Welcome to the Hilton Hotels Resort Fees Settlement Website
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Overview If you stayed at a Hilton Resort Hotel prior to January 1, 2004 and paid a Resort Fee, your rights may be affected by a class action settlement (the "Settlement") that has been entered into between Hilton Hotels Corporation, Walter Hotel Corporation and certain Plaintiffs who have filed class action lawsuits regarding Hilton's charging of Resort Fees to its hotel guests. The Resort Fees consisted of bundled per-night charges for resort services and amenities that were charged in addition to the per-night room rate. The class action lawsuit alleges a single cause of action arising from the claims of customers who reserved a room at a Hilton Resort Hotel, who were promised certain room rates by Hilton, and who incurred additional charges, including but not limited to a "Resort Fee," that were not optional and that were not disclosed by Hilton at the time the reservations were made or at the time of check-in. The lawsuit alleges that the charges are unlawful and actionable. In particular, the lawsuit alleges that Hilton participated in a scheme to deceive guests about the actual room rate by failing to provide advance notice of the Resort Fee at the time of reservation and misrepresented the nature of the Resort Fee, all in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act and the similar consumer fraud statutes of the other states in which Hilton operates resort hotels. Hilton denies these allegations, and asserts that its policy and practice was and is to provide notice of the existence and nature of Resort Fees to guests at the time of check-in as an optional package that would not be charged unless and until a guest agreed to the purchase. Hilton further asserts that it took diligent and reasonable steps to enforce that policy and practice. To learn more about the Settlement, please refer to the Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement and Release of Claims (the "Notice"). Notice The purpose of the Notice is to inform you about the Settlement, how to participate in it, how to object to it if you wish, how to exclude yourself from the Settlement if you wish, and how to get more information about it. View the Notice. Settlement Benefits Because it is not possible to identify the hotel guests who paid Resort Fees, each of the Participating Hotels listed below will discount its Resort Fees on an ongoing basis by seventy-five percent (75%) until it has foregone a total of twenty-two and one-half percent (22.5%) of the Total Resort Fee collected by it prior to January 1, 2004. This benefit applies to any hotel guest incurring Resort Fees after the Settlement Effective Date and prior to the discount of 22.5% of the Total Resort Fee, regardless of whether they are a class member. Class members who present themselves to Hilton with documentation verifying their membership in the Class, and incur Resort Fees after the Settlement Effective Date, and prior to the discount of 22.5% of the Total Resort Fee, will be reimbursed the full amount of the Resort Fees then incurred. To the extent possible, each of the Participating Hotels listed below will either (a) offer substantially identical amenities and services previously offered for the non-discounted Resort Fee, or (b) to the extent those amenities or services are unavailable, substitute amenities or services of equal value. Participating Hotels: •
The Doubletree Golf Resort in San Diego, California To participate in this Settlement, you were required to file a timely and valid claim form, postmarked no later than February 14, 2007. Exclusions & Objections To exclude yourself from the Class you must file a written exclusion. To do this you must send a letter stating, "I DO NOT WANT TO BE PART OF THE PLAINTIFF SETTLEMENT CLASS IN MAULDING V. HILTON HOTELS CORPORATION," and mail it to any Class Counsel identified in Section V.C.f. of the Notice, postmarked on or before November 2, 2006. To obtain additional information about exclusion procedures, view the Notice. If you are a member of the Class who has not filed a timely request for exclusion from the Class, you may file an objection to the Settlement. The written objection must be filed and received by the Court at the address identified in Section IV. of the Notice, and by Class Counsel and Hilton Counsel at the address identified in Section V.C.f. of the Notice, on or before November 2, 2006, (not later than 30 days before the date set for the Final Approval Hearing) or the objection will not be considered. To obtain additional information about objection procedures, view the Notice. Final Approval Hearing A Final Approval Hearing was scheduled for November 14, 2006, at 10:00 a.m., before the Honorable Michael O'Malley, Circuit Judge, at the St. Clair County Courthouse, Courtroom 403, 10 Public Square, P.O. Box 691, Belleville, Illinois 62222, to determine: (1) whether the proposed Settlement Class should be finally certified; (2) whether the proposed Settlement of the class action should be finally approved as fair, reasonable and adequate; (3) whether the class action should be dismissed with prejudice pursuant to the terms of the Settlement; (4) whether the Settlement Class's compensation and release of Hilton and other parties should be approved as fair, reasonable and adequate; (5) whether the application of Settlement Class Counsel for an award of attorneys' fees, costs and expenses should be approved; (6) whether the application by the Class representative for an incentive award should be approved as fair, reasonable and adequate; and (7) to determine the merits of any objection(s) filed. With notice to Plaintiff and Hilton only, the Court may reschedule or postpone the scheduled hearing date, for good cause shown. You may appear at the hearing, either in person or through an attorney hired at your own expense, if you filed a timely written objection and did not exclude yourself from the Class, and if you abide by the rules for appearing at the hearing. The rules are explained in Section VI. of the Notice. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT FOR INFORMATION REGARDING THE SETTLEMENT
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT DATES:
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