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Re: Manhattan Club Lawsuit (by Paul N.):

I sent the following letter to the judge in late December. Please feel free to copy such arts of it which are relevant to you. I have redacted personally identifying information.

Justice Eileen Rakower, Supreme Court of the State of New York 71 Thomas St. Part 15 New York, New York 10013

Your Honour,

Re: Schneiderman v. Eichner. Case Number 451536/2014

I write as a disaffected timeshare owner of the Manhattan Club. The membership numbers for my wife and myself are xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Deed of Indenditure for my share is datedxxxxxxxx 1999. We purchased Unit #xxxxxxxx on xxxxx, 1999 for US$21,040.00 (plus an additional US$86 New York State Real Estate Transfer Tax.)

We bought what was called a “Full Flex” ownership interest. That means we are entitled to a total of 7 nights per year, which are flexible, with blackout dates of 12/30, 12/31, and 1/1. The contract states we are entitled to reserve as many as 3 weekends, but cannot exceed my 7 allotted nights in total. All weekends booked must consist of at least 2 nights: a Friday and a Saturday or a Saturday and a Sunday. Our contract states that whilst we are entitled to 3 weekends, we are neither required nor guaranteed to get all 3.

The unit is a 1 bedroom/2 bathroom unit that sleeps up to 4 adults. It includes a master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom, a living room with a pull out sleeper sofa bed, a second bathroom, and a ‘kitchenette’ containing sink, mini refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and dishes, glassware and cutlery for a service of 4 guests.

I have two concerns: a) Not being able to use our entitlements b) The rapidly escalating annual maintenance charge.

Not being able to use my entitlements

In the 16 years since we purchased our unit, almost every time we tried to reserve a room we were told a room was not available on the dates we requested. When I queried this with the reservations team, I was usually told owners usually reserved the rooms one year in advance and I was too late. Twelve months is the maximum lead time allowed by the Club, and, if what the reservations agents said is true, is also, in practice, the minimum lead time.

I am a medical practitioner xxxxxxxxxxxx. Because of my professional commitments, it is impossible for me to schedule vacations 12 months in advance; I usually can plan and book 4–6 months ahead.

It has always been a fight to get to use our nights – one that we often lost.

Of the over 112 nights to which we were entitled between 1999 and 2015 inclusive, we have personally used perhaps 20, friends have used perhaps 30 and our daughter, [name], about 20.

[name] lived in New York from 20xx–20xx and also struggled to get her preferred dates, often only receiving confirmation in the final weeks or days before her requested dates,.

In summary, we have not been able to use approximately 30% of our entitlements.

It was especially galling then, when I was told no rooms were available for us to book on the dates we requested, to see on the Internet those same nights were being offered direct to the public!

When I pointed this out to the Club, I was told that these were unsold timeshare nights still held by the organisation. That of course completely stymied me as I had no way of checking the veracity of those statements, but in an announcement on July 26th, 2014, of a court order preventing further Manhattan Club timeshare sales, New York’s Attorney-General, Eric T. Schneiderman, stated that “About 14,000 people currently own timeshares in the hotel’s 286 suites .”

We were told that 2 weeks for each suite, per year, were withheld from booking to allow annual maintenance. That suggests a maximum of 14,300 saleable weeks – 50 x 286.

We were also told that the minimum holding available for purchase was 7 nights. If the Attorney-General’s figures are correct, ie, that there are 14,000 owners, then the time shares are fully sold. (14,000 owners holding a minimum of 7 nights each.) Hence there should be no nights available for sales direct to the public (ie, to non-timeshare owners) via tourist agencies and hotel booking services, or from the Club direct.

However, even a cursory internet search reveals multiple advertisements offering accommodation at the Manhattan Club direct to the public.

If the above figures are correct, the inescapable conclusion is that owners are being denied access to the nights they own, so that the Manhattan Club can sell those nights direct.

That smells of fraud.

Rapidly escalating annual fees.

The cost for the ‘privilege’ of owning our seven nights (the annual maintenance charges) escalated substantially year on year, and now roughly equates to the cost of staying for 5 to 7 nights in a 4-star New York City hotel.

YEAR CHARGE (USD) 2007 $1,919.00 2008 $2,003.00 2009 $2,123.00 2010 $2,180.72 2011 $2,265.00 2012 $2,389.78 2013 $2,413.04 2014 $2,584.72 2015 $2,703.56

The 2015 fee, multiplied by 14,000 owners, is in total $35,000,000 - an inordinately high figure for the maintenance charges for a 286 suite, 4 star hotel, even allowing for a profit factor for the management company.

That smells of price gouging.

I gather from the Manhattan Club Lawsuit pages on www.redweek.com that many, many Manhattan Club timeshare owners share these concerns. As of today there are 89 pages of posts on the Manhattan Club Lawsuit forum from disaffected owners. I appreciate that there are significant technical points of commercial law in matters like Schneiderman v. Eichner, but I hope that letters like this one will encourage you to consider equity in your deliberations.

I am happy to provide any further information you request.

Yours sincerely,