Resort Fee Class Action Settlement 2019: Your Chance to Get Your Share of Money or Points From Wyndham Hotel Group

You may be eligible for your share of either money or frequent guest loyalty program points from a class action settlement if you booked your reservation at an official Internet web site of Wyndham Hotel Group, stayed at a hotel or resort property affiliated with Wyndham Hotel Group in the United States — including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and other territories of the United States — and paid a resort fee for that stay between Sunday, June 6, 2010 through Friday, October 18, 2019…

Resort Fee Class Action Settlement 2019: Your Chance to Get Your Share of Money or Points From Wyndham Hotel Group

…but you must electronically submit your claim with a valid claim no later than Monday, March 16, 2020 using this form; you may call 1-855-263-1090; or you can choose to submit your claim via postal mail to:

Luca v. Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC
Settlement Administrator
c/o KCC Class Action Services
PO Box 43237
Providence, RI 02940-3237

This class action case alleges that Wyndham Hotel Group failed to properly disclose resort fees to guests who booked a room at a hotel or resort property affiliated with Wyndham Hotel Group using one of its official Internet web sites. Wyndham Hotel Group denies the claims of the plaintiff and believes that its resort fees were properly disclosed on the official Internet web sites of Wyndham Hotel Group and comply with all applicable laws.

You can receive your choice of either $22.00 or 2,200 Wyndham Rewards points…

…but to qualify as part of this class action settlement, you must reside in the United States — including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and other territories of the United States

You do need to provide proof of payment of a mandatory resort fee — such as an itemized invoice, receipt, folio, credit card statement, or similar document showing

1. Your name
2. The name of the hotel or resort property affiliated with Wyndham Hotel Group at which you stayed
3. The dates of the stay, and
4. Payment for the stay at the hotel or resort property where the resort fee was assessed.

Past Moves Perceived as Untrustworthy From Wyndham Hotel Group

Wyndham Rewards is a frequent guest loyalty program which has had a history of not being upfront with alerting its members of devaluations and changes of the terms and conditions of promotions while they are in effect — blindsiding its members with seemingly arbitrary changes to its promotions with little or no notice.

Two examples are when the number of Wyndham Rewards frequent guest loyalty program points needed to convert to airline frequent flier loyalty program miles had doubled; and at least one hotel property was “upgraded” to a new redemption level known as Tier 9. Both perceived devaluations were implemented immediately within four days of each other — and with no notice, announcement or advance warning of any sort whatsoever.

Also with no advance notice or announcement, a redemption increase of almost 282 percent was reported in January of 2013 for the Wingate by Wyndham Manhattan Midtown located on West 35 Street in New York.

In October of 2016, a bizarre promotion from Wyndham Rewards was cancelled before it even started, with which if you donate all of your Starpoints to charity, you will earn quadruple the amount of Wyndham Rewards points in return; and you would also receive a match to your current elite level status in the Starwood Preferred Guest program.

Other articles which highlight questionable actions from Wyndham Hotel Group include:

• Viva All-Inclusive Resorts No Longer Participating in Wyndham Rewards Effective as of June 1, 2019
• Why You Should Transfer Your La Quinta Returns Points to Wyndham Rewards Now
• Wyndham Rewards Welcomes LaQuinta — But Reward Chart Changes
• Wyndham Rewards Changed Promotion Rules on Its Members Without Notice — Again?
• How Important to You is Your Trust in a Frequent Travel Loyalty Program? The Wyndham Rewards Debacle

Summary

If you do decide to participate in this settlement, completion of the claim form supposedly will consume only a few minutes of your time; but do not expect any major windfall, as you will not exactly get rich from this settlement — you will receive your choice of either $22.00 or 2,200 Wyndham Rewards points — but that may be better than nothing at all.

If you would prefer to exclude yourself from this settlement so that you may sue on your own behalf, you must send a letter that says you want to be excluded from the settlement in Luca v. Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC. You must include a statement that you wish to be excluded from the settlement — as well as your name, address, telephone number and signature. You must mail your exclusion request postmarked by Monday, January 6, 2020, to the following address:

Luca v. Wyndham Hotel Group, LLC
PO Box 43237
Providence, RI 02940-3237

For additional information, you can either peruse this list of questions which are frequently asked; or you can call 1-855-263-1090.

I would personally choose the $22.00 over the 2,200 Wyndham Rewards points any day of the week…

…and hopefully, this class action lawsuit will be another contributor towards the death knell for the scourge known as mandatory resort fees.

That I vehemently oppose the implementation of mandatory resort fees, facilities fees and destination fees is no secret to you if you have been a reader of The Gate for years — they should either be optional or eliminated altogether — and I will just let this extensive body of work over the years pertaining to mandatory resort fees speak for me…

• Search Rankings Lowered For Hotels Which Charge Resort Fees: Expedia Group
• Deceptive Hotel Resort Fees: Legislation Introduced to Protect Consumers 2019
• Mandatory Resort Fees Increase at Three MGM Hotel and Casino Properties in Las Vegas
• Hilton Sued For Charging Deceptive Resort Fees by Attorney General of Nebraska
• Resort Fees are Here to Stay, According to the Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International
• The Importance of Not Abusing Trust
• Marriott International Sued For Charging Deceptive Resort Fees by Attorney General of District of Columbia
• One Simple Way to Reclaim That Resort Fee Which You Paid
• Even Worse: Mandatory Resort Fees as Percentage of Room Rate
• Why Are You Surprised That Resort Fees “Provide Real Tangible Value” to You?
• 4 Reasons Why Mandatory Resort Fees May Finally Be Disappearing
• Wait a Minute…A Hostel Which Charges a Resort Fee?!?
• Probe of Hotel Booking Sites Results in Enforcement Action in the United Kingdom
• Is This Flat Sales Tax Really a Mandatory Resort Fee in Disguise?
• Resort Fees: The Database of Lodging Options Which Charge Them
• Is This Secret to Ease the Pain of Paying Resort Fees Viable?
• The Destination Fee Plague Spreads Again — This Time, To…
• Another Way Mandatory Resort Fees are Deceptive
• Caesar’s Entertainment Properties to Increase Mandatory Resort Fees
• Resort Fees; Then Parking Fees: Are Free Drinks in Las Vegas In Jeopardy?
• What is Included in a Mandatory Resort Fee of $160.50 Per Night?
• Legislation Targets “Deceptive” Resort Fees
• New Parking Fees at Hotels: When Mandatory Resort Fees are Not Enough
• I Want In on This Resort Fee Nonsense: Open My Own Resort
• It’s Time to Put the Kibosh on Hotel Resort Fees? Now?!?
• Mandatory Resort Fees Can Add Up to 50% More to Your Room Rate With Useless Amenities
• Mandatory Facilities Fee: A Growing Deceptive Trend in Lodging?
• Help Me List Hotel Properties Here to Fight Resort Fees
• What If Other Businesses Surprised You With the Equivalent of Resort Fees?
• $40 Resort Fee at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort Starts June 1, 2015
• Lawsuit Alleges Daily Resort Fee Was Hidden From Room Rate at Booking
• Who Likes Resort Fees? Not Me
• A Resort Fee Added on a $36 Rodeway Inn Room?

Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.