A Palm Springs Spa Vacation Resort
Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, California
Luxury hotels need renovations to update their accommodations. The Marriott in the Palm Springs area has a new lobby and spa; the spa is one of the best in the desert.
When an already-lovely resort hotel completes a renovation, the folks in charge want to get the word out. Who is Luxury Travel to say no? An upscale vacation in the Palm Springs area is usually first-class all the way. This proved no exception: The Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort & Spa, in Palm Desert, has done a 5-star job with its brand new lobby floor and destination spa. A romantic or family vacation in Palm Springs, California, can't get much better than one at this Marriott.
The Resort Spa
The recently renovated spa is the real standout here. The hotel resort spa will become a destination unto itself - the sprawling size of the Desert Springs JW Marriott Spa layout is planned so that it still manages to feel personal and private; while it's large enough to guarantee any hotel guest a deluxe treatment or massage, the hushed, warm hallways, subtle whiffs of aromatherapy, and private rooms instantly relax customers. The lighting, just dim enough, factor into the intimate, personal feeling here too. This deluxe spa was honestly worth every penny the resort put into it. The special spa room for ayurvedic treatments, and the couple's Revive Suite, are especially pampering and luxurious. It's a good thing that there are full- and half-day special services; Luxury Travel could have stayed in the spa all day.
The Resort Lobby
The lobby was also just renovated. It sounds silly to make a big deal of this, until a Palm Springs visitor to the luxury resort sees exactly what this means; the lobby and first floor are sprawling and HUGE. During the day, parrots entertain guests (notes on the cages denote their names and warn about the nippy ones). At night, these lively, colorful birds are either covered or moved - in any case, they're quiet and don't disturb sleeping guests of the desert resort. There's a lively bar, and a surprisingly good sushi bar on this hotel lobby, as well. Luxury Travel frankly didn't expect a ground-floor sushi bar to deliver as well as this one did; a nice drink, a couple orders of tuna sashimi, and a hotel guest can feel like she's having the vacation of her life. To top it off, there is an on-site Starbucks across from the front desk. This helps certain coffee junkies start the day off right!
The Resort Hotel Rooms and Suites
There are 833 rooms here, and 51 suites. As with most Marriotts, the lobby and grounds are more impressive than the actual rooms. The hotel rooms at this desert resort are no different; if a guest needs to have enough room to really stretch out while on vacation, it's best to reserve a suite. The decor is bland, and the bedding has nothing of note. Now, the lobby and spa were just renovated, as previously noted. Hopefully the rooms and suites are next in line for an update.
The Resort Vacation Club
En route to the hotel restaurant area of the Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, guests will pass a rather impressive looking table-and-television setup. Perhaps a friendly staffer will offer said guests a coupon for a free tall drip coffee at the hotel Starbucks - take it! It's alternatively worth a dollar off any other Starbucks drink, and comes with no strings attached. What the friendly staffer is actually there for, however, is to try to convince guests of the resort to come listen to a sales pitch about villa time shares. A quick "no, thanks" is all it takes - these are not hard sales approaches, and the pitches were not at all obnoxious, overbearing, or in one's face (as time share pitches are at The Atlantis).
The Hotel Restaurants
There are a few restaurants here at the Desert Springs JW Marriott in Palm Desert; at least one should be great for any type of Palm Springs vacation. Family dining seems best at the Lake View restaurant; Luxury Travel saw many happy children eating the usual kiddie fare, and the adults were enjoying themselves, too. The other hotel restaurants are the Mikado, Tuscany, Sea Grille and there's a nightclub, Costas. Of these, Tuscany is the most romantic - the honeymoon crowd would enjoy it here. The Mikado restaurant is a Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar - think of a toned-down, classy Benihanas. The Sea Grille, which obviously features seafood, is the least child-friendly of the bunch, and the Martini Bar at the Sea Grille helps complete the image of a hotel restaurant more appropriate for adults. Luxury Travel liked the Lake View best for family vacations, of course, but the Tuscany was really wonderful itself.
The Golf at the Resort
Every self-respecting luxury resort in the Greater Palm Springs area has either a championship golf course, or rights to an adjacent golf country club. The Desert Springs JW Marriott fulfills this nicely with the Palm Desert Golf Courses. The two courses, dubbed the "Palm" and "Valley," were designed by golf course architect Ted Robinson to make good use of the water features, with reasonable elevation changes - nothing too challenging here. Also with the resort are the Greens at Desert Springs: It's a full 18-hole putting golf course, and great for children and beginning golfers. This is something like miniature golf, albeit without the windmills and scary clowns.
Resort Grounds and Activities
The Desert Springs JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Palm Desert also has a kids' camp by the pool, that features the usual resort kids camp activities. Children decorate hats and tee-shirts, splash in the pool, and basically remain happily occupied while parents play golf or go to the spa. Last, the resort grounds are absolutely gorgeous. Real attention has been paid to every landscape decision here, from the flamingos out front to the swans, geese and herons in the lake. And remember, there are parrots during the day, on the lobby level. The lake, pools, golf course water features and even indoor pond all leave a hotel guest with the sensation of spending time in a desert oasis. It's hard to imagine a more pleasant family vacation in the California desert than one at an oasis like this one. Now, weekends can get loud at the nightclub. During the week, however, the Desert Springs JW Marriott is an ideal Palm Desert resort for children, and for adults (parents or not), deserving of a getaway vacation themselves.
Related, on Suite 101:
La Quinta Resort & Club, a Luxury Palm Springs Vacation Destination
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