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 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.

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!

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!