Wyndham- The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
I posted a few days ago about our story and how my family has been "wronged" by Wyndham. Since then I have gotten some advice, support and unfortunately, some "threats" that I better be careful or it might get worse for me. This is exactly what I'm talking about- The fact that I'm always looking over my shoulder now with this company.
I want to start on a more positive note and reiterate that my husband has terminal cancer and with Wyndham we have been able to travel all over the United States going to DisneyWorld, Disneyland, Colorado, Hawaii, Washington DC, New York City, The water park at The Great Smokies Lodge in Tennessee, Destin, Panama City, the magic convention (for our son) in Daytona Beach, San Diego, San Francisco and so on... since December 2011 (we have literally been in one of their resorts since then). We have a spectacular trip booked right now in Hawaii, where we will island hop all summer (Oahu until June, Kauai until July, Big Island until September and then off to Australia where we will visit Cairnes, Surfers Paradise, Torquay Victoria, Tasmania, Sydney and then New Zealand). After that we are headed back to California to finish up our annual passes at Disneyland. What's not to LOVE?
Everytime we check in we are greeted with huge smiles and by people who usually remember us from past extended stays and always treat us like family. Ecspecially here in Oahu. Our kids become very close to the staff and I am reminded of the story "Eloise at the Plaza". It is so wonderful that they can have this experience to distract them from the medical problems with their dad. What better place to be than DisneyWorld while your father is going through chemo treatment for a year at MD Anderson in Florida? Plus, we have the most amazing rooms (not sure if Wyndham can be beat) and maid service too! Awesome.
However, in order to live this lifestyle we obviously had to take on some debt and figure out a way to pay for it. We were talked into a platinum ownership with Wyndham because of the reserve, hold, cancel, re-reserve and discount/ upgrade process. We were also told that we could pay our fees by renting out the units we "saved" on. I have been taking advantage of this wonderful system for about 2 years now and it does work (for us)- probably because we avoid all the costs associated with living in a house. We have met several other owners who do exactly what we do, minus the children usually.
We are not trying to wage a war against Wyndham after we have had such wonderful experiences. Unfortunately, 1 bad experience can lead to elevated frustrations and "cat fights". Obviously staying with the resorts for so long- there are bound to be problems. Lately, it has gotten just ugly.
Last year we were advised by Wyndham Owner care to book any overlapping reservations under the mis-spelled names that had been accidently added to our account over the years through all our purchases. Keep in mind that sometimes we needed extra rooms because we have 7 of us and couldn't get a big enough unit, family/friends were visiting, or my husband needed a place to retreat during his treatments. Anything I rented out always had a guest name added to it so that the guest could check in.
One day I went to make reservations and the extra misspelled names were removed from my account as was my father's name (who is the original owner and is still alive). I am now only able to make 2 reservations within a 2 week period (so I thought)- 1 under my name and 1 under my husbands name. This is necessary for the reasons mentioned above (especially this summer in Maui when we have two 1 bedroom units reserved for our family of 7 for a month). However, a few days ago one of those reservations (under my husbands name) was canceled within a week of check in date and the points were forfeited.
We found out from the front desk and from owner care that there is an actual person (not the computer system) who is going into our account (works for Wyndham) and cancelling our reservations as they see fit. This particular reservation was for a very rare 4 bedroom presidential unit at Waikiki Beach Walk (they only have 1 for booking). I booked it figuring that it would be an awesome (luxury) experience for us if it didn't rent. We have another unit at the resort under my name in case it did rent and obviously the person who canceled it decided that 1 was enough.
Rentals are not big for me in Hawaii (strange enough). In fact, I have only rented about 5 units this entire time in Hawaii. I assumed it wouldn't rent and our family was actually super excited to stay in the 4 bedroom. We feel (obviously, not everyone agrees) that they are our points and if we want to "waste" them on 2 units at 1 time, then that's our right. We paid a lot of money to acquire them and we pay every month to maintain them. We weren't breaking any rules by having the 2 reservations since they didn't overlap with anything else.
I didn't come on to this site to whine and complain, but I realize that I was. I didn't mean to offend, upset or bring more harm to my family (I am told if I make people upset then they will just come after me more)... I just wanted to inform other owners that this can happen. People at Wyndham can indeed access your account and your personal information, change your account and cancel reservations at their will. I have been told by the Wyndham lawyer that they "googled me" and now here on the tug site I have people doing it again (obviously Wyndham legal). None of what's happening has anything to do with the staff on site- they have actually advised that I contact a lawyer, too. There shouldn't be anyone but myself and family in our account- PERIOD. If you have doubts about what I'm saying then I encourage you to look at all the other complaints from members of Wyndham who have the same sentiment towards them.
Oh- and I was asked about the bad experience that happened that set this all off? We were told at Beaver Creek that we could stay in the same room for several months (I know- above and beyond, but over promised). Suddenly, without much warning we were told we had to move but that the resort would move us- no worries. Well we were completely unprepared and it took a long time (remember they said we had that room for several months, so were settled in). The resort got mad and called us into legal, who then in turn called us and did the following: Said from now on our family would be made to move out and in on a weekly basis - out at 10, in at 4 and to the same unit every week. The lawyer had no idea what I was talking about when I told him that I was taught to book, cancel and rebook and really did ask for all the names of the agents and managers that taught me this practice, which IS a platinum benefit. He did call me a cheat and said we were being penalized for taking advantage of the system. He also offered to help get me out of my points so that we didn't have to "long term stay" anymore. Again, I agree that a promised stay of more than a months time was unnecessary, but awesome (and obviously over promised). If they just would have given us more warning and not told us we were being penalized for using platinum benefits and getting the room so discounted, then it would have been fine. I got upset over the call from the lawyer and the threats and accusations that came from him. They were completely disrespectful and inappropriate.
For a family who has been absolutely loving Wyndham and all the travel (and HAS had their story told without compensation- someone asked about this- at several sales sites), this has been a huge blow to our confidence in the system. Also, we did try to lay low and even left the Beaver Creek site... but obviously this lawyer has set the hound dogs on us and it may never stop. All because of an unexpected messy, very late check out.
By the way- I keep getting asked about my maintenance fee- I couldn't understand what this was about until I re-read the posts and realized that my teenage daughter (who is very upset by all this) posted a letter and mistakenly inflated the amount we were paying in fees. The other tugs member is correct that we are paying closer to $2500 per month in fees- not that it should matter... but maybe this will help if anyone has any advice on how to get Wyndham off my back... all loans and fees are up to date. Also, our case has been escalated by owner care and we are hopeful that it will be resolved soon. (although the resort has already rented out our 4 bedroom unit to someone else, so not sure what they can do). Once again- we use the majority of our points to vacation with, and the majority of our points are through Wyndham- not resale... although it shouldn't matter and if I'd known better, I would have purchased more resale... so kuddos to those of you own resale. Plus, I will re-iterate that our problems started after a cat fight with the managers at Beaver Creek (awesome front desk staff) who obviously had friends in high places. To be CLEAR, we add a guest confirmation to every rental we do. I used to check in friends and family, but now I can't because we only have 2 names on our account and need them for our stays.
So there it is... Its awesome- until it's not... then it can get really sour. And if you don't care or are annoyed by my post- then please don't read it. If you have any contacts that might be able to help our case or something similar has happened to you and you can offer me advice (I really don't want to get lawyers involved) then I'd appreciate if someone could turn me in the right direction or message me with Wyndham contact info that might be helpful. I truly appreciate all the views and all the help that has been offered thus far. This really can be a great company- if you don't get on their bad side. No complaints, because with Wyndham the customer is always wrong and if you have a problem keep it to yourself and try to enjoy your vacation anyway. Just saying...
Thank you
