A class action lawsuit says that Wyndham aggressively markets its timeshares and unfairly profits from customers by requiring them to assign their timeshare interest to a trust, from which Wyndham benefits.
Plaintiffs Carolyn Nolen, Windy Kelley, Cara Kelley, and Paula Litton claim that they all have timeshares with Wyndham.
Allegedly, these customers, along with every timeshare purchaser, are required to assign 100 percent of their timeshare interest to Club Wyndham Plus, a program governed by the terms of the Fairshare Trust. In turn, the trust is reportedly controlled by Wyndham.
The Wyndham class action claims that Wyndham does not disclose to customers that the Fairshare Trust is the Fairshare Vacation Owners Association, a corporation controlled entirely by Wyndham. The terms allegedly indicate that the only beneficiaries of the Fairshare Trust are the individual timeshare owners and Wyndham.
Because the trustee is reportedly controlled by Wyndham, and Wyndham profits from the trust, the trustee — Fairshare Vacation Owners Association — profits from the trust, in violation of Arkansas law.
According to the customers’ timeshare trust class action lawsuit, Wyndham violated Arkansas Trust Code, which requires a trustee to administer the trust solely in the interest of the beneficiaries, and dictates that a “trust and its terms must be for the benefit of its beneficiaries.”
The Wyndham class action claims that the Trust Code states that trustees cannot profit from the trust, even if they did not breach the trust in profiting from it.
The timeshare holders argue that the Fairshare Vacation Owners Association’s Board of Directors has the right to change any program or feature of the trust at will, even if these changes are against the best interest of the customers.
During the time period at issue in the Wyndham lawsuit, all three members of the Board of Directors were Wyndham members, and they were able to make changes to the trust even if those changes were not in the best interest of the timeshare holders.
In the words of the timeshare owners, “to gain control over the Fairshare Vacation Owners Association and the Fairshare Trust, [Wyndham] or its affiliated entities appointed its own executives and employees to control the actions of the Trustee.” Allegedly, this led to “tremendous” financial benefits for Wyndham and affiliates.
The Wyndham timeshare class action lawsuit argues that Wyndham’s control of the trust is absolute, and that the company is violating their fiduciary duty to timeshare owners.
The timeshare owners go on to argue that Wyndham requires timeshare owners to pay fees that cover the costs of administering and operating the trust, which only financially serves Wyndham, not the timeshare holders.
Wynham has previously faced claims that the timeshare company misled consumers about its services, and unfairly profited from consumers.
Do you have a timeshare? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.
The timeshare holders are represented by John A. Yanchunis and Patrick A. Barthle II of Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group; James M. Terrell and Rodney E. Miller of Methvin Terrell Yancey Stephens & Miller PC; and Bradford D. Barron of The Barron Law Firm PLLC.
The Wyndham Timeshare Trust Class Action Lawsuit is Carolyn Nolen, et al. v. Wyndham Vacation Resorts Inc., et al., Case No. 6:20-cv-00330-PGB-EJK, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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341 thoughts onWyndham Class Action Lawsuit: Hotel Unfairly Profits Off Timeshare Owners
Please add myself and my husband we have been scammed by Wyndham twice now and everytime we use our points to go on vacation they harras us to the point that’s it’s not a vacation!!!
My husband and I were also Wyndham time share owers. Taking a vacation always included those free breakfast meetings that ended up including a mega sales pitch that lasted for hours. And if you travel with another couple they felt equally trapped.
We finally got away from Wyndham by giving it all back!! A very expensive lesson. It just don’t seem right!!
Please add me
Please add me. I am a Wyndham Timeshare owner
I am a Wyndham owner and I also believe all that is stated in the article.
I would like to be added on the case law suit because I do believe that I was taken advantage of by false sales and others benefit…
Please add me!
Please add me and Gail Shaw. We are both victims of Worldmark/Wyndham. Current members, unfortunately!
Please add me I was a Wyndham timeshare owner
Wyndham is terrible, they always try to sell me more points by making me believe I don’t have enough yet, or make me buy a new plan by threatening that something bad will happen to me like I will have to pay a lot more maintenance fee next year if I stay with the current plan. Sometimes they can go so far that sales from different resorts may make up contradictory stuff, like one saying my cost will be doubled and another saying it will be tripled.. They have no morality or bottom line whatsoever but making up all kinds of lies to pressure and trick people to hand over their hard earned money. They are also good at making up extra charges like resort fee, parking fee, some never heard tax etc. even when booking the room using points, which was not disclosed when I signed up as a new customer, even though I had asked expressly what fees there would be. Wyndham should have been sued since a long time ago, it’s a long overdue to me.
Please add me I was a Wyndham timeshare owner
Worried
Please add me
-Yes please add myself and my husband to this suit we are current owners of wyndham and experience it everytime we try to use timeshare we are bombarded by sales people trying to get us to upgrade or sell us more and if we say no we are not interested there is constant pestering until we have the meeting which then takes up about 1.5-3 hours of our vacation. It even ruined my daughters birthday weekend once.