ARM BANDS

Just throwing some ideas around here guys as this has obviously sparked an interest.

Yes villa owners could or should have been asked to contribute to communal pools but when set up Roda was provided with pools for each Community with community owners making a contribution and it was envisaged villas would have their own private pools built.

No doubt the developer thought they would get some of the business.

No doubt many villa owners were told they could use communal pools by dubious sales and marketing people but as it stands, villas are supposed to pay Entidad fees but not Community fees.

Now that half the villa owners have paid for their own pools and maintenance how would you suggest you monitor the other half using Community pools?

 Some have already posed this question, and have failed to find a solution.

If you could use RFID technology, would that not entail someone with a reader being in place full time at each communal pool?

Hugely expensive to monitor, I suspect.

 

Wristbands were introduced as a relatively cheap, but not perfect alternative; 3 years ago in P12 Community following success at La Torre, we, like all Communities were seeing an influx of locals who fancied a dip and a picnic especially at weekends, easily accessing Roda pools, not a great idea without toilet facilities.

This year it was finally agreed we could deny use of pools to debtors and this has had unprecedented success in encouraging debtors especially those who rent, to pay their fees. This encouraged more communities to take part in the scheme.

Improvements and change are always possible but owners themselves have to get involved.

I tend to be in the camp that thinks we paid whatever price, mostly too high, for the apartment and location and that the facilities were generally similar, though I respect the view that Phase 4 pools have kiddies areas.

I also feel that had villas been permitted to contribute, it would have lowered fees for all.

 

Next year all the Entidad board members have to offer themselves for re election after their 4 years and it was agreed this year that debtors would not be permitted to sit on the board in future, 3 out of 8, amazingly, currently still are.

Anyone with good ideas should propose them, well thought out, at or prior to an AGM and offer to stand on the Board to seek the necessary changes or alternatively, volunteer as Community President for a year or two to encourage some positive changes.

 

Change can come about at Roda but it would take a concerted effort from a number of owners.

i am in total agreement with debtors being denied use of facalaties on any phase ..... also that all communaties should pull together for the benefit of the resort and indeed all owners have facalaties ie all apartment blocks have pools etc ... were villa owners misled regarding pools by sales staff ? i have no idea i know from a personal perspective that we were misled however inmho just because they were misled does not mean that other phases should open up there facalaties to compensate for calidonas sales practise .... my initial point that the facalaties were designed for the number of units in that area to open the facalaties up to extra numbers from whatever source would inmho be detremental to owners in that area afterall is the guy in the villa with the private pool going to want me popping in to use it if ours is a bit crowded or noisy ? .... i understand that this would be an "opt in scheme for owners without a pool" however it is not "opt in " for the apartment owners already in those phases .... lets be realistic and with no personal inference to any owner without a pool the main reason they want to contribute to use the pool is presumably to save money ... afterall they bought a " detatched private villa " and now want to use a communal pool !

i feel that we have the basis of a superb resort where all apartments / townhouses have facalaties . and what shuold be the focus is the facalaties lacking for the WHOLE resort and how to go about improving the eyesore that is the hotel footings and tidying up the scrub land in certain areas , i would have thought this would be of benefit to all and set a better example and possibly enticing more people to buy on the resort which would benefit everyone . 

 

This message was last edited by debbie k on 15/08/2013.

This message was last edited by debbie k on 15/08/2013.

Hughman
I don't believe they would be very expensive.You can get reusable ones for about 6 dollars and ones for one off use for about 2 dollars which might be suitable for renters.The rfid reader can read from about 4m away so just like your regular wristbands security could check up on people but from a discrete distance.Also of course they would hold all important information like where you are staying or if fees are up to date,etc.The beauty of the one off ones is they could not be passed on for reuse and would just be valid for the length of time the person was staying at Roda.

Debbie

There most definitely more than 2.ways to look at this issue of pools, perhaps as Cat says that is one of the problems for Roda, we are not a together resort, we are a bunch of communities trying to protect our own.
Yes, villa pools were an optional extra, yes it would save villa owners money to contribute to communal pools but conversely it would reduce the cost for the rest of the community and would there be many villas using each communal pool as there are quite a number of them, in fact many villas have been using pools for some time but without contributing.
That debate will continue.

With regard to other resort facilities, that is a completely different issue, as most of the concerns and areas you mentioned are in the hands of the developer or associated companies and they are no longer paying some of the fees that are due on some properties they still own and they have no interest in investing money in a recession to give us what they promised.
They say they are strapped for cash.

The only way any development will happen is IF another party takes an interest either through Calidona going under or selling out and the new owners decide to invest to sell what remains.

We as owners can make decisions on our pools and internal facilities as these are ours to maintain, we have no impact or influence on what the developer owns.

Debbie - you said you weren't sure why people would want to use pools in different phases.

As someone who regularly flits between phase 2 and 3B I can see quite clearly why people would want to actually move between phases. In phase 2 the pools are much bigger - so if you actually want to have a swim as a work out, it is much better. But the pools in phase 3 are much quieter most of the time so you can at least go in the pool without being dive bombed, of barged into by holiday makers.

Mind you yesterday there were people in the pools on phase 3 from the townhouses and as they aren't patrolled during the week nothing was being done about it so that made it a bit more crowded.

I was definitely told by unscrupulous sales people that I would be able to use any pool in the resort whatever phase I bought on and whether I bought a villa or apartment.

There is no easy solution to this and I'm sure the discussion will continue. But it would be much better for all if the phases could get together and make it a resort for ALL to enjoy.  Like Cat, I've been to another resort where the pools are just shared by the whole community and there is no fuss. However, they are much bigger than any of the pools at Roda and were built with the sharing concept in mind.

pommers ........ my point exactly the size of the pools and associated grounds were designed around the number of units allocated to that facality to open them up could (and i stress the word could ) possibly lead to over crowding and thus depriving owners of what they purchased ie a less crowded phase and more space for which the paid a premium price .. imho that should be respected .

Ace

Just to let you know I have sent the link re RFID to Resortalia the Administrator for the Entidad and most Communities, they will check out the control system, costings, etc. as a possibility for the future, so thanks for the input.

Debbie I understand where you are coming from but apartment owners and villa owners were told when purchasing at the start certainly that they would have use of all pools in the resort.I was told this.Pommers was told this so I am sure many more were told this.Apartment owners have pool use although limited to one pool now as do townhouses and any villa owner who decided to add a private one at their own expense but who is standing up for these people who also paid a premium for a private villa with promised pool use and now have no entiltlement to pool use due to the way the community system has been set up.Put the shoe on the other foot.If they told you actually the villas across the road from you paid more than you so actually no sorry we've changed our minds it's theirs but off you go find €25,000 and put in your own pool.I just think it's unjust.

My original point was community spirit.I think the divide between communities is regrettable.I think it would be lovely if kids and families could mingle more .I think the majority of people would probably stick to the pool closest to them anyway.A lot of villa owners have now added their own pools so it is less of an issue especially up near you in phase 4 and 3 where a lot of villas have finally been sold and they are buying at greatly reduced prices and aware of the community set up.

I'm not getting into this any further as I have no desire to pop into anyone elses pool but my heart and head just tells me what was done to those villa owners was unfair.

I can appreciate all the different points of view but think overall cat33 makes valid points about how overall the resprt would improve if there was more of a community spirit. The prices paid at purchase are to an extnt now immaterial given the rapid recent decline in prices new and resale and i just think that to offer the pools up to villa owners for a fee is a win win. It also believe it maks the resort more marketable and in reality not many people are going to traipse sun loungers et al a long way and so in reality will end up at their 'own' pool but it does make it easier if you have friends on a different part of the resort for you to visit them and use their facilities. 

Debbie

Was the higher price not for a better Brisa apartment than the Alhambras on other Phases?
Correct me if I'm wrong but less apartments and more space means more ongoing maintenance per apartment as costs of pools, like everything connected with Community is divided up by coefficient to be shared among the community owners.

As others have stated, most villas with pools would not bother but if it were theoretically possible to allow others to use communal pools on payg basis, could this not be to your advantage in spreading costs?
Villa numbers are relatively small and many probably already use communal pools as currently many are not monitored mid week.

Hughman,
You are correct.We have two lots of friends who bought off-plan in phase 4 and were also told they could use any pool in the resort so the fact that they paid extra for their property had nothing to do with exclusive use of pools but because of the style and size of their property and perhaps too the number of properties in the phase.I'm sure if they were given this sales pitch so too were many others buying off- plan at the same time.

hughman ...... iam sure there could be an advantage in spreading costs however not everything is actually about cost , some people are happy to pay a little more to have more space and privacy , if you look at the garden and pool  areas in phase 4 they actually vary in size according to the number of units allocated to them ....... with regard to what people were told by sales staff at time of purchase im sure we could all write a very long book unfortunatly very few of those sales pitches have turned out to be correct or indeed factual ... with regard to friends from other phases spending time with you around your pool area or you around theres cant see a problem and just assumed in naturally happened and indeed should be encouraged .

It is much easier to accept changes to what you were promised by sales people when you have something to gain from those changes and who could blame you?Doubt a villa owner who has lost promised pool facilities and has to face unforeseen costs could be so indifferent.

Sorry this has nothing to go with wrist bands but
Allegedly there was a toilet incident in a pool earlier today
Where do I check please to see if the accident has been removed and the pool cleaned?
Thanks

Security at the entrance should be able to advise. They are always first port of call, If they know about it the pool will be taped off as closed.
Or else Resortalia, first thing Monday morning.
Atlantis the pool contractors have been very good at dealing with incidences such as this very quickly.

Thanks

Here on Roda the set up is different to Condado.  Here each community is responsible for its own pools.   If all pools were accessible to all residents can you imagine the arguments that would ensue if one community were to be faced with a large bill for damage to one of its pools caused by residents of another community?  On the question of misleading information by unscrupulous sales staff (so what’s new?) any lawyer worth their salt should have made sure their client was aware of by-laws in respect of pool use.  Ours certainly did.

I think events such as the recent Fiesta are a far more likely to make ours “a better and friendlier resort” than a free-for-all around the pools.

Turning the hotel footings into a large communal pool for the whole resort would be great but since all that spare land is still owned by Calidona who aren’t even paying the fees on their empty properties it’s just not going to happen.

 

Just come back from to wonderful weeks in Roda. I have had my apartment on phase 2 for 5 years and have seen a lot of changes ,some good some not so good. The best thing to happen is definitely the arm bands! I'm on phase 2 and we have had this system for a couple of years . The new security man who checks the arm bands on phase two is excellent , polite , firm and patrolled the pool area regularly. He had a list with him which I would imagine is a list of apartments which have not been issued with bands because of debt, He asked very nicely anyone who was not wearing a band ,why? And asked them to leave the pool area if they could not produce oneThats what we pay him to do!! To often I have heard the expression Heavy Handed ! The people who don't have bands have not paid fees or rented an apartment from someone who has not paid fees, which in the latter case I can sympathise with them but their gripe is with the owner from whom they have rented not the man who patrols the pool doing the job we have asked him to do. So after years of sharing our pool with Day trippers and cheats I say a big HORRAAAh ! To the armbands
PS Gregorio tells me the money from debtors is now pouring in, What's not to like?

Thats great news!

Thanks Celtic - its good to hear your feedback, and have someone on the same side as the committee.

I wouldn't quite say that the money is pouring in in, but yes - we've had a lot of debtors come out of the woodwork on Phase 2. Some, who are having genuine financial difficulties, are embarrased not to have been able to pay recently but are now making a huge effort to catch up. Other have been VERY reluctant - screaming and shouting about the injustice of not being given bands until they pay. One even threatened court action!

I suspect that we may have further problems with some in the latter category but we already have a "Plan B" to combat this next year.

 

This message was last edited by pommers on 22/08/2013.