Both let you stay at a resort you partly own, but what you buy is different. A hotel condo (condotel) is one registered hotel room. A resort membership, such as XIV, Baycourt Club or Tokyu Harvest Club, is a share in a club building plus the right to stay a set number of nights each year.
Price and income
Hotel condos are priced like real estate, typically tens of millions of yen and more. The hotel rents your room out when you are not using it and pays you rent. Memberships cost far less to enter, from around a million yen for some resale shares, but you cannot rent your nights out, so they do not earn income.
Using it
Hotel condo owners book their own room through the operator and usually pay an owner rate for linens and utilities. Members book any of the club's resorts within their grade and nights, which suits people who want variety rather than one location.
Running costs and selling
Hotel condos carry a management fee, repair reserve, hotel and asset management fees and fixed asset tax. Memberships carry an annual fee, and buyers on the resale market pay a transfer fee (名義変更料) to the club. Both can be resold, but prices differ widely by building, grade and nights.
Which fits you?
If you want one place you know well and a chance of rental income, compare hotel condos. If you want a few nights a year across several resorts at a lower entry price, compare memberships. On Hotel Condo Market both are listed with their asking prices, yearly costs and sources.