Wyndham Customers Oppose Dismissal Bid of Resort Fees Class Action

The plaintiffs accusing Wyndham of failing to disclose hidden resort fees are asking a federal court judge to deny the resort chain’s motion to dismiss a proposed class action lawsuit.

Wyndham filed a motion to toss the case in August, arguing that the hotel customers incorrectly named Wyndham corporate affiliates and failed to state a claim for violation of several New Jersey consumer protection laws.

The resort chain namely contends that the plaintiffs incurred no actual harm and that the New Jersey Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty, and Notice Act is not applicable to the company’s website terms of use.

However, in a 16-page memorandum, lead plaintiff Thomas Luca Jr. counters that the four named Wyndham affiliates actively participated in and benefited from the alleged deceptive resort fees scheme, even pointing to Wyndham Worldwide’s Form 10K that declares its own direct involvement in operating the websites.

“The Wyndham Worldwide defendants claim wrongly that the complaint contains no allegation that these defendants directly engaged in the wrongful conduct alleged against the other defendants,” the consumers said. “The complaint, however, clearly alleges that the Wyndham Worldwide defendants were directly involved and liable for the violations of the CFA and TCCWNA.”

Luca goes on to say that all four Wyndham defendants “directed and controlled the information contained at www.wyndham.com and www.wyndhamhotelgroup.com.”

Filed in June, the proposed Wyndham Resort Fee class action lawsuit alleged that Wyndham and its affiliates impose hidden resort fees disguised as room charges but excluded these charges from online hotel price comparisons, misleading consumers to believe that they are paying less than what they are actually being charged.

Additionally, Luca claims that Wyndham and its affiliate’ force consumers to accept its websites’ “Terms of Use,” essentially releasing the resort chain from any liability connected with booking.

“Defendants’ failure to adequately disclose the resort fee charge as part of the true cost of renting a hotel room is deceptive and causes consumers, including plaintiff and the class, to believe that they are paying substantially less than they actually are being charged for a room at defendants’ hotels,” according to Luca’s proposed class action lawsuit.

Resort fees are an additional service charge covering a variety of property specific amenities and benefits for items like pool access, pool towels, wired in-room internet and property WiFi, parking, bottled water, newspaper, fitness room access and more.

In 2012, the Federal Trade Commission warned nearly two dozen hotel operators that their online reservation sites may violate the law by providing a deceptively low estimate of what consumers can expect to pay for their hotel rooms.

The warning letters cited consumer complaints that surfaced at a recent conference the FTC held on “drip pricing,” a pricing technique in which firms advertise only part of a product’s price and reveal other charges as the customer goes through the buying process.

According to the FTC letters, “One common complaint consumers raised involved mandatory fees hotels charge for amenities such as newspapers, use of onsite exercise or pool facilities, or internet access, sometimes referred to as ‘resort fees.’  These mandatory fees can be as high as $30 per night, a sum that could certainly affect consumer purchasing decisions.”

The warning letters also stated that consumers often did not know they would be required to pay resort fees in addition to the quoted hotel rate.

This is not the first time Wyndham has faced legal action over undisclosed fees.

In 2006, ConsumerAffairs.com reported that Wyndham settled with the state of Florida for $2.3 million over allegations that hotels run by Wyndham International automatically added surcharges to guests’ bills without properly disclosing the fees.

Luca is represented by Gary F. Lynch, R. Bruce Carlson, Jamisen A. Etzel and Kevin Abramowicz of Carlson Lynch Sweet Kilpela & Carpenter LLP; Joseph J. DePalma, Katrina Carroll and Kyle A. Shamberg of Lite DePalma Greenberg LLC; and Joseph P. Guglielmo and Erin Green Comite of Scott & Scott LLP.

The Wyndham Resort Fee Class Action Lawsuit is Thomas Luca Jr. v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp., et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-00746, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: On February 15, 2017, a federal judge dismissed two of the Wyndham entities from the class action lawsuit, but has determined the case will proceed against the remaining defendants.

UPDATE 2: On June 5, 2018, a customer turned plaintiff is defending his resort fees class action claims against two Wyndham hotel companies, arguing that a recent high court decision does not invalidate his allegations.

UPDATE 3: On Oct. 15, 2018, a Wyndham Hotel guest who claims the company tricks customers into purchasing hotel rooms by hiding resort fees has asked a Pennsylvania federal court to grant Class certification in the lawsuit.

UPDATE 4: On Jan. 16, 2019, a federal judge dropped one allegation in the Wyndham resort fees class action lawsuit.

UPDATE 5: On Oct. 15, 2019, Wyndham reached a proposed settlement deal with customers who claimed that the company used “drip pricing” to conceal the full price of room booking from guests.

UPDATE 6: December 2019, the Wyndham resort fee class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.