Not the sort of whistle blowing at the end of a football match but the kind where an employee testifies against possible wrong doings or mal practice perpetrated by their employer. One recent occasion where this has occurred has come to our attention.
Before we look deeper at what’s occurred, we can say it all stems around timeshare owners with Travel & Leisure Co, formerly Wyndham Destinations Inc. Basically, quite a few owners were concerned that, wherever or whenever they wished to book their contractually allowed holiday they could never seem to find availability. In all honesty this is not a problem solely with Wyndham, ever since the creation of floating weeks this problem has occurred. Over time the problem has become much worse, exacerbated by the creation of points based systems.
If you had a fixed week at a fixed resort, you knew exactly where and when you could holiday. Ok you could swop both resort and dates by using in house schemes or external exchange companies, such as RCI but you knew, at least at your home resort, that your holiday was guaranteed, not so with points or floating weeks. We extensively examined the problems with points in a recent article.
A good question to ask would be “are all the problems created by points or floating weeks?” According to the whistle blower the answer is no. The “selling” of owners’ rights on the open market would appear to be one of the primary reasons that availability to owners is diminished, according to the witness statement. This is another area we covered in a recent article.
The complaint
Although we are unsure of the numbers of “plaintiffs” involved, a class action seems to be in the process of arriving at court in Delaware USA presented by owners affected by the lack of availability when they try to book a holiday using their Wyndham timeshare ownership.
Developers would argue that there is plenty of availability and fault lies with owners who all want the same resort at the same time. Well of course this wouldn’t happen under the fixed week plan, but points? Herein lays the problem. The points system is certainly a large contributing factor in creating a log jam, but according to the star witness a considerable amount of the problem is caused by the developer, in this case Wyndham, selling accommodation on the open market to non owners.
The Star Witness
Danielle Henderson used to be employed by Wyndham then subsequently Travel & Leisure the parent company of Wyndham Vacation Resorts Inc. Her tenure was not for a short period; in fact she was employed for nearly 19 years. During this period she rose to the position of Vice President, Resort Operations, a position of some considerable responsibility, here is what she says about her role:
“I was a top performer and respected leader within the company. Some of my responsibilities included overseeing multimillion dollar budgets, capital spending, quality controls, policies and procedures, systems, process improvement, new technology for Resorts and insurance claim management for over 180 locations. During my tenure, I worked in many different divisions which provided me with valuable experience and insight of how the business operates.”
As may be demonstrated, a fairly senior member of the team. Contained in Danielle’s statement to the District Court for the Delaware district she explains that she raised issues with senior management about misuse of owners’ allocated accommodation with the result that the complaint was dismissed as was she! The complaint then being unceremoniously shoved back under the carpet where it belonged.
We will not state all the witness points cited by Danielle as you may read these for yourself; there is a court document download link later in this article. For now, here is an extract:
“I am prepared to testify that T + L improperly allocates and
Misappropriates owner inventory for its own financial gain, which severely reduces
the availability of accommodations for owners. This is important because the
Plaintiffs claim that they are unable to find availability on the Club Wyndham owner
website, but they can find the exact same accommodations available when they
searched on a third party website like Expedia. T + L strategically decides which
inventory (accommodations) to make available for owners; it takes desirable
inventory away from owners and gives it to other “channels” that are profitable for T
+ L and drive in new owners to Club Wyndham.”
(T&L = Travel & Leisure, Wyndham parent Co)
Pretty powerful stuff. The court document also states that there is a substantial amount of evidence including emails also documents, databases, reports, power point presentations, standard operating procedures and training content.
TCA Comment
This potential case is merely highlighting facts that virtually every timeshare owner is aware of. Not necessarily what causes unavailability but the fact that getting where and when they want is nigh on impossible. In the beginning, the whole rationale for paying a considerable sum to buy into timeshare was the exclusivity and guaranteed holidays. What on earth makes any sense to enter into a timeshare contract today when so many of the guests at the resort have paid nothing, bar the sum for a single holiday booked through one of the online platforms? Whilst to join this non exclusive club today, at entry level, may cost well in excess of $20,000. Our question might be “what exactly are you getting for $20,000?” Not the holidays you want, it would seem.
We’ve said before that “renting out” spare capacity makes sense as not only does it increase consumer choice but just maybe the additional income to the developer might offset some of the expected maintenance fee hikes (said tongue in cheek). However, if such action detriments timeshare owners, those very people who not only paid a considerable “joining” fee but loyally pay their annual dues, then this is to be more than frowned upon, it should be stopped forthwith.
TCA will be keeping a close eye on developments. As yet a trial by jury, which has been called for, hasn’t had a date set, when it does, and subject to any prevailing privacy rules, we will report on the outcome.
The Delaware court document may be downloaded here:
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk