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:
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......
