Yosemite 2010

Rachel and I went down to Yosemite for the long weekend and enjoyed the snow:

Half Dome on Sunday

Winter Wonderland

Camp Curry: heated tent

The Ahwanee's Great Room

We spent about 6 hours watching the snowfall on Saturday (Rachel's warming her feet on the radiator)

Customer Complaint Update

Please recall the post I made about my customer complaint to Wyndham Rewards. They did in fact respond to my letter just one week after I sent it in. I am pretty impressed with their response time and for my particular problem, this was a good comprise. Interestingly enough, even with a free night's stay, it wasn't any cheaper than staying at Motel 6's, which we did because they have a "pet's stay free" policy. I was really hoping that my letter would enact some sort of policy change, but Jeremy said that is as likely as calling up the President and asking for and receiving world peace. But, keep articulating to the companies you patronize because it is your money and you can spend it wherever you want. Here is what I received via email:

Dear Rachel:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding your Wyndham Rewards account.  I apologize that you were still receiving emails from Wyndham Rewards shortly before the closure date of 2/14/10. 

I have reinstated your 2,973 points and reactivated your account for another six month timeframe.  If there is no additional activity on your account within the six months, your account will close permanently on 11/19/2010 and all points on the account will be forfeited.  Account activity is defined as the earning or redemption of Wyndham Rewards points.  In addition, points will expire off of an account 4 years from the date they are issued.

For your convenience the activity on your account can be monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by visiting our website.  Member Services is also available to assist with any account inquiries Monday – Friday 9:00am – 11:00m EST or Saturday & Sunday 9:00am – 6:00pm EST by calling 1-866-WYN-RWDS (1-866-996-7937) or via email at customerservice@wyndhamrewards.com

Sincerely

Steph

Wyndham Rewards Member Services

For Every Kind of Traveler. For Every Kind of Trip.  www.wyndhamworldwide.com

Grand Canyon and Neon from Old Route 66

More Pics from Old Route 66

Route 66

This place is a like a ghost town of a time passed:

Were in St. Louis

Another long day of driving today, but were here. Olive is doing fine and seems to not mind staying in her carrier. Tomorrow were heading to Elks City Oklahoma.

An empty apartment

Were leaving tomorrow morning for Washington PA! Apartment is packed and lightly cleaned. Car is gassed up and our new ice chest is ready for the trip too.

Just Say NO to Wyndham Rewards

May 9, 2010

Kristine McNamee

Wyndham Rewards

P.O. Box 4888

Aberdeen, SD 57402

RE: Wyndham Rewards Complaint

Dear Ms. McNamee,

My husband and I signed up for the Wyndham Rewards program when we moved from the West  to the East Coast. It was recommended that when doing a cross-country trip, a rewards program is a great way to reduce the cost of your trip, because the points could easily lead to a free night’s stay. As a result, we made a concerted effort to stay in Wyndham hotels throughout the entire trip, but we were unable to earn enough to yield the free night’s stay. However, we are now moving back to the West Coast and will be able to stay in Wyndham hotels and with the already accumulated points, will have enough to redeem at some point during the trip.

When I tried to log into my account, it indicated that the account had been closed. When I called customer service, I was informed that due to 18 month’s of inactivity, my account was closed. I explained to the customer service manager (“Brandon”) that in the next week we would be purchasing 7-8 nights of hotel stays and that I would like it to be with Wyndham, but only if I could get the account reactivated. Again, he said that this was not possible. What is extremely frustrating about this is:

a)      I received zero notification about my account being cancelled, leading up to cancellation. As Brandon informed me, it was in the fine print that I was provided with when I originally signed up, but I would have liked to have an additional notice, because I could have reserved my hotel at that time.

b)      I continued to receive Wyndham Rewards emails, even after the unknown account cancellation. In fact, the most recent email included my account number and number of points I had in association with the account. Why would I have any idea that my account had been cancelled and points lost, if I was still receiving emails about my supposedly active account? (Please see print out of email included in the letter).

a.        This seems to me, as false advertising.

b.       It also indicates that the capability of sending individualized emails does exist, and that this technology could be used to send an account termination email to individuals prior to their accounts being closed. When I asked Brandon why this doesn’t happen, he told me that this is not the focus of the marketing department.

c)       The mutually beneficial recourse was not an option. As a consumer, I have a choice. As I explained to Brandon, it seemed like an easy solution for him to reinstate my account. I had so few points earned, that it wouldn’t be much of cost to Wyndham for me to use them and I have to book 7 nights of hotel use which I can either do with Wyndham chains, or with another brand altogether. Of course at this point, my family and I will not be spending money at any Wyndham brands and I will be conscious of this when booking any future hotels or travel. But despite all of this, Brandon was unwilling or unable to be flexible and as result Wyndham lost a potential life-long customer.

Overall, I feel like I was tricked into purchasing your product through the guise of a rewards program.  I wish that this could have been resolved and encourage you reconsider the way you run the rewards program as a way to prevent customer service complaints of this kind in the future.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my experience.

Sincerely,

Rachel

NOTES:
This is a letter that I wrote and mailed yesterday. I hope to hear back from Ms. McNamee ASAP with an explanation. 

WYNDHAM HOTELS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

Baymont Inn & Suites ,Days Inn, Hawthorn Suites, Howard Johnson, Knights Inn, Microtel Inns & Suites, Ramada Worldwide , Super 8, Travelodge , Wingate by Wyndham , Wyndham Hotels and Resorts

Full Circle [California Here We Come]

 This blog is about to go full circle...as many of our readers know, this blog started as a tool to chronicle our trip across America as we made our trip to Boston. And now, we are about to set out on the road once more and make the trek back to the West Coast! This time around we won't be hauling a U-Haul, but will be driving the Passat. We also plan to dip just a bit into the south west and hope to check out the Grand Canyon along the way! Count down to departure is 11 days; we will be saying goodbye to Bean Town on May 20th.

Check back for more on our adventure back to the Sunshine State.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTu8jiuQE5w

Coming Home

New York, New York

We are going to the Big Apple! We have been on the East Coast for one year now and we are finally setting aside time to spend three nights during Labor Day Weekend in The Capital of the World! Already on our to-do list includes a ferry ride to Ellis and Liberty Island as well as tickets to the Broadway show Avenue Q. We also plan to see The Met and we still haven't settled on either the Guggenheim, the MOMA, or the Museum of Natural History (we are just not going to have time for more than two museums)

Of course we have plenty of other site seeing on the list as well, including:

• Rockefeller Center
• Grand Central Terminal
  
• Times Square
• Central Park
• Wall Street
• Tom's Cafe
• Broadway
• The New York Central Library
• The Empire State Building
• The Chrysler Building
• Trump Tower
• Macy's
• Fifth Avenue

Who knows if we will ever have the chance to go back, so we hope to make the best of it. We might be able to squeeze it all in considering we are visiting The City that Never Sleeps. If anyone has any suggestions for MUST SEE's or GREAT EATS, let us know!

Empire City...here we come!

More Cape Cod Photos

Some more photos of our weekend at Cape Cod

Provincetown: the Lobster Pot


Really old windmill


Marion's Pie Shop near Chatham


Chatham Lighthouse


Fish Market near Chatham


Fish coming to the market


I want some...