Palm Springs Travel Guide
Tags: Hotel Spas / Palm Springs Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
The New Spa at The Parker Palm Springs Believes in a Good Stiff Drink

Heading down to the Parker Palm Springs for a relaxing weekend in the desert? It turns out there's more to do there than just lay by the pool and sip on cocktails. The hotel has just finished renovating their Palm Springs Yacht Club spa (PSYC) and it's not exactly what you would expect. Take a look at the spa's mission statement:
We believe in the American country club experience: mixed doubles, a long steam, and a stiff cocktail.
And indeed the new spa space makes access to a cocktail just as important as access to a heavy-handed masseuse.
The spa has created a new lounge with dark leather chairs, coffee tables and lit by candlelight with real treats available to guests (not a bowl of apples, they promise) and even shots of whiskey will be passed around. Well, that will certainly bring a "glow" to your face fast.
Tags: Themed Hotel Rooms / Ace Hotels / Palm Springs Hotel / Fashion Hotels / → All Tags
Get Into Levi Strauss' Pants At Ace Hotel Palm Springs' Suite 501
Need an outfit to compliment your new Ace Hotel Palm Springs sneakers? Levi Strauss has partnered up with the desert property to transform one of the hotel's rooms into Suite 501, an environment that evokes the Levi's denim-filled lifestyle.
According to the LA Times, the result is a space with a lived-in, rustic look:
The room featured a denim upholstered headboard, Levi’s pillowcases and artwork from Levi’s most recent campaign, shot by Ryan McGinley. The Walt Whitman poem “Go Forth,” the focus of Levi's recent marketing campaign, is painted on a denim tapestry. The curated ephemera vibe matches the hotel's rustic chic campground aesthetic; canvas covered walls, salvaged furniture, Native America throws and portable record player in every suite.
The stay in the suite, in which case we hope you love Levi's, guests can request the Suite 501 at the Ace Hotel Palm Springs. We're going to guess that it's tagged with nightly standard suite prices, which run between $209 - $369. It's just too bad that it doesn't come with a closet full of Levi's clothing; we love not having to worry about dirty laundry.
[Photo: LA Times/Levi Strauss]
Tags: Hotel Deaths / Hotel Pools / Ace Hotels / Alex Calderwood / Palm Springs Hotels / → All Tags
After Drowning Death, The Ace Hotel Will No Longer Keep Pool Open All Night

The Ace Hotel Palm Springs, which just opened in February, was hoping to have an all-summer long party with their regular weekend pool festivities but sadly, tragedy struck the hotel last weekend.
A 22-year-old man was found dead in the hotel's pool early Sunday morning.
Redlands resident Kenneth Crawford was a friend of two guests staying at the popular Palm Springs hotel, according to management.
Police investigating Crawford's drowning learned he was among a group of friends that had gone out drinking earlier in the hours prior to the incident, according to Palm Springs Police Sergeant Mitch Spike.
The group had not been drinking at the hotel, Ace owner and manager Alex Calderwood said Monday.
Tags: Hotel Packages / Hotel Pools / Ace Hotels / → All Tags
Ace Palm Springs to Host Arts and Crafts Parties with Potato Prints

In case you didn’t notice, it’s practically mid-July already! Which means if you’re not spending your weekends relaxing poolside and trying your hand at summer camp-style crafts, you might as well chalk up summer ’09 as a waste.
OK, so maybe that’s a tad overly dramatic. Our point is: Pools plus craftytime equals awesome (maybe not as amazing as boozy sno-cones, but still pretty great). Don’t believe us? Check out The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs this weekend. July 11th and 12th, the Ace is hosting an “all-inclusive art making weekend” at the hotel’s Swim Club, hosted by L.A. artists Karen Kimmel and Apple Via.
Arts & Crafts will run poolside from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., including handmade projects that include cardboard looms, macramé, mosaics, potato prints, potholders, sprouted gardens, stencils, and more.
Package bookers can craft to their heart’s content, plus enjoy family-style breakfast and a hotel room for two nights. Rates start at $557 for the two-day package; book using code ARTACE 09. Ten percent of proceeds benefit Children in the Arts.
Tags: Girlfriend Getaways / Hotel Packages / Palm Springs Hotels / → All Tags
Chicks Who Likes Yoga and Fruity Drinks Can Be 'Parker Princesses'

The firepit: gossip and s'mores central.
We will never stop making fun of these silly girlfriend getaway hotel packages. In fact, we'd like to take this opportunity to encourage Sarah Haskins, the brilliantly funny lady behind the hilarious Target Women videos, to do a "Target Women" segment on hotel packages. That is, make fun of those silly girlfriend getaway packagey-things that are made up of what some hotel believes will appeal to women (gossip magazines! Manicures! Shopping!)
Um, that's not to say we wouldn't secretly go and book these packages ourselves if they happened to appeal to us. What? Some of us like manicures and Us Weekly. Whatever.
So, here's another from the vast and varied collection of girly getaway packages: The Parker Palm Springs encourages you to leave the dudes at home and hit up the famous-from-TV resort. That is, if you're willing to call yourself a "Parker Princess."
Tags: Hotel Parties / Ace Hotels / Hotel Deals / Hotel Packages / → All Tags
Ace Palm Springs Dubs Their Pool Party 'Sundays at the Short Bus'
The recently opened Ace Palm Springs has already partied it up for Coachella, and now it’s inviting you to spend "Sundays at the Short Bus."
That’s what they’re calling their new Sunday afternoon pool parties, replete with homemade margaritas, alcoholic sno cones, food from the hotel’s Kings Highway restaurant, and groovy DJ spins and indie bands. There's a deal that goes along with the party that includes 20% off room rates and 15% off spa treatments when you stay Sunday, Monday and/or Tuesday nights.
If you want to book, go to their reservation site or call (760) 325-9900, and be sure you enter the Promo Code SHORT20. With just a preliminary search, we found an “Ace Double” room for just $89 next week!
You might have to brave soaring temperatures that would make the surface of the sun seem temperate, but hey, at least you can drink and dance while you work on your tan. And try to keep the tacky "short bus" jokes to a minimum.
Tags: Hotel Pools / Hotel Parties / Hotel News / Ace Hotels / Palm Springs Hotels / → All Tags
Enjoy Booze Sno-Cones and DJ Sets All Summer at Ace Palm Springs
With all the delays and sadness surrounding its allegedly-finally-open NYC sibling, it was easy to forget how utterly enchanted we were by the scene at Ace Palm Springs during Coachella this year. Most notably, we were quite dazzled by the booze sno-cones by the pool. So imagine our sweet, sweet surprise when we were reminded that the party continues all summer long on Sunday afternoons, with food, DJs, booze sno-cones for all likely a slightly classier and accessible affair than, say, those pool parties thrown by the other hotels in the country on Sundays (*cough*Hard Rock*cough*).
Every Sunday afternoon, the Ace will be hosting a pool party from 2-7 pm with live shows, fresh drinks, and food. Throughout the summer, the resident DJ (Oscar Sanin) with be teaming up with different guest DJ's each week. The sched so far:
· May 24: Chris Douridas, former music director of KCRW and host of the Santa Monica station's Morning Becomes Eclectic show, joins DJ Beyonda, host of Portland, Ore.'s most popular soul night and one of the city's favorite DJs
· May 31: Michael Antonia, eclectic DJ of LA's Flashdance
· June 7: DJ Rescue, aka Zia McCabe - the Dandy Warhols' keyboard player and DJ on WK Radio
If you want to make a whole weekend out of it, you can stay overnight on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday and get 20% off standard rooms rates (which are not so bad anyway; they start at $89) and 15% off spa treatments; just use code SHORT20 when booking.
Tags: 100 or Less / Palm Springs Hotels / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
$99 Summer Deal at The Swanky Riviera Palm Springs
Summer in Palm Springs can make you feel like you're vacationing on the surface of the sun, but if you're willing to take a little heat, you can find some amazing desert deals like a room at the Riviera Resort and Spa for $99. That's an even smaller number than the readout on the thermometer during the hot months.
We read the small print for you on this offer, and it turns out that this rate is good for a weekday stay and can only be applied to one of the five "Riviera King" rooms at the resort. If those are taken, there are an additional three "Classic" rooms that are book-able for $119. So yeah, eight special rooms out of a total of 406. That's not much, but it's better than none at all.
Tags: Coachella Hotels / Palm Springs Hotels / Ace Hotels / → All Tags
Ace Hotel Palm Springs Partied With Booze Sno-Cones for Coachella
Aw, did you miss out on Coachella? Or maybe you did make it out to the middle of nowhere for the music festival, but found yourself stuck in a less trendy hotel than the Ace Hotel & Swim Club. Either way, we've got the scoop on what went down over last weekend at Ace Hotels' Palm Springs property: a pop-up shop, ping pong and poolside music, of course.
Partnering with Levi's to transform a space at the Ace into a "Desert Gold" boutique, which featured limited edition Ace x Levi's T-shirts as well as Coachella must-haves like turquoise skinny jeans and vinyl records, the hotel became a hotspot for hipsterdom. As if this weren't enough, they livened up the pool area by hosting live bands and revealing the new Sonic Youth album, "The Eternal," on Saturday, all the while serving up booze sno-cones and special "morning cocktails."
Tags: Ace Hotels / Hotel Swag / Palm Springs Hotels / Designer Uniforms / → All Tags
Get Your Desert Kicks From The Ace Hotel Palm Springs
It's no longer enough for a hotel to have its loyalty card in your wallet or a branded robe in your closet; the newest trend seems to be hotels claiming space on on your feet through shoe collaborations. Standard Hotels have had branded flip flops in their mini bars for lord knows how long, W Hotels literally stepped up in 2007 with their "Mongolian Shoe BBQ" Puma collaboration, and The Hotel on Rivington continues to outfit their staff in the latest kicks. So who's next to join the ranks of hotels with trendy togs? It's the Ace Hotel Palm Springs, of course!
Available July 1, but up for pre-order now, the $85 set of shoes and a tote are a partnership between the hotel, Generic Surplus and Arkitip Magazine, the periodical which brought us the Andre Balazs feature earlier this year. In addition to awesome new material, it sounds as if the hotel staff will be sporting them along with fans of the Ace, says Arkitip: "We developed a new mesh material that's breathable for the desert heat, quick-drying and non-slip for the pool side servers." Take that, Standard flip flops!
Put your own Ace Hotel Palm Springs sneaks on reserve now at Arkitip.
[Image: Hypebeast via Arkitip]
Tags: Hotel Deals / Palm Springs Hotels / → All Tags
The Colony Palms at $99 For a Mid-Week Getaway


At only $99 a room on weeknights now through May 31, you can live it up Old Hollywood-style for Depression-era prices at The Colony Palms. The offer is good for stays Sunday-Thursday nights, which is a pretty great deal considering the cheapest mid-week rate we could find in April was about $229.
Tags: Reader Reviews / Ace Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Remember, The Ace Palm Springs is Still In Soft-Opening Mode
Every so often we feature a hotel review from one of our readers that we feel should be shared with the rest of you dear hotel guests. These reviews are highlighted because they are timely, about cool hotels in cool places and are relatively level-headed. Think you can submit one just like this? Send it in.
Today's review comes from Reader FnkyKt who commented on the Ace Hotel Palm Springs opening story that we did the other week. Her review is a reminder to us all that the Ace PS is still working out the opening kinks. Enjoy.

As a PR professional in the travel/hospitality industry, I am always eager to try new hotels and enjoy taking advantage of discounted rates in the initial launch phase of a new property. Having seen several recent articles promoting the opening of the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, my girlfriends and I chose Ace anticipating the hotel was in full-swing. It most certainly is not. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered any expectations of what most people consider to be normal hotel procedures and accommodations are not part of Ace's vision.

