The Desert Lily Vacation Home — Hotel in Joshua Tree

First and foremost, if you are considering staying here, you should know that the prior owner, Carrie has sold the business to an LLC out of Colorado. However, the Desert Lily's website does not reflect this change. When you look at all of the reviews on Yelp/Trip Advisor/Google, you will note that Carrie's level of service is amazing. That was one of our selling points when choosing this place. It was disappointing.

The positive of this place is that the location and views are AMAZING. About 2 miles out of the JT park entrance. Couldn't be more convenient.

HOWEVER, the beautiful views and location is ruined by the service (or lack thereof) by the new owners.

There is no employee on site on a regular basis. No one. So, you need help with the wi-fi? Need more towels? Have a question? You have to call the number listed, and leave a message, and you will get a text from a bot a couple hours later which doesn't help you at all. You don't get to talk to a real person unless they decide to call you, which didn't happen most of the time I tried to reach out. The website states that all of the cabins have wi-fi. That's one of the reasons we picked this place; we all had work to do. However, the wi-fi doesn't reach out to the cabins. And, cell service is spotty on premises (there were three of us in our group--they had ATT & Sprint--no luck for them. I had Verizon, which worked). So, even if you want to IG some amazing pics or just get your email and you don't have Verizon, you have to go to the main house which sucks.

Another reason we picked this place was that the cabin listed had a grill we could use. There are very little dining options in JT, so we thought we would eat most of our meals in. The grill has got to be 30 years old, and is unusable. So that was a major bummer too.

The cabin we stayed in (Biltmore) was functional, but needs a little TLC. Not expecting perfection whatsoever; however, one of the drawer faces fell off when we tried to pull it out. There's no screens on the upstairs windows; bugs abound at night and it got really stuffy up there. The mattresses on all three beds needed replacing. The picture on the website shows the upstairs room to have 2 twin beds; however, the beds have been pushed together to make one lumpy bed; so you would need different linens if you needed two twin beds--if you could get someone to provide them to you. The cabin is probably 30+ years old, and it just needs a little face lift. It's cute and funky.

We met another traveler who hadn't been provided the information when she arrived on how to get into her room. She rambled around the place for a few hours before someone got back to her. So, our experience wasn't unusual. The main house has a sign that says "ring bell for service" but no one answers. They need to take that down because it sets up expectations.

As I told the owner, if I wanted an AirBNB, I would have booked one. However, I was given the impression that I was staying at a BNB. This is not a BNB. It's serve yourself. And the website, to this day, still bills itself as a BNB.

About me: late 40s, low key and not high maintenance. Travel a lot. I know what's reasonable to expect, and what's unreasonable. The new owners need to do a better job communicating to their guests that they are...

I did a lot of research on hotels and B&B’s in the area before booking and, after reading the reviews for this place, I was very excited for my stay in the Biltmore Cabin. The former owner Carrie sounds amazing. ||About three weeks before our stay, we received notification from the new owner that we were now required to sign a rental agreement and pay the total balance up front or our reservation would be cancelled even though we had paid the deposit. ||During our drive down, we called and texted the new owners several times because we wanted firewood there when we arrived. We were previously told that firewood would be made available. Our multiple texts and calls were not responded to a prompt manner. This would be the theme for the trip. ||Upon arrival, we discovered that the internet does not reach the cabin. This was a very important requirement as I had to take work with me. Luckily, I had my hotspot with me otherwise we would not have had internet. ||One night the wind was blowing really hard and I accidentally got locked out. It was about 10pm on a Sunday night. It took about an hour for the new owner to call us back. In the meantime, there was a medication issue and we had called a locksmith. The new owner agreed to pay for the locksmith but, after we left Joshua Tree, the new owners tried to back out of this agreement. Multiple texts had to be exchanged before the new owner decided to keep their promise. ||This cabin is incredibly cute and the views are amazing but the beds are really old and need to be replaced. There are several things in the cabin that probably need to be upgraded. Its all about managing expectations. ||I expected to stay in a B&B with someone onsite. This did not happen. There is currently no one on site and our multiple calls and texts to the new owners were not responded to in a timely, professional manner. ||I would not stay here again or recommend this...

I did a lot of research on hotels and B&B’s in the area before booking and, after reading the reviews for this place, I was very excited for my stay in the Biltmore Cabin. The former owner Carrie sounds amazing. About three weeks before our stay, we received notification from the new owner that we were now required to sign a rental agreement and pay the total balance up front or our reservation would be cancelled even though we had paid the deposit. During our drive down, we called and texted the new owners several times because we wanted firewood there when we arrived. We were previously told that firewood would be made available. Our multiple texts and calls were not responded to a prompt manner. This would be the theme for the trip. Upon arrival, we discovered that the internet does not reach the cabin. This was a very important requirement as I had to take work with me. Luckily, I had my hotspot with me otherwise we would not have had internet. One night the wind was blowing really hard and I accidentally got locked out. It was about 10pm on a Sunday night. It took about an hour for the new owner to call us back. In the meantime, there was a medication issue and we had called a locksmith. The new owner agreed to pay for the locksmith but, after we left Joshua Tree, the new owners tried to back out of this agreement. Multiple texts had to be exchanged before the new owner decided to keep their promise. This cabin is incredibly cute and the views are amazing but the beds are really old and need to be replaced. There are several things in the cabin that probably need to be upgraded. Its all about managing expectations. I expected to stay in a B&B with someone onsite. This did not happen. There is currently no one on site and our multiple calls and texts to the new owners were not responded to in a timely, professional manner. I would not stay here again or recommend this...