Update: The Wyndham is preparing a statement that will be posted at RT (and I’ll repost it here) that will have additional contact information.
Many (possibly hundreds) of people who attended RT convention in Orlando and stayed at the Wyndham have been the victims of credit card fraud. The hotel has launched an investigation and is asking that any victims contact them, and RT has been asked to be notified as well.
Wyndham contact information:
8001 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 351-2420
RT via Jo Carol:
jocarol at rtconvention dot com
Jeez, the least they could do is offer a toll-free number!
huh. Maybe this is why someone in Saudi Arabia tried to withdraw 5 grand from my account. Didn’t figure the source might have been the Wyndam.
And another option for contacting them might be handy for those of us not in the States.
@Keri Arthur: @Miki S: I’ll see if I can find out another contact source for the Wyndham.
Frankly, I do not know if you can have anything by contracting the hotel.
I already contracted Wyndham Hotel and this is the answer I got
“The Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is committed to ensuring that good service and quality accommodations are provided by our licensees. Each Wyndham Hotels & Resorts facility is independently owned and operated by licensees. Your comments have made us aware of an instance when one of our licensees did not meet a valued customer’s expectations. While Wyndham Hotels & Resorts does not own or operate or control this facility, we have notified the owner/operator of this facility of this incident and conveyed our expectations that he or she take steps to address it adequately. The licensee is in the best position to respond to your complaint.”
Then they gave me a name of some guy in IL to contract if I want to complaint with no e-mail and no phone number. And I do not live in the US.
After that I got an e-mail from the Orlando Wyndham Resort, which said “Thank you again for sharing your experience with us. It is through feedback such as yours that we are able to continuously improve the experience of all our guests. ”
The thing is I do not really want them to help or do anything. Just to let them know what happened so there maybe some way to prevent this from other guest. After I talked with friends, who were also the victim of this fraud, we realized that because we did not discuss this matter we never think the source would be at the hotel and one by one we became the victim.
The answer I got from the hotel, it is more like I complain about the air-condition or the hot water. I do not know for other but this is a serious matter for me. I never thought it would happen to me since I always careful where I used my card. It freaked me out.
This is not the first time Wyndham has had problems with credit card fraud of guests.
I was at RT, but did not stay at the convention hotel (ETA: I did, however, use a credit card at the Wyndham numerous times), and thus far haven’t had a problem. Some of my friends haven’t been so lucky.
The response of the hotel is unacceptable. I feel for you, May, and for everyone going through this now.
If you used American Express, definitely contact member services. They are incredibly aggressive about protecting their customers, and they’ve been known to shut down a vendor’s Amex access altogether if there are complaints. When I travel or purchase things online, I use Amex pretty much exclusively for that reason.
(Visa and MasterCard have buyer protection plans, as well, but I don’t know as much about them.)
Bottom line, if you’re not getting help from the hotel, get your credit card company or bank to pursue the matter. I’ve had very good luck going that route in the past.
For Visa and Mastercard contact the member services phone number ASAP. They will go over with you any recent charges on your card(s) to verify that they are not fraudulent charges. If you wish to dispute a charge you may need to send a registered letter although in this situation this step may not be necessary. Visa has always been good about putting a hold on purchases that seemed to be out of my normal range, especially on my business card. Once I call them by phone and confirm the purchase goes through. I also try to remember to call and notify them if I am going to be traveling or making any exceptional purchase.
A couple of years ago my card number was stolen– I suspect a local restaurant employee because this happened to several people I know who ate there and paid with credit cards. Visa security called to make sure that I had not authorized the purchase of about a thousand dollars worth of tech and software to be mailed to an international third party, then shut my card down and sent me a new one. All fixed in a couple of days.
From the information provided…. I'm wondering how the fraud is occurring. Where was the break down that allowed the fraud to occur?
Employ
Unsecured Off Site Data
Unsecured Onsite Data
Front Desk Transactions, Restaurant Transactions, Gift Store – all of the above
Outside Vendor Transactions
From the note it seems like it took place at the Wyndham…but was it the Wyndham or someone who was selling at a booth…Was it at the B&N counter….More information would really have been useful…not just a blanket statement of at RT.
One lady I know who had problems only used her card at the front desk.
I think this might be of interest:
You can read the rest of the Orlando Sentinal article from 2/2009 at this URL:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/business_tourism_aviation/2009/02/wyndham-hotels-and-resorts-is-target-of-security-breach.html
I only used that credit card once in the US and it was at the front desk.
Do not presume that you are safe just because of the time or the use. I thought I was.
Saturday my bank alerted me to a security breach. Apparently I bought around 77$ worth of gas and other sundries at a gas station in Germany.
Too bad for the thieves that I had just bought gas the night before in Texas. My bank’s fraud unit was Johnny-On-The-Spot and shut my card down.
So too bad so sad for the theives.
I am inconvenienced but only temporarily.
So if you have not canceled your card, I urge you to do so. Again, I thought I was safe.
I’m really cranky though because my bank did not think it was a viable option to send me to Germany to collect my gas and sundries. I mean…why not?
I’ve never been to Germany! LOL