I can answer a few of your questions, but because I have a fixed week, I don't have experience w/ the flex week details.
@PigsDad Since you're an owner at Charter Club, I have a couple questions:
1. What kind of deed do you have - a fixed week or a flex week?
2. How does the booking process look like overall?
2a. Do you book online directly with Charter Club, or call them directly, or you book online via HGVC?
2b. Is there a notion of "home week priority", given it's a HGVC concept? If there is, how to utilize it?
3. Have you ever converted to points, and how do you do that?
I own a fixed week 51 deed. The reservation is made automatically for me about two years in advance and can be seen in my reservation list on the HGVC portal / app. I don't deal w/ Charter Club for the reservation since it is a fixed week. I believe for a flex week you would put in your preferences each year with the resort and there is a lottery if more people want a week that what is available. That is how you would make your "Home Week" reservation -- you would not do it through HGVC.
After you reserve your week, if you don't want to use it, you can call up HGV and cancel the week and the points associated with that week would be added to your account for that year.
4. The deed I'm looking at is Use type: flex, Week #: 40, Season: Silver. Given Silver season is weeks 19-23, 34-42, 49-50, how do you estimate odds that weeks 49 or 50 are available to use?
This is where you need to call Charter Club or someone who has experience w/ a Flex week can chime in. Even though the deed lists it as a certain week and unit number, I think that is just for inventory purposes. I thought Flex weeks deeds floated across more than just what is listed as Silver season, so if you happen to get a Gold week in the reservation lottery and decided to cancel that reservation and convert it to points, you would get 5000 HGVC points, but if your reservation was a Silver week, you would only get 3500 points for that year. This, of course, only applies if you have your week enrolled with HGVC. You have to realize that the concept of HGVC seasons was not part of Charter Club when it first started -- they already had the Flex deeds in place so when HGVC came in, they overlaid a Season mapping that may not have matched up perfectly w/ the Flex weeks that were already in place. Again, I may be incorrect in this, so confirm with Charter Club.
5. The deed I'm looking at is Unit Number: 107. Based on
https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/charter-club-of-marco-beach-unit-question.316407/ and
https://tugbbs.com/forums/threads/the-charter-club-room-104-south-tower.108277/post-804929, it sounds like it's the first floor in the north tower (closer to the beach) so not the best view on the beach/gulf. Have you come across a map of the resorts where placement of units can be looked up? Or can you confirm my interpretation below is correct?
View attachment 43183
That picture is correct. But given that you are looking at a Flex week deed, the unit you get in the lottery could be any unit. I think the best units are x05-x07. They have a great, unobstructed beach / gulf view. The reason I don't include the x08 units is that Marriott Crystal Shores is next door on that side and, frankly, the noise level can be disruptive at times. All of the corner units have a wrap-around lanai which adds quite a bit more space, plus more windows / natural light in the living room of the units. The units on the first floor are actually up on level from the ground floor, so the first floor still has decent views. I don't think the trees block any view on the second floor and up. The x01-x04 unit still have a very good beach / gulf view, especially any unit third floor or above. Our fixed week is 805, which we really like: great beach view plus, with the wrap-around lanai we also can view the pool area.
Another thing to mention is that when you stay there, you have free access to kayaks, paddleboards, Hobie Cat sailboats (they will also give you a free lesson!), and bikes for touring the island.
Hope that helps out a bit. We absolutely love our week at Charter Club (we will be there in less than two weeks!).
Kurt