We were excited to spend our Christmas in Palm Springs. This was our big splash on our holiday. The location & grounds of the hotel are great & we made the most of them. It is great to see this property trying to retain its heritage. All 3 pools & gardens are well looked after. It has the Palm Springs classic feel that we expected. The staff are welcoming and get you settled straight away, they were effective and pleasant.
Unfortunately, I can't say much about the rest.
The room. We booked a one bedroom suite (303) and I was surprised on entering the state of the entry and living area. It was bare, furniture broken & damaged and it hadn't been cleaned properly - a room key from a previous guest and ticket from an event. No dining table. Exposed wires, some chipboard under the fridge to keep the mini bar balanced. A small couch and their signature yellow chairs stained and damaged. In the guest bathroom no towels, no hangers or bathrobes in the bedroom ensuite. It generally it felt shabby. The only thing I can say that impressed was the bedroom and it's linen (we slept well) and the iPad that replaces all the traditional printed material that litters hotel rooms.
Dinner: decided to settle in for the night. Requested a wine menu and waited. Ended having to go back inside to be served. We were asked 3 times by different people if we would like to eat. When we did say “ready" they wanted to know if we were hotel guests. Took forever to seat us. We asked for outside which was free but given inside. Ordered our food & waited 35 minutes while everyone around us got served. Waiter applogised and eventually it came. I gather they forgot our order. We ate, signed & left. I then went and cancelled our reservation for Christmas dinner. We decided to go somewhere else.
My advice is don't stay in room 303 maybe book a bungalow or a studio. For the price I'm a little surprised on finer touches you'd expect at a similar hotel. I imagine in its earlier years it was very polished but I'm generally left feeling underwhelmed and invisible from this experience. Maybe I set my expectations too high too?