Wyndham is closing a handful of legacy resorts - dedicated chart/tracker located in the first post for this unfolding set of events

[donno]

I was not able to get a definitive answer on this question today. There will be an update from Wyndham in October, best estimate, that will provide an explicit contact phone number and/or email address for these types of questions, the answers to which will vary dependent upon the structure of each owner's account ownership of course.

So much for being specific and expecting an answer. I do appreciate you taking the time to ask the question. Just to re-iterate, so my comment is not misunderstood a second time, I was trying to see if Wyndham would go ahead and answer the following question: "What will they do about 2026 points already used this year and 2026 reservations already made at resorts managed by them in 2026 when those points come from converted weeks at resorts that will not be managed by Wyndham beginning in 2026 and the owner will not be taking the offer to convert to CWA." I was not talking about 2026 reservations at resorts they would not be managing anymore. I stated that they should already know how they will be handling that situation and should be willing to let us know. It appears that is not the case at this time. I am now officially in the "very disappointed with Wyndham's lack of communication" camp of folks now.

 

[TUGBrian]

IMO if the resorts can inform the employees of the resort that they should be aware the resort is closing/etc on 1/1/2026.... there is no valid reason at this point to not inform the owners of the possibility they wont be able to check in after 1/1/2026.

even if you decided not to make the announcement to EVERY owner, reaching out to anyone with an existing reservation for 2026 seems fairly prudent to me.

 

[comicbookman]

IMO if the resorts can inform the employees of the resort that they should be aware the resort is closing/etc on 1/1/2026.... there is no valid reason at this point to not inform the owners of the possibility they wont be able to check in after 1/1/2026.

even if you decided not to make the announcement to EVERY owner, reaching out to anyone with an existing reservation for 2026 seems fairly prudent to me.

While on a human level I agree, employment law in many states requires employee notice. It also allows retention strategies, like stay till end bonuses to be put into play. I would imagine if they didn't tell the employees ahead of time, when they found out a sudden mass exodus would occur.

 

[TUGBrian]

I get the idea of telling them ahead of time and am perfectly ok with that, but that was last month.

what sort of storm do you think they anticipate when folks who have already booked flights or taken weeks off realize they cant check in?

 

[comicbookman]

IMO if the resorts can inform the employees of the resort that they should be aware the resort is closing/etc on 1/1/2026.... there is no valid reason at this point to not inform the owners of the possibility they wont be able to check in after 1/1/2026.

Even if you decided not to make the announcement to EVERY owner, reaching out to anyone with an existing reservation for 2026 seems fairly prudent to me.

 

[comicbookman]

I get the idea of telling them ahead of time and am perfectly ok with that, but that was last month.

what sort of storm do you think they anticipate when folks who have already booked flights or taken weeks off realize they cant check in?

A sh*tstorm.

 

[Floridaman76]

IMO if the resorts can inform the employees of the resort that they should be aware the resort is closing/etc on 1/1/2026.... there is no valid reason at this point to not inform the owners of the possibility they wont be able to check in after 1/1/2026.

even if you decided not to make the announcement to EVERY owner, reaching out to anyone with an existing reservation for 2026 seems fairly prudent to me.

That was something I didn't think about and a VERY good point.

Let me throw one more INDEFENSIBLE point out there that has been glossed over in regards to Wyndham "letting people know" about the closings.

It's been verified my MANY people online on both Facebook AND here on TUG that Wyndham's SALES staff has been doing a GREAT job of letting people know that the resorts are closing. In fact they have been using this as a very shrewd, borderline fraudulent way to try to entice a sale out of affected owners by LYING to them saying they have to make a purchase to not lose their ownership.

This is honestly deplorable, and just another example of Wyndham trying to have it both ways.

They can notify owners at the resorts, but they can't send out an email blast?

That's complete BS to me. Which is why some of us think there's no legal requirement to NOT notify.

Cake and eat it too... BS.

There's definitely a shitstorm brewing, and they are going to have to deal with the inevitable massive fallout.

 

[chapjim]

So starting January 1, 2026 there will be approximately the same number of members chasing fewer resorts and units. Wih a large percentage of the Membership caught unaware and angry.

Better buy some more points!

 

[dioxide45]

While on a human level I agree, employment law in many states requires employee notice. It also allows retention strategies, like stay till end bonuses to be put into play. I would imagine if they didn't tell the employees ahead of time, when they found out a sudden mass exodus would occur.

Actually, all states except one are at-will employment. So they don't require any kind of employee notice. State and federal law requires WARN notices, but those notices are to state and federal regulators not employees.

 

[Floridaman76]

Did anyone else find this email from Wyndham today ironic considering the "storm" that's brewing?

Yep... "the window is closing" to make plans for the holidays. And a huge majority of your ownership who made holiday plans at the ~12 or so resorts you are closing are going to be left out in the cold with nowhere to go. Branson may see a HUGE uptick in occupancy this holiday season, as it's usually DEAD there around Christmas. It will be one of the few places owners can book. Getting a flight to there is a HUGE problem though. Zero close airports with major airline service. Little Rock, St. Louis, KC or Springfield, MO. The Branson airport doesn't have "real" airline service.

 

[Floridaman76]

Actually, all states except one are at-will employment. So they don't require any kind of employee notice. State and federal law requires WARN notices, but those notices are to state and federal regulators not employees.

There are laws regarding notice even in at-will states if the employer employees more than a certan number of people at a specific location. But i seriously doubt any of the resorts in question would fall under those regs... in fact a good hunk of the workers at the resorts are subcontractors. All the housekeeping and landscaping staff are subs...

 

[Rolltydr]

Yep... "the window is closing" to make plans for the holidays. And a huge majority of your ownership who made holiday plans at the ~12 or so resorts you are closing are going to be left out in the cold with nowhere to go.

Wyndham has over 500,000 owners. They will certainly be surprised when a “huge majority” of those show up at 12 resorts that have shown declining owner occupancy over the past few years. How many are you expecting will show up? 300,000? 400,000?

 

[dioxide45]

There are laws regarding notice even in at-will states if the employer employees more than a certan number of people at a specific location. But i seriously doubt any of the resorts in question would fall under those regs... in fact a good hunk of the workers at the resorts are subcontractors. All the housekeeping and landscaping staff are subs...

But those notices still don't apply to notification to the employees. The notices related to number of employees are WARN notices and apply to those companies with 100 or more employees. I am not saying that giving them notice isn't a good thing. It actually is, but I was responding to a specific post stating it as a fact, which it isn't. They also stated that it helps with retention. I would say it does the opposite unless retention incentives are attached.

I should also add, Wyndham shouldn't be providing any kind of notification to contractors or other people who aren't directly employed by them. That notice should come from their actual employer.

 

[seascapemvy]

Better buy some more points!

They told me that. I am sure they lied when they said they Crestview section of shawnee was staying open and if I wanted to book there I needed to buy 500,000 CWA points for $158,000. I own over 1.1 million resell points that I may have paid $3,000 or so.

 

[TUGBrian]

certainly does take a bit of the wind out of the "they <wyndham> have valid reasons for not informing owners" argument when salespeople are exploiting the lack of verifiable information surrounding this situation to push owners into buying more points "or else".

if there are legal reasons wyndham "corporate" cant divulge more info to owners, those reasons should also apply to sales offices vs being used against unsuspecting victims.

 

[comicbookman]

Actually, all states except one are at-will employment. So they don't require any kind of employee notice. State and federal law requires WARN notices, but those notices are to state and federal regulators not employees.

However, 13 states have laws requiring warning of a known shutdown or mass layoff. those 13 include New York, New Jersey and Tennessee, 3 states relevant here. These states have lower thresholds than the federal law which requires notice if an employer has at least 100 employees and 50 are being laid off or let go. The federal law requires 60 days notice as do most states, but New Jersey requires 90. The federal Warn act requires "60 days’ advance written notice to the employees, their union (where applicable), and state and local governmental leaders." Wyndham clearly has more than 100 employees, maybe not at each resort, but in the resort management dept. They ar also clearly letting go of more than 50 employees total. As for sub contractors, i would expect there contracts require notice of a shutdown and contract termination.

 

[Greeneyedbandit64]

KBV is a unique and unfortunate situation. The resort, in addition to the timeshare units, has a number of privately owned units/condos in the other buildings with people living in them as their homes. For them unfortunate doesn't even come close to describing their situation!

KBV voted out Wyndham as their management company back around maybe 2016-2018. Within a year or two they brought Wyndham back. Is Wyndham withdrawing this time or was voted out again? I'd think they'd be withdrawing this time on the advice of their legal team to disassociate the company with the ongoing legal issues. It makes sense that their legal team's advise would be to withdraw to avoid claims of a conflict of interest and to keep the company out of the ongoing owner complaints and drama.

From what we know those two oceanfront buildings were declared unfit/unsafe for occupancy, not feasibly repairable, and condemned. Also didn't Hawaii/Kauai say that because of their proximity to the ocean they can't demolish those buildings and rebuild on those spots/lots? The cost of demolishing them is significant and hasn't proceeded because everything is tied up with the ongoing lawsuits and unpaid assessment monies needed to do the work.

We enjoyed our stay at KBV. In DH's opinion the tree lined road into the resort rivals the Tunnel of Trees tourists pay to do. That, the central location on the island for doing the various tourist things, and short distance from the airport, Costco, shopping, make the resort a real gem.

So does that mean we can get out of this time share and stop paying fees

 

[dioxide45]

However, 13 states have laws requiring warning of a known shutdown or mass layoff. those 13 include New York, New Jersey and Tennessee, 3 states relevant here. These states have lower thresholds than the federal law which requires notice if an employer has at least 100 employees and 50 are being laid off or let go. The federal law requires 60 days notice as do most states, but New Jersey requires 90. The federal Warn act requires "60 days’ advance written notice to the employees, their union (where applicable), and state and local governmental leaders." Wyndham clearly has more than 100 employees, maybe not at each resort, but in the resort management dept. They ar also clearly letting go of more than 50 employees total. As for sub contractors, i would expect there contracts require notice of a shutdown and contract termination.

Companies can also simply payout the employee during the notice period. So they can provide notice today, have you stop work today as long as they still pay you through the notice period. If they didn't want to do that, they could have waited The first of October or even November before providing notice, but they did so in July.

 

[Greeneyedbandit64]

I don't know if this is related, but Wyndham notified the board at Kauai Beach Villas that they are terminating the Pahio management contract with the resort at the end of the year. (Pahio is owned by Wyndham.)

As you may recall, Kauai Beach Villas is the Kauai resort that is falling apart due to poor construction and maintenance issues, with an estimated $67 million dollar special assessment needed to correct all of the issues. 2 of it's 3 oceanfront buildings have been closed, stripped of their landscaping and irrigation systems, and allowed to fall into serious disrepair.

The board is holding an election on Sept. 19th for owners to vote on Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

So will this eliminate my contract with Pahio? How can I find that info out? Do I have to make my next payment for 2026?

 

[comicbookman]

Companies can also simply payout the employee during the notice period. So they can provide notice today, have you stop work today as long as they still pay you through the notice period. If they didn't want to do that, they could have waited The first of October or even November before providing notice, but they did so in July.

Considering the votes are taking place in September, and December 31 was a target date, July seems prudent. I mean you already claimed that warn notices don't need to be sent to employees, so I would say your interpretation of these laws is already suspect.

 

[Floridaman76]

Wyndham has over 500,000 owners. They will certainly be surprised when a “huge majority” of those show up at 12 resorts that have shown declining owner occupancy over the past few years. How many are you expecting will show up? 300,000? 400,000?

That's a really ridiculousky inaccurate take. It really is.

Yeah, definitely nobody has booked Bently Brook over the winter skiing months this year.

Your post is extremely dismissive of people who HAVE made plans and are unaware this is ocurring. And by the time this is announced, their ability to book at the resorts which will still exist, and also make travel arrangements will be extremely limited.

 

[dioxide45]

Considering the votes are taking place in September, and December 31 was a target date, July seems prudent. I mean you already claimed that warn notices don't need to be sent to employees, so I would say your interpretation of these laws is already suspect.

But aren't the noticed just in advance of the date of termination of employment? Not the date of any vote. Their termination doesn't coincide with some vote by the ownership? Their termination is 12/31, no?

I should also ask, has T+L even filed official WARN notices for any of these layoffs?
Just looked in TN, and I don't see one.

 

[Greeneyedbandit64]

It’s not directly related. There’s a very large thread elsewhere about KBV IIRC. It’s a long drawn out story with a ton of history. The fact that it is being removed at year end doesn’t necessarily tie this particular resort into the actions specific to this thread. That likely has to do with the fact that 12/31/2025 is the end of the fiscal year, which would be the case for almost any action taken to remove a resort from the system in an effort to minimize complexity. I will confirm with my Wyndham contacts to be sure.

So If I own at this resort …do I still have to pay my timeshare fees for 2026!

 

[comicbookman]

But aren't the noticed just in advance of the date of termination of employment? Not the date of any vote. Their termination doesn't coincide with some vote by the ownership? Their termination is 12/31, no?

I should also ask, has T+L even filed official WARN notices for any of these layoffs?
Just looked in TN, and I don't see one.

Yes it is based on termination dates, but those were projected dates. It is always possible, though unlikely, that an earlier date might have been picked for some odd reason.

 

[Rolltydr]

That's a really ridiculousky inaccurate take. It really is.

Yeah, definitely nobody has booked Bently Brook over the winter skiing months this year.

Your post is extremely dismissive of people who HAVE made plans and are unaware this is ocurring. And by the time this is announced, their ability to book at the resorts which will still exist, and also make travel arrangements will be extremely limited.

This is your direct quote? What part of my response is inaccurate?

Yep... "the window is closing" to make plans for the holidays. And a huge majority of your ownership who made holiday plans at the ~12 or so resorts you are closing are going to be left out in the cold with nowhere to go.