Andy,
If you have no idea, I can certainly give you one. I know there are others who read here who
hate the person I'm going to mention, but I'm going to anyway and I'll tell you why.
My strongest suggestion is that you
assign your proxy to Philip Abdouch. You'll see him on the ballot as a candidate.
You may or may not be aware, but Wyndham has done the following in the last 1.5 years, allowed without a whimper from our BoD:
- Increased credit allocation for all new resorts, from 30% higher to almost 100% higher. You can check out the credits required to stay at the Las Vegas Tropicana, West Yellowstone, and San Diego resorts.
- Rent units to the public.
- "Party Weekends" where Wyndham books units to accommodate up to 52 people during the summer and other peak times at resorts we can't get into with our credits. let alone bonus time. This is a program for sales. Owners are required to bring a non-owner couple and they are required to attend a sales presentation.
- Give non-owners using the "Experience" program of purchasing non-renewable credits to "try out" being an owner, higher priority on booking popular coastal resorts during holiday and summer periods.
- Speaking of bonus time (it's not a "bonus," it's a right in the contract) you may have noticed how much harder it's getting to book bonus time. All new resorts and even new units at existing resorts (St. George, Bear Lake, even Galena) are now having 50 weeks per year sold instead of the 48 that was customary for "drive-to" locations. This means that instead of setting aside 1 week for maintenance and 3 weeks for bonus time, they're setting aside 1 week for bonus time.
- Have you seen the increase in housekeeping fees? The fees for most unit types rose more than 30%, with the cost for a 3-bdrm unit going from $ 55 to $ 75, or more than 36%.
- They have also introduced a new program called TravelShare. This program allows new owners with accounts as small as 6,000 credits to book units for cash from 21 to 42 days before check-in. The current cost is 6 cents per credit, or 1.6 cents higher than the current bonus time fees. This is a tiered program and excludes the existing owner base unless they wish to buy at least 5,000 more credits from Wyndham.
Philip is a true independent who would not sit idly by and watch Wyndham destroy our club. He may not be able to change the world, but I believe he can make a difference.
Some will say that he's abrasive. Well, most would be when the current BoD (who primarily work for Wyndham, as do Peggy Fry and Dave Herrick, or used to work for them or parent company Cendant, Gene Hensley and John Henley) allows Wyndham to pillage the club and steal our value.
Dave Herrick (I guess when wearing his "Wyndham hat") tells us that the developer alone sets credit allocation for new resorts. The governing documents say: "Such allocation shall be based on the relative use-value of the new Resort compared to existing Resorts, in Declarant's
reasonable discretion." Is it reasonable to believe that the new Las Vegas Tropicana resort should cost 13,000 to 15,000 credits for a 2-bdrm for a week when Las Vegas Spencer Street costs 10,000? Both are converted apartment complexes, near, but not on the strip. The units at Spencer Street are larger than even the 2-bdrm deluxe units at Tropicana.
It's time that the owners elect a director that will actually think for himself and has spine enough to stand up to the rest of the BoD.
I have no ax to grind, nothing to gain by supporting Philip and his proxy drive other than to save our club. And it has come to that, saving it or watching the former Cendant, now Wyndham rape and pillage till there's nothing left. They'll cut and run the minute it suits them.
If you don't want to "assign your proxy" to Philip, then please vote for him directly.
For more information on these and other issues, as well as learning how to make the absolute best of your ownership, go to
www.wmowners.com.