“Just you wait, we’re gonna figure it out. We’re gonna put you outta business and surely make you pout.”
Those lines come from “the Megarenter rap,” written by an employee of the Wyndham network of timeshare resorts, and it points to a conspiracy among the company’s executives to penalize timeshare owners too successful at turning their points into profits, according to a lawsuit filed in Orange Circuit Court in Orlando, Fla.
Yvonne and Kenneth Klebba of Michigan originally sued in 2014 but filed the most recent amended version of their complaint in July.
Discovery in the case produced the email featuring “the Megarenter rap,” as Wyndham calls it in court documents, allegedly written by an employee identified as Melissa Amado. No other information about the rap was available.
The Klebbas began purchasing ownership in Wyndham’s timeshare plan in 2001 and have acquired more than 67 million points in Wyndham’s system, the lawsuit claims. Points are how owners reserve vacation resort rooms at Wyndham properties around the world.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs were lured into buying points with the promise that they could rent them out to generate income, allowing non-timeshare owners to stay at Wyndham resorts.
Support from the company would include allowing owners to sell and transfer points they could not use before the end of the year, have their names on several reservations and keep points even if reservations were canceled, and other perks specific to VIP owners, according to the complaint.
Wyndham became concerned that owners such as the Klebbas and other “megarenters” were cutting into the larger business model of attracting new owners, the complaint alleges. One consulting group allegedly told Wyndham that disrupting the business of megarenters could bring in an additional $2.5 million per year, according to the suit.
“Ms. Klebba’s actions are an apparent attempt to operate a commercial rental business in violation of clearly disclosed rules prohibiting such conduct,” an unnamed spokesman for Wyndham said in a statement. “We believe her claims are without merit and we will continue to protect our timeshare owners from those who would seek to profit at their expense.”
In about 2008, Wyndham leadership secretly developed its “Megarenter Strategy,” a plan to disenfranchise owners such as the Klebbas, the suit claims. This allegedly included training call center staff to delay bookings by megarenters, using software that would make multiple bookings more difficult and enforcing guidelines in a more strict manner.
Additionally, the complaint claims the company took away a variety of VIP benefits, such as unlimited free guest certificates that saved them on fees. They also closed “loopholes” that the plaintiffs allege had been promised to them as benefits at the point of sale, including getting a VIP discount for rooms that had been reserved, canceled and rebooked.
In 2020, Wyndham canceled a “significant number” of reservations made by the plaintiffs, saying they violated the company’s policy on “engaging in commercial activity,” according to the complaint. But commercial activity was the reason the Klebbas were told to buy the points in the first place, the suit says.
In March, the complaint alleges, the company announced that guest reservations at key resorts during peak travel times “will be subject to cancellation,” and in June limited dates that were available for guest reservations, further restricting the value of the points the Klebbas purchased.
“In effect, Wyndham has eliminated Plaintiffs’ ability to rent accommodations on weekends and holidays at many resorts,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit contends that Wyndham’s practices violate Florida’s Vacation Plan and Timesharing Act among other statutes and are asking for unspecified compensatory damages, legal fees and other costs.
