The room was beautiful, roomy and clean as usual. We love how big the studio is, bigger than the Westin in Cancun. Property itself is gorgeous and in a perfect location. Everything close by. Food on the resort: Everything we ate for lunch and dinner was really good, especially the salads. Prices seemed very reasonable. Didn’t like having to go to bar to order at dinner due to lack of staff. Loved the welcome cocktail before dinner Saturday evening. Not sure if this is weekly or because of Christmas. There were even Christmas carolers. We had the most magical experience one day as my daughter was asked by one of Santa’s helpers if she’d like to write a letter to Santa. Hours later, Santa’s helpers came to our room and gave her a stocking filled with chocolate and candy. If they do this every year, we will certainly be back for Christmas!…
The room had everything we needed, from a washer/dryer, to a full kitchen w. dishwasher, and a dining table for four. Comfy King size bed, 2 large TVs, great living space with solid furniture. Bathroom well appointed with good towels, robes, lots of shampoo etc. The internet was high speed (over 100 Mbps, 14 msec ping) and was 100% reliable. There are a lot of nice clean gas grills located by the buildings. There are several pools, one of which has an associated bar with food, and yes, a lot of children. A couple of the pools were closed for maintenance, but the others were not crowded. Two tennis courts, one of which doubles as a pickleball and basketball court. All in all an excellent place to meet up with family and have a relaxing time. This being Palm Desert, there are lots of restaurants and all types of shopping nearby.…
Visited the desert for 1 night with out of town guests. Took a wonderful trip to Joshua Tree, Palm Desert and Palm springs. I needed 2 rooms for 5 people and this was perfect. Had 2 1 bedroom Suites with full kitchen, large bathroom and sitting area, nice balcony with amazing views. . It even had a washer dryer (which we did not use). Room was very clean and bed was comfy. Resort is very clean and welcoming. I wish we had stayed longer to take advantage of all the wonderful activities provided. Convenient location - 5 minute drive to El Paseo and many other attractions. 30 minute drive to Downtown Palm Springs . Only issue was that room was not ready until close to 5:30 PM. Hotel gave us a late checkout to compensate.
Our entire family traveled here for Christmas. We had four units. The resort grouped us so we would be close together. We had reservations through Marriott and Interval so the check in was confusing. Ryan at the front desk took this in stride and worked everything out. He was fantastic. He even waived our parking fee because of the confusion. This was not the fault of the resort. I knew it would be hard to explain because of the interval weeks and the Marriott reservation. Our family enjoyed the pools and recreational facilities. The pools are heated perfectly which made it enjoyable. The Palo Verde pool is especially good for toddlers. The hot tub at the Ironwood pool is huge. Our units were well furnished and comfortable. One suggestion is they should pull out the carpeting and replace it with vinyl plank as it is worn and dirty. The Agave bar and grill is a great place to eat. The service is super and Stephanie at the bar is exceptional. The gym is well equipped and spacious. We enjoyed the different machines for working out. The grounds are perfectly kept. Every employee seems happy to work here. The location in Palm Desert is convenient to all amenities. We would definitely stay here again. I can’t say enough good things about this resort.…
We visited over the Christmas holiday, arriving on 12/25. There was no fully functioning restaurant and had to dine in their Agave bar where there was no table service and we had to essentially order at the bar - 2 of the entrees were not ordered and we had to remind them 20-30 mins later and have the order re-made. Kind of surprising that the property didn’t even have a full-service restaurant. Overall, the property simply didn’t seem to have enough staff or staff on par with a Westin-level staff with the exception of front desk staff. The only thing the property seemed to do exceptionally well and consistently was timeshare-related upsells. Villas were clean but dated (12-14 years ago). Although Marriott’s financial performance was up 66% YOY that doesn’t necessarily mean they will invest a tiny percentage of those earnings into attracting and retaining (and possibly even relocating) team members to some of their destination properties. In 4 nights at 2 of their Palm Springs resorts I’m noticing that there’s a pretty significant difference pre and post-pandemic in terms of overall guest experience and going forward while I’d use Westin as a business stay, I’m feeling pretty reticent to use them as a family resort brand unless I either know the resort manager or if the resort was at 50-60% capacity. There are some very real guest experience and quality control problems across the brand and it is very clear that this is an industry wide problem, and Marriott property owners cannot afford to take losses to rectify this right now. It’s a tough situation, and unfortunately both guests and property owners suffer.…
We loved our stay here the week before Christmas. Admittedly we did not use most of the included amenities but instead spent our time at Joshua Tree national park, taking in the beautiful view from our room, swimming in the 3 on site pools, exploring Palm Springs and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. The room had very comfortable beds, updated bathrooms and spacious living areas as well as a balcony with 4 person seating and dining for nice nights. Would recommend upgrading to the premium 1 bedroom room or the 2 bedroom lockoff rooms.
What a nice resort this one is! We normally go to the Westin Mission Villas but decided on Desert Willows. We made the right choice. The check in was a breeze, our room was very nice, not the view I had wanted, a golf course view but it was obstructed by trees so a peek-a-boo view. The villa was immaculate. We had everything we needed there but slippers. We did have robes which is nice. The kitchen was fully stocked and large. We also had a working ice machine in freezer. The pools are plentiful! Many pools here and we stayed in the middle of the resort so went to a smaller pool which was relaxing. The place is very clean and they really make your stay wonderful. Each person we encountered was very warm and greeted us. They have golf carts all over to shuttle you around if you prefer. The game room has air hockey and two nice pool tables. There is also a nice ping pong table outside of the game room. They also have tennis, basketball & pickle ball courts. We didn't dine there, we cooked each night. The location is perfect, there are all sorts of things around there. We look forward to coming back year after year for a week and look forward to our staycation in the desert. One thing, if you like good sandwiches, then you need to head over to Chef Tanya's Kitchen in Palm Desert. Absolutely amazing vegan food! Really can't say a negative thing about Desert Willows, just a very nice relaxing place for a mini vacation and being treated so well makes it even better. …
It’s very unfortunate that I am writing this review, I bought into the Westin brand timeshare over 10 years ago, I bought into their brand because I wanted the quality and amenities that the Westin and its 12 brands offered. I had reserved three villas for myself and my friends for my 60th birthday this last weekend. The reservations were made months in advance and what I reserved were the larger one bedroom villa of the two bedroom lock off, But when we arrived on the 27th we were put into the smaller villas of the two bedroom lock off. I called the front desk and I was told that there was nothing they could do but I had already had my options taken off my balance for the larger one bedroom lock off. I had also called weeks in advance to make reservations for my 60th birthday dinner at the La Quinta Cliff House, for some reason I decided to call the restaurant to make sure my reservations were there and to my dismay no one from the concierge office at the Westin had even made the reservations. So I went out on OpenTable and made reservations for myself and my seven guess. In our bathroom the towel racks fell apart when you touch them, the shampoo and soap dispenser in the shower fell off the wall. One of my guests had a Westin employee come into their room unannounced claiming that they had reported a item that was lost but then said that the room was actually supposed to be vacant which is a little bit contradictory… My friends ask the young men to leave their room and called me. Then to put the icing on the cake, Sunday my guests and I spent the entire day at Joshua tree with no cell service, at 7:10 PM that evening I had a text saying that I was supposed to have been checked out and to call them. I didn’t get cell service again for about another hour, I rang them up to see what was going on and they claimed that I was supposed to have checked out on the 30th but my reservations for all three rooms were clearly the 31st as was my parking pass The front desk and the manager at the hotel although apologetic did nothing to make it right. A weekend that should have been filled with absolute fun was getting chipped away by grave mistakes from the hotel. As an owner who pays thousands of dollars to the state of Hawaii for property taxes every year, I expect to get the room that I reserved, to have the quality of the room that I expect and then if something is wrong for the hotel staff to do everything they can to make it right. Over the past several years I have seen the Westin brand declining . I absolutely will never stay at this resort again and when I use my ownership I know now when I check in to make sure everything is as it should be. But again the most disappointing part was that the hotel staff really didn’t seem to care if all the wrongs from my experience were made right. The last day of my stay I was at the hotel pool and I overheard several people complaining about the same things that I’m writing about. All of them owners of several years from the hotel brand all of them disappointed in the direction that the brand is going. So my advice to anyone staying at these resorts whether you are an owner or a regular paying guest is at check in make sure that everything that you asked for is what you were going to get and when you go in your room and see anything broken or falling apart to immediately call the front desk and have maintenance come and fix them.…
The property and suites are great, but the management is Bad! We could not check intill 4 PM on one room and the second one not until 6:30 PM, the rooms were not ready do to a lack of staff. You dont book rooms and take peoples money if you cant provide the service, Also the bars at the pool were understaffed and extremely slow as well. The facility is very nice and well located, but its spread out and a long walk to the main lobby, workout area and store area. This place could be great but it needs new management, they have no clue how to run the place, at the rates they charge you should have rooms ready and well staffed for guests. Also note there is no made service during your stay, you clean up you own place and do your own laundry
Not clean at all. It is really disappointing, when a resort boasts about how clean they are. We had a 2 bedroom lockout. Both sides were dirty, dirty. The first thing that I saw was the filth, absolute filth on the window sills and the blinds. I wiped part of the sill and blind and the washcloth was filled with dirt. I am allergic to dust, so I really did not appreciate the fact that this unit was so filthy. Our lockout, the carpet was very stained and dirty. I expect more as owners in a 5 star resort. So very disappointing that this place is not cleaned better and that no one seems to check on the quality of clean. Also, we were in a unit by the quiet pool, as requested. Kids are not allowed, unless they are very, very quiet. They were not quiet. The only way that the pool was checked, was when we called to have security come to make residents obey the quiet rules. Obviously people don't think that the rules apply to them. There is a shuttle service, but there was absolutely no info given in the paperwork, or at checkin, on the shuttle, when and how to use it. Disappointing experience. We, as owners, expected a lot more :(…
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