Holiday by Atria

The upgrade to the building made it feel industrial. I objected to music piped into the halls, as if I was in a department store. No stove in rooms; I would miss that convenience. I visited during the Christmas holidays and regret that few residents were present for me to get a sense of the community. Did not have extensive paths for walkers. I met only the weekend marketing person who was gracious and informative.

Tour guide was knowledgeable, friendly polite facility had odd odor. I guest restroom smelled of urine. Concerned only. I small elevator for resident us.

Facility is open and airy. Kept clean. Some staff are friendly. Other than housekeeping and food service and outside care team, no real staff. Not as many activities as other places. Food quality is usually ok. Not many choices and they have strict meal times where everyone goes to dining room at same time to eat. If you miss those times, you dont eat. Start off price isn't bad but when you start adding extra services, it becomes pretty pricey. Sad to say, if I didn't have outside care service come to check in on my mom daily (and if I didn't go to see her most days) it could be an extended period of time regular staff would notice or check on her.

The men that I worked with were very nice but they were a little bit pushy to be honest. I had four missed calls in one day and I am a teacher and just could not get to my phone. They didn’t allow me a chance to really call them back. I also received several texts and emails within that 24 hour period. Once I responded and said that we chose another facility they tried getting me to come and lowering the rate by $[removed] a month.

Positives: The apartment is quite nice, and the outdoor patio area is great. Mum really likes her cleaner. Staff in general are great, easy to work with and friendly! The common rooms are clean and cheery. It's lovely that residents can have pets. Negatives: The main issue is with the food - the servers are lovely, but the service is very slow due to the fact that the food for each course is not able to be ordered ahead of time by the residents. My mother complains that it takes 1.5 hours for each of the lunch and supper servings. She always makes her own breakfast in her room ... yet she's paying for all three meals, there should be an option for a reduced rate on meals if a resident does not eat breakfast (only about half of them regularly do). The food wasn't great when she first moved in, but I believe it has gotten better with the new chef. Although I still hear a few complaints from mum: the noon service is the bigger meal of the day, they do not serve skim milk, residents have to ask for butter (default is margarine), the premade sandwiches don't have a lot of filling in them, and they serve seafood about once or twice a week and my mother is allergic so she doesn't dare go out during those times (worried about cross contamination). All of these issues could be easily fixed I would think.

There are no staff issues, they work hard. Food has gotten better but still not best for elderly on a salt restricted diet. And still WiFi issues ????? she's not happy about the rent increase of [price removed] a month.

What they could improve on would be to be honest upfront so you know long term you can afford the rent. They are more interested in making money bringing anyone in but not about the senior experience itself.

Overall experience initially was 5 but now that she's been there for [dates removed] I'd drop it to a 3. They tell you to your face all the right answers and not good once you're gone. I like that it's secure and all members are given a life alert pager. Their entire cleaning staff quit upon her move in and they have not kept their schedule to clean her room as promised.

Ownership recently changed, resulting in budget cuts and the exodus of trained kitchen staff. The provided meals are now very poor quality. The housekeeping staff are also poorly trained and some residents are finding items missing from their rooms, including money and medications. Staff overall are kind and helpful, but there is clearly chaos in the background as new management mandates changes that the staff do not agree with.

Staff is very nice but overworked with big turnover. Not enough of a variety of activities, and food is often not what we all expected since we have been here.

Staff is courteous and friendly, but they are very disorganized with billing and very inefficient with communication. Would recommend due to location and amentities.

I like the new management, [name removed] and the new activities person Mercedes. They are communicative which I know is hard with so few staff and so many residents. They still know each of them and seem to be aware of the limitations. The in house PT and speech are nice. The new landscaping is nice. The food selection is the worst. All the residents complain it is salty which is not good for people with hypertension or diabetes. Also the portions are small and options are lacking.

For a start I would not recommend this place to anyone management is disrespectful to residents I know of two times they yelled at them for no reason and another time when residents were playing weekly bingo and one of them was playing ping pong behind them which made them not being able to hear and most of them are hard of hearing anyway most of the time the food is too spicy for most residents and every meal is pasta sides very seldom decent food using language that isn't even English so people don't know what they are getting a lot of times people don't get dessert before they leave tired of waiting and dessert is mostly cookies or dried out cake l could probably say a lot more and another thing when people from the head office comes management makes sure they don't talk to residents.

Changes happen not for the benefit of the residents. We are not sure if we would recommend Holiday Orchid Terrace to other families based on the experience so far

One, there have been many problems involving staff positions not being filled, from the top all the way down to the person who is supposed to do light housekeeping and bed linens (which was not happening). Two, there have been quite a few facility issues including several lately which have caused multiple fire and flood evacuations. Three, my brother is local to the facility and could answer many of these questions better than I can. He has spoken with a vice president of the parent organization over the phone quite a few times.

Everyone has been very nice. My mom is very comfortable with the staff member who cleans her apartment. Seem to look out for her.

Please read [date removed] article in Toronto Star re 60% price hike in Atria operated home (The Court at Brooklin) in Whitby Ontario. This 60% hike was for same services from [date removed]. The tenant is a 96 widower who can’t afford such a gouge like this! While the units are probably very nice, please be aware of future price hikes and remember this company is all about making profits for their investors!

It was good but mom said the recent changes in management she doesn't like. Also. We were told this was an assisted living where we could apply for veterans benefits and they changed it to independent living right before she moved in. Not cool. Activities were decreased with new management.

They could have more options for lunch and dinner. Would recommend to others it is a very nice place and people are very nice and welcoming

I am not familiar with the senior living rules in California. I came from Las Vegas and was living in a senior community where everyone bought a home and enjoyed the activities that were available at the clubhouse. Pets were allowed. I can see the housing here is different. You receive a lot of care if needed. You don’t have to cook or clean your apt. I am fully capable of cleaning and cooking. I would be bored if all I did was sit and watched TV. I know you have many scheduled outings for everyone to enjoy things like shopping, parties, games and sightseeing. I am sure most of the people living in this senior living complex are very happy with having time to enjoy life.