by Lloyd Sherman, August 15, 2019
Do we need a new lodge?
You might if you were a resort destination or you had read the CMP or listened to some of the POA Administration. What would be the justification for a lodge? Someplace to house the golf tournaments coming to the Village? Maybe. Anybody heard how many outside golf tournaments we have coming to the Village this year? Last time I saw something from the golf department it was ONE (1). We had one pickleball tournament here this last year, which was great, but how many more are planned? Do we have a focus on marketing for golf tournaments or any other types of tournaments? Don’t know the answer to that but what I do know is the development of projects like hotels or lodges is built on demand. Do we have the demand in the Village for a Lodge? Based on our financial numbers I can without reservation say we do not.
How many rentals do we have?
Did you know? There have been reports that as much as 20% of the Village is available for rentals in one form or another. Not sure I buy into that report because that would equate to nearly two thousand units (2,000). I might believe 10%, but the fact that we don’t have a handle on this number is troubling.
Have you heard of Los Lagos?
So here is a short-term solution to lodging demand until such time as the demand warrants the consideration of a lodge inside the gates of Hot Springs Village. Have you heard of Los Lagos? Many of us probably have, but do you really know anything about the property? It is managed by LaTour Hotels & Resorts. Here is a description provided from their website:
“Los Lagos at Hot Springs Village is ideal for relaxing and is the perfect place to start and end your day. One- and two-bedroom vacation condos include full kitchens, spacious living areas, quiet bedrooms, and scenic Arkansas views. On site you’ll find lake access, outdoor and children’s swimming pools, fitness facilities, and plenty of outdoor space to enjoy the resort. In the lobby, enjoy complimentary coffee in front of the fireplace.”
They also have a clubhouse for gatherings. So why are we off chasing rainbows and expending resources that could be utilized for day-to-day maintenance and infrastructure instead of utilizing the lodging resources we already have?
Here’s the biggest “Did You Know?”
I have been told that currently they are being utilized to support the Discovery Packages and they often have guests staying there that have been arranged through that program. So why do we not know this? Why is Los Lagos not listed as a lodging facility on the Discovery Package? Why would we use someplace like the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs where we lose control of our guests?
This is a huge property and I am told often has excess capacity. It is well maintained and sitting right here in the Village!
Demand answers!
I don’t know about you, but the next time I hear someone talking about a lodge, I’d like to know why we are utilizing POA resources on projects when we aren’t using the capacity that already exists. DEMAND ANSWERS!
by Lloyd Sherman, August 15, 2019
Photography by Lloyd Sherman and Joe Dowden
Monica Impellizzeri
08/15/2019 — 11:31 am
Totally agree!!!! Thanks Lloyd!
Great job as always!
Jim Langford
08/15/2019 — 11:41 am
But Lloyd, you missed something in your logic. One POA employee could handle the day to day activities using the Los Lagos and then what would the other POA employees consuming the $1,000,000 in paid Member Dues do?????
Jayne
08/15/2019 — 11:45 am
Thanks Lloyd!!!
Anne Shears
08/15/2019 — 11:50 am
Very logical. This facility is well-kept. Just last year there was a lot of maintenance performed including roofing, decks and steps. They have a nice outdoor pool and guests can walk over to Way Point and enjoy all that it has to offer.
Mike
08/15/2019 — 12:56 pm
Very logical. Probably a Cooper project and they don’t want anything to do with that. Even if it is ancient history. It’s not shiny and new.
Frank Shears aka Bubba
08/15/2019 — 11:53 am
Excellent article, Lloyd. Thank you.
POA Slogan: We’ve got what it takes to ignore what you want.
Anonymous
08/15/2019 — 1:46 pm
Bubba, Cracks me up.
Place probably has Cooper Cooties.
Mary
08/15/2019 — 3:37 pm
Love both comments! Thanks again Lloyd!
Edna Melton
08/15/2019 — 12:00 pm
Thank you for your voice of reason and I would agree that we certainly have no current need for a new lodge! Our guests seem to enjoy their stays with us with the exception of the creepy bugs we have had this summer!
Vicki Husted
08/15/2019 — 12:10 pm
Agree 100% Lloyd. I stayed there in January when I came to buy my house. I didn’t find it as an option on the POA website. I found it on my own. The accommodations were terrific! Very clean, comfortable, updated and nicely furnished. When I had a little trouble with the fireplace in my unit, they were “johnny-on-the-spot” sending someone to remedy the issue. Unfortunately, because I spent my days viewing houses and my evenings buried in the computer doing research, I didn’t have time to enjoy the amenities, but the view and comfort from my deck overlooking the lake was marvelous. Just another example of “scrap the old stuff” and let’s go in debt some more to build something we don’t need right now and can’t support now.
Dolores
08/15/2019 — 12:15 pm
Great article. We have been here a year and a half and I never heard that Los Lagos was a vacation lodge. Why is our POA not promoting this? So frustrating. We need major change in our management.
Judy Weatherly
08/15/2019 — 12:39 pm
Lloyd…you hit it out of the ballpark with that article. I knew of them but not to the extent you did. They sound wonderful and like the other comments we don’t need a lodge but promotion of Los Lagos and other good rentals. Silly not to use them for Explore the Village.
Thanks for great information that should be in The Voice.
Judy
Gene Garner
08/15/2019 — 12:48 pm
In just a brief scan of the 71909 “short term rental” websites, we find over 100 properties for rent on a nightly basis. And that doesn’t include the motel outside the West Gate.
Lloyd ‘s right, we have the resources but the BOD would rather reinvent the wheel than use what’s staring them in the face.—Gene
Tom Blakeman
08/15/2019 — 12:54 pm
Great info Lloyd. As usual POA and their acolytes have their WANTS confused with our NEEDS.
I’ve stayed at Los Lagos also. Nice place. The accommodations are all “condo” style units with kitchens, etc. – perfect for visiting golf groups, pickle ball groups, house hunters. When I stayed there and have driven thru at other times it ALWAYS appears under utilized.
There is also the Village Inn behind Food Wise. They have a pool and about half of the rooms are recently updated. I actually spoke to the manager/owner a couple weeks before 4th of July this year to check on availability for the 4th. They had rooms available.
I personally know three Village home owners who have their basements converted to rental units. I’ve also stayed in one of those and seen a couple of the others. All very nice and all very reasonable.
IF we needed a lodge in the Village there would be developers already beating down our door and offering us sweetheart deals. They have not because there would be no satisfactory ROI. Bottom line is we already have plenty of excess lodging capacity for the Village.
What we FIRST need to do is market our Village correctly to Retirees and Golfers with a national program and emphasizing some of the high tax states like IL and CA. Then when we have Lots and Homes selling like hot cakes and folks building homes at a break neck pace maybe it will be timely for a lodge. Meanwhile POA should not be wasting staff time or resources on such folly.
Rosanne Hitch
08/16/2019 — 8:41 pm
Hey Tom, your not going to believe it but I agree with you and Lloyd on this subject! We do not need a lodge of any kind we have a ton of rentals around here, it’s not like people are flocking here! Didn’t know Los Lagos had all those amenities. 😁
Phil Lemler
08/17/2019 — 6:33 am
Perfect analysis Tom!
Frank Shears aka Bubba
08/15/2019 — 1:50 pm
Excellent information Tom. We bought a lot here in 2008 with the intention of building our retirement home in 5 years. The plans changed but we still visited the Village and our little piece of it twice per year until we moved here in January, 2016. The VRBO condos we stayed in, a different one each visit, were excellent. We were not even aware that Los Lagos even existed until after we moved here.
Lloyd’s article and your response are both SPOT-ON. Thank you.
Gary Puffer
08/15/2019 — 3:10 pm
Tom, fyi.
https://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/arkansas/hot-springs-village
According to this website, there are 785 rentals currently listed in the village even without the Los Lagos rentals. What I can’t fathom about this CEO and the board is why are they so blind to this fact. Also, in my humble opinion, these so called board members and the very highly paid CEO are against the real estate agencies and individual rental owners and their business. Point in fact, what is the purpose of Village Home and Property, when we already have a robust real estate agencies that are serving the needs of the village very well. In other words, we need a lodge like we need a hole in the head!!!!
Kym Lund
08/15/2019 — 5:41 pm
Thank you for such a great and informative article!! Los Lagos is more than enough to take care of our visiting guest. The resorts high standards would speak volumes in representing the Village!
Bob Busse
08/15/2019 — 6:49 pm
This lodge issue is just one of the many examples of our leadership, CEO/BOD (majority) not wanting to listen to ideas or suggestions from the members or anybody else. You do not have to be a rocket scientist or nuclear physicist to
figure out that a lodge is not needed inside or outside our Village. People talk of golf tournaments, tennis tournaments, pickle ball events, etc. But if we had even a dozen or more in the summer months, who is going to fill up a lodge the other 40 weekends of the year?? Or are their plans to be like the new pool, we will only operate it during the summer months and close it down the rest of the year? A lodge inside the Village would be another huge subsidy bill for members to fund. I sure hope someone finally sees the brightly shining light before it is too late.
Kathy Henderson
08/15/2019 — 7:21 pm
I’d heard of Los Lagos, but didn’t know that it offered so much! Who needs a lodge?
Kirk Denger
08/15/2019 — 9:38 pm
Like everything Cooper built, Los Lagos is a beautifully designed subdivision of HSV, high-quality workmanship and materials. The CEO and 5 of the BODs are bottom feeders.
Sharon
08/15/2019 — 9:39 pm
The question is can we afford a lodge? I’d like a newer Mercedes but I don’t think so.
AndyK
08/16/2019 — 8:43 am
We couldn’t afford a $1.2M++ swimming pool. Did that stop them?
Minn. Daly
08/15/2019 — 10:01 pm
Loyde, as a realtor you are on target that we do not need a lodge. We have A Cooper built Los Lagos that is very beautiful! We have lots of homes that POA members rent out, & we have condo’s as well. This is about the BOD/CEO making another terrible decision to spend money. As stated by others above we are fine on rentals. We need infrastructure fixed. We need this BOD to admit that 500,000 was spent with NO results. We need a NEW CEO that is not connected to CNU! We need a NEW BOD that listens to the majority of property owners, realizes that COOPER is the developer, & this is a COOPER Development. Minn. Daly
Vicki Husted
08/16/2019 — 12:53 am
Like Tom Blakeman, I have driven through Los Lagos and was surprised it didn’t have as many cars as I expected. I had stayed there in January, shortly after New Years, and wasn’t surprised too much then because it was cold, and just after the holidays.
But I went back in April to ask them if I could buy one of their fantastic “springy” chaise lounges like they had on the deck in my unit, I was shocked it wasn’t far fuller. Now I know why, and it’s just one more thing that really infuriates me about what is being done to this wonderful place. Things have got to change!!
Nancy Burleson
08/16/2019 — 6:47 am
In 1998 my husband and I bought a timeshare week at Los Lagos. At the time I believe it was designed and marketed by Cooper as 100% timeshare. We bought because we could trade our week at any of the other Cooper timeshares, which at that time included Branson, Bella Vista, Orange Beach and one or two other resorts.
Our first year we traded for Branson and liked it so we’ll that we traded in our Los Lagos deed and bought a week at Stonebridge instead.
About five years or so ago, Cooper sold out its timeshare business to Festiva (note their empty office space in the strip in front of Village Inn). Branson Stonebridge’s COA fought the Festiva acquisition and is now independent of the other former Cooper timeshares. I don’t know what happened with Los Lagos with respect to Festiva in the meantime.
What I do know is that over the years many timeshare weeks have been abandoned and/or deeded back to management. There is now a mixture of deeded weeks, floating weeks, and owners who have converted to points in addition to what is owned by management. They can only rent out what they own; not sure what the rules are as to points used at other resorts. It must be a confusing mess to manage.
Just because you drive through and see empty units doesn’t mean they are all available to rent… if an owner of a specific deeded week can’t use it or hasn’t rented or let a friend use it, I think it still has to be vacant that week. And others might have been traded to an exchange company like RCI.
It would be VERY interesting to know who is currently managing/in charge of Los Lagos (Festiva or ??) and how many units are actually available for rent each week.
Ralph
08/17/2019 — 5:34 am
We need the lodge. It would bring prestige to our tired community. Once people stay they will want to live here and will move here quickly. I would think a nice, rustic look with massive wood beams and such. On Lake Balboa with a marina, boat rental, and a nice 4 star restaurant. Walking paths, bike rentals, canoes, kayaks, pontoon boats, fishing boats, paddle boards, etc. and golf packages.
Most people will not peruse the claimed 700+ rentals now in HSV but would rather have the convenience of a great lodge where they could truly experience all that HSV has to offer. Make sure they get a pass to the new pool, bocce courts, pickle ball, tennis, etc. Passes to the concert series. Discount coupons to our fine dining establishments at the golf courses.
Those who say we don’t need a lodge are simply putting their own interests above those of the community at large. Without a lodge we will never see the success that could be ours. A lodge will help us grow. Surely we can fund one ourselves if no outside interest (Hilton?) steps up to the plate. One year of golf subsidies would be enough to get her started.
Please join me in starting a new movement for the lodge. We will form a committee and begin to pressure the board and the CMP committee to get this thing off the ground. And we will petition Cooper to allow it by forcing them to surrender their easements on any lots that might be practical for the new lodge.
Our slogan is this:
Come and stay and play,
Our new lodge awaits the day.
When you arrive in HSV,
You will be so happy.
Anonymous
08/17/2019 — 6:37 am
La .. La .. La … you probably support the “new green deal” as well!
NittyGritty
08/17/2019 — 4:09 pm
Ralph, No new lodge could successfully compete with the Oaklawn Racing Casino and Resort hotel now under construction. There is also a mobile home park that is to be turned into an Oaklawn themed RV park. Besides, HSV is supposed to be a gated residential HOA, not an open commercial resort.
Chris
08/17/2019 — 10:48 am
I traveled a great deal during my career staying in hotels, lodges, resorts …
The many times that we visited HSV we never had the desire to stay in a hotel like facility, or lodge. We always rented a home … so we could have the privacy and comfort that we wanted. And … now we live in HSV as retirees with all the comfort and privacy … and peacefulness we always wanted in getting away from the big city!
HSV is NOT a destination resort … and the amenities we have are underutilized because they are not being well managed … or marketed to the fullest.
Janet
08/19/2019 — 11:25 pm
I thought Los Lagos was still only a timeshare resort. We traded into Los Lagos 3 times when house hunting and ultimately building our house. We enjoyed the pools and the views. And now they have Waypoint right there and you can rent kayaks etc.
Sue
08/27/2019 — 4:47 am
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/I-Team-Investigation-Short-Term-Rentals-Property-Airbnb-415128373.html