All This week we had a guest book a week in April at LP. They are from Seattle and when I asked where they found us, she said from a traveler's review at <http://www.tripadvisor.com> www.tripadvisor.com. Curious, I went and found the review . . . User rating: 5 of 5 stars <http://www.tripadvisor.com/img/ratings/5.gif> Puerto Penasco: "Las Palmas Resort.......exellent" New <http://www.tripadvisor.com/img/btn_new_content.gif> Oct 7, 2005: bloominbudz@ssvecnet.com, hereford az <http://www.tripadvisor.com/img/s.gif> <http://www.tripadvisor.com/img/s.gif> We have stayed at the Las Palmas Resort on Sandy Beach in Puerto Penasco many times and will continue to stay there as long as we visit. The pools and spas are absolutely beautiful with water slides and water features galore. There's plenty for the kids as well as the adults. The grounds are beautiful and the "family setting" is just perfect. The units are clean, comfortable and situated so that every one has a beautiful view of the Sea of Cortez. We highly recommend Las Palmas for anyone and everyone who plans to visit Puerto Penasco. Hope to see you there. :) This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor, Inc Loren Worthington

Will the pools and spas be heated mid week in April? I wonder what the review will be after thier trip? Gary

This is a "copy and paste" from a note Bob Miller posted on another forum: The 2006 Budget prepared by the builder, Villas Bonitas, has a large amount budgeted for propane, $92,500. This budget amount would allow all spas to be heated and the Grande OR Baja pools to be heated during winter months. Heating the large main pool in January alone I think could cost $10-15,000 - with few owners staying at Las Palmas in January to benefit. For 2006 the elected Board will determine how to allocate the propane budget between spas and pools. The decision to heat the Condominium Spas Friday through Sunday (spa by the clubhouse 7 days a week) was one I made. This decision followed a recommendation by the Transition Committee. Aside from the costs of keeping 5 spas heated seven days a week the committee members were also concerned that the builder would be setting a precident that the new Board would be expected to follow. We have not received additional complaints from owners or from renters regarding the 4 spas at the Condominiums, however Dolphin rentals did receive a complaint from a renter that wanted the main pool heated last night but also wanted a sofa bed in the 2 BR unit rented. According to Jerry Little, he referred to the rental website indicating a heated pool to get his money back. Bob Miller Villas Bonitas

posted on 10/14/05 at 06:31 from another forum Bob, I appreciate your post and I understand the reasons for the decision to cut back on the propane use. However, I feel strongly any decisions to cut costs should have an impact on all owners not just the owners who come down once a year or every week during the midweek period etc. etc. If the thought process was reversed in my favor the only time the spas would be heated would be mid week. Do you think a few owners might be upset? I (and I think on behalf of our other non weekend using owners) appreciate your hard work and just ask to keep us in your thoughts when decisions are made. As far as the ".....few owners staying at LP in January to benefit" my feeling is if they are paying full HOA fees they should get full usage of the resort. Personally, I would not be swimming in January but someone might. Maybe this is one of these issues where all owners input would be needed. Thanks again Gary

This is the thought process that one volunteer, me, went through when considering the recommendation to reduce the hours of operation of 4 spas by one half 1) We did not have accurate figures on the cost to heat one spa or one pool, month to month, during each of the 12 months - the project was unfinished 2) In the month the Club House pool was heated, April, the propane expense for that month alone was almost $14,000.00 - $13,557.00 3) The budget for the year for propane was $49,700.00 4) At the first meeting in August the actual expense through July, 7 months, for propane was $42,994.00. 5) That left $6,706.00 in the budget for 5 months 6) It was pretty apparent that if some drastic action was not taken, we were going to be way over budget. 7) By my guesstimate it may cost as much as $1,500.00 per month per spa to heat during the cooler months $7,500.00 per month 8) Each $1,000.00 per month expense is a $5.81 expense to the owners of 172 units. 9) Reducing, by half, the hours of service for 4 spas could result in as much as $3,000.00 per month savings. 10) It was my suggestion and I was alone in this, that we not heat even one pool until we could get accurate costing. 11) I was under the mistaken impression that immediately after the transition, the new HOA was responsible for the expenses for the rest of the year. 12) There are at least 2 ways to handle projected over expenditures: a) cut back the service b) issue each owner a special assessment for the overage 13) We knew that no matter what recommendation we made, some would not be happy. 14) Over spending is not reversible - the invoices must be paid 15) Cutting back the service is reversible - turn the heaters back on 16) There would always be at least one spa - the Club House - heated all the times 17) We did not know what was more important to the owners, expense or services. We hoped this reduction in service would result in a significant reduction in expense until such time as we could have more actual expense figures and have more owner input. 18) It is now my understanding the Developer is responsible for the expenses until the end of this Year - December 31, 2005 and they may or may not follow any of the ` recommendations the volunteers made. Whatever they do is at their expense, not the owners. 19) Although I hate to see a waste of any kind if the developer controlled HOA is responsible for the expenses for the rest of the year and are subsidizing any budget shortfalls so I personally do not care what they do or do not heat. 20) Effective January 1, 2006 the new HOA will be responsible and may have to revisit the hours of service. The above is my input and my opinions only - nothing to do with the Volunteers or of the Developer controlled HOA. I gather the concern is not so much that there is not a heated spa all week but the one in front of your condominium is not heated mid week? Thank you GH Robins

My concern is I am paying for spas and pools that are heated on weekends only. Since my life style only allows me to come down mid week I feel cheated. Again I state if you are shutting down facilities mid week you are not serving all owners needs. I guess it comes down to the majority rules and the minority loses. I have a hard time believing that I am the only one who cares about this or has input. Thanks Gary

Yes, the majority will rule. When they hear from the majority. Until that time, the transition team volunteers felt it necessary to recommend reducing services/expenses immediately. One of the concerns was that we did not want to set a too high precedent for heated pools and spas, for a finished project, this year. Once the owners and renters experienced occupying or renting one thing this year, they would expect it next year. Each month, this year should give them more and more factual information to provide to the owners to let them decide what service levels the owners want to pay for. This is part of your statement "….My concern is I am paying for spas and pools that are heated on weekends only…". Yes you are and so are owners of 171 other units. The actual fact is that we are ALL paying $36.54 per unit per month this year. Next year each owner will pay $44.81 per unit per month for propane an $8.27 per month per unit increase over last year or about 33.7% of the increase in dues for next year. I can't get it out of my mind that the real concern is that instead of walking the short distance to the spa in front of your condominium, you have to walk the longer distance to the Club House Spa? Thank you GHR

If you try real hard yo can get it out of your mind. Thanks Gary

None of this is cast is stone, was simply a recommendation and the final outcome will be decided by the incoming HOA. Thank you GH Robins

You seem to be missing the fudamental point. If the spas are heated on the weekends only, that is not fair to people like myself who pay the same dues but are denied the same use midweek. If the spas and pools are not to be heated midweek to save money,then they should not be heated on weekends as well. Thus all 172 owners are treated the same and they all pay the same dues. What is so hard to understand about that? I feel that heating the spas on weekends has a flair of favortism to it. I agree with your comment " I had "assumed" it would be much like other homes in the Southwest - Pools open around April and close around September" However this is not a true statement in regards to resorts. So one could lean either way. Whether or not the spa in front of my condo is heated is not the point. It is when it is heated that bothers me. I think the idea of not heating the spas in the winter makes no sense but to only heat them on weekends is unfair. Whether there is 1 car or 4 cars in the parking lot mid week, a renter, guest or owner should they not have the same vacation as people on weekends? (your statement from earlier "None of this is cast is stone, was simply a recommendation and the final outcome will be decided by the incoming HOA.") If your statement is correct why is this the current policy? posted on 10/07/05 at 07:30 Received from Francisco, late last night: I will double check with our maintenance chief just to make sure, but It seems like this person might be thinking that Spa does not work because if turned off from Mon-Thursday. Any ways, We'll make another test this weekend, we'll turn it on tomorrow. Francisco. (Note to: jaanaken - Are you aware that only the Club House spa is heated all week long. The others are not heated Monday through Thursday)