My correspondence with Deanne (LONG)
I had posted this at wyndhamowners.org, but thought I should post it here, too. I would also like to state that I am not a "mega renter," but do rent things in order to afford to stay at home with my daughter.
Here is my complaint and the correspondence between myself, my husband and Deanne Gabel since then (Deanne's responses in red):
To Whom It May Concern:
I write this letter to not only complain about changes Wyndham Corporate has made to our Fairshare Plus plan, but to urge Wyndham to rethink these changes. With all of the media attention on the “big three” auto makers and on corporations like Lehman Brothers and their corporate greed, I thought that other large corporations, like Wyndham, wouldn’t want to attain the same reputation. I was unfortunately wrong. When Wyndham did away with unlimited free guest certificates, thousands (if not tens of thousands) of us were surprised and outraged. That wasn’t the worst part, however. Not only did you, Wyndham, take away the unlimited free guest certificates, but you increased the fee by 500%! The new $129 fee is drastically higher than other timeshare companies charge, and Wyndham took away one of the benefits we were “sold” on when we bought into the program. When I think about how many millions of dollars Wyndham will make each year just because of this fee increase, it makes me sick to my stomach. The other change made was instilling a new policy about adding guest names to reservations that are within 15 days of check-in. Now, if I have a reservation that I cannot use, I have to fear that Wyndham will cancel the reservation and I’ll lose my points if I add a guest name. What gives Wyndham the right to do this on something that I OWN? We’ve been told by multiple people at Wyndham that the reservation won’t be cancelled unless we have another reservation with overlapping dates at the same resort. Is this in writing? Of course not, so how can I even trust anyone at Wyndham? We can only assume that this new policy is to help Wyndham’s business – Extra Holidays. What’s really exasperating: we’ve had countless guests have problems checking in, because the guest names were never sent from the mainframe to the resort. We CERTAINLY shouldn’t have to pay for a service that’s not being provided.
With the holidays approaching after these changes, our family decided not to let it bother us too much. However, Wyndham then came up with an even more outrageous change – no longer allowing the transfer of points between different accounts. In the announcement letter, the reason given for this change was “for security reasons.” If this was truly the reason (which we of course know is not), then we should still be able to transfer points between our own accounts. Wyndham won’t even let us do this, in spite of the fact that we are forced to have multiple accounts due to a billing glitch in Wyndham’s system (not being able to correctly bill more than 14 contracts [or so] on one account). We believe this change is a result of you (Wyndham) realizing the mistake you made when you increased the rental point fees. Because the owners were not willing to pay $8-$10 per thousand to rent points from Wyndham, we (the owners) were able to rent them from other owners for considerably less. Once you realized this, you got greedy again and decided to put an end to that as well. Thousands of owners have been up in arms about this new policy change and we’ve been coming together in discussion online and even on the phone. Many people were sold more points than they could possibly use each year, with the promise from their “advisor” that they could transfer their points to another owner and be compensated for them, to cover the cost of their maintenance fees. Now what are all of these owners supposed to do with their abundance of points? There are also some people who don’t vacation every year. What are they supposed to do with their points that year? With all of the mileage reward cards, it certainly wouldn’t be worth it for people to use their points for airfare. I’ve looked at the airline partner program, and airfare through this would be much more expensive than purchasing airfare on a discount travel site. Another thing that Wyndham hasn’t thought about: if owners have thousands (or even millions) of points that they can’t transfer to another owner, they will be forced to rent out reservations using their points. Because so many owners don’t know how much to charge for reservations, and because they’ll want to get rid of the points they can’t use, they will rent those reservations very cheaply. This will most certainly take away a lot of business from Extra Holidays. Considering Wyndham is clearly making all of these benefit/policy changes to help their own rental business, this would be pretty devastating to you.
While all of us [owners] have been upset about the new policy that will eliminate the transfer of points, you (Wyndham) have been thinking up a new change to devalue our timeshares: charging for guest certificates for multiple, consecutive reservations. This was a big concern when the new guest certificate fees were announced, but we were assured by numerous people at Wyndham that we would only have to pay for one guest certificate when the same guest has another consecutive reservation. We just had to add the guest name online, then call to have the guest name added to the second reservation. This was ONLY FAIR, since many reservations HAVE to be split to get the desired dates. Clearly Wyndham doesn’t believe in what’s fair, and has no respect for its owners. No other timeshare company does this – if you have consecutive reservations at the same resort, you are only charged one guest fee. Why would we be charged more than one fee? What is Wyndham’s cost for this? Also, because most of Wyndham’s weeks only run Friday-Friday, Saturday-Saturday, or Sunday-Sunday, many reservations have to be split, particularly weekend reservations. I was told that if we add the guest name at the time of booking, we would only be charged one guest certificate. Here is the problem with that: your online reservation system is not set up to recognize this, so we will still be charged for two guest confirmations. That means we HAVE to call Wyndham, and because you have so greedily decided to charge $30 extra for adding guest certificates through the call center, this means we don’t even have the option to add the guest names ourselves [for split reservations].
It is clear that Wyndham is trying to “shut down” the mega-renters, which would be a huge mistake. Not only does Wyndham make millions of dollars each year off of the fees that renters pay, but renters supply Wyndham with a large amount of prospective owners at no cost to Wyndham. Wyndham is constantly giving away free weekends at resorts in exchange for attending a timeshare presentation. This obviously costs Wyndham money. The renters use their own points to give you potential owners. In fact, we’ve had one guest (that we know of) make a large purchase from Wyndham when she stayed at the Grand Desert last year. (Also, what would happen to the extra inventory if you were to “shut down” the mega-renters? Give the inventory to Extra Holidays so Wyndham can make even more money off of what WE own?) It really doesn’t make sense that Wyndham would care so much about what the owners do with their own points, so long as their accounts are current. If I buy the house next door, whose business is it if I decide to rent that house? So long as I pay the mortgage, taxes and HOA dues on that house, that’s my business. We owners do have a problem with the biggest mega-renter: Extra Holidays. Why is it that a company created by Wyndham can dip into our inventory and not pay any fees for them? I also understand that none of the money goes into the VOA trust.
I’ve had several people call and/or e-mail me over the last year to ask my opinion of Wyndham. Up until two months ago I recommended the program, but now I couldn’t possibly speak positively of Wyndham Corporation and of the Fairshare Plus Program. I still believe the Wyndham resorts are beautiful, but I am completely disgusted with Wyndham Corporate. I used to train quality assurance for a large corporation, and I know that it is between five and fifteen times cheaper to retain a current customer than to obtain a new one. Not only that, but if one person has a bad experience with a company, they will likely tell 10 other people. We owners have had multiple bad experiences with Wyndham, so how many people do you think we’ve all told each time? Word of mouth is amazing, and reputations can either be ruined or made great because of it.
Again, I urge you to rethink your decisions about the guest certificate fees and transferring of points. There has been a lot of discussion about a class action lawsuit against Wyndham, and I don’t believe this is something to scoff at. In spite of the fact that, according to the trust agreement, Wyndham has the right to change the policies at any time, it is absolutely against the law to use hook, bait and switch sales techniques. We were sold Fairshare Plus points and an upgraded membership based on special benefits. Once we bought in, Wyndham was quick to put an end to those special benefits because of your (Wyndham’s) own self-serving greed. When I read Wyndham’s “Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for Directors,” I truly believe the Board of Directors is violating this code and there is plenty of conflict of interest. How is it okay for Stephen Holmes to be on the board, when he is also the CEO and making plenty of money off of all of these policy changes? The Extra Holidays program also has “conflict of interest” written all over it. All of this is corporate fraud and we owners will not stand for it! It is laughable to hear the recording on Wyndham’s phone lines or to read in Wyndham’s e-mailed responses: “we truly value you and want to ensure that you, your family and friends may fully enjoy all that your vacation ownership with Wyndham Vacation Resorts has to offer.” I am 100% convinced that ALL of the changes made in the last few months are to strictly benefit Wyndham Corporate and the Extra Holidays program.
I will be sending a similar letter to the Florida Attorney General, to numerous consumer advocates, and to multiple news stations in the area. I am completely disappointed with Wyndham Corporate and hope that you make amends with the owners soon.
Sincerely,
Laura _____
Dear Mr. and Mrs. _______,
I appreciate your email communication, and would like to have the opportunity tos peak with you. Is there a number where I can reach you possibly, on Monday?
In the meantime, please allow me to share with you a communication that I have shared that explains our position a little more in detail. Of importance to note, none of the fees that are collected in the program are collected by Wyndham Corporate. They are all remitted to the FSP Trust to support the cost of operating the program. This shift has allowed us to keep the FSP Program Assessment to a 1 1/12% increase in a very tough financial year for the club.
I look forward to hearing from you, so that hopefully we can have the opportunity to talk through your genuine concerns.
Thank you for your email, and your sincere concern regarding your FairShare Plus Membership. It is with great consideration, and our sincere care for all owners, that we implement any changes whatsoever to the FairShare Plus program. Only when it becomes clear that new events within the current business environment which negatively impact the FairShare Plus Trust, do we feel that consideration regarding change is necessary. As we have shared in the past, as stewards of the Trust, it is our responsibility to always ensure that the rules and fees are equitable for all, so that a few owners or external businesses cannot find loopholes to take advantage of club offerings, which negatively impact your membership.
§ The decision to eliminate the transferring of points feature was based on several considerations, most especially, ensuring the security of our owners’ accounts.
§ We have discovered several incidents of fraudulent transactions that have occurred as a result of transferring of points, either by other owners or 3rd party companies.
§ We have received countless complaints from owners regarding their being solicited for the resale and transfer of their FairShare Plus points, as many of these groups represent themselves as a Wyndham company.
§ Additionally, based on our records, during the first 11 months of 2008, less than 3% of our owners have used this feature. There are also several owners who are abusing this feature in connection with their commercial rental businesses, the most volume being an individual who has received 740 transfers into their account this year alone.
§ Based on this data, this feature has been taken advantage of to the average FairShare Plus member’s travel detriment, as the corresponding reservations that this type of point usage represents, are only at the most popular resorts.
§ As we never want to be in the position to negatively impact any FairShare Plus member, The FairShare Plus Board will take into consideration your comments and concerns, and determine whether a limited Points Transfer feature is appropriate.
§ If you used the Points Transfer feature in the past, please consider one of several other options still available, including:
o Worldwide Exchange. You may use your points to deposit a week into your worldwide exchange company. You’ll receive a deposit to use to confirm a full week stay with your exchange company for up to two years from the date of deposit.
o Converting Points to Maintenance Dollars. This option allows you to convert your Regular Use Year points during the first 3 months of your Use Year to maintenance dollars that will be applied to your FairShare Plus fees.
o Points Credit Pool. If you know you will not be able to use some or all of your future year’s Regular Use Year Points, consider depositing your points into the Points Credit Pool. Those points will remain available to you for three years from the date you make the deposit.
o Guest Confirmations. Instead of transferring points to another owner’s account, you can book a reservation for someone else by adding a Guest Confirmation at the time of booking
Deanne Gabel
Senior Vice President
Owner Services
FSP Plan Manager
Wyndham Vacation Ownership
8427 SouthPark Circle
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 345-6417 phone
(407) 370-6375 fax
