Lynn,
I'm sorry you misunderstood a lot of my comments. There are far more great things about Casa Ybel than negative. If it was the other way around, we wouldn't be here. We had many choices 15 years ago, and every year here reinforces we made the correct decision.

I understand the board does their best at decision making, but come on, had someone actually sat/seen the sofa, do you think it still would have been selected? I believe it was done by seeing a picture. (If this is wrong, I'm sorry) You're on the board Lynn, how many people complained? There must have been enough for the justification of the purchase in the newsletter. Anyway, it certainly didn't ruin my vacation. Just once, I'd like someone to say "we probably made a mistake". Everyone's human, Lynn.

I also said that the new pergola takes up sunbathing space, BUT it was probably needed in the hotter summer months.

Another thing a forgot to mention is our unit was probably in the best (cleanest) condition as ever before.

Please re-read my observations and look for the many nice things that are here (other new furnishings, new pool landscaping, nice tiled lanai, etc.). Yes, there are complaints. It is now Friday morning and the recyclables are still out (we still are walking past the "trash" for the FORTH day). This is very ugly looking. If it's not going to be picked up, it should at least be pushed back behind the doors. It's starting to overflow. And yes, I did call the front desk 2 days ago.

Lynn, I'd like your opinion on the poolside live music. Not if you like Danny Morgan, but on any type of music being played there. I was listening to my own ipod at the time and it still bled through my earpieces. I did ask the front desk if they would at least ask him to turn it down, but it fell on deaf ears. (no pun intended).

Thanks again for inputing into this website. I still believe it's a worthwhile forum for the owners that the "other" website does not offer.

Tom

Tom, since you are apparently a “poolie”, I have a question for you (and anyone else, for that matter). We have noticed, and been a bit annoyed by, an increasing trend in pool lounge saving. By this, I mean people who go down to the pool early each morning and “reserve” numerous lounges by laying towels on them. Usually, these lounges are not physically occupied for many hours. I have been down at the pool at 8 AM (early for our weeks 51, 52 and 53) and not seen anyone else, but over a third of the lounges is “reserved”. In the middle of the day, almost all the lounges are taken, but often only a handful of people are present. I know there is a policy against this practice, but it isn’t well enforced.

We are primarily beach people, and use the pool area only for swimming. But, many times this past visit, my grandkids and I had trouble finding an unoccupied chair or lounge to put our towels and outer clothes on while we swim. We only use one lounge for 3-6 of us. At times, nearly all the lounges were unoccupied, and there was nobody in the pool, yet virtually all the lounges were covered with towels.

It is a minor annoyance for us, but could be a bigger issue for others. So, the questions are: Have you noticed this? Does it bother you? Should enforcement of the policy be stronger?

Along these same lines, I wonder how much of our maintenance fees goes towards the pool towel program. This program was added 10-15 years ago, and was a nice amenity. But, the program seems under stress. Many times during our stay, there were no clean towels available. In fact, some renegade towels had to be borrowed from another resort (I was told) to meet the demand. We use these towels, but we also have beach towels of our own, and used only our own towels up until the towel program was started. With the size of the maintenance fees under question, this expense should at least be examined.

Lynn, any comment?

George,
This seems to happen during week #1 also. However, I believe our week has less people overall and less kids. Even on the warmest days this past week, The chairs were never all taken. There doesn't seem to be a lot of extra space for more chairs either. I can't tell if there are more, less, or the same number of chairs since being replaced. Lynn?

I don't know if there is a good solution to this problem as everyone seems to feel if they don't do this, they won't get a lounge (and they may not). I know one thing that would help. When people use/reserve lounges, don't leave an empty one next to you. I find more times than not, "poolies" come in pairs or families. It would be almost impossible to ask a whole row of people to move over one chair after they've gotten settled in.

As for the towels, I didn't see any addition to the quality of them. They're pretty thin. They get used alot and that probably wares them out at a pretty fast rate. They're still a lot better than those old yellow ones we used to have, if you remember.

I would ask a board member about how much $$$ goes towards towels. I imagine they have a life span and are scheduled for replacement every so often (the towels too).

When serving on the board I recall one of our annual
questions to Hilton (after that Mariner days) was the question of the fees for using the pool and pool area, which is now owned by "Hospitality", and what is now considered a resonable rate.
It was basicly based on daily upkeep, cleaning and the cost of chemical treatments. also heating and filtering of the water. Please let us know before the annual meeting what these fees amount to, and include the towels.
With Mariner we had a prepared cost increase for the year with some limits to increases.
The costs were also supported by the 40 one bedroom units, so some estimates can be made with participation of a total of some 112 units.
An estimate of $20 per unit week is high and would provide $2,240 in weekly maintenance cost,or 4.3 times $2,240 almost $10,000 for monthly operational costs.
This should include pay for decent towels and supervision, and an upgraded spa area.
Please board,let us know what the figures came to when you settled for the present budget under consideration.
At one time it was suggested we should ad a pool on the East side to control expenses, Sun Dial has 6 or 7 pools, another pool might be attractive.
We could then install coke or pepsi machines with reasonable prices on drinks in plastic bottles on the side.

Carl,

While not completely on point, you were doing so well up until the second pool and then you went completely overboard with the coke machine idea. Unless of course you intend for the nickel profit off each bottle sold from the hideous-looking coke machine to provide an adequate return to the cost of construction at over $1.0 million plus annual maintenance.

I wished you could tell me what we are spending for using the pool owned by front office.?
I have asked for an answer and have not yet received one.
If we are spending $100 a week we could pay your Million Dollar pool in full in 3 years? ($380,000.oo a year.)
I just hope this is not true.
The availability of a $1 cold coke would save a lot of steps back to the unit and better than $10 a drink
at poolside.
I WISH THE BOARD COULD SUPPLY US WITH AN EXPENSE BREAKDOWN FOR THE MAJOR PART OF OUR FEES, THE MANAGEMENT FEES, AND BREAK IT INTO MAJOR EXPENSE AREAS AT OUR NEXT ANNUAL MEETING.
A breakdown of a computer "bill-pay" program into "paid to" and summerized could be done on our computer in minutes.
How else can you justify expenses, and approve the fees we are charged?
Mariner was able to do this for the board years ago, down to the cost of supply packages by the cost of each piece of soap. This today might be an insult, but ball park figures should be accepted for the sake of time saving procedures.