Where to stay when you leave.
5/13/2008 at 4:07 PM
Tags: Desert Hot Springs Hotel, Boutique Hotels, Tablet Hotels
Funny thing about the Hope Springs Resort: Reviewers can't stop fawning over how this 10-room boutique property in Desert Hot Springs, CA, lacks pretension--but not many can make that proclamation without coming off as pretentious themselves.
To wit:
"This is not Palm Springs, thank heavens, and though there are plenty of restaurants nearby ... there isn't much to do at night unless you want to drive into town, as it were, or go to bed early. The Hope Springs guest understands this; the clientele seems self-selecting that way, quieter than the party animals you will find in PS."
Uh-huh.
MORE...
by jennm
5/02/2006 at 4:31 PM
Tags: Hotel Hell, Anti-View
Blogger PiñaBlog recently spent the night in Desert Hot Springs (near Palm Springs) where he had a blog worthy hotel experience. When he checked into La Toscana, he was greeted with more disdain than joy--never a good start.
Searching for answers to his unpleasant greeting, he checked into his room, glanced out his window, through a net, at the view, and was becoming more unsure about his hotel choice. Next, he unpacked his bags, got online, and read plenty of terrible reviews about his new hotel. Ouch.
The next day, he woke up and tried to make the best of it by heading to the hotel pool. He spent his day poolside with some sort of "tropical model girlfriend" who suffered from what can only be described as a mild case of desert Tourette's. Here is part of his hotel review, the rest is on his blog:
The La Toscana Resort and Spa features some lovely faux rock decorations and the lobby resembles the beginning of a Disneyland ride. The folks behind the desk weren't exactly rude, but they weren't exactly helpful or excited to see us either. When we told the woman we had reservations, she typed some things into the computer and said, "Ok... you get... what's left." She then attempted to give us the impression that she was only joking.
We found our room, showered, got unpacked, read terrible reviews of our hotel on the Internet, and headed out for dinner.
The pool area was inhabited by a classy group of people, including many of our foreign friends. Among them was also a body-builder-looking man with his tropical model girlfriend. On the other side of the pool was a couple of women who seemed to frequent the La Toscana Resort and Spa. One of them dipped into the pool while I was the only one in the water. As I turned around she was shooting backwards, straight towards me. She stopped a few feet away, caught her breath, and yelled, "I've got to stop smoking so much marijuana!" At various intervals throughout the afternoon she yelled single words, such as, "Pot!" and "Asthma!" I should also mention the phrase, "I Burnt My Boob!"
Maybe next time PiñaBlog will check the web for hotel reviews before he checks in; however, then he wouldn't have a series of once in a lifetime hotel experiences.
[image via corypina/Flickr]
Related Stories:
· Vacation: Oakhurst to Desert Hot Springs [PiñaBlog]
· La Tosca reviews [TripAdvisor]
by markj
7/15/2005 at 9:22 AM
Tags: Hotels
Blogger Womantraveler recently won a two-night stay at the Miracle Springs Resort & Spa in Desert Hot Springs, California and her prize stay took place this past week.
Yes, of course, the terms of victory stated that Womantraveler would have to endure 100+ desert heat, as her prize could only be redeemed during low season.
So when she dared to venture outside the air conditioning of her room what did she think of the place?
At a closer look, I would not normally call Miracle Springs a "resort." But clearly that's a relative term (after all, there are RV "resorts"). I would qualify it as a budget family motel (110 rooms) with 7 natural hot mineral water pools -- and a high-quality spa.
What we want to know is...what about the roaches? Sure this place has pretty brochureware photos (see above right), but we recently read a Miracle Springs Resort & Spa guest story involving roaches:
MORE...
by markj
0 Comments - Add Yours
