December 2015

As we enter the last month of the year and the start of a great winter season, I thought it would be beneficial to discuss some of the exciting new and improved offerings at your personal resort.

First, we completed the membership survey by soliciting your feedback on our future capital investment priorities. The feedback was outstanding and further validated the continued direction of recreation infrastructure investment for our community. A summary of the survey results is covered on page 26-27 of this issue.

Hopefully you had a chance to attend the grand opening of the Alder Creek Adventure Center over the Thanksgiving holiday. This new facility offers first class services, with Nordic and snowshoe rentals accessing endless groomed trails, as well as improved dining and beverage options and is sure to be a new favorite membership destination. Overall, I’m certain our entire membership will be pleased with this newly recrafted and purpose-built amenity. Get out and start your adventure!

The Downhill Ski Area has added snowmaking to its portfolio of offerings this winter. With seven new fan machines to cover our entire learning area with a guaranteed layer of snow, you can count on a great experience to learn, improve, or just have fun at your own community downhill ski area this winter. With our continued focus as the “best place to begin,” be sure to book your lessons early this season as we are already forecasting an increased demand. This will be the first season we will fully utilize our new ski school yurt facility, allowing us to further improve the quality of the experience that our ski school participants already enjoy on the mountain.

Snowplay will be opening with plenty of sledding and tubing fun. New this year is a brand new food truck, serving hot beverages, chili and grilled items on-site. We are excited to bring this improved level of guest service to an area already hugely popular with our members. We will also be offering improved sledding and tubing lanes. As always, the snowplay area will continue to be that fun place to enjoy time on the snow, and we provide the equipment. It’s much safer than dodging trees in your backyard, or other uncontrolled sledding areas found roadside.

Winter golf at Tahoe Donner? Yes, winter golf! New this winter will be the grand opening of our Winter Golf Academy and indoor golf simulator located in our existing golf pro shop. Our head golf professional will be on-site Thursday through Sunday this winter operating our new TruGolf Simulator and V1 video coaching system. So, keep those clubs handy or use ours to play one of the 27 world’s finest courses, take a lesson, or even focus on clubfitting to help achieve your optimal game. It will be so much more than just a simulator experience. Check it out on your next trip to The Lodge Restaurant & Pub; darts, drinks, and food will provide you some great activity time out of the snow.

With the high service and vacation expectations of our membership, customer service is something we know our members immediately notice. This year we have made very deliberate efforts to raise the bar of excellence in customer service. From the recent membership survey, which will directly influence countless areas of service and infrastructure improvements, to our daily review of customer service comment card feedback, this is an area to which the entire Tahoe Donner team is committed. We value your feedback and I would encourage all our members to take a moment and drop us a note or fill out a customer comment card at any one of the resort facilities you frequent. Good, bad, or indifferent, your feedback is necessary for us to improve your experience and directly drive action in this organization.

Included in this month’s magazine is our annual budget report. The 2016 annual assessment will increase $100 over 2015. This is a result of several regulatory impacts as previously forecasted during our budget review process along with addressing long-term replacement reserve needs of the association. Specifically, the $100 annual assessment increase is composed of $20 or 1.1 percent increase for replacement reserves, $62 or 3.4 percent increase due to drought impacts (unknown winter weather), $43 or 2.4 percent California minimum wage, Affordable Care Act, and other insurance increase impacts, minus a $25 or -1.4 percent of other net reductions to the previous year’s budget. These figures in total equal a 5.6 percent increase in the annual assessment over 2015. Further details can be found in this issue starting on page 16.

There seems to be an ever growing volume of information available across almost every aspect of our lives. So, to help manage your reading list, I thought it would be useful to summarize the key documents each owner/member should review in order to stay engaged in their real estate investment and resort way of life here at Tahoe Donner. Don’t forget to opt in for electronic communications at tahoedonner.com/update-your-profile!

Annual Review

• Annual Budget Report/Annual Report
• Vote for board candidates (June election). This is the most direct way to influence the strategic guidance developed for Tahoe Donner; lately only 25 percent of owners actually cast a ballot.
• Summer Fun Guide (mailed to homeowners in April). Plan your summer vacation and reserve those camp dates!
• Winter Fun Guide (included in November Tahoe Donner News). Plan your winter vacations and book those ski lessons!

Weekly Review

• Member News (sent every Monday). Keep track of your real estate investment and local community priorities.
• Weekly News (sent every Wednesday). Keep track of the fun.
• Dining News (sent twice monthly on Fridays). Keep up with the weekly dining specials and new promotions.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Robb Etnyre | General Manager