Additional Advice Needed - Possible Trip Cancellation and Cypress Pointe

[CookieDiva]

Hi Everyone,

I've been asking a number of questions regarding renting at WBC and yesterday, I got offers from 3 different brokers for our dates - all within about $150, so that is wonderful. BUT - my DH's father is very ill and well, we just don't know what the near future is going to hold. So we are reluctant to pay nearly $1000 for a place that we may not get to use. I understand how this works, I have no quarrel with the brokers and their policies - it is just something that we must consider when planning this year. (Our airfare is with SW - so if we have to cancel, we will have credit with them for a year.)

I just looked at Hotel Kingdom and I see that Cypress Pointe is available for our dates too. With them, we only have to pay one night in advance, and the balance upon check in - so if we would have to cancel vacation, we would only lose about $100. But the last time we were at CP in 2009, the unit we had was really run down. The carpet was stained. The TV (projection type?) in the LR did not work well, the W/D took hours to do one load, and the sofa sleeper, which we needed, was in bad shape. I know that they have done extensive refurbishment. How could we assure that we got a recently refurbished unit if we took this route?

We have 5 people in our group. DH and me. Our 2 DDs - 21 and 18. And our 1 DD's BF - so we really could use the space. We have considered just booking a hotel room (which we HAVE done with this group in the past) which could easily be cancelled until the date of our trip, but we don't know if we could put a rollaway in the room, and the cost of 2 rooms would be prohibitive - plus the sleeping configuration would be a challenge.

Any other ideas or comments regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CookieDiva]

I spoke to a travel agent today who suggested a couple of places that I had not considered. With those places, we could cancel up to the date of our check in and only lose 1 night payment - just a little over $100. I think that this is something that we will think about.
Or we could purchase travel insurance - costing us about the same at the one night's price. Will have to discuss this with DH.
And with the thread above regarding the A/C troubles in 2 bedroom units at WBC, perhaps we should consider elsewhere.