| Orange Lake Resorts |
| Orange Lake Resorts Holiday Inn Club Vacations |
| 14th of Aug, 2011 by User649975 |
On July 28, 2011, I called Holiday Inn to book a room in Manassas, VA for the evening of July 29, 2011. After booking my stay in Manassas, VA, I was asked if I was interested in speaking with a representative regarding a Priority Rewards Club. I agreed and was transferred to someone who signed me up for Priority Rewards. Then, I was offered a Promotion for Holiday Inn Club Vacations. The offer made by the salesperson for Holiday Inn Club Vacations via telephone on July 28, 2011 was for 3 nights / 4 days stay at a Holiday Inn resort in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, TN at the cost of $199.00 with $100 cash back and a certificate for a 1 night stay at a later date. The offer was attractive because I already planned to visit Tennessee in September 2011. After consideration, I refuted the offer because I was concerned about the non-refundable status of the offer. The salesperson then asked if I would be interested if he could get his supervisor to provide the 3 nights stay
for free. I said that I would consider the offer. I was placed on hold while the sales representative got his supervisor on the line. The supervisor offered 3 nights stay at the cost of $199.00 with $200 cash
back. After I asked numerous questions regarding the offer, I accepted. During the conversation, the salesperson and sales supervisor both provided very misleading information in multiple ways, even as I asked carefully crafted questions. During the sales pitch, I was mislead by the salesperson as he told me that the 3 nights stay would be at the Holiday Inn Great Smoky Mountains resort. He never mentioned that it would actually be at "a IHG Brand Family hotel as the literature later e-mailed and mailed to me states. The final representative that I spoke to while providing my credit card information for the Holiday Inn Club Vacation package did mention that the stay would be at the Holiday Inn in Pigeon Forge. It did strike me as odd that she said Pigeon Forge rather than Great Smoky Mountains or Gatlinburg, but as I am not familiar with
those areas of Tennessee, I did not question her statement. The confirmation e-mail sent to me on
July 28, 2011 with the subject Thank you for purchasing a Holiday Inn Club Vacations Package made no mention as to where the 3 nights stay would take place. It was not until I received an e-mail on July 30, 2011 with the subject Important: Updated Reservation Confirmation that I was finally provided with information stating that the stay was at a IHG Brand Family hotel. Another way in which I was mislead by the salesperson on July 28, 2011 was when I specifically inquired about the fact that my plans to visit TN fell around the Labor Day holiday week. I had informed the salesperson multiple times during the conversation that I planned to travel to TN in early September 2011. He informed me that I was planning well ahead. I told him that I did not yet have confirmed dates and he assured me that it would not be an issue. I specifically asked the sales representative What will happen if I call with the dates that I would like to travel and those dates are booked? The salesperson told me, That wont happen because we block off rooms specifically for our Holiday Inn Club Vacations members. During my conversation with the salesperson, he informed me that I would need to attend a 2 hour guided tour and timeshare presentation. I said, You may tell me now that the timeshare spiel is going to last 2 hours, but once Im there, they will try to keep me longer and it will cut into my vacation time. The salesperson replied, Well, we are not just any timeshare since we are the Holiday Inn. We cannot afford to upset you because if we do, then you will not want to stay at the Holiday Inn again. I did not know it at the time, but I later learned that the salesperson misrepresented himself as a Holiday Inn representative. Once I received the e-mails and mailing, I read the fine print indicating that Holiday Inn Club Vacations is actually run by Orange Lake Resort. The fine print states, The Holiday Inn Club program and Holiday Inn Club Vacations resorts are independently owned, operated, and marketed and are not owned, operated, or marketed by the owner of the Holiday Inn brand. On July 30, 2011, I received an e-mail with the subject Important: Updated Reservation Confirmation.
I immediately noticed that the e-mail stated, Your getaway includes: 4 days and 3 nights at IHG Brand Family hotel Plus $100 cash back and one-night certificate to any Holiday Inn Hotel. The statement in the e-mail contradicted the offer made to me on July 28, 2011. On July 31, 2011, I contacted Orange Lake Resort Customer Service via telephone at (888) 649-0750. I explained that I believed there was a mix up in the e-mail that was sent to me. I was then informed, for the very first time, that the $200 cash back offer was contingent upon my booking of the getaway within 45 business days from my registration into the Holiday Inn Vacations program. I asked that this information be sent to me in writing. The representative informed me that the vacation package that I would receive in the mail via USPS would contain that information. On August 8, 2011, I received the Holiday Inn Vacations program mailing via USPS. Again, I noticed that
nowhere in writing did it indicate that I would receive $200 cash back. The mailing also stated, 4 days / 3 nights at IHG Brand Family hotel Plus $100 cash back and one-night certificate to any Holiday Inn Hotel. At 7:37 P.M. Eastern on August 8, I contacted Orange Lake Resort Customer Service via telephone at (888) 649-0750. I stated my concern that I was not provided with the same offer in writing that I received over the phone from the salesperson and his supervisor on July 28, 2011. I told the customer service representative that I had spoken to someone else in her department about this issue on July 31 and that I was told the mailing would include the $200 rebate information. The customer service representative said that she could see the notes in the account from my phone call on July 31. She said that I would receive information about the $200 cash back after I booked the dates of travel within 45 days of package sign up. I told her that I would like for someone to provide that information to me in writing now via e-mail or USPS mail. The customer service representative told me that they could not provide that information in writing because they could not guarantee that I would book my travel dates within 45 days. I told her that she absolutely could and should provide the true contract terms in writing. She refused. I stated that I would take her word for it at this time, but that if I experienced an issue, I would be expecting and fighting for a full $200 refund. At 7:14 P.M. Eastern on August 15, 2011, I contacted the Orange Lake Resort Reservations Team via telephone at (866) 993-0233. I informed the representative that I was prepared to book my travel dates to Pigeon Forge, TN. She immediately asked me, Have you thought of traveling to Orlando, FL? I thought it was very odd since my package was for Gatlinburg, TN and told her, No, I am traveling to TN as planned. I provided her with my requested travel dates of Friday, September 2, Saturday, September 3, and Sunday, September 4, 2011. She informed me that there was no availability for these dates as the rooms were booked. I asked, Arent there multiple Holiday Inn hotels in Pigeon Forge? She replied, There are two, but they are small hotels. They are booked for those dates. It is a holiday week.
Is there another time that you can travel? I said, No, my boyfriend and I have already requested these dates off from work and we are traveling together. We have already made plans to visit family during that week. There really is no other time that we can travel to TN. She replied, Well those hotels are booked for the entire month of September. I stated that I would be traveling to Ocean City, MD on August 26 and August 27, 2011 and had already booked a room at a Holiday Inn. I asked if it was possible to use the Holiday Inn Club Vacations package at Ocean City, MD. The representative told me that the package was only available at Gatlinburg, TN, Orlando, FL, and Myrtle Beach, SC. I asked to speak to a supervisor several times and the representative refused to put a supervisor on the phone. Eventually, I said, I want to speak to a supervisor and you need to put a supervisor on the phone now!, so she told me that there was no supervisor available. I asked, When will a supervisor be available? and she responded, Tomorrow morning. I said that I would call back tomorrow morning. After my conversation with the reservations representative, I went on the Internet to www.holidayinn.com. I searched for available rooms at the Holiday Inn from September 2 through September 4 for two guests in Gatlinburg, TN. The following four Gatlinburg, TN area Holiday Inn hotels show rooms available at the rates indicated. Holiday Inn: Pigeon Forge
3230 Parkway, Pigeon Forge, TN
$140.99 Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites: Pigeon Forge/Near Dollywood
308 Henderson Chapel Road, Pigeon
Forge, TN
$119.99 Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites: Kodak East-Sevierville
3526 Outdoor World Drive, Kodak,TN
$83.87 Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites: Newport South
1022 Cosby Hwy, Newport, TN
$101.00 At 7:28 P.M. Eastern on August 15, 2011, I contacted the Orange Lake Resort Reservations Team again via telephone at (866) 993-0233. The representative that answered was the same lady that I spoke to at 7:14 P.M. Again, she told me that the month of September in Pigeon Forge, TN was booked. I informed her that I went to the Holiday Inn website and rooms are available at the area hotels. She said, Well the Holiday Inn is separate from us. I said, I know you are Orange whatever, but the rooms are available, so you need to provide me with a room on the dates that I have requested. The representative said, Well, I cannot do that. They are booked. I told her that the sales representative on July 28 had told me that Holiday Inn Club Vacations blocked off specific rooms for this purpose. I informed her that I had anticipated that the fact that I was traveling around Labor Day might be an issue, that I was forthcoming with the fact that I planned to travel around a holiday, and that I was reassured multiple times by the salesperson that it would not be an issue. The reservations representative said, We only receive a limited number of rooms from the Holiday Inn. If I try to book those dates, the Holiday Inn will reject it. She told me that I could call back in the morning to talk to a supervisor. I said, I sell telephone systems for a living. Many of my clients are call centers. Call centers typically have a supervisor on staff. Why are you unable to transfer me to a supervisor? The lady replied, Well we only have two supervisors. One of them called in sick and the other one worked 9 to 5 today. She continued to tell me that I would need to call back tomorrow to talk to a supervisor. Orange Lake Resort provided misleading information by stating that the vacation package was for their resort at the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, TN, ensuring that a room would be available for me in early September, and misrepresenting themselves as Holiday Inn. Orange Lake Resort also provided information in writing that is vastly different and contradictory to the information provided via telephone.
The sales representative and his supervisor stated that I would pay $199 and receive $200 cash back, while all e-mails and mailings state in writing that I will only receive $100 cash back. Orange Lake Resort is not providing the services for which I provided payment on July 28, 2011. |
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| This company is full of crooks, and will be reported to the BBB stat ... also an investigation will be opened into the misleading comments, and extended wait periods at their time-share locations. |
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