Fountain of Youth Spa RV Resort

If you're into off-roading with Jeeps or ATV's and don't care about how far it is for civilization, then this IS the place to be! It is closer to Riverside County & I-10 than the rest of Imperial County & I-8. Palm Springs, Indio, Coachella are about the same distance as El Centro (50mi), however, Mecca is the closest at about 30mi. But again, it's California so the closer to LA the more you pay. The least expensive fuel was at the Calexico Walmart, but it was still $2 more than in Arizona. BLM land at Glamis (Algonones Sand Dunes) is about 60mi a bit less if you go off-road the entire way, but you are not allowed on the Coachella Canal road with a Razor! You are better off trailering your ATV. There is BLM land all around FOY so plenty of adventure awaits locally.

This Resort has a lot of good going for it if it were under better management. Better drainage needs to be constructed on a permanent basis. The vacation residents (mostly snowbirds) seemed to have a better break than those of us that travel. However, many of those folks confided that they 'may not be coming back next year' and are looking to sell their owned vacation home or give up their lease. All the residents, temporary & permanent were the nicest folks around. And, in the words of Forest Gump...."that's all I have to say about that"!

There are two gates. The main gate for entrance with your RV is staffed from 6am to 10pm. That person also checks you in at the guard shack. If you're just returning from town and there's one or two RV's checking in blocking the 1-lane driveway then you're waiting if you don't have access to the other gate. Heaven forbid if the either one is a "chatty cathy"!! There is plenty of room to park in temporary spaces to walk to the office for check in. After 10pm the main gate is closed. You then have to use the locked gate with a key card or call a friend to come down and open the main gate for you if it's after 10pm. You will pay $100 deposit for a key card and only get $99 back after you return the key. They need to put a code pad at the gate like most responsible secure RV Resorts! Both Gates should have code pads thus eliminating key cards.
FOY is built around the 'hot mineral spa' experience. They do have three hot tub spa's with three different temperatures. They also have private soaking tubs and two pools. The 'salt-water' pool was no longer salt-water due to some maintenance issue that was not resolved the entire time we were there. It also seemed like maintenance on the fresh water pool was poor also due to closure because of high chlorine content. One spa was shut down because some fool brought a glass container into it, broke it. with glass bits everywhere. Not really sure if they ever vacuumed it entirely. It appeared that they were also trying to save $$$ by using "volunteers" (who were poorly compensated with benefits) in key positions instead of hiring professionals.

So on the electric.....We think their electric meters were off or something. Their prices are inflated by almost 10¢ a kwH from what IID (the local utility company) charges RV parks. This last month (March) they raised the kwH from 23¢ to 25¢ a kwH and did not inform us until we got the bill. When metered, we typically would turn off our camp service daily at about sunrise and use our solar & batteries all day and return to camp power at night. In Florida our bill was around $55 a month at 11¢ a kwH and we didn't have as much sunshine as the desert so we didn't run on battery all day. At this Resort we paid around $75 a month so we paid more for using less{?}!! Granted we're comparing Florida with California, but still! It seems like they are trying to limit the number of RV's and populate the park with more permanent modular home leases.
It seems like we were "nickel-dime" on every little thing. For our private mail box it was $10 a month rent and $6 for a key deposit. You get $5 of your deposit back. The mailroom is only open between the hours of 10-11 and 1pm to 4pm for receipt of packages - a note is left in your box for pickup of packages including Amazon, FedX & UPS. They are supposed to email you if you have a package, but we never received an email in three months. AND, you have 2 days to pick up your packages or you will be charged $20 per day per package. Many activities have a fee attached such as Art Classes, Pancake Breakfasts and to buy into Bingo ($25). The payouts on Bingo are lame compared to other parks that have a smaller buy-in. The on-site store had over-priced essentials because the closest Walmart is 30mi away. Any decent fuel prices were 50mi in El Centro. The on-site snack bar was also over-priced and the food was so-so.

{Dates of Stay; Jan 01, 2024 - April 01, 2024} We stayed at the Fountain of Youth Spa & RV Resort (aka FOY) for 3 months due to family recommendation and that they were all going to be there at various times during this period; otherwise, we would not have picked this location. Our issues appeared to have started even before we arrived.
On advice from family, who stayed here before, we reserved our space as soon as reservations opened which was February of 2023. We paid a $300 Reservation deposit that month. Monthly rate is $715 per month plus metered electric {more on electric later}. While OTR the Resort called us and informed us that the site we paid for needed to be changed because someone else (who apparently was a regular) wanted that site and (we were told) that the reason was they were going to be there longer than us (thus paying more?). {As it turned out, we were there before they arrived, and they departed before us!}. The site we were moved to flooded the first month from a good rainstorm, which does happen occasionally in this desert area, but the Resort had not mitigated the area properly. During the storm, as it was flooding, we notified the Resort several times, finally a worker did show up but too little too late. The next day we saw potential more severe rain coming in a week or so and proposed some preventative measures which, when presented to one of the 'seasoned' supervisors was acted upon. Additionally, the Resort did take measures to beef up their gravel "berms" on the paved streets that (all) have drainage problems. [Side Note, that the site we were originally paid a deposit for (#419) never flooded.] With the mitigation we suggested for our site (a PVC pipe from our low spot through the stone wall downhill to between the neighbor’s sites below.) and the gravel berm/curb on the street, site #431 should never flood again. It's a good site with ample room for your vehicle. We extended our stay one more month into April so our total for Jan-Apr was $2025 plus electric.

This park offers nice hot spring amenities but after having stayed a few times, I'd like to share 3 "tips". #1: Pay for only one night upon arrival because any change to your site, even if you wish to upgrade, will cost you a $25 "change fee". #2: Bring a fly swat for the horse flies in the pool area. They bite! Also, the swarms of little black bugs in the pool also bite. #3: No manager on duty after-hours. Try sleeping next door to a locked rig with no people, just two neurotic barking dogs. It was a miserable. Ask for an after-hours number when checking in? So there you have it. Best to go prepared!

This is a Hugh facility with owner occupied mobile homes. The RV spots are gravel and dirt that are close to each other. I had a premium spot with a patio, BBQ firepit and table. Nothing special just more room. Not many trees for shade and your views are over the mobile home roofs. Nothing is close by and this facility is isolated. They have a well stock store and cafe. Pools/hottubs are nice and the gym is well equipped .

Absolutely infuriating experience with terrible hospitality and ill-equipped staff. I will never stay here again and will warn everyone I know to stay away as well. We (myself and two friends) arrived on a Friday afternoon looking forward to a relaxing weekend at one of my favorite places. Late Friday night a large fifth wheel pulled in loudly and started dumping his items out of his truck also letting his three dogs run off-leash one of his dogs who is very large and aggressive charged my friend in our own camp barking and snapping at her until he called his dog back. His other two smaller dogs then came into our camp and used the restroom... in our camp, when pointed out to the dog owner he laughed it off and said to “calm down they are just saying hi”. I called the office to inform them since they have a supposedly strict leash rule I spoke with Anna and she said she would call the owner and inform him to keep his dog la on a leash. Not 30 mins later the guy pulled up again and again let his dogs off-leash where they proceeded to come directly into our camp. I called the office again and Anna then came down and asked if the guy was going to put his dogs on a leash he said yes and she left. I have now had to keep my dog in my rig most of the day so his off-leash aggressive dogs don’t cause issues. I went to the front office to complain and spoke to Silvia and her suggestion... is we move... three rigs already set up and this is the only course of action they are willing to do. This is beyond unacceptable and terrible behavior. The office already admitted the “guest” in question has been difficult to deal with but they continue to accommodate him while letting three of their also paying guests languish. Don’t come here if you are expecting a calm and well-run environment to relax in. Sadly this resort is changing to one that allows discourteous people and loud obnoxious ATVs it’s no longer a quiet, polite, and peaceful place to stay. Additionally, there are no mineral pools available that are not massively treated with chemicals and chlorine. Completely pointless to stay here.

We were down here visiting some friends in Bombay Beach and the heat got to us, so we came here for three days so we could plug in to shore power and run our AC all day long. The electric we had access to in Bombay Beach was reading reverse polarity so we could not connect and were using our dual fuel generator 7 hrs a day to keep cool. It was worth it to come here, plug in and run the AC 24/7. Our solar can't run the AC that long.

Much of their activities were not happening due to COVID-19. The pools and spas were closed, etc but if it were not for the virus it seems this place is full of activity. We stayed in a premium spot (of which there are 5). It had full hook up and cable TV, a private gazebo (with table and chairs), a picnic table and BBQ grill (with propane included). Cable TV did not seem to work but that may be just me, not them. No matter, we are just fine without TV. We have Amazon Fire TV anyway. They do have some free internet as well as some pay internet but we have our own mobile RV internet so we did not use theirs.

Everyone is super friendly, people stop and wave, everyone is socially distancing. Laundry facilities are great and they will fill your propane tanks, etc. We have great cell signal here both t-mobile and Verizon.

They have everything from villa rentals to dry camping so what ever your style or budget