Help with Palm Desert/Palm Springs hotel
 

Last April we stayed at the JW Marriott Desert Springs and loved it-rooms were $175/nt. This April, however,the room prices are $375-450/nt.I'm not sure why the prices are so high. We are looking for an alternative hotel-one with nice pools, and a lot going on. Does anyone have any recommendations? How is the Hyatt Grand Champions? Thanks.

Hey jd. Since no one else has responded, I'll take a shot. I live here, so I am familiar with the hotels though I don't stay in them. However, we have put a number of guests in several, for business and otherwise.

You might look at the Renaissance Esmeralda as a possibility. I would lean that way over the Grand Champions.

With respect to price, I think what you were seeing last year was a response to a somewhat slow season post 9-11. This year though, things have been much busier and I think the hotels are ready to cash in. Bargains might be hard to come by.

happy trails.

PSL

Thanks PSL. The Renaissance Esmeralda looks really nice from their website, and prices here are a little more reasonable.

Price can also be driven by wether or not there is a group at that hotel during that time frame. If you have flexibility in your schedule you can always ask when in a given time frame the best rates are available or play with different dates on websites.

Groups can use a lot of the available rooms thus pushing the pricing up. A group in house can also create an artifically high room rate as the group planners will be offering their group an "event or conference rate" which may well be higher than the regular room rate would be if there isn't a group in house.

Although it seems odd that the room rate for a group can be higher than the room rate for "joe off the street" for the same dates, it does happen pretty regularly. Its due in part to the fact that the group rate may be helping to pay for the use of meeting space.

Thus if you are part of a conference and responsible for boooking and paying for your own room its always worthwhile to check for better room rates than the conference rate.

JD - I would also check the smaller hotels like L'Horizon on Palm Cny,very small (22 units)but NO ONE is ever by the pool and you get continental breakfast each morning. Ask for Nikki the manager she is a doll. Another is what used to be Estrella, now called Viceroy Hotel but very nice, small pools, crowded by the pools and more pricey than L'Horizon, also decorated in shades of white,black & yellow. Good luck and have a good time!