points will be able to use the 150,000 points as they were qualified points. This is how they maximize their investment through a BG loophole. Like it or not using your points this way is within BG rules.

Before the Pinnacle $1.25 per point rule here is how you could get to platinum level for $7,000.00 or less. Buy at least 57,000 ebay points (10 cents per point) and 3,000 points (35 cents per point) through Pinnacle to combine them for 60,000 and you are at platinum level. Now on ebay BG points are being given away if you take over the MF. So this is how some BG members are becoming mega owners and renting points as a business using unqualified for waitlisting. They waitlisted for a Friday June 29th check-in you waitlisted for a Sunday check-in and didn’t get you request. This might be part of the reason. Like it or not using your points this way is within BG rules.

I am a platinum owner that combined developer points with Pinnacle points to get to platinum level. I got to the gold and then platinum levels for the waitlist benefits. Every 3 years we take a family vacation with my 2 sons and their families. I have thousands of dollars (far more then $7,000.00) invested in points and have more then I can use and have lost points (due to my fault). So this year I am going to start to renting.

Well, we just had our bad experience with the waitlist process. We are platinum members and had waitlisted some 2BR lodge units for Wilderness Club for NEXT 4th of July. Our request was to check in on Sunday (not Friday or Saturday). So this morning when we call to check, we're told we didn't get our reservation......
This now begs the question. Are they telling me that there EVERY unit in Wilderness Club has been reserved by Platinum members who either 1) waitlisted ahead of us on the calendar/clock; or 2) are checking in on Friday or Saturday? Something doesn't smell right here. We are told over and over that Platinum membership is less than 10% of all Bluegreen Owners. Obviously the 15 month wait list is a big advantage----but something seems amiss when the explanation is that Fri/Sat arrivals used up every single unit. Sorta defies logic in my little brain.

[hac Member Find all posts View Profile Close hac]

Not good to hear for those of us that like the weekend check in dates.

Wonder if Bluegreen will attempt to make it more equitable for those that do not have thousands of unqualified points that they use to book prime time rentals?

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

Mobuilder, there is another possibility

Two things:

1) In summer 2010, I checked for 4th of July 2011 at exactly 11 months out and there was NOTHING. Zip, nada, zilch. it didn't seem right at all to me, so I kept checkign, and within a few weeks the inventory showed up online. I have no idea or theory about what happened, but this occurred again for Feb 2012 availability. I knew for sure that it wasn't real because Feb at Big Cedar is the lowest of low season. Sure enough, weeks later the inventory showed up. That time I thought to call in.

I'm not asserting that the same thing is for sure happening this year, but just wanted you to know taht I've seen this before

2) Keep in mind there is another population of people who can scoop you on wait list. After deeded weeks are taken, and before wait list requests for your particular check-in date are filled, any BG owner who looked online in the last 4-5 days looking to check in at Big Cedar in the days before you could have taken anything available online or via phone.

Anita

Anita

[midmobuilder Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close midmobuilder]

So here's a question for Boca (or anybody else). What's the pecking order for reservations? At the eleven month mark, what's the priority list? The first would be the owners whose deed matches the week (believe that's guaranteed). After that, it would be the 15 month folks, etc (and Alice, while I agree that another universe of potential bookings would be the folks who call the center and request a booking that would be a day or two earlier than the waitlist, all things being equal, if the reservations are the same date, then the waitlist should be first since it's probably triggered to run in the middle of the night when the call center isn't open for anybody to talk to).
Now, a layer of complexity---assume that today, the reservation I wanted for Sunday to Friday in 2012 was not available. Is that because a full week reservation (Sunday to Saturday) gets first dibs?
And then finally...because I didn't get this reservation, but want to use points for next summer......and I call the center to waitlist something for a July 2012 date that hasn't reached the 11 month trigger yet---where is that new waitlist request slotted? At the end of the Platinum members or at the very end of all the waitlisted reservations? I think I could make a valid argument for either.
Personally? I wish they'd do away with the waitlist entirely. Let the deeded owners say yes or no at the earliest time of preferred membership and be done with it. I know they have to get first priority, and that's only right; but the rest of this is too fraught with confusion and conflict. Seems like it could be much, much easier.

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

wait list

(and Alice, while I agree that another universe of potential bookings would be the folks who call the center and request a booking that would be a day or two earlier than the waitlist, all things being equal, if the reservations are the same date, then the waitlist should be first since it's probably triggered to run in the middle of the night when the call center isn't open for anybody to talk to).
\

I think by Alice you meant me (Anita), and I didn't express myself very clearly in my post, I fear. I'm not talking about people who want reservations on the same date.

I meant that any reservation made in the week prior to yours (whether online, call center, or waitlist) that spans your check-in date will interfere with availability.

Let's say you requested Jun 29-July5 2012 on the wait list.

Let's assume some units have been taken by deeded owners but not all.

On July 21, 2011 the wait list for any June 22, 2012 waitlist requests is worked. If these are full week reservations, they go from Jun 22-29 and won't affect you.

Beyond the point that this June 22nd wait list is worked, any wait list, online, or call center reservation can take inventory that will mean units are not available for check in on jun 29.

Any full week reservations checkin in jun 23 will span june 23 - june 30 and will mean you can't have that unit. Any reservations checking in june 24 for 6 or more days will mean more units you can't get. Any reservations checking in june 25 for 5 or more nights. And so on.

Anita

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

I agree Bluegreen should do something to even out the playing field. However they will not do anything until enough owners put pressure on them to do something. The problem is not many owners or sales people know about the waitlist process of using unqualified points or midweek check-ins and the effect it has on inventory. Owners and sales people need to be educated to BG rules. One way to do this is express your concerns and frustration at owner updates. Another way is inform other owners about BG rules for midweek check-ins and the loophole of using unqualified points for waitlisting.

Not good to hear for those of us that like the weekend check in dates.

Wonder if Bluegreen will attempt to make it more equitable for those that do not have thousands of unqualified points that they use to book prime time rentals?

[midmobuilder Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close midmobuilder]

Sorry I called you Alice, Anita!!! I've got it right now! You and I are on the same page, we just describe it differently.....I merely call those "overlapping" reservations, and I agree those are definitely another universe of potential bookings. I'll be curious to watch this unfold and see if your previous experience (mentioned in an earlier message in this thread)is repeated.