Christmas 2019: Palm Springs Summary

Highlights

• Covered Wagon Tour
• Palm Springs Air Museum
• Downtown retail and dining
• Amazing views of palm trees and snow topped mountains

Lowlights

• JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort and Spa

Takeaways

We really enjoyed Palm Springs and the surrounding area. There was a lot to do. The covered wagon tour was a truly unique experience that we won’t soon forget. The Air Museum had a lot of educational and unique exhibits done in a way to keep the interest of young and old. The downtown area was a great place to window shop and find a place to eat.

As much as she enjoyed Palm Springs, we despised the hotel we stayed in. It was a disappointment from start to finish. While from a high level we had “a safe place to sleep for the night” and we didn’t have anything truly awful happen to us, this stay was more akin to death by a thousand cuts with disappointment and friction at seemingly every turn.

From the poor workmanship of the room to the chaos and disorganization at the front desk, to the lackluster housekeeping service to the inflated resort fee that didn’t offer things you would assume should be included, the disappointments just kept coming. We were on a paid rate as well, so it wasn’t like we were freeloading a room away from someone else.

The backdrop of the hotel was beautiful and breathtaking. The facilities had a lot of potentials. The problems aren’t necessarily structural but a lack of customer focus.

The hotel’s repose to our concerns and disappointment have also been lackluster. We’ve get to get anything other than a canned response to the issues we voiced midway through our stay. We still haven’t received the bonus points they promised as part of the pitiful compensation they promised on checkout.

As Marriott elites, my wife and I stayed a combined 95 nights at Marriott hotels last year, most of which were paid nights rather than reward nights. Our experience at this resort is not representative of those stays. Nearly every other resort we’ve stayed at in the last two years we’ve had a fantastic time.

At the same time, I’m looking to build up Hyatt status in 2020, so this stay leaving a bad taste in my mouth incentivized me to question my loyalty to Marriott going forward. We still have almost 20 nights booked for 2020 at Marriott already, but Hyatt will be playing a more significant role in our future travel.