2014 - The Manhattan Club

A location profile I wrote as part of my coursework at SUNY New Paltz.

I glance at the revolving doors sadly as I pass them. I have my rolling suitcase so I opt for the easier rout where the doorman holds open a regular push door. He is familiar face. He’s been holding that door as long as we’ve been coming here. Almost fifteen years. My family bought our timeshare at The Manhattan Club the year my brother was born in 1999.

My parents always tell us that if my brother and I should ever get lost in the City it’s easy to ask for directions back to our home base because the address of the Manhattan Club is 56th between 7th and 8th. Five, six, seven, eight.

The lobby is the same as it’s always been. Luxury décor from the shiny marble floors to the giant gaudy crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. To the right I see the check- in desk where my mother hurries up to confirm our room and get the key card that will let us in. In the opposite direction, the concierge desk, and behind it, the woman with the red glasses on a string around her neck. She’s friendly but a little intimidating. Mom always tells me to go ask her for “my Where Magazine.” Sometimes I make my little brother Miles do it. This time I walk confidently up and ask politely “Can I have a Where Magazine please?” She peers at me over the rims of her glasses and inhales sharply. After she shuffles around under the desk for a few moments, she resurfaces. “I got you Pause too.” “Thanks.”

The far side of the concierge desk is made up of a brochure stand with hundreds of flyers for everything from touristy double-decker bus tours to Broadway plays and fine dining locations.

In the center of the grand lobby, is a set of furniture. Four large leather armchairs facing each other, and a matching couch perpendicular, against the wall, closing off one side like a living room setup. In the center is a coffee table with legs and edges of intricately swirling metal, and a grass top, never left without a vase of perfectly bloomed flowers. The table sits on a large rectangular, vintage patterned rug. There are also end tables on either side of the couch, adorned with less spectacular flower arrangements.

I sit down on one of the chairs and wait for the check-in process to finish. I face the check-in/customer service desk and see the woman chatting with my mom—another familiar face. An impressive golden metal cutout of the Manhattan Club logo is on the wall behind her and on the desk in front of her, a few feet away from the paperwork my mother is signing, a large glass vase full of square aqua blue mint candies.

I don’t like them, but they’re always there and my brother grabs a handful.

Huge wooden basins near each of the square columns in the lobby hold massive green plants and bring vibrancy to the room. Warm, yellow lighting from the ceiling-mounted fixtures illuminate the fun, eccentric paintings placed throughout the lobby.

The subject matter of the paintings is entertaining to look at and never gets old though they are always the same. The one of the clown leaning out the window of a lavish castle holding a hula-hoop out horizontally where a ballerina balances on her tiptoes. The one with the monkey in a top hat dancing while bubbles fill the background. They sound silly but are painted with such delicate intricacy that they fit in perfectly with the elegant and classy décor.

Still sitting on the sofa, I think of the rooms. They are all composed of the same elements only varying slightly in layout. They are furnished with mostly ornamental and refined furniture and each include a tiny, perfectly organized kitchenette. The French doors that separate a separate master bedroom and private bathroom from the living area with comfortable setup complete with pullout couch, and the elegant curtains and lighting fixtures should paint a perfectly stylish and sophisticated picture in one’s head. Until you start to notice the small kitschy details. If you look at the metal feet of the small glass table near the kitchenette, you will notice that they are carved to look like sheep hooves.

Oscar, one of the bellhops that’s been working at the Manhattan Club as long as we’ve been going there, caches my eye as he walks by pushing a cart loaded up with luggage. As always, he offers me a warm smile and a wink. He’s about 5-foot-6 and Latino. When he returns from the storage room he saunters over to where my dad, brother and I are waiting for mom. He shakes hands with my dad, fist bumps with my brother, and gives me one-armed hug. I don’t think we’ve ever checked in without this friendly interaction. My parents talk about Oscar as a novelty. “He never ages!” my mother always exclaims. “I think time must stop for people working in this hotel. Where do I sign up?”

Mom’s got the key and we’re ready to head up. We wait by the elevator, opening the envelope to see what our room number will be. 1913. We know it will be high up. The building has 25 floors of rooms, the 26th with a gym, conference room, computer lounge, business center, and a Member Lounge and bar. There are also penthouse suites on top. A bellhop I don’t recognize puts our weekend’s worth of luggage on a rolling cart. It will arrive at our room shortly after we do.

After waiting several minutes, the doors finally open and we wait for about 15 people to file out. We are the only family to get in and as the car rises, my brother jumps up and down constantly waiting for that moment when he feels like he is flying. I used to do it too.

There is a plaque on the wall of the elevator just above the two-dimensional tower of numbered buttons. It used to be gold with some statement about the hotel’s standard of service carved into it but now holds a digital screen with a slideshow about “What the Manhattan Club can offer YOU” and some history of the hotel.

The Manhattan Club us currently one of only two locations in Manhattan that offers time- shares and was the first to do so. If a hotel offers time-shares, it means that as a member you own a share of the hotel and have the right to use it as vacation lodging specified by

the rules of each building’s particular membership agreement. Under our plan, which is no longer offered as an option, we get seven nights per year that can be split up any way we like. Our particular package doesn’t allow us to use the week between Christmas and New Years because they rent those days at a much higher rate.

Many folks wonder why people would want to own a time-share for hotel in an urban location. Don’t people want to own vacation homes in warm, exotic locations rather than hectic, dirty ones? This may be a popular mentality but the push for city vacations is fueled by those with passions for shopping, eating out, and maybe seeing a ballet or a Broadway show. The Manhattan Club has become so popular with active members that guests must book their stays up to nine months in advance and holidays are almost impossible to reserve.

The Manhattan Club was the first hotel to offer time-shares in New York City making the transition from traditional hotel renting in 1996. The membership website’s history tab says, “This unique spin on vacation ownership, which began as a vision in 1994 has developed, in stages, into a successful reality in which [the founders] take great pride. Today over 14,000 Owners call The Manhattan Club their home-away-from-home, ensuring quality time with Family and Friends and securing a lifetime of vacations.”

The second New York City location to offer time-shares for sale was the Hilton Club on West 57th Street. In a New York Times article, Susan Stellin wrote about how, though it was not the first actual NYC time-share hotel, “the property is the first building in Manhattan built as a time share, designed to appeal to a new generation of buyers, with amenities like iPod docking stations, Japanese soaking tubs and hardwood floors.”

According to Stellin, “most buyers live within 200 miles of the city, and owners can break up their week into stays of as little as just one night.” Each week is measured in RCI points. According to the RCI website “RCI is the global leader in vacation exchange. Founded as Resort Condominiums International in 1974 to facilitate exchanges among condominium owners, RCI quickly became a driving force for growth within the industry and has been at the forefront ever since.” Stellin continues, “These points can be traded for stays at other [participating] properties in places like Las Vegas; Los Cabos, Mexico; or Miami Beach.”

Depending on the location, quality and reputation, hotels with time-shares often have different values. The Manhattan Club is one of the nicer locations available so the points trade for a higher value. A couple years back, my family decided to give up our week’s worth of days in the City to try something different. We used the trading points to buy over two weeks worth of overnight stays which we split between many different locations. Among them were the Catskills, Cape Cod, and some Vermont ski lodges.

While there are many appealing aspects that attract people to The Manhattan Club, what they don’t advertise is driving some people away.

Because my parents bought our share almost 15 years ago, it is an “out of date” model. It’s not even offered for sale any more. Every time we stay there my parents are invited to a members-only meeting with a few administrators that try to convince them to upgrade. But we like our package and they can’t make us.

My dad tells me how when they first bought their share, the yearly price was high, but reasonable. While that price has not changed much, “the maintenance fees have skyrocketed.” David MacMillan, in an article entitled “Timeshare Maintenance Fees,” on Timeshare Relief website wrote, “Even if you paid for your timeshare in full with cash, you will still be responsible for paying for its upkeep in the form of yearly timeshare maintenance fees, which increase every year without exception. You may be able to afford it for the first few years, but will you still be able to afford it 10 years down the road? 20 years down the road?

As these timeshare maintenance fees continue to rise, most owners are beginning to retaliate against the increase. They are tired of paying for a vacation property they aren’t using, are sick of or just plain can’t use anymore. And they’re tired of getting yearly fees at a time when it makes the least sense financially. All of these things result in buyers remorse and the owners end up regretting ever giving in to a timeshare sale in the first place.”

But what causes this drastic increase in fees? What upgrades are so fantastic that members agree to keep rather than just sell their shares as the annual prices escalate?

In March of 2011, every shareowner of The Manhattan Club received an “Owner’s Update” newsletter via email. The letter detailed the renovations and upgrades that would be implemented in the coming years.

An excerpt from this letter read, “Detailed refurbishment of the suites include but are not limited to re-grouting bathroom marble, repairing wall paper, painting, replacing air filters and shampooing furniture and carpets.”

An upgrade was also made to increase the building’s high-speed Wi-Fi internet connectivity, which is free to all members. Heating and air conditioning systems that had deteriorated with age were repaired and replaced. The business center computer lab now has ergonomic chairs. In the Owner’s Lounge on the top floor, the bar was painted, the bar stools were refinished, the tables and chairs were refinished, the walls and ceiling were painted, and the pantry floor was re-surfaced. “All the administrative areas at The Manhattan Club received new copiers which can also be used as scanners and fax machines. The old copiers were outdated and no longer serviceable.” Flat-screen TVs and updated décor completed the list.

This explaines only a fraction of the costs collected each year but as one guest put it, “Hey—at least they made the effort to tell us some of what our money is doing. It’s better than nothing.” Many members seem to have this attitude and continue to pay the constantly rising fees to keep their foot in the door at the Manhattan Club.

Checkout is at 11 a.m. and we are well rested as we pack up our things to head home after our weekend of visiting the Museum of Modern Art, eating out at numerous restaurants, walking through Central Park ‘til our feet ached, and playing tourist in Times Square.

We walk out of our room, me holding the heavy door as the rest of my family struggles to get our bags out into the hallway. After waiting for the elevator to no avail we use our long-time knowledge of the place and steer ourselves down the hallway and around the corner to the staff and maintenance elevator. As members, we are allowed to use this if elevator traffic is heavy—which it often is at checkout time.

Once down in the lobby we fall into our routine. My brother and I sit on the couches with all of our bags while my mom heads up to the front desk to sign checkout papers and my dad hands the doorman the little green slip for our valeted car. The man speaks into his radio and a few minutes later my mom’s chili red Saturn SUV pulls up in front of the door. Dad gives him a $2.00 tip and a handshake.

My dad is pulling my suitcase so I use the revolving door. I look back into the lobby one last time before we shove our bags back in the trunk and pull away into the ever-present New York City traffic.

A smile and a wink from Oscar. Until next time.