Casa Blanca – Hacienda de Lujo en La Quinta, Piscina/Spa, Putting Green, Caminata al Centro Histórico

First let me say that this guest had rented two other properties that we know of besides Casa Blanca for a family even. Knowing that he was having a lot of guests, we had the pool cleaned the day before his arrival and again the morning of arrival at which point we took a photo of a clean pool. He was granted an early check in and called to say the pool was a little cloudy at the deep end and I informed him that it had been brushed an hour before he checked in and that the filtration would clear it up. Because Casa Blanca was the larges property he rented, his family members from the other properties used the house as a gathering place and used the pool. In the 7 days this guest stayed at Casa Blanca he called me frequently to tell me that the pool was getting cloudy and we sent our pool service to the property a total of 5 times. The 5th time we sent the pool service we saw that the guest was enabling the spa jets during the day for ambiance or for the children in his party to enjoy. When the spa jets are enabled the pool stops filtrating which is why the pool was getting cloudy everyday when it was being heavily used by guest from 3 properties.

Thank you for taking the time to review your stay. I’d like to address your concern regarding the $250 utility charge for your 7-night stay at a property that includes a 3,000-square-foot main house and an 800-square-foot casita. As outlined in the rental agreement prior to booking, we share the cost of utility usage to account for features such as landscape lighting and daily pool filtration. In fact, the amount you paid was less than the actual utility costs incurred during your stay. To help guests lower their usage, we provide helpful tips at each property and offer mid-stay meter readings upon request so guests can monitor their consumption. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive a request from you during your stay to check the meters. Larger homes like this naturally require more energy, and I’m sorry to hear that the utility charge came as a surprise.

Thank you for taking the time to review Casa Blanca. We are delighted that you enjoyed your stay and hope that you will consider staying at the property in the future. Just to clarify your comments regarding the utilities and laundry so that people reading this review understand them better...Casa Blanca is a very large home with a large pool, 4 AC systems and lots of bath and pool towels to accommodate 8 guests. From the very beginning of the reservation process we disclose all charges and explain the utilities as well as attach documents including our check out procedure in email correspondence to potential guests. Utilities here in the desert are some of the highest in California and rather than raising the rates or charging a daily fee like most other properties in our area, we share in the cost by giving each guest a utility allowance where we pay a portion of the utilities used for the duration of each reservation and bill the overage to the guest. In addition, we have helpful hints in the property book that suggest how to save on the final utility bill and leave it up to the guest to follow these guidelines if they wish. We do not ask you to do all of the laundry, rather we ask that you keep up with the pool and bath towels as stated in our checkout procedure. Your cleaning fee covers the cost of the cleaning for your arrival, not the cleaning fee for the next guest that checks in. If we do not ask that guests keep up with the use of the many towels that are at this property then it adds an additional 3 hours to the cleaning process not allowing us to give guests an early check in which they appreciate.