Hawthorn Senior Living, LLC

I lived at Desert Springs for 5 weeks. Although FS is advertised for 55+, the median age is 83 which is too old for me. The building is lovely, situated in a beautiful Oro Valley location. I had difficulty getting cell phone coverage in my studio apartment but opted out getting a landline. The food is o.k. on a daily basis and special occasions are well done! DS tries to accommodate everyone's needs and requests to the best of their ability. While I did not do activities, there are sufficient for all. The staff try their best to make living on a daily basis, pleasant and comfortable. I feel the cost to live at Desert Springs very reasonable....a good value for the money....

Our hostess was Kim, who gave us a great tour and explained all about their facility. Kim rated a five star person. The units are antiquated inasmuch as the heat/air-conditioning is a hotel type window unit in the living room. There is no unit in the bedrooms; however a round vent is installed in the wall between the BR and LR, which is supposed to furnish the heat and air. Very inadequate. Overall, it is highly overpriced for the facilities they offer. Their yearly price increase is estimated at a 5% increase, much higher that the overall inflation indexes.

My loved ones are not happy there at all. The food is really pretty bad. They don't like the regimentation of mealtimes, and it can take a long time to get meals, the service is slow. Lunch is from 12:30 -1:30, and they have sat and waited until 2:00 before. For what we spend on the apartment, and all they get is the meals, that aren't very good; and once a week very, very light housekeeping, they don't even dust if something is on your table, it just isn't worth it.

Too few casita/cottage units. Very new facility.

I spent some time at Sterling Heights, and overall it was somewhat of a mixed experience.In terms of the facility itself the apartments were comfortable and well maintained, and the staff were pleasant and friendly. However, there were a few issues that made it somewhere I wasn't really comfortable living. The food here really was not good. It was very low quality cheap ingredients, high in sodium, and the service was slow. The place just seemed a bit understaffed in general. I also felt like many of the residents here did not really belong in independent living, it felt more like a transitional community into assisted living.

Dad is really happy there overall, and it provides him a good clean safe environment which is what he needs. There are a couple of areas they could improve. The management needs to be a little nicer. The staff members are incredibly friendly, but the management is not. They could have certainly done a better job helping him get oriented. The activities also are not very good. They play bingo and things like that, but he never has liked that kind of thing, especially now that he can barely see. They need to have more activities that he can do so he is not bored, and need to make sure they are proactive about getting him engaged in those activities.

Too much pressure was put on us to make a deposit. After the second tour we determined we were better off in our home with home care when needed. My husband isn't ready to give up all that would be necessary to move there. Nor am I.

Ok , new rooms . Didn't get a very good feel for it- kinda smelly , stuffy. Felt very rushed .

This was a very nice place and location, but it had a different feel to it. It may have been because the tour was provided by a sales person. Or, it may have been the way it was very easy to come and go. It would be easy to lose track of who was in the building.

While nice, we had noon meal that took over an hour and while the folks were good to us, the situation didn't suit our taste. Thanks for the opportunity to visit there. We will continue our search.

They don't allow smoking at all.

Beautiful community. Apt. small. No security. Outer doors in apartments on first floor. No home health on site

Overall I am not very pleased. They haven't done the things they said they would do. The introductions and orientations, they haven't done anything they committed to do. There has been some recent turnover. They haven't had buses and transportation. I have had to initiate the on-boarding process. The food is good.

1 time community fee=1 mo.rent+$600 2nd person fee p/mo. 3 meals p/day/cable included Mo.to Mo. rental agreement

Visited. Opened June '13. New but old style. Safety most important. No kitchens, Mass dining for social reasons.

Didn't like the access to laundry facilities. kitchen area to small.

This was a little bit different, they had kitchenettes, they had washer and dryers on the landing and they charged for linen service. They were a little more rigid, they charged for more things. I think medical transportation was jsut two days and if you had to go to one a different day they would charge you some amount total or per mile. They had a lot of incidental charges and people who come out of the Great Depression, those things make them crazy. The meal plans were things like breakfast and lunch or breakfast and dinner and any other meal would cost extra. With something like that people wouldn't eat because the whole structure was too confusing.

They were very disorganized, they didn't even have my mother down for her appointment and they greeted her as somebody else whose appointment they did have down. The atmosphere was not good either. I understand the resident managers have to take vacations too, but the lady who came in was dressed in a t-shirt and cpris, like beach capris, and this was an older lady; so my mother, being confrtoned with a person like that was disconcerting especially because people of her generation are well put together. The first thing I had asked the lady was the price of a one bedroom and she said she would have to go and look because it changes everyday and I didn't understand why she would even say that to someone. My mother, who is a genuinly caring person asked if she could go to the bathroom and when I went with her she asked me if we could leave.

Very friendly and affordable. No cottages; apts only. No healthcare on site.

NO. Visited. Developed by Holiday Retirement employee - very much like it.