Hilton Q Club Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Shared Costs

A Hilton Q Club class action lawsuit challenges shared costs — owners claim the organization bills owners improperly and without warning.

Plaintiff Gary Dear claims that Club Q, a combination condominium, hotel building owned by Q Club Hotel LLC, a Delaware Limited Liability Company and operated under the Hilton Hotels brand, charges condominium owners a “shared cost” fee for some amenities used both by hotel guests and condominium owners.

Allegedly, the company has failed to maintain records of how shared costs are used, and improperly collects fees.

Dear claims that the company is obligated to maintain proper records of how “shared costs” are allocated. Allegedly, these costs are used to cover maintenance of the structure, including the lobby, fitness center, and the pool. These costs also cover housekeeping, according to Dear.

Allegedly, these fees are delineated in the condominium declaration, and in the declaration, the company has agreed to notify owners for what they are being charged as part of the “shared costs.” These costs are reportedly separate from the condominium association fees.

The Q Club shared costs class action lawsuit claims that Q Club collected payments from owners for expenses that are not shared costs, and at times, billed separately for costs that should have been covered under shared costs.

In one instance, Q Club should have allegedly billed housekeeping services as a shared costs, but instead, billed them separately as hotel fees.

Dear states that he has owned a Q Club condominium since 2006, and in 2017, began to be charged separately for housekeeping services that were previously covered as shared costs. Allegedly, he was not notified of the change in billing polices.

The company itself has reportedly established that housekeeping should be covered in Q Club costs, and defended this position in legal disputes with owners, but actively goes against this determination in practice, and has only recently abandoned the opposing determination.

Dear also claims that Q Club back charged for services and costs, a practice that is prohibited in the company’s owner agreement. Despite pushback from Dear and other condominium owners, the company allegedly did not return the unfair back paid costs to the owners.

Allegedly, all of these changes and actions were an attempt by Q Club to maximize the costs they could charge to owners.

The Q Club owners contract and costs class action lawsuit claims that Q Club uses misleading business practices to maximize its profits, and unjustly enrich itself by charging costs in ways that are deceptive, misleading, and inconsistent with its advertised business practices.

Dear seeks damages for the costs he claims that he and other owners incurred as a result of Q Club’s allegedly unlawful business practices, and seeks for Q Club to maintain practices that are consistent with its written agreements with owners.

The plaintiff is represented by Matthew D. Weissing of Edwards Pottinger LLC, and by Robert A. Sweetapple of Sweetapple Broeker & Varkas PL.

The Q Club Shared Costs Class Action Lawsuit is Gary Dear v. Q Club Hotel LLC, Case No. 0:18-cv-61756, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.