Sky Auction and hurricane

[bunny]

I am scheduled to arrive on Saturday for a 7 night stay at CPGV via Sky Auction. Of course, there is no way I can get there even if I wanted to (which I don't). I talked to Sky Auction and the agent said unless CPGV closes I cannot reschedule. I then called CPGV and asked them what they were doing for Frances. The operator said if you can get here, your condo is waiting for you. If not, too bad. It's not their fault. They refused to work with me at all. So I called back to Sky Auction. She said she would call RCI tomorrow morning to see if they would help me, but I am probably just going to have to eat it. I guess I should have bought the travel insurance. Anyway any suggestions?

 

[Lewisc]

Originally posted by bunny
Anyway any suggestions?

Fly down on Monday and enjoy a short week?

Post back after the hurricane and ask about any damage to CPGV. If they lost power for an extended period you might have grounds to revisit your request for a refund. You might also call and see if they could (or did) re rent your unit to a someone else.

 

[Local_Girl]

Bunny,

I understand what you're going through...though your situation is more imminent. We have a week scheduled at CPGV starting on 9/11, also won through Sky Auction. It's too bad they aren't willing to work with you to reschedule. In addition to Hurricane Frances, there's another one churning out in the Atlantic, so we're watching both of them. Anyway, in my opinion, I wouldn't expect a refund, but an opportunity to reschedule would be great customer service. The governor of FL has asked people not travel into FL this weekend, for heaven sakes! I also believe that the way this and other similar circumstances are handled will determine how likely people (like me ) are willing to go the SkyAuction route again. Just my $.02...and good luck to you!

 

[Lewisc]

Priceline is giving full refunds and they have similar terms. Since the airport is closed and people were asked by the government not to travel you may have a case. BUT there is something to be said for travel insurance. There are less extreme cases in which you may want to cancel and you don't have any basis for an appeal.

 

[sweet maxine]

I know just how ya'll are feeling. My stay at CPGV is booked through the govt. travel program, and the best I could do is to reschedule and pay about $150 more for the week. I'm just waiting and watching like everyone else. My stay is to start on the 10th, a week from today, and it looks like it will be very wet if nothing else.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Way off but...what if you were to show up & the guests that were all there (say all booked up) were unable to leave, wonder what SkyAuction would do then??? I know this is a very unlikly situation but wonder how it would be handled. Tell the guests that were to check out today to get out??? Tell the guests that arrived today, sorry we are booked???

 

[sweet maxine]

I just called the govt. travel co. I booked through and was told that if CPGV was not taking new check-ins on Friday, I could reschedule and pay another $150. How will that help me when I've flown there, rented a car, and suddenly found out there is no room at the inn? So much for a bargain........

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Originally posted by sweet maxine
I just called the govt. travel co. I booked through and was told that if CPGV was not taking new check-ins on Friday, I could reschedule and pay another $150. How will that help me when I've flown there, rented a car, and suddenly found out there is no room at the inn? So much for a bargain........

This is sort of what I was trying to say... you arrive, go to check in & told you cannot.... but yet you are not allowed to cancel or reschedule. They have to come up with something better than that! You will be charged $150 to reschedule your stay & bunny cannot get out of hers. Yet, if you show up to check in, they can turn you away?? Gee maybe they should give you the $150 to reschedule so they can keep the other guests in your booked & paid unit. Myabe what we are learning here is to book directly with the complex instead of a third party and put these third party bookers out of business. Just seems very unfair to all of you ....

 

[lawgs]

in defense of Skyauction

in our case we received an email from them saying....

We regret to inform you that the XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXX resort will be closing due to Hurricane Frances which is due to sweep through the resorts immediate area during your scheduled stay. The resort is asking that all inbound guest do not show up at the resort during this time. Skyauction is working closely with our suppler in order to arrange for our effected clientele to reschedule. Please bear with us during this time. Thank you for your patience during this ordeal.

Thank you,

Skyauction.com

thus, it might be a "resort" problem and not skyauction's if they decided to stay open, it was out of skyauction's hands

maybe we were just lucky the resort we were going to made the decision to close ( we talked to the resort directly on friday....they said they were in the process of evacuating guests and not taking check ins ...of course with this resort the check in date is friday )

but it looks like they will attempt to help us with our booking,,,

 

[luvdisney14]

Good for you, I hope everything works out so your won't lose any money.

 

[lawgs]

thanks luvdisney

was checking our deluxe travel insurance through our Extended Health and Dental plan too.....

they will cover losses of prepaid "items" with one of the conditions being that the Canadian government had to issue a travel advisory about the situation ( which they did )

so we are doubly lucky with regard to losses, if skyauction cannot help us, we can apply for "coverage" under our travel plan

but, have a good feeling skyauction is trying their best to help ( in the two calls to customer service on thursday ......they called the resort twice to see what their status was but since they were not planning on closing, said they would probably not be able to do anything....then the next day as posted after calling the resort with our plan B ( trying to make it to florida later this week ) we got the email from Skyauction

now we are into plan C since SWA allowed us to change flights a third time at no additional cost to us due to what they call Rule 85

 

[bunny]

On Friday afternoon, I received an e-mail from Sky Auction informing me that CPGV was not accepting new check-ins on Saturday, my scheduled arrival day. Today I called them and the customer service rep told me RCI was trying to figure out how to handle the situation. She said they would send me an e-mail about what I could do. I didn't receive anything today. I am thinking about forgetting about it, because I need to use my airline tickets by Sept 30. I wonder if CPGV can accomodate me by then or if Sky Auction will even have an answer by then. Also I just read a post about Barefootin resort and the poster said RCI offered them that when their vacation was cancelled due to the hurricane. Why doesn't Sky Auction know anything yet?

 

[lawgs]

bunny

where did you read the post about Barefootin?

oops.....just backed out of here and saw the thread just below .....yours.....

skyauction is a third party vendor for RCI and even though we get exchanges through RCI it is not "directly" connected to skyauction

thus, they are probably doing some negogiations with RCI

 

[bunny]

I hope Sky Auction gets an answer from RCI soon because I need to reschedule my airline tickets and vacation schedule at work. I checked the RSG auction thing tonight and there are a few choices for the week I want to go but not CPGV. I hope Sky Auction can help me. I will accept a week somewhere else but was hoping for CPGV. If I don't use my airline tickets by Sept 30, I will have to pay $400 in change fees ( alot more than the $263 my auction cost). I will keep you posted with updates.

 

[lawgs]

bunny

did you check "My Vacations" when you log into your account.....when i just did, the auction number connected to this "week" is now "in progress" and no longer "historical"....so they must be doing something

at least our time line is further out .......checked for november and they have the resort we were looking at available on RSG, but not in december yet......maybe that will come as more inventory is added....

you are more restricted too since you have a sept 30 date to use the airfare, when we called last night we were able to get a booking for december on SW, at the same rate we booked for september ( no additional fees )


***********

an update on the person who was talking about Barefootin.....they were on a RCI exchange and cancelled themselves so "different" handling of their situation within RCI itself and not through Skyauction

 

[Local_Girl]

I sent you a PM.

 

[lawgs]

bunny

how did you finally make out?

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

We were already in Orlando at Vistana Resort but due to check into CPGV on Sept. 4th. We had to leave Orlando because CPGV was put on "freeze", that is, they weren't letting anyone check in. Skyauction said that we would be able to switch our week sometime in the next calendar year.

We drove, so we didn't have airline tickets to worry about. Maybe that is what is making your situation "stickier". I'm sorry about that.

My friends are having the same problem. They are supposed to fly out Sept. 11th for the week and the airlines are telling them it will cost them $400 to switch the week. I feel so badly for them.

I hope everything works/worked out. Let us know.