Club Cala tries to become Energy Conscious!

While we all enjoy the beauty and warmth of beautiful Puerto Rico during our Vacation Weeks, and especially the spectacular Palmas del Mar Resort and our very own Club Cala de Palmas, I wanted to take a few minutes to bring some things to your attention about our environment.

As you may be aware, there is an increased enlightenment by almost everyone, about the need to take better care of our environment.  This awareness is even more important in Puerto Rico, where energy and water are limited resources, and much more expensive than in other parts of the Caribbean and even the mainland United States.  In fact, the energy costs have skyrocketed in Puerto Rico, with an increase of almost 70% from the previous year!  And because the government of Puerto Rico does not permit the installation of generators for private use (such as at private homes or resorts, like Club Cala) we find that we have no alternative but to try to reduce the energy costs wherever and whenever possible.

Many resorts have been forced to add a surcharge to accounts for visitors and even Timeshare owners, to offset the increased costs of these massive electrical and water charge increases.  And the costs of energy in Puerto Rico are the highest I have seen in my entire 30 year hospitality career!  So this is a very serious issue, indeed.

At the same time, Royal Holiday Club does not want to be forced to impose an energy surcharge and would like to ask all members and owners to please follow the outline below, in helping us manage our costs and in keeping them at a minimum.  Some of these may seem very fundamental, but you would be surprised how fundamentals, if everyone is pitching in, will have a big impact on the resort operating costs!

• Turn off all lights when leaving a room and when leaving your unit
• Keep thermostats at 70 degrees in villas and 72 degrees in standard units, but in a low setting (this keeps the condensation away)
• Make sure all water taps are not leaking, and are turned off when possible.  If you see any leaky valves, let us know, and we will repair them immediately!
• Try to use towels less frequently, so that we do not have to launder them as much.
• Keep all doors and windows closed and locked at all times, (unless the air-conditioning is completely off) and do not leave windows or doors open when air-conditioning is on!
• Do not let Televisions operate beyond viewing times – turn them off when done watching!
• Keep colored curtains open during the day to allow for natural light in the unit
• Do not use lights during the day – rather use natural light when possible

With your help and assistance, we can have a big impact on the spiraling costs of energy for Club Cala. 

We thank you very much in advance for your consideration and assistance.  We are sure there are many other practices which can be followed, and we encourage you to follow the suggestions noted above and any others you can think of.  Remember, this affects all of the owners and members of Club Cala de Palmas!  So we all have to try to do our share