Bay-O-Vista

I really agree with Cyn S. and Roger V. in the other one star reviews below. Mark, the manager, is a jerk
So I was in the Lake Chabot area looking at homes in the hills when mother nature called on me rather quickly and intensely. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it down the hill in time to make it to some facilities! So as I drove down the hill I remembered this club I had driven by on the way up and I thought, I’m saved! I thought, I can make a pit stop here, surely they’d take pity on a person in dire need and allow me to use their restroom. After all, it’s not like they have this request often, they are somewhat remote and up on the side of a hill and far from the maddening crowd. Well, I was sorely mistaken. The young ladies at the front desk told me «sorry, no non-​members allowed» — But since my situation was urgent, I pressed and asked them to call their manager. They were obviously scared and fearful to do that, but I politely insisted. They reached this infamous Mark guy, who promptly declined to allow me to use the bathroom.
Stay away from this place, they treat people like dirt. And their employees are obviously scared and browbeaten, telling by the desk attendants’ actions. If I buy a home in the area I will not join here and I will tell all I know not to join. Oh, and my friend and real estate agent will be notified of this incident and asked to relay these misgivings to all her colleagues and other clients.

This is a horrible place. Mark the president is a complete jerk. He does not care for his members nor his employers. There is always new employees due to them getting fired or quitting. The last two baby sitters werent finger printed, CPR certified, tb tested nor had a backround check. Due to Mark being cheap. All he cares is about $$$$ he’s always increasing membership fees and treating members poorly. The whole club is full of ridiculous rules. a lot of members terminated there membership because of MARK! The staff is rude, always on there phones, and with miserable attitudes (can’t blame them) and they have fired the good employees or they have quit!

We were members for one year. It was good to be able to swim on hot days but then again that one positive were far outweighed by the negatives. I should have heeded the other reviews about BOV. First, I agree that with all the money for the initial fee plus the monthly, you’d think it would be a lot nicer. It’s clean and all, but you’d think they’d invest in some improvements, the little details like the decks around the pool, or up to date locker rooms, restroom. And the signs, a barrage of signs there. We gave up our membership after my wife wanted to just show the facility to her mother who was visiting from out of state. As soon as they passed the gate, they were told that any guest had to pay the guest fee. My wife and her mom left without seeing anything. Couple days later we were CHARGED for this. We had to fight it and that took a few weeks for them to even call us back and even then it took a while to reverse the charge. We are pretty patient people but this was the last straw. But if advice: read the previous reviews and you can make your own decision about whether you are willing to deal with this place and their policies/​rates.

I come here as a guest with my friend who is a member and it seemed fine to me, but then again we go after 8pm and just chill in the hot tub. I was thinking of getting a membership, but then I read their Unilocal reviews. Sucks that there are so many crappy reviews. Definitely changed my mind about paying 188 $ a month. Thanks Unilocal!
Better step up your game BAYO MANAGEMENT

I come here as a guest through my in-​laws. I don’t see the reason to pay a HUGE initiation fee plus hefty monthly dues. The guest fee is around $ 5 or $ 6 each.
For the amount of money people pay I expected it to be nicer than it is. Sure things look kept up and it’s clean for the most part. But I don’t see the reason. They nickel and dime for almost anything including pool towels and infants/​toddlers.
I come here with my babies for the kiddie pool on hot days. The pool is clean and doesn’t smell like chlorine. There are life guards on duty during certain hours. There are plenty of lounge chairs and tables. It’s been quiet during the times I have come (week mornings)
Sometimes it takes awhile to get in since there is one employee working the window.

Ok, I have been silent for a while because well I wasn’t sure if I should write a review. Anyways, let me start off saying that this place deserves a negative 100. The employees are great but their management SUCKS! And on top of that you’re paying up to 188 a MONTH! For what? A crappy gym, a hot top that breaks down, and mats that are not even. Sandy, the «office manager» (sure doesn’t act like it) does NOT even help with billing like it says on our statements. It says «for any billing questions billing hours are 8−3» I call BS. Why? Well a while back I tried calling to speak to Sandy specifically because she could help me with my billing question BUT she transfers me back to her front desk person! Why even put «billing hours» if I will not be helped by a manager! Also, they had a really good staff before not saying the new people are bad but this club had an awesome team. If you met Judy, Isabel, Kathleen, Matt, Gabe and John Arthur. then you know what I’m talking about. This place isn’t even clean. Yeah, I know it’s in the woods but they gym is not clean, the bathroom smells and the showers are horrible. Oh, and the funny thing about this place is that they kept the pool closed around last year and was told the place would be upgraded. And what exactly was upgraded? The pool lines??? Stupid. Anyways, before joining this club think twice. This place should be shut down.

It’s disappointing to write this after I just plopped down $ 300 for my membership fee and $ 188 per month for what I’m not entirely sure.
I applied for a family membership for my husband and I, my son who is 18 and his long time best friend who will be living with us since his parents are divorcing and he’s having to leave college. Both kids are under 24, so we listed them as children in our home. (We thought about rejoining Ballys but unfortunately 24 hr fitness bought them out.)
Then I get a letter from the manager instructing us to show proof of household (because we have different last names?) and that the family friend who will be living with us is excluded because we don’t have adoption papers?! He’s 19. Really? Yes! He must for pay his own $ 500 for membership and $ 188 per month even though he will be living in our home! Or pay $ 12 as a guest, and even if he pays as a guest he can’t use the crappy gym which was the whole point of walking down the street to work out!
I called Sandy and of course she didn’t have the courage to call and speak to me. She held my application as not «approved» until my husband could provide proof he lived there. (Btw we were members nearly 10 years ago).
When our entire household was not approved I asked for a refund. Suddenly our application was approved with the exclusion of our other household member because we again didn’t show proof he was adopted! Even though I told her specifically we wanted to cancel if this member was not included. That’s not really a resolution — just greed.
Here we were concerned about going to 24 hr fitness. We can apparently be treated like crap in an «exclusive» club right in our own backyard.
Regrets. Yeah I can name a few
I have tried to resolve this by going down to speak to another staff member (sandy isn’t around much nor does she return phone calls just issues directives apparently). So I’m here just to warn people like others here that customer service is non existent. Don’t bother. Really. Find another club.

I love free coffee.
I love going to a gym where there is only 5 other people there at any given time of day
The staff is friendly and personable
This is what is not so lovable:
1.The back of the gym gets so hot that condensation is building up in between the double pane windows by the treadmills and elliptical machines. Its caused from being overheated and peoples sweat. Gross
2. The fans are covered in black dust in the gym because the staff fails to clean the place
3. The men’s bathroom wreaks of sewage and stink — which is why I don’t shower there anymore or use the sauna/​steam room
4. The dumbbells are so dirty that they have left black marks on my shirts multiple times when doing chest workouts (not very attractive when your walking around with black marks on your chest on a bright colored shirt).
5. Your equipment is old and outdated. So is the actual gym room itself
6. The part you chose to repair in the whole place is the pool. The pool did not need any repairs. it was fine. What needs urgent repair and new machinery is the actual gym. The tethered bench press and squat machine is set up backwards. it needs to be turned around the right way
7. There is no actual bench press in the gym.
8. The gym is very small, to where in most places you have to turn to the side when walking past someone.
This place could be something like a club sport, but the maintenance and cleaning of the gym is terrible, the equipment is old, dirty, rusted and outdated. The fans and parts of the wall are covered in thick black dust.
If you put a better and more modern gym/​weight room/​cardio room area in this business your overall income and business will skyrocket. If your the owner and your reading this review: learn to fail fast. Pay attention to detail

I would give it a zero*if that were option! Please DONT take Your children to this place for lessons! Not only do they have POOR customer service (you cannot find anyone to help you when you around nor show you where to go to start lesson or how to find the instructor or anything they make you walk around asking multiple people for help) they also do not put your child in a appropriate swim skill level. They put them in whatever class they have available in order to get your money. It is quite sad and a waste of your time & money. Please look for another swim school because this is not the place to go. And apparently they also seem to be extremely racist to minorities. A very uncomfortable place to be in general :(

I’ve been MEMBER of BOV quite a few years. Aqua classes 5 days a week are my salvation. The regular group is fun and devoted. This club has something for everyone. AND it’s rarely crowded. The joy I witness as Dad’s toss their kids up in the air in the pool is great. Everything is immaculate. Towels are large enough to wrap around, Tea, Coffee, Ice, etc available free., Did I mention how clean everything is? Lots of money is put back each year into improvements and safety. There are tons of classes offered, no charge. An all around good deal. Sandy Getsonian

What a scam! Membership fees were $ 0 all summer and are now $ 200 — but to sell your membership, you have to pay a $ 400 transfer fee to the club! Some suckers paid $ 1500 for their memberships a year ago. Who’s left after months of free memberships to pay you even the $ 400 to cover the transfer fee when they could buy their own for $ 200? The owners are psycho as you can see by the lists of rules and other communications like the contract, newsletters, and dozens of signs posted telling you what not to do. Closing time is advertised as 9:30pm but, if you can understand the 500+ word treatise posted, they want you out of the parking lot no later than 9:15pm. Trying to schedule a party there is impossible and the guest fees are outrageous.
Facilities are bad! The plastic flooring is painful to walk on and just hides any dirt or mold. They have amenities like a slide and water spout that they rarely put out for use. The towels are small and strictly limited. The exercise equipment is outdated and the gym area gets crowded. The small hot tub is frequented by campers who will stay an hour or more. The tent-​like structure for classes booms sound all over the club. The toilets in the women’s locker room are frequently dirty and the lockers are old and rusty. Yet they have a state-​of-​the-​art video surveillance system — creepy!
If you want to put your membership on hold, it’s a minimum of 5 months during which you must pay 25% dues. This provision is supposed to be confidential — why?
Do yourself a favor and keep looking before getting into the pool with these folks. What a shame… Bay-​o-​vista used to be a highlight of San Leandro!

My nephew has been coming here for Tennis and Swim lessons. Teachers are great and the weather is usually pretty good too! Put it in your list for your kids!

I was a member of this club for a very long time. Despite my misgivings about the value, the mgmt., and the facility, I stayed because I had many friends there that I enjoyed seeing. However, my suspicions about Mark, the mgr. being greedy, unethical and uncaring about members was validated by my meeting with him when giving up my membership. I won’t bore you with the details.
Review:
2 Stars for having a great lap pool and some good staff.
Detractions –Way overpriced for a somewhat grungy facility and equipment which is old and in disrepair. Management which pays much more attention to its bank balance than it’s members.

This is a great swim and tennis club. My family has belonged to the club for over a decade, and the quality of the club has only improved in that time.
The lap pool is large, clean and well-​maintained, as is the heated kiddie pool (a large pool ranging from around 2 to ~3 feet, with a «dolphin» attached to the clubhouse that occasionally sprays water on delighted children below). There are lifeguards seasonally, and when the kiddie pool is open, and they seem to be attentive. While the size of the crowd varies based on time of day/​weather, I’ve never had to wait very long for a lane to open up. Another feature I enjoy is the hot tub, which fits around 6 – 8 adults – I really appreciate that it is adult-​only.
There are a few tennis courts, with very active players of varying levels to play with. There’s also a basketball court, and ping pong.
The locker rooms are always clean, with fresh towels available. There’s a swimsuit dryer, hair dryers and sauna available, with lockers available to rent for a yearly fee. I wish they had shampoo and conditioner in the showers in addition to the soap currently there.
The gym is small and pretty basic, but the machines are well-​maintained and it is kept clean. In addition to a variety of weight machines there are treadmills, bikes, elliptical machines and stairclimbers.
There’s fresh coffee and tea available all day, and a shady lounge area alongside the pool, perfect for visiting with friends. There are also gas grills and picnic tables, with a refrigerator for cookouts.
The exercise classes are dynamic and friendly, great for a wide range of interests and abilities. Zumba is wonderful!
The staff is eager to help and warm, constantly busy tidying and running the club and quick with a smile. At the times I am there, the other members seem to be mostly people in their 30s with young children, or retired elderly people with not a lot of members in between, or younger than 30. Everyone is friendly enough, usually busy with their own workout or children, although eager to chat in the hot tub.

My husband and I came by one late afternoon interested in joining Bay-​O-​Vista. For the life of us, we could not find anyone to help us. We stood by the pool area, reading the membership info hoping an attendant would notice. I even made eye contact and nothing. My husband said we didn’t belong because we were young and Asian. I beg to differ, anyway… We tried to tour the facility ourselves because no one seemed to notice. After seeing how outdated everything look, we walked away. Perhaps if someone came to talk to us, we would have joined, who knows? One star for the lack of service and the look of the facility. I can’t rate anything else.

We’ve been members of Bay-​O-​Vista for couple of years now. None of us plays tennis, so mainly I take exercise classes and my son goes swimming for fun, not really exercise. For those purposes, the Club is fine.
Dallis, Jodie, and the other exercise instructors who work there are very knowledgeable, friendly, and encouraging. The classes are fun. There are a lot of nice women who take the classes. The pool is beautiful. Because that’s what we use the Club for, we are happy with our admittedly rather expensive membership.
I do wish management would keep the website up-​to-​date. That would be helpful. I only go to the Club on weekends, so I am not around to get mid-​week announcements or see the signs management likes to post (as other reviewers have mentioned). Therefore, on a day like today (Thanksgiving) I would like to be able to go on-​line and find out if the Club is open AT ALL today, which I doubt – but am not sure. I also have noted that for the whole time we have been members, the on-​line class schedule has listed several classes as occurring at 4, 5, or 6 a.m., when I know these classes are actually taking place in the p.m. Management just doesn’t make it a priority to maintain the site. Making the site more accurate and user-​friendly would help members like me keep up with what’s going on.

Being a new mom to young children I was not experienced at evaluating gym childcare when I joined Bay-​O-​Vista. I have since then learned there is much more out there in terms of options, especially the kind of money that one would spend here.
As a mother who utilized the childcare there, the problems as I see it are as follows:
1. There’s only one caregiver in the childcare room, and no reasonable cap on the number of children allowed to be there. Over the summer, there has been more than a few time that over 18 kids (that I have witnessed) of all varying ages in that one room. The babysitter there is really nice to the kids and does her best, but not even Mary Poppins can safely take care of 18 kids all by herself. I have asked for a policy on this and was told that it doesn’t happen all the time even though I have seen it quite a few times over the summer months. I asked for a policy on the childcare but was not able to get one. Most other gym childcare out there have better staff to children ratio.
2. The door leads out to a flight of stairs can be easily opened by a toddler, and is often open. The room is not well sectioned off or childproof, making it difficult to keep things age appropriate. The setup is not too great for kids under age 4 or if you have active children who don’t enjoy hanging out in front of the TV. When there are a lot of kids, chaos is multiplied. If kids act out repeatedly in this situation (e.g. rough on furniture or hits sibling), the management solution is to put the child on a 90-​day suspension, which may be arbitrarily set since there is no policy written. I have since found out that most other gym childcare has a much shorter suspension period and do more to work with the parents.
3. As there is no bathroom close to the club room where the childcare is, it certainly is quite an inconvenience if anyone, kids or babysitter, needs to use the bathroom. I asked how this is dealt with and it was explained to me that usually if someone needs to go to the bathroom, the babysitter will call down to the office to have someone substitute. This solution is less than ideal and causes the transition to take more time depending on the availability of the staff to answer the phone and then make their way up to the room. Kids don’t always have the best control over their bathroom functions so this is a big problem if you have kids who are in the potty training age. Management’s solution is that there is one single portable potty available there in the childcare room but it is often filthy and not cleaned off. Most other gym childcare places actually have kid-​sized toilets and changing tables available in the childcare area, which BOV does not.
4. They changed the babysitters to be staff instead of paying free membership to part-​time moms which is a nice move, but there is still no guidelines or policy for the childcare club room like most other gyms who have childcare, so management can act arbitrarily and does. Our child was put on this 90-​day suspension and a harsh and nasty letter written to us by the owner, who would not be reached when we attempted to respond. We showed the letter to our kid’s preschool teachers and they were shocked by their description as we are. We have since then used another gym child care and have not experienced similar problems.
I feel really bad for the people that work at Bay-​O-​Vista because in our experience the owner runs this place unprofessionally, is hostile toward his members, and abusive toward his employees. There are glaring problems with management that even a good staff cannot correct and members who wish to make suggestions should do so anonymously or not at all as customer service is not their priority or strong suit. This is the biggest reason that we are no longer members there after 14 months and in good conscience did not even attempt to sell our membership to recoup our losses on the large initiation fee.
Our refund was done quite unprofessionally as well and there is no itemization with our refund check. We have requested a statement and left several voice messages for it in the past 3 weeks as well but all were ignored. When I am able to get hold of someone on the phone I was told that they cannot see my record on the computer since my membership has ended and it must be escalated to someone else but no one ever gets back to me. Billing has never been their strong suit as we have had to call them on mistakes before. I don’t know if this is an issue with their computer system but not returning messages is probably a management issue.

Bay-​O-​Vista is great for families or members who are looking to join a community for many years to come. As others have mentioned, the initial membership fee, which for my family was over $ 1,000, and the monthly fees are expensive if you aren’t taking advantage of the club or frequenting it enough. However, what I find true at Bay-​O-​Vista is that members who go, go a lot. People LOVE it.
During the daytimes M-​F, the club is mostly older men and women. It is empty and relaxed. This is when I find myself there the most. Weekday nights are mostly parents without their kids. Adults are hanging out in the hot tub/​spa or getting their workouts in. Weekends, though, are a very different story. Weekends are all families. Especially during the summer, weekends are packed with parents and children, BBQ-​ing and hanging out. I never go on weekends because I definitely do not fit in then.
In terms of demographics, the club is mostly upper/​middle class, heterosexual, Caucasian families or adults. There are some Asian families and a few African-​American families, too, but mostly Caucasian. I can see how this would be a turn off for certain new members. I am not sure how bad the gossip that other reviews speak of is because I am not involved in it, but I can definitely notice it. If social status or structure is an issue, this club may not be the best fit; however, for someone like me, who doesn’t care about gossip and just wants clean and empty facilities during the daytimes, Bay-​O-​Vista is great. All of my family members love it, too. At least two people in my family will be there a day.
I love the sauna inside the locker room. I also love the cleanliness of the lockers rooms, showers, pool, spa, and gym. The gym is definitely lacking in terms of equipment. It is a small gym made up of approximately 4 treadmills, 3 ellipticals, 4 bikes, and 10 – 15 machines. A gym junkie would laugh at this gym, but for most people it is enough.
There is always complimentary tea and coffee, although with only coffee-​mate. Regular milk or half and half would be nice. There is a snack and soda vending machine, and sometimes in the summer they sell icy’s.
There are also classes, tennis courts, basketball courts, massages ($) and personal fitness instructors. I cannot comment on any of these aforementioned amenities, but I will say tennis is very very popular here.
Overall, I have many good things to say about Bay-​O-​Vista. Of course, there are many areas that need improvement, however, in my experience I would have to give it 4 stars. I keep coming back, again and again. Everytime I leave, I feel refreshed and great.
I would recommend checking the place out, especially at the times you imagine yourself coming, and seeing for yourself whether or not you like it.

Great place for families to unwind! Has BBQ grills, children’s pool, lots of tennis courts, steam and sauna, and towel service. Great setting in the San Leandro hills. A little dated looking, but well maintained.
They are definitely aggressive about closing the kids pool when the slightest drop of pee slips away from your kid. Maybe it’s just California being overly hyper safe. That’s probably my only real issue with the place– the kids’ pool is frequently closed for our «safety».

The best thing about this place is the clean clean clean pools that they have, my daughters are always happy and grateful when they come here, they are so fortunate to have this opportunity to come here and swim. I remember when I was a kid and I wanted to go swimming, I had to sneak into Lake Merritt (just kidding)
They have added a nice café to the club and also have rubber mats all around the walking area and next to the pools to avoid slipping from kids or adults. The service is always great here and the fees are reasonable. There is never a price to happiness and it is so worth it to see your kids happy and at the same time you feel comfortable with the staff that is always so helpful and polite.