Recently we brought you the story of Quan Nguyen, a sales director for Diamond Resorts International, who was fired for being too ethical.
 
Nope – that’s not a typo.
 
According to Mr. Nguyen’s lawsuit, he was demoted and fired after he tried to enforce Diamond’s own sales rules designed to comply with federal law.
 
Apparently, it didn’t matter that Diamond is supposed to be following the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) Code of Ethics, which states: “All Members shall conduct their activities honestly and fairly in compliance with applicable laws, and with professionalism, integrity, dignity and propriety.”
 
That’s bad enough. But the lawsuit is very illuminating about another aspect of Diamond’s approach to business.
 
Let’s go back to when Mr. Nguyen began enforcing Diamond’s own rules.
 
“When sales representatives failed to comply, he began putting formal reprimands on their records. Two of the sales agents he began to reprimand were ‘Dinnie’ Thomas, a top sales producer in the Kent, Washington office, and Seth Johnson, a new sales representative who was being mentored by Mr. Thomas.”
 
“Thomas was inordinately successful in the Kent, WA office, but Diamond officers and employees knew that success was due in part to Mr. Thomas circumventing the rules.”
 
“For example, Mr. Nguyen once caught Thomas trying to trick a customer in a second loan payment by claiming it was less than his current loan payment, without notifying the customer that he would be responsible for both payments.”
 
Well, doesn’t THAT sound familiar?
 
“As a consequence of Thomas’ tactics, he received more accusations of ‘misreps’ than any other sales representative and was responsible for more deals becoming ‘unwound’ than any other sales representative in the Kent, WA office.”
 
“Misreps,” as in, misrepresentations. “Unwound,” as in, reversed.
 
You’d think Diamond would want to get rid of sales agents whose sales kept getting reversed.
 
But if you think that, you would be wrong.
 
“The agents began complaining to Diamond Timeshares International’s leadership, especially Vern Toland with whom Thomas was close. Toland and Thomas had a shared sales philosophy and Toland’s success at the company was largely determined by the sales figures of Thomas and other personnel who were violating policies.”
 
So, a lot of people at Diamond benefitted from Thomas’ rule breaking. 
 
“Motivated by the desire to maintain the status quo, Toland voiced to Mr. Nguyen that he was being hard on the sales personnel. Nguyen disagreed, citing the number of deals that had been unwound because of Mr. Thomas.”
 
“Mr. Toland responded by indicating that the unwound deals were economically worthwhile.”
 
Again, not a typo. 
 
Diamond and its staff make money even when sales come undone! No wonder they were upset when Mr. Nguyen wouldn’t look the other way.
 
If failing to follow Diamond’s own rules isn’t too unethical for Diamond…and violating ARDA’s Code of Ethics isn’t too unethical for Diamond…and breaking federal law isn’t too unethical for Diamond…
 
…then, really, what IS too unethical for Diamond???
 
Let’s check with Mark Wang, the CEO of Hilton Grand Vacations and a member of ARDA’s board of directors. Hilton Grand Vacations bought Diamond in 2021. Email Mark at mark.wang@hgv.com and ask whether there is ANYTHING that is too unethical for Diamond and Hilton Grand Vacations.
 
We should also ask Gordon Gurnik, the chief operating officer at Hilton Grand Vacations. He just happens to be the Chair of ARDA’s board of directors, and he approves all the members of ARDA’s Ethics Committee. Email him at gordon.gurnik@hgv.com and see if there is anywhere he would draw the line on Diamond’s violations.
 
Here’s another question: will ARDA ever draw the line on Diamond’s behavior? Let’s ask Jason Gamel, ARDA’s CEO and President, by emailing jgamel@arda.org. He’s a member of ARDA’s Ethics Committee and, like Gordon Gurnik, approves all of the Ethics Committee members. 
 
Speaking of which, ARDA’s Ethics Committee is made up exclusively of representatives of timeshare companies, so we’re pretty sure the answer is…umm…“No.”
 
Can’t tell where the ethical lines are at your timeshare company? Use this list of ARDA VIPs to contact your company’s leaders and see if they can tell you.
  
Feel like nothing’s too unethical for your company? Report it to us at info@timesharefacts.com 
 
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