Reader submitted question: My mom bought into the Manhattan Club three years ago. She has been in not so great health in the last couple years so I’ve been trying to
help her out with anything I can.
Anyways, she asked me to call the Manhattan Club last week to try to book a room under our timeshare for a weekend in September. So I call and basically get laughed at, that we have to book our rooms NINE months in advance to get any type of room.
How is this possible? NINE MONTHS IN ADVANCE? We don’t know what we’re
doing 2 weeks from now, nevermind nine months in advance. We also have a Hilton Club timeshare in Manhattan and we can get a room there the night before we are going. It’s friggin great.
But with Manhattan Club, we get 2 weeks during the year that can be used day by day, or week by week, whatever you choose. We wind up having to convert our weeks to RCI points and use them at other places. In three years, we’ve only been able to stay there once. It’s ridiculous.
When my mom bought it, they told her she would only have to give a months notice during peak season (summer, christmas) and 2-3 weeks during off peak. Now it has suddenly turned into 9 months. I just talked to one of my friends whose dad has the same timeshare, he said he has this same problem, hasn’t been able to get a room in 3 years. He’s had it for 10 years. He called them last week to book a room 9 months in advance to the day, and he STILL couldn’t get it. They said they were booked for the weekend he wanted already.
They must have way oversold the place. Anyone else have a timeshare there and have this exact same problem?
My answer: I don’t have one, but I think it’s pretty common in the “time share world”
to make those plans pretty far out in advance. Usually people have the same week every year and its locked up like that.
As you already know, however, the timeshares at the Manhattan Club are not locked in the same week every year. However you may want to consider choosing a time to go every year anyway so that you can make reservations 12 months in advance. If you’re unable to do that it sounds like you’re stuck with exchanging for RCI points because selling a timeshare is pretty tricky and you’ll usually lose a good chunk of money. If you do need to sell your timeshare, look for companies that offer a wide range of services for owners and that can refer you to a licensed timeshare broker if need be.