Force action by affecting sales
There is only one place that I can see that we, as owners, can get Wyndham to take some real action to determine if there is a bot or some other automated process sucking up availability. But, I will get back to that later.
Right now, Wyndham really could care less if there is a bot. Wyndham collects the maintenance fees regardless of the confusion surrounding reservations. If there is one person or one hundred persons in line for a room, Wyndham has already been paid. Whether the final rental price is $1 or $1,000, Wyndham is not part of the transaction.
So, is there a way for owners to force some action by Wyndham to truly investigate the potential abuse of the reservation system and to then institute action to correct it? I don’t know, but if there is, it has to be something that impacts Wyndham sales. I ask this as an open question to anyone with ideas and/or experience using legal means to collect enough anecdotal data to create a class action suit showing potential damages received by owners as a result of a “faulty” reservation system, or some other similar type action by us, the owners.
One consequence to Wyndham, until the system “runs better”, might be to legally require Wyndham to specify in every sales presentation that actually getting a reservation is very limited, due to the actions of mega-renters and potentially bots on the reservation system. Regardless of how loudly we yell, if it doesn’t result in a decrease in new sales, Wyndham will offer only a deaf ear.
Are there owners out there who are willing to form a group to brainstorm ideas of how to create a force sufficient to legally affect Wyndham sales? If you are reading this, are you willing to join? What ideas do you have?
Jim