the manhattan club

We own a Junior Suite and a One Bedroom Suite at the MC. We used the Junior suite for four days in October and three days in November. In both cases, we stayed in suites that had been renovated and were in excellent condition. We used the One Bedroom suite in April and will go again next week. Again, the room we used in April was excellent. My problems with the MC are the unreasonably high maintenance fees and the fact that you have to reserve rooms 9 months in advance, especially if you want a Saturday stay. Their stated reason why booking is such a problem is that several rooms have been unavailable for use due to the renovation. We were told a year ago that the renovations would be complete within a year and the booking problem would no longer be an issue. However, the problem is still present and I still book 9 months in advance.

Maintenance fees have more than doubled since we bought and are now approaching $2000/week. This happened when the owner ended his sponsorship. Since he is still selling units, I don't know how he can get away with this. Moreover, management services(telephone reservation personnel, etc.) is charged at 20% of our maintenance fee. The 20% calculation was reasonable when the maintenance fee was $800 but not when the maintenance fee is $2000. I am quite certain that the employees have not received a 100% increase in pay in the last two years. This is a question we should raise to the board.

If maintenance fees are not held in check, I will be selling my units as well.

Thank you Richard. The group went over to Yahoo.com group. No one has messaged in the last month, but perhaps you'd like to read the entries. Hope to hear from you again.

richard484 wrote:

We own a Junior Suite and a One Bedroom Suite at the MC. We used the Junior suite for four days in October and three days in November. In both cases, we stayed in suites that had been renovated and were in excellent condition. We used the One Bedroom suite in April and will go again next week. Again, the room we used in April was excellent. My problems with the MC are the unreasonably high maintenance fees and the fact that you have to reserve rooms 9 months in advance, especially if you want a Saturday stay. Their stated reason why booking is such a problem is that several rooms have been unavailable for use due to the renovation. We were told a year ago that the renovations would be complete within a year and the booking problem would no longer be an issue. However, the problem is still present and I still book 9 months in advance.

Maintenance fees have more than doubled since we bought and are now approaching $2000/week. This happened when the owner ended his sponsorship. Since he is still selling units, I don't know how he can get away with this. Moreover, management services(telephone reservation personnel, etc.) is charged at 20% of our maintenance fee. The 20% calculation was reasonable when the maintenance fee was $800 but not when the maintenance fee is $2000. I am quite certain that the employees have not received a 100% increase in pay in the last two years. This is a question we should raise to the board.

If maintenance fees are not held in check, I will be selling my units as well.

richard484 wrote:

We own a Junior Suite and a One Bedroom Suite at the MC. We used the Junior suite for four days in October and three days in November. In both cases, we stayed in suites that had been renovated and were in excellent condition. We used the One Bedroom suite in April and will go again next week. Again, the room we used in April was excellent. My problems with the MC are the unreasonably high maintenance fees and the fact that you have to reserve rooms 9 months in advance, especially if you want a Saturday stay. Their stated reason why booking is such a problem is that several rooms have been unavailable for use due to the renovation. We were told a year ago that the renovations would be complete within a year and the booking problem would no longer be an issue. However, the problem is still present and I still book 9 months in advance.

Maintenance fees have more than doubled since we bought and are now approaching $2000/week. This happened when the owner ended his sponsorship. Since he is still selling units, I don't know how he can get away with this. Moreover, management services(telephone reservation personnel, etc.) is charged at 20% of our maintenance fee. The 20% calculation was reasonable when the maintenance fee was $800 but not when the maintenance fee is $2000. I am quite certain that the employees have not received a 100% increase in pay in the last two years. This is a question we should raise to the board.

If maintenance fees are not held in check, I will be selling my units as well.

Richard,

I also flipped when I found out how much the maint. fee was up to this year. I called the next day to complain. I was ready to put my week up for sale. I wanted to check prices first . I went on Mariott Marquis' website to book a room for President's week. The closest thing they had to my one bedroom, 2 bath unit was a suite with no kitchen and one bath for $963.00 a night. I don't like the garbage I have to put up with to get a res. at the MC. What I like less would be having to pay almost $1000.00 a nigfht to stay in Manhattan. I have many issues with the MC . However, I love going into Manhattan and the $1975.00 a year is a lot less expensive than a hotel.

June

June,

What you tend to discount, when you say that $1975.00 a week( not year) is a lot less expensive than a hotel, is your initial investment. If you purchased your two bath unit from the MC, you paid about $35,000.00. If you had invested that $35,000.00, at a return of only 6%, it would yield $2,100.00 per year. Therefore, we are actually paying $1975.00 plus $2,100.00 or $4,075.00 to use our two bath unit for one week or $582.00 per night. You can still rent a very nice room in Manhattan for $582.00 per night and you don't have to book 9 months in advance.

Richard

Richard, I didn't pay $35,000.00- I paid $25,000.00- and yes I could have invested this money elsewhere and probably would have made a few bucks back then. What you fail to understand is that I bought my unit because I love Manhattan. I also wanted this type of investment because I can incorporate this deed into my will for my children and one day grandchildren(hopefully not for very long time). I also have the memories of fabulous years from the past that we spent there. I don't like a lot of things that go on there, as I've said in the past. But I spoke to friends of mine who own timeshares and they (depending on where or when they want a res) have told me they have the same problems getting res. if not called in a year in advance. So, if you love Manhattan, love the amenities you have at the MC, you hope the maint fees won't skyrocket again in one year, as I was assured they won't, make your res. in advance and enjoy your investment.

June

stephenf50 wrote:

G'day all just looking at coming over to the States in March 08 i beleive i will be staying at the MC this will be my first visit to your country and i would like it to be enjoyable after reading some of the comments here it sound like i am taking a gamble with my accomodation choices, or are you just having a winge. I would appricate it if anyone could give me more information about this hotel.

anam66 wrote:

stephenf50 wrote:

G'day all just looking at coming over to the States in March 08 i beleive i will be staying at the MC this will be my first visit to your country and i would like it to be enjoyable after reading some of the comments here it sound like i am taking a gamble with my accomodation choices, or are you just having a winge. I would appricate it if anyone could give me more information about this hotel.

It will be enjoyable ,The Manhattan Club has been changing matress,carpets,tvs lately and the location could not be better,is very dificult to find a Kitchenet in New York and an executive floor for the price of this you can walk to almost everything from there.I am sure you will not regret it

I am sure you will not regret it. You already have your reservation. The rooms are being renovated. I don't know which ones are finished. The most important thing to keep in mind- "enjoy your stay".

June

We stayed at the MC last September and had a wonderful time. This was our 10th visit to NYC However the first unit we were assigned was unacceptable for several reasons: toilet wouldn't flush, broken and rotting blinds, and a couple of other items. We were moved to a much nicer unit the next day. I had read that the staff were indifferent at best but found this to be untrue. Everyone we dealt with was pleasant, helpful, and courteous. You can't beat the location. We walked everywhere: theatres, park, tourist sites, shopping, museums, art galleries, etc. I too was worried about the MC when I read the messages on the forum but had a much more positive experience. Would I buy a unit at MC? No! because I think the many concerns expressed in the forum are valid. Would I rent a timeshare through redweek.com at the MC? Yes.

anam66 wrote:

stephenf50 wrote:

G'day all just looking at coming over to the States in March 08 i beleive i will be staying at the MC this will be my first visit to your country and i would like it to be enjoyable after reading some of the comments here it sound like i am taking a gamble with my accomodation choices, or are you just having a winge. I would appricate it if anyone could give me more information about this hotel.

It will be enjoyable ,The Manhattan Club has been changing matress,carpets,tvs lately and the location could not be better,is very dificult to find a Kitchenet in New York and an executive floor for the price of this you can walk to almost everything from there.I am sure you will not regret it

Hi Stephen,

We own a one bedroom and a Jr. Suite at the MC. We split our weeks in half, which allows us to visit NYC four times a year. This year we went in April, Oct., Nov. and just returned from our Dec trip. In all our six years of ownership, I have never had a bad room. I find the staff from the bellmen to the maids to be friendly and most helpful. We stayed in an updated room on all four trips this year. This past week, our room was on the 25th floor with magnificent views of Central Park, 7th Ave. and the NYC skyline. You will not be disappointed! My only problem with the MC has been the rapid rise in the maintenance fees which have more than doubled in the past two years. Of course, since you apparently rented or traded for your week, you are not concerned with this issue. So, count your blessings and enjoy your stay.

Merry Christmas, Rich

Rich- How did u manage to get the updated rooms on all visits? I own a full one bedroom 2 bath unit. I booked my Dec. nights 9 months in advance and requested a large room with a roll out as we were having 4 adults and 1 child in the room. Upon check-in I had one of the smaller floor plans and they looked for something larger, but unable to come up with anything. This was our only stay this year and I lost 2 remaining nights due to no availability. So my 5 nights cost me over $1800. That's not a bargain- considering my 7 ( that I used to have no problem booking even last minute)used to cost $850. I would just like to know how all those who don't own are staying there? How are they getting reservations? I'm just a frustrated owner who's tired of waiting lists and escalating fees. Thanks for listening. Merry Christmas! Holly

hollyw32 wrote:

Rich- How did u manage to get the updated rooms on all visits? I own a full one bedroom 2 bath unit. I booked my Dec. nights 9 months in advance and requested a large room with a roll out as we were having 4 adults and 1 child in the room. Upon check-in I had one of the smaller floor plans and they looked for something larger, but unable to come up with anything. This was our only stay this year and I lost 2 remaining nights due to no availability. So my 5 nights cost me over $1800. That's not a bargain- considering my 7 ( that I used to have no problem booking even last minute)used to cost $850. I would just like to know how all those who don't own are staying there? How are they getting reservations? I'm just a frustrated owner who's tired of waiting lists and escalating fees. Thanks for listening. Merry Christmas! Holly

Holly, When I book my reservations, usually 9 months in advance, I will request three or four rooms in order of my preference. So far, I have always been given one of my options. Perhaps my requests are more easily filled since I only book 3 and 4 night stays as opposed to an entire week. However, I believe most of the rooms have been updated and you have to be quite unlucky to get an older one.

Merry Christmas, Rich

Rich surprisingly enough only 29 of the 1 bedroom units have been updated! We statyed Thurs- Sat (3 nights) we live about about 2 hrs aways so we always use our nights in blocks or one night at a time. I requested only a large corner room, but was told those who stay for a week got the preference as they check in prior to the start of the weekend. I guess i need to start using unit numbers, which I have never done. We decided while we were there to convert have of each of our contracts( 2 splits) into points. This will allow us 4 nights( incl a Sat each year) and points for the other 3 which we can choose to travel with. Using the 7 nights was getting too difficult, so rather than loose them, we are getting point each year. Hopefully this will solve our problem and leave me less frustrated and annoyed!! I have 3 nights remaining for 2008- all i need to do is to figure out when we want to go. Which of the units do u like?- The worst rooms are those opp the elevators- you can't get out of the bedroom while the pullout is open without climbing over it- I had that 2 x-, never again! The end room we had once was excellent, but can't remember the # we had. I wish I had the book with all the floorplans in it! My original sales person has returned to TMC, so I will call her when I need assistance. At least I haven't seen any rooms on Expedia lately- that used to burn me, I'm on waiting lists and the nights I want were on Expedia for the general public to rent. Not fair- if there are open rooms, the owners should have 1st preference, especially since a lot of rooms were taken outof service due to the renovations and construction of penthouse suites. We'll have to wait and see what 2008 brings! Have A Happy Holiday! Holly

Holly

As an owner, you may want to join this group. It is a very new group, and trying to build membership. No fees involved, just a group of owners trying to communicate with each other. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manhattanclubowners/join

JW writes I too am very disappointed in the recent reservation problems at the Manhattan Club. I asked in May for 3 days and was told they had none available throughout the 2007 year. My feeling is that if they are renting out our time we should at least get reimbursed the substantial maintenance fee we pay. I am more than willing to be added to the disgruntled owners list and will give freely to any group efforts to get our rights as owners back. It also seems that an owners list should be a matter of public record if one was savvy about how to dig it up. In the letter that owners got dated May 14, 2007 which explained maintenance fees there was a footnote to schedule B, #4 "miscellaneous income that showed over 2 million dollars reflecting gross rental proceeds for unreserved use periods. With so many of us not able to get any reservations, this seems criminal to me.

JW- I wish I had gotten that letter! I would have know that my fees were drastically going up and being charged 6 months after I had paid the 2006 fees! I don't think we'll ever get a straight answer from anyone at the MC. I certainly would like to go back to the way it used to be when I bought! Holly

With all you owners ******** and moaning about the manhattan,maybe now it willnot be impossible to exchange into the manhattan, some units will be available on the open exchange market. Comeon quit moaning,you wanted a timeshare in Manhattan,nobody put a gun to your head. charles671

charles671 wrote:

With all you owners ******** and moaning about the manhattan,maybe now it willnot be impossible to exchange into the manhattan, some units will be available on the open exchange market. Comeon quit moaning,you wanted a timeshare in Manhattan,nobody put a gun to your head. charles671

I have recently found out that potential buyers are being accomodated at the Manhatten Club overnight. When we bought in we were given a room at a nearby hotel ofr our initial visit. Just think if there are 4-5 sales people with 4-5 appointments per day - how many of the already owned rooms are unavailable for those who own them? I think at this years owners annual meeting this issue should be brought up. Everythime we visit, all the people we meet in the elevators or lounge are NOT owners.