Back from the Manhattan Club

[stevens397]

We had a tour of the Manhattan Club about 5 years ago. Price was over $30,000 for the full 1 bedroom and we passed. We purchased a resale from Seth Nock about two years ago at the then unheard of price of $17,000. We were thrilled with our patience and our savvy! Looks like they can be had now for $10K (for the Founders Pkg).

As has been posted, our $1,200 maint fee has shot up to just shy of $2,000 per year - a bit more and we'll be paying $300/nite for our suite. My clear concerns is about what the fees will be 10 years from now!

In addition, there are real concerns about availability. We were led to believe that other than Thanksgiving, reservations are not a problem. In less than one year, that changed dramatically and no one seems to know why. Our hope about finding a show to see next month and making reservations is now laughable. For next year we are committed to planning 9 months ahead.

The final upset is a seemingly small one but it irks me nevertheless. They did a nice job with the renovation. I told my wife today that we really have been spoiled. Christmas was spent in an oceanfront, magnificent suite at the Ritz in Palm Beach and in a lovely oceanview suite at The Atlantic in Fort Lauderdale. The MC suite is lovely and comfortable so I can live with the fact that it is not over the top. But having renovated the rooms with carpeting, new wonderful mattresses and new TVs, I am appalled at the awful showerheads in the stand-alone shower. They would be unacceptable at at Motel 6. When you think of the thousands it costs to upgrade a suite, it is crazy to leave these awful units. I have experienced this the last three or so times there and have always mentioned it. So far nothing.

All that said, we really do enjoy our time there. We love the area. We feel comfortable knowing lots of restaurants in the area. We have a subscription to a series at City Center and it is a treat to get there by walking one block as opposed to dealing with the traffic from NJ on a Saturday night. It is a true luxury to have so much room in NYC but in this economy, being able to rent a suite at the London/NYC two blocks away for $249 + taxes really hurts (obviously can't do that year round!) but we are nervous about the future. I filled out their request for a review and basically said that the spectre of continued large MF increases and the difficulty getting reservations would preclude us from recommending this to anyone. How sad for such a lovely place.

[wauhob3]

I don't know how they expect to sell units with maintenance fees being the same as renting a hotel which then you have total planning freedom. Is it probable they'll back down after the refurbishment is done? It is a very nice place to stay and we are loooking forward to our Spring Break trip.

[stevens397]

Has ANY resort EVER lowered their maintenance fee? I have no idea but I would certainly be shocked.

As I wrote, I do enjoy the Manhattan Club and love the area. But when those fees approach the fees at the Four Seasons resorts, I feel we have a right to expect a similar level of service. It just ain't there.

As I said, I will continue to make the most of it. Called yesterday to make my final reservation of my year that ends August 15th. I already am wait-listed for a Saturday night in April. Bottom line is that there are NO Fri-Sat combinations between now and August 15th. I ended up taking a Sat-Sun in August (first month that combo was available). So I'll miss a day at work to use my final two days. Figure out what that's worth and I could have stayed at the finest hotel in the city!

[helenbarnett1963]

Originally Posted by stevens397

Has ANY resort EVER lowered their maintenance fee? I have no idea but I would certainly be shocked.

Our MF is lower this year! $968 per week last year, just got the invoice for 2009 - $961 per week. Its only $7 lower but at least it isn't an increase. Unfortunately, because we live in the UK, it cost us about £450 per week last year but will be nearer £700 per week.

[alwysonvac]

There was a recent thread about availability - see http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthr...ight=Manhattan. The thread also talks about a Yahoo Owners group.

[wauhob3]

My maintenance fee's go up and down but I must admit lately they have increased a little each year and I haven't received this year but they are pretty reasonable compared to others.

[Multicity Resident]

We recently had a tour and sales presentation at TMC; I have a feeling they are selling more weekends than there are in their inventory. If they sell every week with a platinum flex (meaning floating seven days which can include two weekend stays), they are going to run into problems if they have not already. In theory, you could have 52 "week" owners, each expecting two weekends for a total of 104 weekends sold per unit. Were I an owner, I would look seriously at this and get HOA to make information demand to management. The sales presentation was so aggressive and had so many turns that we lost confidence in anything they said and could not get away fast enough. The price point started out absurdly high, was ultimately cut in half, and they practically offered us breakfast in bed every time we stayed there on our way out the door. This made no sense with their constant refrain that they are pretty much sold out. With that said, we do know happy owners and did find the facilities very nice.

[bilfbr245]

This makes me feel very satisfied with the trade we made earlier this year into the Manhatten Club. Our June week at the Samoset in Maine cost $3900 resale and has MF's of about $400. We were able to trade it for a early June one bedroom unit at MC through RCI. This is no doubt our best trade ever, and we are certainly looking forward to the trip.