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Local hotel,
By Bernadine M. Rechner Well, it's not really the District's pool. That is, the District didn't build it, doesn't own it and doesn't pay its utility bills or capital costs. Still, the Palatine Recreation Agency operates the facility, which is tucked in a corner of the Arlington Park Hilton Hotel. About six years ago, the Salt Creek Park Board cast its creative, collective eyes around the district — eyes that landed on the Hilton Hotel's pool, sauna, weight training apparatus, office and locker rooms. The Board offered to operate the hotel pool under a management contract, but that original effort was not successful. By the time the District hired Director Allan Baker three years ago, the hotel had changed owners. The Board, hoping to manage the pool once again, asked Baker to look into the situation. "The hotel manager was very for it," Baker said, "because it could reduce its costs and liability." Consequently, Salt Creek got another chance at managing the facility. Baker believes it's the only hotel pool in Illinois being operated by a park district. Illinois Parks and Recreation 6 November/December 1984 The rectangular pool, 75 feet long and 30 feet wide, has a depth of 2 1/2 to 8 feet, but no diving board. A wide deck surrounds the pool, bright yellow banners hang from the high ceiling, and potted plants and trees add a touch of warmth and greenery to the setting. Chaise lounges flank the length of the deck while round tables and director-type chairs lure you into leisurely conversation near the deep end, which is protected by a wrought iron railing. A mezzanine level, located at the east and south ends of the pool, opens into the hotel, though entry to the facility is prohibited from those doors. There's a 2,000-square-foot outdoor patio at the west end and, on nice days when the glass doors are open, a soft breeze blows through. For sun worshippers, a quick dip cools them off after a tanning session on the patio. While the hotel managed the facility, they posted a "Swim at Your Own Risk" sign because the pool wasn't guarded. Parents attending conventions were afraid to send their kids into the pool alone. Now the pool is guarded at all times. The pool is open seven days a week, roughly 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., to both pass holders and hotel guests for general swimming. The District also programs the pool from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Adult exercise/lap time is provided weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. and from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The hotel has the right to close the pool for its functions. However, when it's open to the District, residents and individual hotel guests swim when they choose by presenting their pool passes or room keys to the pool attendant and signing in. That, of course, is how Charlie Daniels happened by. The 445-room, high-rise hotel often houses entertainers from nearby Poplar Creek Music Theater, the adjacent Cinderella Rockefella nightspot, and racing devotees from neighboring Arlington Park Race Track. That's one of the fringe benefits for Aquatics Supervisor Bonnie Brush and her staff of part-time locker room attendants and guards. Brush didn't get to see Charlie Daniels because of her hours, but she has met business travelers, thoroughbred owners and jockeys from the track, and members of the Miss Illinois beauty pageant. Participants in a male beauty pageant also trooped through the pool area during one of her women's exercise classes. Swimmers are not allowed entry to the pool through the hotel lobby. They must come in on the lower level where the office, weight training equipment, sauna and locker rooms are located. The locker rooms are the only drawback in the arrangement. Typical of hotel pools everywhere, the locker facilities are inadequate for the Park District's much higher pool attendance. No money changes hands in the current contract between the District and the hotel's owners and management. It spans two years and carries a 30-day cancellation clause. The hotel pays heating, electric and water bills, all capital expenses and the costs of security. The District buys and regulates the chemicals and does general maintenance.
The Park Board runs the pool on a break-even basis and has set a limit of 800 pool passes. Annual resident passes for a family of four are $30. Individual resident passes are $15. Nonresidents pay $45 for families and $25 for individuals. Additional family members, both resident and nonresident, pay $1 each. The Board carries $1 million in liability insurance and has appropriated $28,500 for pool operation; $1,700 for chemicals; $800 for programming expenses; $13,500 for Brush's salary; $10,500 in salaries for part-time high school and college-age guards, and $2,000 to pay locker room attendants. Revenue generated by the sale of pool passes meets the expenses. The advantage to the Park District is obvious — the pool operation pays for itself through minimal user fees. Park residents did not have to pay for land acquisition and construction. There are no outstanding bonds that have to be paid off. There is no tax or fee subsidy from the Park District to carry a pool that loses money. The advantage to the hotel is equally obvious — no chemical expenses, no maintenance expenses, no Illinois Parks and Recreation 7 November/December 1984
liability costs. District Commissioner Patrick Grealish says the hotel also enjoys other advantages. "We've created increased traffic in the hotel — positive, adult traffic — to the shops, restaurants and lounges," Grealish said. "Our residents have a very favorable feeling toward the hotel now. We've limited the hotel's liability for the pool by having it guarded and we've taken the maintenance monkey off their back. Hotel pools are a total inconvenience to the hotel. This way they get an outside firm to control it, regulate it, manage it for them." Use of the pool by hotel guests has also increased because of the Park District's management. In one month, pass holders used the pool 1,355 times and hotel guests 190 times. Typical hotel uses of a pool are usually only one-third of that number. The Arlington Park Hilton pool is not, however, a typical pool. It's large rectangular shape enhances the District's usage.
"Most hotel pools," Baker explained, "are kidney-shaped or a figure-eight and do not lend themselves to laps, and laps are important." Pool location is also a factor. Many hotel pools are located in the middle of the building and have access from numerous points. That can create traffic problems and disturb hotel operations and guests. The Hilton pool is in a corner where access can be controlled fairly easily. Even so, keeping kids from roaming the hotel or riding up and down in the elevators is sometimes a problem. "We take their passes away for three months on the first offense," Baker said. "If it's the second time, it's gone." The Salt Creek Park Board hopes to work with potential hotel developers in the District. "Whether it's an indoor or an outdoor pool," Grealish said, "we hope to get involved, to get it so constructed that we can get involved in its management. However, the pool has to be located so we don't have trouble getting people in and out of it." Maybe Charlie Daniels isn't in your agency's future, but maybe, if you cast a creative eye around your district, somebody else's pool is.
Illinois Parks and Recreation 8 November/December 1984 |
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