I'm completely confused by the conversation on this. I thought you were talking about HCNY (The Hilton Club) rather than the other Hilton Club resorts in NYC (i.e., West 57th, The Central, The Residences, and The Quin). I haven't seen any postings about the HCNY fees for 2024; the 2023 ones were
here and don't include a cost for Home Club reservations, which were complimentary while HGVC reservations using HCNY points had a cost for guest certificates ($89 or $64).
For other ownerships in HGVC, including the bHC (or HC to some) resorts (i.e., West 57th, The Central, The Residences, and The Quin) the fees work as per the schedule posted by
@CalGalTraveler for non-HGVC Max members. As mentioned by
@HuskerATL, Home week guest certificates are free and reservations that are Home Resort Priority, Hilton Club Priority, or HGVClub have the costs in the table. If you're HC rather than HGVC or HGVC Max, you don't fall under these rules. What you're terming an HC reservation within 9 months would seem to be a Home Club reservation, which had complimentary guest certificates last year - I think you'd have to look at the HCNY rules to figure out if those actually cost something now.
Guest certificates are a bit different for HGVC Max members with an allocation of free guest certificates based on the level in the Max system (e.g., HGVC Max Premier + gets 5 free), and a set cost for any additional ones above the allocation ($94 or $69).