Worthless timeshare ownership for sale

So I was searching around today to try and figure out how much 1,000,050 points are worth on the resale market. I'm going to sell my Wyndham timeshare ownership (eventually), but first let's figure out what they are worth if I sell it and what they are worth if Wyndham sells it.

I recently attended one of Wyndham's infamous "owner updates". These are humorous. When you check-in (as an owner), they tell you that you have to go get to the "parking pass" people over at another desk. At some locations, this parking pass is needed to get through security. So, these parking pass experts could care less about whether you get a parking pass or not. They work for the marketing department. They get paid commissions based on how many of us they can talk into showing up for an "owner update". I think they get $25-30 per person they get to sign up. Plus, they get to offer an incentive to the owner to go to this "update". If you ask them what an update is, they kindly explain that they want to get owner's feedback on the quality of the resort and any needed improvements. If you give them "they eye", stare them down, and roughly ask "is it a sales presentation?", they will look you dead into the eyes and say, "of course not, they are just trying to get your opinion". "And we value your opinion so much that we are going to throw in $75 worth of dinner gift cards", or whatever - usually worth between $50 and $100. "And it will take no longer than 45 minutes, guaranteed."

Of course, you want to "help out" the resort and fill out their questionnaire about the quality of the resort. Everyone likes to help, and everyone likes $75 worth of dinner gift cards for being such a good Samaritan, right? Well, of course just about anyone realized those "parking pass" people are straight-up liars. They get paid to get you into the sales-room and they are trained to tell you what you want to hear.

At least the salespeople are a little more obvious about it. They only spend about 2-3 minutes doing the "survey", and 90% of that has to do with how much you own and how often you travel, the lead questions into their sales pitch. You can never have too many points, they say. There are so many ways you can use your ownership, they say. The smartest owners all buy to the Platinum-level, they say.

So, my survey guy (aka SALESMAN) wanted to know the history of why I purchased to Platinum. I explained to him what I explained in "It's good to be Platinum" and he congratulated me on my wise purchase. He said the only thing that would be better is to get more. I asked what incentive I would have to buy more, as it would take purchasing an entire million more points even to get one additional "FREE" guest certificate. He said I would be able to rent more and actually make a profit -- traveling for free. I wasn't going to argue with his insane logic, so I decided to throw him a change-up.

I was thinking that if 1,000,050 points give me 30 free guest certificates, and 1,999,999 still only give me 30 free guest certificates, it would be smarter to buy an entire new contract for 1,000,050 points in a separate name. This would give me 60 free guest certificates. Math genius, I know.

So I asked this joker the best price my "dad" could purchase 1,000,050 points for today. He got very excited.... got together with his sales manager - then brought his sales manager to see me. The boss showed me a printout with a lot of numbers on it. Remember, I paid $$,$$$ for my existing points (five digits). The bottom line number (after mega-discounts) was $128,900 for 1,000,050 points. Just think about that - this is the cost of a 1500 square foot home in more than half of the United States.

Of course I told them I would have to talk to my dad and figure out if that might be too much money or not. Then I finally kicked my way out of the sales meeting and got my Red Lobster gift cards, with a promise to call back tomorrow. Good thing most of know tomorrow never comes!

Now, back to where I started. I checked how much a million points sell for on eBay. If I were to sell you my Platinum ownership today, I would be lucky to get $5,000 for it.

Here are some recently closed eBay auctions that sold their Wyndham points:

825,000 points at Myrtle Beach for $6580
500,000 points at Smoky Mountains for $2647
300,000 points at Destin for $1225
336,000 points at Bonnet Creek for $1098
308,000 points at Grand Desert for $1075
343,000 points at San Antonio for $1001
351,000 points at Star Island for $810
500,000 points at Grand Desert for $2027

So, as you can see, I would be lucky to get $5000 for an ownership that someone can go to any Wyndham sales office and pay at least $125,000 for. So, why is it 25 times more value to buy from Wyndham directly? Because they do not allow you to transfer your VIP benefits to another owner. So, if I sell my Platinum ownership to someone else, they are not longer Platinum. They don't get the discounts and upgrades I get. They don't even get those 30 guest certificates each year - they get ONE. But is that worth $120,000 to have those things? HELL NO!!!!!

That is one of the main points that has owners so upset. This company has devalued this product so badly that it's not even worth trying to sell. You can't really use it effectively, because they've killed all the benefits associated with it. And, you can't even sell it, because they have made it WORTHLESS. Completely WORTHLESS.

I'll leave you with these happy thoughts for yet another day

Stephen Holmes admits stealing from Wyndham owners

You know what? When I started composing this blog a few weeks ago, I had all intentions of just sort of monitoring what Wyndham owners were doing and keeping everyone updated about it.

As a result of that, I have spent a lot of "surf time" trying to research what this company has done. It is insane just how many complaints there have been over the years. It seems that Fairfield was a great company and that the company that bought them in 2002, Cendant, started off on very rocky roads right from the start (they've got former executives in jail today!). But, Cendant fought to regain their balance for many years as they tried to keep their integrity among customers (and owners in the timeshare sector). When they had done a reasonable job of this, they split. Of course, shortly after that, they did the bogus name-change switcheroo with the purchase of the Wyndham-name (and just about nothing else). This was a pretty successful move for Cendant. In fact, as I search around, the only real losers have been the timeshare owners. Other brands seem to be doing well.

A friend of mine approached me recently about bidding on a very large townhouse renovation project north of Miami. He has a contractor's license and I can do just about any type of carpentry. This would be a perfect job for a couple of old retired farts, so we drove down to Miami this morning to put in a statement of work and bid. During the drive, I tried to sleep (no, I wasn't driving), but my friend (let's call him Steve, because that is REALLY his name), asked me how things were going with that "crooked timeshare company" I was having problems with? Steve is the FIRST human being that I've confessed to so far that I had started this blog. I explained what I've done so far. He told me to quit being a $@*&$%#! and take some real action. I laughed it off.

He dropped me off about an hour ago. I kissed my wife and turned on the computer. Those words kept ringing in my ears. I’ve known Steve for over 20 years and he actually called me a $@*&$%#!. I simply couldn't believe it. I knew I needed to take more action.

So, I will stop these silly passive actions. I'm going to press the envelope a little bit. Since this company was happy enough to take my hard-earned money, then (after Cendant bought them) started screwing me and all the owners, so I thought maybe it was time I fought back a bit more than I have so far. I don't have any money to file a lawsuit and I'm not smart enough to write a letter (I didn't even finish school and have nobody who can help me spell things correctly to keep me from looking like a fool). So, what non-passive action can I take as my little part to "fight back". So, my new contribution will be to get my hands dirty and try to expose Wyndham's corruption.

I mean, anyone who spends thousands of dollars on a timeshare ownership and just let's some corporate criminals take it away is one of four things: 1- very rich, 2- scared, 3- getting kickbacks, or 4- an idiot. I'm obviously not rich, or I wouldn't be writing this; I'm not scared of rich assholes in ties; and if I were getting kickbacks, I obviously wouldn't be doing this website; and if I were an idiot, I'd be working for Wyndham and would be contractually forbidden from doing something like this. So, that means that I have lost a lot of money to this company and should do something to protect my interests.

So, tonight I'm going to start using non-passive activism against this corrupt company, by talking about the guy at the top, Stephen Holmes, the CEO of Wyndham Worldwide. He used to make a lot of money, but Forbes says his pay has dropped quite a bit in the last two years. Well, of course, Steve has had personal issues on his mind and has not been able to waste his effort trying to save a company in the failing travel-industry. Consequently, during a poor economy (travel commodities dropped nearly 50%, he was able to BEAT that record. He led Wyndham's stock from nearly $40 a share down to $3 a share!!! What a focused and brilliant leader!!!

So, what does a CEO of a Fortune 500 company do when he has led a proud and successful company to the absolute bottom of the barrel? What else? STEAL! All of Steve's subordinate CEOs gave him counsel on how he could steal from their customers. The most convincing on his staff of butt-kissers was Franz Hanning, the CEO of the Wyndham Worldwide subsidiary, Wyndham Vacation Ownership. Franz took credit for the development of the FairShare Plus Program in 1991. In reality, he just inherited this from the very tired former founder of the brilliant Fairfield brand. Franz was just a salesman at the time the FairShare Plus Program was created. But, the best thing for an up-and-coming "pretty boy" executive to do is claim credit for everything someone else does around them (if successful) and pass blame for everything that's not successful.

S0, Franz explained to Steve that the FairShare Plus Program was built to save. Steve had him explain what this meant. Franz said the FairShare Plus Program was riddled with so many loopholes they could knit a quilt big enough for both of them crawl under together and stay warm in Parsippany, NJ. Steve was quite desperate by this point, so he told Franz to go ahead and screw as many owners as possible and get everything they can from them. He promised Franz a "promotion" to New Jersey and bigger bonuses after they completely destroyed the company and put it in bankruptcy. Well, I think it's about time to start packing, Franz, you have been highly successful at making your boss look good (he doubled the stock and brought it upt o $6 per share), while simultaneously DESTROYING the FairShare Plus Program beyond all recognition.

Don't worry Franz, Steve will let you fly in the Wyndham jet....so no worries. Why would you have loyalty to the 360,000 owners who trusted your leadership? Don't worry, this is capitalism, it's ok for you to destroy these owners who trusted you - that is how the strong survive. Enjoy your success, Franz. Isn't it good to be the king? (…until there's a coup, King Franz!)

Before I continue on, I must caveat that I have no personal evidence of what I'm alleging. It is simply one possible scenario (that personally makes sense to me) for what Steve and Franz have done to this company and our ownership. Since they don't share the real facts through open disclosure (this is not an opinion) I can't draw an unbiased conclusion. So, I want to make it clear now that I have the journalistic, First Amendment right to share my opinions about these crooks. They are welcome to send an email with further factual information if they can disprove my opinion.

Anyway, with the 2nd quarter earnings last year, both Steve and Franz realized they might lose millions of dollars in performance bonuses if they didn't take action quickly. So they sold their souls to the devil. They systematically took away all benefits from the 360,000 owners of the FairShare Plus Trust. In addition to stripping them of their benefits, they implemented 100-500% fee increases on EVERYTHING. What a great plan, even though they are using the current FairShare Plus Plan Manager, Deanne Gabel, as their fall guy. She will be fired under mysterious circumstances before mid-2009, then Franz will hint and suggest that she was responsible for the destruction of the FairShare Plus Trust. Knowing these guys, they might even try to put her in jail and call her a crook. Why would they care, as long as they can still fly their jets and live the American Dream (reserved for less than 1% of Americans). They will never be held accountable for their criminal acts, especially when hundreds of owners have proven that they are taking from the owners and using their inventory and ownership to bolster their corporate endeavors in rentals, through Extra Holidays.

On November 19, 2008, Steve made an appearance at geek-fest "PhoCusWright 2008". He revealed his desperate plan to reverse the company's losses by stealing from the timeshare owners. Check out the following press release, where he admits this will be where the company makes up for their losses due to the slowing economy:

Click here to read the press release

Below is another example of Steve's flagrant displays of stealing from the FairShare Plus owners. He is a little more shrouded here. He mentions that Wyndham Worldwide expects growth from their rental side. Of course they do, they take 100% of owner's inventory at 30 days (90% at 60 days) from the FairShare Plus Program, without paying for it, and give it to their rental wing, Extra Holidays. Of course they are going to expect growth, when they have appointed their own Board of Directors to this non-profit corporation and instructed them to divert all owner's benefits to the profit corporation (Wyndham). My favorite part of this video, is where Steve talks about brand loyalty. It's so cute how he says, "let the loyalty come to you". Seriously, either he's DUMB as a rock, or has no morals at all. See for yourself - check out this video where Steve shares his plans:




In this video, Steve is trying to be honest - he explains that "timeshares sell very well during good and hard times". Yes, this is true, but only on the resale market, where timeshares sell for pennies on the developer's dollar! I hope you haven't been lying to any prospects though Steve. Have you even checked the THOUSANDS of sales scam allegations your employees have out there? Of course you have, these people probably got the highest bonuses! Check out this video while this crook smoothly lies to another reporter:

Sweet dreams......

Wyndham timeshare information

Tonight I am going to talk about other places you can find great information about your timeshare ownership. I mean, seriously --- you can't sell it, it's only worth $1 these days, so it would be beneficial to figure out how to get the most of it. Plus, there is a huge move now among Wyndham owners to fight back and gain control of their ownership from Wyndham. Now would be a good time to join in the fight.

Yesterday I mentioned Timeshare Users Group (TUG). This is just one of many organized groups of timeshare owners that share information among other owners. TUG has a little bit to say about every timeshare (every developer is covered) and has the best history of resot reviews anywhere on the Internet. They have one discusion board dedicated to Wyndham, but they seem to not be very vocal on TUG. You can read posts on TUG, but to be a member and read resort reviews costs $10 per year.

Click here to visit TUG

In addition, I want to point out two other groups that are dedicated timeshare owners groups. The first is TS4MS (which stands for Timeshare "Forems" - get it?). Ts4MS is similar to TUG, except there are fewer members and it is free. Again, only a small focus of the group is on Wyndham ownership.

Click here to visit TS4MS

The other group I have mentioned before, the Wydham Owners Forums. It is a dedicated group of Wyndham FairShare Plus owners. There are about 4000 members there. This group has became very active lately, with the changes from Wyndham really hitting them hard

Click here to visit Wyndham Owners Forums

In addition to the owner's groups, which are mainly messages between owners, there are two anti-Wyndham advocacy web that I have found. One has a lot of information and data against Wyndham's Worldmark brand, whic is called www.WhatsWrongWithWyndham.com and the other is focused on Wyndham's FairShare brand, which is called www.wyndSham.com . I invite you to check them out for much more information about what owners have discovered about Wyndham's fraud and corruption as well as what owners of Worldmark and FairShare are doing to try and gain back their benefits and have influence over their ownership.

The petition I mentioned yesterday is really cooking. There are now nearly 400 people who have "signed" it. Quite amazing if you ask me. Even if you already signed it, you should visit again and read what people are saying. I would be very sad if I were the PR guy up at Wyndham's bat cave. How can Wyndham even begin to send me letters like this?

"Your Board of Directors is confident that these changes are truly
in the best interest of all owners and your support is much appreciated."

What a solid load of CRAP!

By the way, does anyone out there want to buy a Wyndham timeshare ownership?

I have to drive to Miami in the morning --- early to bed for me.

Wyndham Petition

Hello everyone! Yes, both of you....."hi".

I was reading on the Timeshare User's Group (TUG) board this morning about a petition that Wyndham owner's are circulating and signing. It was only published just two days ago, and already has 200 signors. This is just one more example of the responses Wyndham owners are taking against Wyndham in response to these insane changes. The petition itself is pretty non-specific. Here is what it says:

The petition:
We, the undersigned Wyndham owners and other supportive
parties, petition Wyndham Vacation Ownership and the
Fairshare Vacation Owners Association to restore and retain
inviolate and in perpetuity all duly obtained and purchased
Fairshare Plus Program Options and VIP Program Benefits
as listed in the 2006-07 Member's Directory and/or as
delineated in the applicable directory at the time of an owner
making a qualifying purchase; options and benefits which were
the expressed basis for making initial and subsequent
Wyndham timeshare purchases. In particular, we petition
Wyndham to keep the Fairshare Plus owner option of
transferring points between owners and to restore free (without
charge) guest confirmations for VIP Gold and Platinum level
owners, both of which were key elements in the sales
presentations and timeshare purchase agreements at the time
qualifying timeshare purchases were made and which have
been an option and benefit of said programs for a decade.

Links:
This site contains detailed information about Wyndham's
business practices which defraud Wyndham owners of the
benefits promised at time of purchase
http://www.wyndsham.com/
a Wyndham owner shares his viewpoint on Wyndham http://www.wyndhamvideo.com/
and THE site where some 4,500 Wyndham owners share their
viewpoints on all things Wyndham
http://www.wyndhamowners.org/
Each of these websites have some very powerful information to
share about what is going on among Wyndham owners. I
simply do not understand why Wyndham, nor the FairShare
Plus Board of Directors do not care more about what they are
doing to their 400,000 plus owners. It baffles me (and not in
a pleasant way).

Click here to go to the petition

But the fact that 200 owners signed this petition in 48 hours is not what I find remarkable. I don't even find it remarkable that the author knows of something that baffles him "in a pleasant way". Ok, I admit, that is slightly remarkable. What is amazing is what the respondants are saying when the sign the petition. First of all, out of 200 people who have signed there is not even one of they usual "naysayer" who will pop in a statement like "I fully support all of these changes". You see that sort of crack-pot in just about every petition, but not this one. Leaving comments is not required, but many owners have gone out of their way to not only take then time to sign the petition, but have left some very strong comments (without dictionaries).

Check out what they have to say!


A key element in making the decision to purchase and now you want to charge for our guests that we want to purchase as well. Is your decision based on greed as so many other coporations are doing. Why are you so dead set in following a bad practice? We have been loyal customers and have brought several others. This is how you thank us!!!

After my parents first purchase of Fairfield(now Wyndham), they attended several other sales meetings (suppodedly owner updates). they were sold on the fact of being able to rent out points/reservations for extra money and help pay the annual maint. fees. Wyndham, through their own Extra Holiday

Rentals are duly trying to take this benefit away from all of us.

As a past developer purchaser, I would no longer consider purchasing a Wyndham timeshare product in the future for fear of losing rights and priveleges sold to me at the tine of purchase.

cendent gets richer and the owners get screwed harder every years

Fairshare Plus Platinum VIP owners with resorts in Virginia and Florida

Give us what was promised at the time of the sale. It was those things that "encouraged" us to buy. It is not right to take them away after using them to gain a sale

Hi I wanted to rented out my points for the first time in 20 years as we ae senors almost 70 and cant alwaystrave The income would have helped as we are on a fixed income

Hope this helps-there is strength in numbers

I agree with this petition! WE are VIP Platinum and have lost many benefits in the short time we have owned. We would like to see all of the lost benefits of the last 18 months restored. Plus, we would like to stop getting harrassed by the sales staff when we stay with our points. We are done with Wyndham sales staff liars! Sleazebags!

I am a VIP Gold member and have owned since 2001. The benefits that were taken away I have never used but was considered using in 2009. I am worried that more benefits will dissapear soon as well. What will they take away next? Wyndham needs to give back and enhance value to our investment.

I am a VIP member and have decided not to purchase anymore Wyndam points until I see a significant change at the corporate office. In addition to the references in the above petition how about better telephone and web page service. How about Wyndam having more interest in servicing the needs of existing owners and less interest in selling ownerships that the current infrastructure cannot handle.

I am a VIP Platinum owner with over 3 million points. I bought more and more points over the last 10 years based on the outstanding resorts at the time and faith in the benefis assured to me. I am dismayed and concerned about the rapid deterioration and removal of the options I was promised. I heartily agree with this petition and will fully pursue the restoration of these promised benefits, or at an open and honest explanation of why they were removed.

I am a Wyndham owner who lives in California. I own 518,000 points, all resale, so I am not VIP.

I am an Alabama resident and have been an owner for over 10 years - over a million points. Fairfield had an awesome product before selling out to Cendant. Now Wyndham has taken all the promised owner benefits away and raised fees up to 500%. Their corporate greed must stop. When will an Attorney General take notice and issue an immediate cease-and-desist order against them? Hopefully before they have taken everything from us owners to support their own corporate ventures!

I am an owner of 303,000 points. The ability to transfer/trade points with other owners is a key feature I had counted on.

I am from Iowa and I wholeheartly support this petition. When I originally purchased this was one of the benefits I was sold on was free guest certificates and transfer of points. There have been other benefits also taken away that should also be returned to us.

I became a Platinum owner with Wyndham (nee Fairfield) primarily to obtain the benefits being offered for that level of ownership.

I cannot believe how greedy Wyndham is - taking away benefits, increasing fees......all of the changes benefit only one party - Wyndham Extra Holidays. Shame on Wyndham!!

I fully support and agree with this petition as stated above as a Wyndham VIP Platinum Fairshare Plus Program owner since 2004. I am very concerned with the many policy changes that have clearly diminished the value of our original purchase as outlined when we purchased our timeshare.

I have been happy with Wyndham ownership up until all these changes which have taken away our privileges.

i object to the elimination of owner transfer of points. it was the main reason why i purchased points with wyndham. i am not interested in renting just want to share with family.

I own 630K points at Ocean Walk and I agree that a lot of the reasons why I decided to own are now being taken away.

I own a small deed of 154,000 points used for family vacations, and Wyndham is consistently and systematically making it near impossible to use. They are taking away all of the rights promised to us by their own sales staff.

I used to be a supporter and now I tell everybody to avoid Wyndham as it has become a rip-off. If you want owners to help you sell more timeshares, then stop scewing us over!

I was sold a Gold VIP membership that included the above options when I bought it in 2005. This "VIP" membership is now essentially worthless. I feel that I have been defrauded by Wyndham Sales and Wyndham corporate and request that the benefits that were sold to me be restored.

I wholeheartedly support this petition.

I will not be buying any additional points because of the erosion of benefits. I have owned wyndham-fairfield resorts for over 10 years and am a gold vip . I have purchased additonal points over the years but will not buy more. I am especially unhappy about the inability to transfer points to other owners after march 1st.

If the present FSP Board and staff continue to abuse the fiduciary responsibilities they have to the owners and NOT to Wyndham, they should be asked or forced to resign by the collective owners. I have asked Deanne Gabel several times for the 2007 and 2008 FSP Board Minutes and have been told she is working on getting them. I have also asked when the Board elections are and how do you run for the FSP Board with no response.

It is hard to fathom why any owner would want to abolish the ability to transfer points. Having that ability does no owner any harm and can be a signficant advantage to ownership - which was promised when the purchase was made.

My home is in New Mexico. We own in excess of two million FSP points and have been owners since 1989.

My parents are VIP Platinum Owners and I attended the various sales meetings when they made these purchases. This was for family vacations and for the flexibility for my daughter and I to take vacations separately. I had planned on buying points also to supplement what my parents own. With all the negative changes that have taken place I definitely will not be making a purchase. Taking the unlimited guest confirmations away was a really bad move. Wyndham has done nothing to display that they care about their owners. The 15 day cancellation policy has also had a great impact on us for obtaining last minute weekend getaways. This program use to have great flexibility and that has been ruined by all of the policy changes Wyndham has made.

Myself, my wife and her sister own 336K annual points and 131 EOY points. It is an important feature for us to be able to transfer points between our accounts, for our PERSONAL use. Never for sale or rent.

Never dreamed that so many of the benefits we purchased for, would be eliminated one by one.

Not affecting me directly at the moment, but agree with the petition. I believe members who bought before the new rule came out should get to keep the benefits they bought and signed for

owner 3 years - lost all benefits - want them back

Owners since 1999 and want to retain all VIP benefits that were promised.

PLEASE work for the benefits of owners without reducing benefits! Thank you!

Respect for Wyndham Corporation has fallen just about as low as it can get.

Restore owner rights and benefits!!!

Rights should be grandfathered to the very first contract purchased.

SC residents - we purchased to VIP level at Glade in 2006, based on recommendation from son and benefits promised by salesman and sales manager of being able to transfer points, add guests to reservations for free, and get free newspapers. Now all we have left is a 50cent newspaper! Please restore our ownership back to what we were promised.

Shame on you "W" for taking back what we paid for. Owners in Kentucky, and no longer proud.

Since Wyndham has taken over I have seen that I get less then what I had signed for when I bought.

Since Wyndham took over Fairfield its all been downhill for owners. They seem more concerned with Extra Holidays and marketing than owners!

Stop ripping off owners for your own corporate greed!

Stopping the transfer of points is like stealing our rights. Next they will try and stop us from being able to transfer our deeds.

the cancellation change has directly hurt me. two years ago i praised fairfield. now i condemn wyndham with everyone i meet and i meet many timeshare owners

The degradation of benefits has had a negative impact on our Wyndham ownership. We can no longer fully enjoy our ownership and will no longer be an advocate for this company.

The timeshares I own have been devalued by the actions of Wyndham. Not being able to sell points is absolutely the wrong policy.

The VIP benefits that were promised to us at the time of purchase were the ONLY reason we bought retail points from Fairfield/Wyndham. It is unethical that they are being taken away one by one, without any input from the owners

This benefits mentioned above have been offered to me at least two times during sales presentations. Luckily I did not buy into them. I certainly feel for my fellow owners, however, and these changes will certainly not inspire me to buy any more wyndham interests (points) that offer any such benefits that are revoked and changed at will

Very upset that we are constantly told by Wyndham that "we, the owners have asked for these changes." No Way!!

We are totally discouraged and disappointed at the way we are being treated after spending more than $60,000. on out 518,000 points. The people now running Fairfield Resorts should be sent to prison for what they have done!!!!! It is nothing short of stealing our money and telling us to shove it. If we could get our money out of this program we would sell it in a second!!!!!!

We like to travel with family members who are also owners, but with fewer points than we own. We use the points transfer option in order to book one reservation using points from both families. This program change will negatively affect our ability to share reservations in this way, and we are extremely angry about it! We purchased these points for a large amount of money and should be able to do with them what we please!

We were sold on the promis of these extra benefits. That is the reason we bought devloper points to become platinum owners. Now Wyndham is taking away all of our benefits, that we paid a high price for.

What an idiotic idea - most of the signers of this petition do not understand what they are signing or saying.................

When we purchased, there were specifics that were not optional. Now that we have purchased, you want to eliminate some of the very features that helped in determining to make the purchases. It is not ethical as business owners to eliminate these benefits, now that you have our money!

without these options being restored, the sales pitch given to us would be false. Please restore our privileges

Wyndham Corporate--Please rethink & then rescind your actions.

Wyndham has defrauded thousands of us. Act like a good corporate citizen and restore our owner benefits.

Wyndham is contiously taking all the benefits/reasons ,why we purchased so many devloper points ,to become a platinum owner.

Wyndham is taking all owner benifits away and continuing to increase fees for no reason except corporate greed!

Wyndham Management - I appreciate the need to contain costs. But it is unethical to remove rights that were part of the original purchase contracts. These contracts should remain in force. If you feel the need to curtail benefits, please do so for any future contracts with new Owners.

Wyndham,You on the board are killing this timeshare program.

You have removed the benefits that made Wyndham worth it!

You, wyndham, have taken away some of my benefits that were paid for by my purchase of property you sold me. I want this stopped and the benefits restored, as promised.

Your taking away our right to transfer points has ended our family vacations. We and our parents have been owners at Fairfield since the Glades first stage and were enticed to points as a way to share so our mother could travel after our fathers death. One year ago, mom paid thousands to turn her original weeks to points so we could all share. She is now out her original weeks, and does not have enough points to get out of Michigan for the winter. We cannot pool our points with hers, or afford to pay for week upon week of guest fees if we book on her behalf. There is absolutely no excuse for this change, I do not want my "safety" protected thereby making my ownership worthless. We have spent 50,000.00 for a cadillac that you have swapped with an old Pinto. Please explain why it is worthwhile to continue with Wyndham.

It is hard to fathom why any owner would want to abolish the ability to transfer points. Having that ability does no owner any harm and can be a signficant advantage to ownership - which was promised when the purchase was made.

We are platinum owners and sometimes cannot use all our points because of time constraints. Renting point to fellow owners is a simple & useful option. To change the rules of the game after it has started is hardly just or reasonable.

I think that the changes made over the past year with doubling fees, and taking away member benefits is a disgrace. Wyndham clearly is not concerned about providing their owners with a flexible product. Major decisions regarding fees and member benefits are changed without input from the owners and then we are continually lied to with explanations that this is what owner requested.

Please don"t take away the privleges that we had at the time of our purchase if i wanted a chevette i would have bought a chevette.

Wyndham has been reducing the value of my investment. They have been eroding the benefits for which I have paid thousands of dollars. Only corporates on the board

Click here to go sign the petition

So, we've learned a couple of things from this two-day old petition. One, the people at Wyndham have apparently abandoned hope of being able to solicit any current owners for future sales and completely disregard anything they have to say. Two, owners are PISSED. and, Three, you don't have to spell very well to be a Wyndham timeshare owner.

Until next time ---- happy vacationing.

Wyndham Screws Employees Too

What a beautiful and sunny day here today. It got up to 82 degrees!!!! Don't be a hater though.... in seven months, when I'm dealing with hurricanes, those of you in the COLD north get your payback for all the times Floridians rub in how hot it is when you are freezing! The weather has actually been very cold this year. I think it actually got down to freezing earlier this month. Unbelievable!

So, tonight's blog topic is in response to a comment I received earlier today (regarding yesterday's blog entry about Wyndham screwing owners). The comment was once again posted by someone with no return link, email address, or any way to respond, except for me to leave another comment. That didn't work very well the first time I tried it, so I thought I'd address this new comment/question directly in my blog.

Here is the comment/question:

Was wondering if anyone out there know if its legal to pay sales
employees hourly wage and then take it all back. You are not
the only one being screwed, we as employees are also.

Hi Mr/Ms Anonymous,

First of all, thank you for finding my blog about FairShare Plus owners trying to get Wyndham's attention and make some changes. You are only the second person to comment so far, so I really do appreciate you taking the time to let me know that you're out there. Your special reward for being part added to my "top-five most favorite comments of all time list" is that I will dedicate today's blog topic to you.

This is certainly an interesting comment you posted. Are you seriously talking about Wyndham sales employees who were being paid hourly wages that had their money taken back?

{Aspirin time. My head is kiling me, I'm going to have to finish this after a short break. Please check back.}

Wyndham Screws Current Owners

Welcome to another manic Monday…..

Two nights ago, I talked a bit more about the new fee structures for the FairShare Plus Program. I hope I was able to explain what is going on enough that anyone can understand.

I told you about the quintuple bummer of the 516% fee increase. Typical Wyndham stuff these days, so no big deal.

I only slightly mentioned the effects about what the guy in the YouTube video was talking about, the elimination of point transfers.

I explained previously about the concept explained to me by FAIRFIELD (and now today under their new name, WYNDHAM) sales persons; to buy to a higher level of ownership (i.e., Platinum) and rent off whatever you and your family can not use. Well, those extra points are what thousdands of owners are MAD about. This really doesn’t affect me too much, because I have been renting out reservations instead of points. I can certainly see why everyone is in an uproar though, because it’s a lot easier to rent points to another owner than it is to try and find someone to rent your unit. You have no idea the headaches this has caused me in the past!

So, I don’t really have a big complaint about the loss of being able to transfer points to other owners, except it makes my ownership “investment” worth even less than it has already sunken down to.

Another thing --- last year, I watched the annual owners meeting on the computer. It was in May in Orlando (wish I had been there, but at least the had the prescience to have a live video feed). During this meeting, they specifically told everyone they were going to start charging owners to add guest certificates and that the new price would be $49. Owners were livid about this increase, which for Platinum owners meant to go from NOTHING, NADA, ZERO, to $49. I received an email from a guy who said he put 1000 guest certificates on reservations during 2007 --- that would work out to be $50,000 in charges under the new policy!!!!!!!!!!!! OUCH!

But, as you already know (or you should if you have been paying attention), Wyndham didn’t stop with this crazy 100% price increasse. Even before they had formally implemented the announced increase to $49, they increased it again to $129. I often enjoy frivolous expenditures, but the only way I would be happy with this 516% increase is if I were married to Franz Hanning (the CEO of Wyndham Vacation Resorts) or was his “lover” with blackmail-able dirt on him (I don’t think his wife would like to know he was sleeping with an auspiciously good-looking younger man!!!).

But as it stands, I’m not his wife or his male lover (and I'm not very sure I would want to be!!). I’m just a guy (happily married by the way) who expected to be treated fairly by this company, but was let down. I’m a guy who dedicated his entire life to public service, retired, and then hoped to be able to enjoy the dream of vacationing. Not any more --- thanks to Wyndham. With these new fees, I honestly should sell my timeshare ownership and go get a greeter job at Walmart!

There are also some fundamental issues with what Wyndham has done. Some of it you have already watched on the YouTube Guy’s video, but I can explain that even further. Before my current life, I wanted to be a powerful trial-lawyer and hoped to work in torts. I started my law school, but could not handle the commitment (way too many LADIES for me at the time to be worrying about scholarly education; I had “other education” on my mind). I did finish pre-law, then got a job working in corrections (yah, glad Mom & Dad spent that money so I could bust up fights between dirtbags fighting over their inmate "rights"!!). Eventually (I got out of prison and..), I retired as the master bailiff for ____________ State Justice Department (no, I didn’t make that blank space long to suggest I was referring to Washington DC, Minnesota, Mississippi, or any of those LONG states; that was just how long my finger touched the _ key).

So, I wasted all of my pre-law studies to live with "legally challenged" guys (see how PC I am) every day, then worked my way up to escorting these same scum-bags (lost PC for a minute) in and out of court. One thing this did was give me a very discerning outlook about scum. I can spot scum from nearly seven miles away. And, I’m a whole lot closer than seven miles to the folks at Wyndham Vacation Resorts!

There is just so much these people have done illegal that it is not even funny. They have violated their own marketing principal of not eliminating their bowls in their own back yard. 65% of their sales were to CURRENT OWNERS. How many current owners do you think will buy from these people again? How many current owners do you think will refer them to other people? The only person I would refer to them is Mrs. Hanning. Perhaps if she were an owner and could see what Wyndham has done to 360,000 dedicated owners, she could help him make the choice to do what is right, instead of opt for UTTER GREED!

As happens every night these days – I need to go to bed. Good-night.

Wyndham Owner's Forums

So, now we finally get to the title of this entire blog from day one - "Wyndham Owners Fight Back"!

There are at least five or six user's groups (or forums) out there where owners get together and discuss their ownership. One them is completely related to Fairfield/Wyndham timeshares. There are about 4000 owners there and 3999 of them are PISSED. It is great to see that I'm not the Lone Stranger about this. Everyone is quite pissed at Wyndham for making these changes, for not announcing them sooner, and for not being able to justify them.

This group is called Wyndham Owners Forums. It is quite active and their are many passionate (aka LOUD) owners there. I personally have not posted, but I do have an account. That makes me a "lurker", like any of you who show up here and DO NOT leave a comment. It's almost like you are stalking me, so please....let me know you are there, so I don't feel so uncomfortable (yes, I just plugged my own blog AGAIN).

Anyway, at Wyndham Owners Forums there has been a huge response to the increased fees, the loss of free guest certificate, and now the inability to transfer excess points. All of these were benefits originally promised when purchasing. Now they are gone. So, now.... owners are not taking it lightly.

One owner has posted a list of ten things every owner can do to "take action" to save their ownership interests. Haha. Apparently this guy counts as good as I do, because there are like 20 things listed on the "10-Step Plan to Fight Wyndham's Corporate Greed". Whatever, you get my point - owners are taking action!! And it's not just some anti-social guy in Central Florida posting an anonymous blog, it's real live people --- and LOTS of them. I hope they are successful. I will continue to lurk among that group as well as others and report back on what has been going on.

If you haven't visited there previously, I would recommend that you go there NOW. Yep, don't even finish my blog, just hit this link and go there NOW (but please come back)

Wyndham Owner's Forums

I would like to hear your comments about the forums and the actions people are taking. If anyone has any other news about things going on with this corrupt company (and please don't tell me about another 500% fee increase or I'll commit Senator Harry Kerry to a life of lies and luxury), please share them with me. Don't even ask me what I just said, because even I don't know. I think I was going to say "I'll kill myself", but remember the lesson I learned with the YouTube idiot --- some people in cyberspace take things very literally. So, I changed it to that hairy word, but I didn't know how to spell cary, so I did the dumb Senator thing. Ok, whatever. You get the point. Don't give me more bad news - just tell me what is being done about this and what else I can help spread the word about.

Good-night ya'll! (no, I'm not from the south)

516% Fee Increase!

So, on Thursday night I talked about the new fee structures for the FairShare Plus Program. Last night I talked about my "first comment". Forgive me, I must have been sleep-typing, because that seemed very strange, even for me, when I just went back and read it. Haha. But I did locate that misspelled tag and correct it. I hate when something I wrote has errors in it -- but it rarely bothers me when I read typos from others. Remember, I've got adult children - they STILL don't know how to spell anything. Unbelievable!

So, lets talk about those fees.

To recap; Wyndham gave owners under a week's notice about new fees for all who own within the FairShare Plus Program. Increased fees are always a bummer, but these are double-bummers at 100% jump and, and in one instance, a quintuple bummer!!! Here’s what I mean:

Referring back to the chart in Wyndham’s letter, which I received in my mailbox on October 13, 2008, they notified me that two days later the following fee increases would take effect for all owners:

Reservation Transaction went from $25 to $49 – a 100% increase.
Points Credit Pool went from $30 to $39 – a 33% increase.
Express Window Point Rentals went from $5 to $10 – another 100% increase.
PIC deposits went from $50 to $89 – a 78% increase
Guest Certificates went from $25 to $129 – a fricking 516% increase!!!!!

Can you imagine two days notice to tell owners about a 516% price increase? Since then, we’ve also learned that if it takes two reservations (they call it a split-reservation), then the fee is doubled. This sometimes occurs when you have to book over weekends. You might have to book two nights in one unit and one night in another to get a three-night stay. So, now to do that, it is $258 to add a guest’s name, which is a 1032% increase from prior to October 15, 2008.

“Bargain hunters beware….. this is one blue-light special from hell. Thank you for your patronage with Wyndham, where your money is now ours!”

So, you’ve watched the video about the cessation of transferring excess points…and you’ve seen the fee increases from October. I wonder what’s next! They'll just want me to turn over my American Express Card number and randomly charge whatever they feel. Same difference, there's just not much I could do about it either way.

Bed time for me again….it seems like I have to do that every night!

My First Comment

Ok, I'm very excited. I know I'm not very good at spelling since I never went to school and still don't know how to read or write.... So, I was going through my blog from the start and fixing typos. Ouch, some were pretty bad! And what did I find, a comment. My very first comment.

I must say this was a very emotional moment for me. Ok, maybe it wasn't THAT emotional, but I was slightly excited about it. I have done nothing to promote this blog at all. I haven't even told my priest about it! Maybe I'll have to, but I usually only go to confession in Easter and Christmas, so I have some time before I have to confess what I've been doing late at night...

So, there I was, noticing that one of my tags on a previous blog entry had the word "fare" on it. Don't even ask me where the hell that came from - I have NO idea. So, I didn't even correct the error yet (mostly because I don't know what tag it was supposed to be and I don't just want to delete it, since it might have been of international importance!). So, I passed up a great typo correction (which was my primary mission) due to the excitement about my first comment. Here it is:


Pretty awesome isn't it? Somebody actually found me and took the time to comment. Ok, so they basically called me a naive idiot, but that means one of two things: 1) they know me, or 2) they actually read my incessant banter here. Since I haven't even told my priest about this, I have to assume someone actually read what I had to say!!!

And who cares if they think I'm a blithering idiot for trusting Wyndham to look out for my interests? Opinions are like onions...... all of them are a little different and most of them STINK (and make you cry). Except for vidallias though, those suckers usually don't make you cry and smell sort of pleasant.

In actuality though, this comment means something important. The reader (by the way, thanks a lot for posting an email address or link to where I can contact you, Mr/Ms "Another Owner") agrees with my basic premise that Wyndham is not to be trusted. By this point I obviously know that too Mr/Ms Owner! That's apparently why I decided to blog about it. Geez, and you call me naive! How about you pointing out the obvious! Oops, the only thing you really pointed out that I was naive. I'll give you that. I did truly believe the company would do more to take care of owners. Not so much because I thought they were an ethical, great company, but more because keeping their owners happy is how they make money. So, I would think they would try to keep owners happy, so they keep paying maintenance fees and spread the word to friends and family to buy from them. I guess I was naive for thinking they made money by having a good reputation! Stupid me!

Here's an interesting thought. I wrote that blog entry around midnight or so on January 21st. They found it and responded by 7pm the next day --- 18-19 hours later. That makes me wonder if Mr/Ms Owner has read my blog more than once or if they just stumbled on it yesterday, READ IT (haha, I like that), and commented??? So, what is it, Mr/Mrs Owner, are you my first loyal, dedicated fan? I thought I was talking (writing) to myself here and now I am a bit nervous that I might have a voyeur out there. Do you have any idea the pressure you are putting me under? Now I actually have to spell-check as I go!!! Damn!

Anyway, Mr/Ms Owner, if you are really out there (as in coming back more than once), please let me know what you think about what I'm writing about (not how naive I am). Obviously you agree with me about Wyndham screwing over their owners. If you think I have any contribution to the huge effort of owners out there that are fighting Wyndham, please share my blog information with them. In case you can't see the top of your window, it's http://windhamownersfightback.blogspot.com/. I hope you didn't see all my misspelled words and decide not to come back again. I wish I'd been more diligent from the start!

So, anyway, I was going to write about a YouTube experience I had today, but got caught up in my elation about my first comment. It's about bedtime, so I will try to explain the main point of tonight's blog in under 200 words:

Remember the video (below) titled "Wyndham Timeshare Owner Tells All"? Well, I posted on there in response to a lady who was clearly very confused. She took my comments a bit personally for some reason. No, I didn't call her "naive", that would be rude. Just kidding. Actually, I admitted after the fact I was wrong and apologized. I should not have attacked the person, but the point. I have a lot to learn about the online world. When you are face to face with a person they can see from your body language if you are sort of teasing or using sarcasm. That is certainly more difficult with just typed words on a computer from 100s or 1000s of miles away. So, anyway, I pissed her off, she pissed me off, and the video author was sort of pissed at me too I think. Eventually it all worked out and I deleted all of my comments and the fine, upstanding young lady (who was completely uninformed and WRONG) deleted her comments. So all is fine now and I've learned my lesson to not call people stupid, just because they are talking about something they have no clue about. There... I'm glad I've learned a lesson today.

(Sorry, I went over - that was 207 words) Better luck next time.

Peaceful and warm vacationing thoughts to all. Good-night.

New FairShare Plus fees

I'm pretty tired tonight and honestly don't want to write too much here. I know the struggle for Wyndham owners to put an end to the madness Wyndham will continue even if my large subscriber base (ZERO) doesn't hear from me tonight, so I'm going to bed. Before hitting the sack though, I will share an email that I received from Wyndham on October 8, 2009, that was to give me "advance notice" about fee increases that were to take place 7 days later! So much for advance notice. And some of these fees are actually a 400% increase. This was what prompted me to actually start this blog --- it was the beginning of the destruction of my ownership. Check it out:

Dear Valued Owner,

On behalf of your FairShare Vacation Owners Association’s Board of Directors, I would like to make you aware of a few changes to the FairShare Plus program features that will go into effect on October 15, 2008.

As I am sure you can appreciate, it is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to ensure all program rules and fees are fair and equitable for all owners and the decision to implement these changes was made after careful consideration. These changes were designed with two thoughts in mind: first that we are able to cover the actual expense incurred in delivering these services and second, to ensure that the costs related to various program features and transactions are shared only by those owners who choose to take advantage of these benefits. This “fee-for-service” approach assures that the costs incurred by a few owners will not be shared by the entire ownership. For your convenience, we have provided responses below to some of the questions you may have regarding the changes.

These fee changes will apply to any transaction made on or after October 15 and any future changes made to current reservations. You also have the option to take advantage of significant savings by completing some of these transactions online at WyndhamVacationResorts.com, rather than through a phone call to a Vacation Planning Counselor. The chart below summarizes the new fee structure:

As always, we are constantly looking for new ways to help you make the most of your ownership while remaining committed to keeping your program fees to a minimum. In addition to providing a more robust Web site and online reservation system, we are working diligently to develop more cost effective and environmentally-friendly ways to communicate with you about the many exciting benefits of your program, such as moving toward the use of “green” certified paper, offering your Member’s Directory on CD format and delivering your confirmation letters by e-mail.

Your Board of Directors is confident that these changes are truly in the best interest of all owners and your support is very much appreciated.

Sincerely,



Deanne Gabel
FairShare Plus Plan Manager

---

Questions and Answers Regarding the New Fee-for-Service Structure

We are pleased to provide you answers to the following anticipated questions you may have about the new fee structure.

Q: Why are the fees changing at this time?

A: The adjustments were made to ensure all program rules and fees are fair and equitable for all owners. These changes were designed with two thoughts in mind: first that we are able to cover the actual expense incurred in delivering these services and second, to ensure that the costs related to various program features and transactions are shared only by those owners who choose to take advantage of these benefits. These fee-for-service rates ensure you are not paying for services you do not use.

Q: How did the guest confirmation fee increase from a previously announced $49 to the new rate of $129?

A: On October 15th, and subsequently on January 1 of each year, you will receive a certain number of complimentary guest confirmations per year, depending on your level of ownership. We are one of only a few vacation ownership companies that offer complimentary guest confirmations. We believe that, based on your level of ownership, you will have a sufficient number of complimentary guest confirmations available for your enjoyment. You will only pay this fee if you exceed your allotment of complimentary guest confirmations. This fee covers the costs incurred by non-owners using your services and facilities. You may also take advantage of a discounted rate of $99 when making guest confirmations online.

Q: How were the fee rate increases determined?

A: Guest Confirmation Fees

This fee covers the costs incurred by non-owners using the services and facilities that you and other owners pay for through your FairShare Plus membership program fees. Please remember that this is a variable rate and substantial savings are offered for transactions completed on your owner Web site.

Points Rental Fees

While most vacation ownership companies do not offer the level of points rental that you enjoy, we are happy to provide this service. The fee covers the costs associated with processing your request. If you find that you annually are renting your maximum amount of points, we encourage you to visit one of our sales centers to determine if purchasing more points is a better solution to your vacation needs.

Reservation Transactions

This fee covers the costs associated with processing your reservations transactions once you use all of the Reservation Transactions allotted based on your level of ownership. You do not pay the fee if you do not exceed your allotted transactions. Please remember that this is a variable rate and substantial savings are offered for transactions completed on your owner Web site.

PIC Fees

The fee covers the costs associated with processing your request by Wyndham Vacation Resorts and RCI.

Billing Fee

The fee covers the costs associated with processing of paper versions of your monthly or annual statement. No billing service charge is assessed when paying with pre-authorized checking (PAC). Please contact Financial Services at 888-739-4016 to enroll in this service.

Points Credit Pool

The fee covers the costs associated with processing your request.

Q: Can I call to get these fees reduced or waived?

A: These fees are set by the Board of Directors of the FairShare Vacation Owners Association to ensure all rules and fees are fair and equitable for all owners. They cannot be waived or reduced.

Q: What about my existing reservations – will they be affected?

A: If, after October 15, 2008, you make no changes to your current reservations, these new fees will not apply. If you choose to make a change to an existing reservation after October 15, the new fee structure does apply.

Q: How are my Guest Confirmations calculated?

A: On an annual basis, you will be allocated a specific number of complimentary guest confirmations based on your eligible points in your account per your contracts purchased with Wyndham Vacation Resorts. Resale contracts do not count toward the calculation of complimentary guest confirmations.

Q: Are my guest confirmations being prorated with the implementation of the new policy?

A: As of October 15, your account will be credited with a full year’s allocation of complimentary guest confirmations based on your eligible points, as noted below:

§ FSP Member
1 Guest Confirmation

§ VIP Member
5 Guest Confirmations

§ Gold VIP Member
10 Guest Confirmations

§ Platinum VIP Member
15 Guest Confirmations per million

(Ex. 1,000,000 = 15 complimentary;
1,000,001-1,999,999 = 30 complimentary;
2,000,000-2,999,999 = 45 complimentary)

The YouTube guy was right!

I am sorry. I seriously intended to blog every day about what owners are doing to fight against Wyndham and their disgusting, nasty, corporate greed. Tonight I will not be able to say a thing. I did call to verify that the guy from yesterday with the video was correct. Once again, I have lost something else from my ownership. And, this time, I didn't even get notified about it until I ran across a video on YouTube. What a great way for a major resort developer to deal with their owners!

So, anyway, tonight will be a break for me. I'm fairly disgusted with this company, even though I do see a very organized effort among owners against them.

For me though, I'm going to go to bed for now and ponder this.........

Wyndham Owner's Video

One last thing - while I was searching for the amount of "Fairfield Scam" and "Wyndham Scam" links in Google, I ran across an interesting video. It actually pretty much pissed me off, because it taught me a couple of new things, which, if true, have destroyed my ownership EVEN MORE than I thought when I started this blog.

I nearly posted a link back to my blog, but I already promised I wouldn't do that. And since I am talking about the unethical behavior of a lying, cheating, stealing company, it would not be too cool for me to not keep my promise. I did leave the following comment though:

WyndhamNemesis (1 hour ago)
It is so sad that so many people fall for this crooked company, that used to be
the best in the industry. So sad... Want my Platinum of 1,000,050 points, that
has been degraded to being nearly worthless??? Let me know what you'll pay - I'd
love to get rid of it and get rid of this thieving company!

So, for all of the insomniac timeshare owning late-night blog-surfers that might accidentally stumble across my silly blog - DEFINITELY check out this video from an educated Wyndham timeshare owner.



I am going to research this a bit. If I am really as screwed as this guy says (and he certainly looks serious), then I am really screwed. And if I'm really as screwed as he says, I will probably turn this blog into a "FOR SALE" blog.

More later - might not be having such sweet dreams now!

Platinum turns to coal..

Yesterday I discussed my brilliant plan to purchase timeshares to a high enough level that I could actually recoup much of my annual maintenance fees --- and have enough ownership that upon my retirement I could travel more extensively with my ownership. After spending $$,$$$ to obtain Platinum status, I was able to spend 30 days a year vacationing for about $50 a day. Not too shabby!

... until the Platinum turned to coal!

The parent company for Fairfield Resorts was Cendant. In 2006, Cendant purchased the brand name Wyndham and spun off "Fairfield" as Wyndham Vacation Resorts. Now don't get confused with the upscale hotels named "Wyndham". Most of those reverted to high class management and NONE of them are actually owned by the company that now holds the name Wyndham. Talk about confusing!

So, this company called Wyndham, that owns nothing named Wyndham, decides to rename all of their resorts (formerly called Fairfield) to Wyndham. Wow! I wonder why the great charade of musical name changing? Perhaps it was because the name Fairfield shows up 36,300,000 times when you type it into Google. And, most of those entries are not very favorable for Fairfield's great name. For instance, if you add the word "fraud" to the search, there are 871,000 hits. If you add the word "scam", you'll get 381,000 hits.

Now, I obviously have some extra time on my hand, but I certainly can't look at these millions of entries to itemize the major complaints against this company, but they were certainly extensive. So, it is no wonder Cendant came up with the brilliant idea of confusing the hell out of everyone and making the public think that these timeshares are part of the luxury hotel brand - Wyndham. Let me repeat though - Wyndham does not own even ONE Wyndham hotel! Damn, this corporation is good! Now, if you go back to Google and type "Wyndham and fraud" you only get 174,000 hits - and with "scam" it's 111,000. So, in a year, just by buying a reputable name and dumping their tarnished name, they were able to go from 1,252,000 negative reports to only 285,000. That's 1/4 as much bad publicity overnight, with deniability of even being part of the bad seed - Fairfield.

In truth, the product was 1000 times better under the leadership of Fairfield, prior to Cendant's involvement. Even before they came up with the scam of changing names to Wyndham, they were killing the benefits of ownership of the Fairfield timeshares. The founder of Fairfield must be rolling over in his grave as he watches these heavy hitting corporate thugs destroy an innovative idea and perfect vacation ownership concept.

I don't even know where to begin to discuss how much this company has taken away from owners in the last few years. I guess one of the main problems is that the company decided to start renting out units themselves. If you think this hurts my ability to rent the handful of rentals I do each year, you are mistaken. I am still able to rent a few weeks and recover some of my maintenance fees, but I'm not really able to go on my own vacations anymore, because now the company is renting off the very weeks that I have been able to reserve previously. I questioned how they are able to do this. You won't even believe this if I told you, so I'll show you instead. Here is what the Trust Agreement for my timeshare ownership says:

11.08 Wyndham Use. In addition to the right of Wyndham, as a Member and owner of Points, to make reservations using those Points at any time, Wyndham, in its
capacity as the developer of resort communities and Vacation Plans, may
reserve available Accommodations up to 60 days in advance of the first day
of anticipated occupancy, for its own purposes, including renting to the public,
provided it pays or otherwise causes a third party to pay the occupancy related
expenses of such Accommodations for each night to be used. All such occupancy
related expenses shall be determined by the Trustee. As a result of Wyndham's
use there will be less space available for Member use; however, Wyndham may not
reserve the last 10% of available occupancy for a type of Accommodation until 30
days prior to the first day of intended use. In addition, to the extent more
points are available in the Plan than are allocated to Members other than
Wyndham, Wyndham may sell or lease Points on such terms as Wyndham and the
Trustee deem reasonable. The purchasers or lessees of such Points shall have
such Membership rights as Wyndham and the Trustee deem appropriate.

Sounds crazy, but it's true. They started this a few years ago in small batches, noticeable to some, but not too devastating to owners, who were still able to make reservations.

But, let's keep in mind what I discussed yesterday - this company sold thousands of owners on buying up to the Platinum level (which I already explained is more vacation time than any normal family can use) on the promise of booking inventory at a 50% discount at the 6o day window and renting out what you can not personally use. By the way, they call this inventory "distressed", because nobody has booked it yet. Most timeshare owners book months, sometimes years in advance. So, they offer this distressed inventory at a discount to Platinum owners because they would rather have "heads in beds" than an empty room. Remember, every warm body that walks through the doors is a prospective buyer, so they were quite happy to have Platinum owners use our excess inventory to rent out reservations within the 60 day window.

Until their business started getting a bit shaky. Of course the economy took a toll on the hospitality industry. So what, I don't own a hotel room - I own a condominium timeshare. Why should I care? Well, since the company was failing, they decided to step up their tempo of pulling out this free inventory and renting it. Lots of it ---- nearly all of it. They even worked some system loopholes so they could get it at 62-63 days before check-in, just to make sure no legitimate owner was able to book it before them.

No way! That would be theft. Nope, not when they wrote it in the Trust Agreement that they were able to have it without paying a dime back to the owners of the timeshare interests. So, 100% of the rental money goes in the greedy corporate executives bank accounts. Wow, why didn't I think of that?

Come to think of it, who did think of that? I checked my deed and ownership information and found out that I belong to the FairShare Vacation Owners Association (VOA), which is a non-profit corporation established in 1991 and based out of Arkansas. I don't even belong to anything called Wyndham. Oh, wait, just saw in that Trust Agreement for the VOA that Wyndham appointed themselves to run the VOA - FOREVER - and allowed themselves to make, change, modify, whatever to the terms and conditions of the Trust. In fact, it turns out that when I signed that I agreed with what was written in the Trust Agreement back in the 1990s, all I really signed was that I agree that they can do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want, and for whatever reason they want, without me or any other owner ever being able to stop them, challenge them, or even have their decisions justified.

Wow, my mother always told me to read the fine, fine print. I guess I should have listened better. But, it really was a great ownership until these greedy crooks decided to start robbing inventory from the owners and renting it on their own.

In fact, even after they started robbing this inventory, I was still able to go on vacations - I just had to plan it a bit better and pay more points than usual. Oh, or I always had the choice of going to the company's rental department, called "Extra Holidays" and renting from them some of the inventory that should have been available to me as an owner. In fact, they sold me to my current ownership level on the promise that this inventory would be there for me. They sort of didn't lie. It's still there, I just can't book it with my ownership anymore. Now, if I want to use the inventory that belongs to me (in the VOA that I belong to), all I have to do is pay them and rent it from them. Great deal, eh?

Sorry about the tangent. As I was saying, everything was still ok at this point. I'm tired again, so will have to wait until tomorrow to finish up about how Wyndham Vacation Resorts went even further than just stealing our inventory. In fact, I'll share with you how they knocked the owners to the ground, then stabbed each and every one of them right in the back.

Happy dreams to all.... Good-night.

It's good to be "Platinum"

It was a great surprise for me to log back in here today and not see a huge fan club gathering in response to my highly suspenseful first post! What a major disappointment. I should call my family and have them log in and write how interesting this is.

Seriously, I have decided to not promote this blog in any way at all. If it gets discovered through search engines, that is fine. If not, that is fine too. Sometimes talking to yourself can actually be healthy, so maybe this is just therapeutic for me. We retirees sometimes need therapy!

So where was I when I fell asleep last night? I was telling you how great my timeshare ownership was and how it brought my family much closer together. The last point I made was that we continued to purchase more ownership in the FairShare Plus Program until we owned enough to spend about 30 days a year in timeshares.

I actually understated that slightly. We fell for the sales pitch that encouraged us to purchase MORE than we could actually use, so that we would get big discounts. Yah, sounds like going to the grocery store during a sale and buying six months worth of milk because it’s so cheap. Can you drink it all before it sours? With the timeshares, can you use all the vacation time before the end of the use year?

Well, let’s expand on this a little. Theoretically, what the sales folks told me was economically sound, considering I did want to travel at least a few weeks annually. An average week at one of these resorts gives you between 126,000 and 254,000 points in the FairShare program, which can be used to trade into other resorts in the program. If you purchased over 300,000 points you were given VIP status, which gave a small discount on future bookings and free daily newspapers while on vacation in the Fairfield/Wyndham resorts. That wasn’t too attractive to me though, I’m a southern boy and don’t even know how to read, let alone read newspapers!

The highest VIP level is called VIP “Platinum”. Now doesn’t that sound impressive? Platinum. Just say it a few times to yourself and you will get a small tingling feeling all about you. Platinum. Yes, that’s what I wanted to be. Platinum. Platinum owners need to purchase a million points, which works out to be about 6-8 weeks of vacation time annually. But, it doesn’t stop there. In addition, they gave us all sorts of other benefits, which were certainly fitting for the term “Platinum”. If we booked out of the leftover inventory at 60 days before check-in, we got our reservations for a 50% discount AND (yes, AND) we could also get free upgrades. So, for half the price of a one-bedroom condo, we would be able to book a two-bedroom or larger condo. Yes, it certainly does seem to be good to be Platinum.

Since we had purchased a total of seven weeks of ownership – or 49 days, in 2BR units, we now owned a whopping 1,000,050 points. VIP PLATINUM! Yippee! “Ladies and gentleman in the sales presentation room, I have a very special announcement – please join me in congratulating our newest VIP Platinum owners.” What an exciting time for me --- more exciting than having a daughter but not quite as exciting as having a son. Hahaha, that was a joke. I guess I can’t invite my family here now! But, seriously, it's good to be Platinum.

If you are a math-wizard, you’ve probably already figured out that if a Platinum owner books all of their vacations within the 60 day window, that they number of days of ownership doubles. So, to be a Platinum means we could have up to 98 days of vacation….even more if able to get upgrades from 1BR. And all of this for the great bargain of over $$,$$$. No, there are no decimal points there, just lots of dollar signs. Seriously, I don’t want to tally up the total amount initially invested, I might get sick and not be able to finish tonight’s topic.

And in addition to that alarming amount, we pay about $390.83 a month for maintenance fees (forever, and forever increasing). That sounds cheap, right? A mere pittance to pay for great family bonding vacations. Until you realize that for 12 months that totals to $4,689.96 and that my family is only able to use 30 of those 98 days of vacation that we pay for!

That was where the salesman had me hook, line, and sinker. He explained that almost all owners who purchase to the Platinum level actually could never use all of their vacation time. He lowered his voice, so as not to be overheard by lowly “non-Platinum” owners and said that the only reason to buy to this level was to reap the great discounts (50% is a great) and upgrades (I once got an upgrade from a 1BR to a 4BR!). He continued (even quieter this time) that Platinum owners generally rent out their extra vacation time to help defray the cost of their maintenance fees.

Wow, great idea, but how? “That’s simple, sir, these units rent for at least $1000 a week all over the Internet, or you can use any vacation rental company and pay a commission, but renting is easy.”

So, back to the math. For about $5K a year I get about 98 days (14 weeks). My family can use four weeks, which leaves ten weeks to rent out at $1000 a week. So, my net cost of vacationing works out to be -$5K a year for 30 days of vacation! Now, that is an easy sell and certainly encouraged me to spend the $$,$$$ to purchase much more ownership than I needed. Yep, a Platinum!!!! That’s me. Yes, it's good to be Platinum.

Ok, back to reality. Yes, renting turned out to be fairly easy, but unless you are talking about 4th of July on the beach, $1000 is NOT gonna happen, and it really worked out to be 7-8 extra weeks (due to prime season), so that was a bit of an exaggeration as well. But, the salesman was right. It was possible to cover a lot of the expense of my annual maintenance fees by renting out my excess ownership.

I had no problem renting my 7-8 extra weeks out for about $500 a week. Minus advertising costs, I was able to recover a little over $3500 each year. Now, my four weeks of family vacation each year is down to under $1500, or about $50 a night for a 2BR condo at a first class resort. Yes, I was very happy with being Platinum. I even considered buying a Platinum-colored Speedo bathing suit to show off at these resorts during vacations. Just kidding.

If you disregard the $$,$$$ initial investment (at a high interest rate), this all seems like a genius way to get the best value for your vacation dollar and still be able to visit some quality destinations. That is what we did for several years.

Have I built up the suspense yet? Probably not, but at least you must think I’m pretty smart for figuring out how to travel and get paid back for most of it. You just have to forget about the $$,$$$ and it all does seem fool-proof.

Tomorrow I will tell you how this all changed. I’ll tell you some secrets about the seemingly physical impossibility of turning Platinum into Coal.

For those who were counting, I was able to use the word Platinum a total of 20 times. That is probably not the key word that I want the search engines to find. Let me try this instead:

Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks! Wyndham sucks!

There, I would much prefer for this blog to be discovered by someone typing in the above key words. You'll understand more later. Honestly, I'm a nice guy and don't use that sort of disrespectful language without real cause.

Have a great night and don’t forget to say a few prayers for our nation, since the Presidential Inauguration is tomorrow. It is going to take a bit more than some great theatrics to get this country back on its feet. I pray that Mr. Obama is up to the challenge.

Why Am I Writing About Wyndham Timeshares?

I'm a mostly normal, incredibly good-looking (humble too) retired guy. Wow, I love to say that I'm retired! I love to travel and have been a timeshare owner since the mid-1990s. My children are adults now and I am very thankful that we owned timeshares and were able to enjoy some fantastic vacations. Let me digress and explain how this all started.

In about 1993, my wife and I got pitched for a timeshare in Gatlinburg, TN, where we had just driven our motor home for a much-needed family vacation. I don't recall the resort's name, but we were immediately suckered into it - lock, stock, and barrel. I am very good at saying "no", but those timeshare sales folks were very convincing that if we didn't purchase from them at that exact moment in time, then we must not care about our family at all. How could we possibly say no when it would mean we were horrible parents?

Anyway, my better judgement set in (aka "buyer's remorse) on the drive home and we ended up canceling the contract, realizing that it was a spur of the moment purchase, made without any research or real thought about it (not to mention we probably couldn't afford it).

I did like the concept of having a guaranteed vacation each year and was a bit tired of hooking up sewer hoses to our motor home, so I spent the next year or so educating myself about the various timeshare companies, their programs, locations, costs, etc. I finally decided to purchase with the leading timeshare company at the time - Fairfield Communities, Inc.

Their program was innovative and flexible. It was called the FairShare Plus Program. Instead of having a set week each year at the same resort, we were given points, based on how much we purchased. These points could be used at any of their 30 or so resorts in the US, and could even be used for less than full-week stays (which was convenient, since my vacation time was usually limited to weekends). Their resorts were top notch and in close proximity to me in the southeast US.

So, we made our initial purchase. We found the program was very flexible and never once forfeited any of our vacation time. As we could afford it, we increased our ownership. We purchased from Fairfield several times, but eventually found that we could purchase from other owners and save a lot of money. So, we purchased to a level that eventually allowed us to travel to timeshares about 30 days out of the year. After enjoying the luxury of the Fairfield resorts for several years, we actually sold off our motor home, because we didn't want to "rough it" anymore.

You might be wondering, why in the hell is this guy telling me all of this? It's actually not a happy travel story that I wanted to share with you. I wanted to share with you what has happened in the past few years to make this great vacation ownership investment become a thorn in my side.
I'm tired now though (I did tell you I was retired, didn't I?), so what I really wanted to tell you (about how my timeshare company was bought out by greedy corporate thugs who systematically raped, pillaged, and burned my ownership) is just going to have to wait. Since I just started this blog tonight and there is nobody out there actually reading it, I think we won't have a major problem with suspense killing anyone before I get back to continue the saga.

Goodnight all...