JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa — Hotel in Palm Desert

Update:||Wow- I didnt think it could get worse. To start, we had a very kind "engineer" on staff come service the AC on Friday morning (the day after we arrived). He flat out told us the rooms will not cool down past a certain point. He put in a clean filter (holy wow that thing was DISGUSTING) and confirmed the air blowing out was not cool. The living room part of our room instantly began to cool, but the bedroom remained about 15 degrees hotter the entire trip. The woman I spoke to at the front desk assured me she'd be "applying a credit" as we were unable to sleep in the bedroom Thursday night. Shortly after, someone from management called me and said they'd "blocked" off a different room for us if ours didnt cool down, she then asked if the housekeeping manager could come up while we were there to address our concerns. I said sure but that we'd booked reserved spots at the pool (which costs by the way) and would be heading down in about 30 minutes. She said they'd be up immediately. An HOUR later no one had come, so I called down and said we were leaving. Our pool day was fine, when I came to the room around 1pm for my daughter's nap the living room was an okay temperature. It seemed that while we were out someone also came and wiped some of the room down and changed the dirty bedsheets, and replaced one area of caulking in the bathroom, but the place still felt really dirty. Because my toddler desperately needed to sleep, I called down to ask about moving rooms later in the afternoon, so we could actually sleep in the bedroom that night. I waited on hold 20 minutes and finally hung up. After her nap we went back to our reserved place by the pool and the real nightmare began. I tried to visit the front desk, and about 500 very interesting looking people filled the lobby. Because I didnt want to wait behind most of them for the front desk, I gave up. Apparently the property rented out the entire place to an NA conference. The entire vibe of the property shifted and I won't lie, the place felt extremely uncomfortable to be in. I have nothing against those trying to better their lives, more power to them, but I certainly didnt pay what I did to spend three days around hundreds of former addicts (many of whom by the way sported some nice ankle monitors).||||The following day (Saturday) we tried to visit the pool, it was the most disgusting and horrifying thing I've ever seen. I felt like I was at a sleezy roadside motel. There were dozens of unaccompanied and unsupervised children, half the adults were drunk and missing most of their teeth, screaming loudly and throwing things in the pool. The pool was DISGUSTING and the water was so murky I couldn't even stomach letting my kids touch it. We immediately left the property for most of the day. Although it's a nonsmoking property, when we returned the entire place smelled like an ashtray. It's apparent former drug addicts really love their smokes and management allowed them to smoke all over the property and on their balconies. I again tried to call down about our "blocked" room and was informed there were no notes regarding that. Because at that point it was too late to drive back to San Diego, we gave up and our entire family slept on the pull out couch for our stay (which by the way is extremely uncomfortable). We were awoken through the night, until about 2am and again at 6am by very loud motorcycles in the parking lot our room overlooked. We woke up Sunday and tried to use the property's mini golf course with our kids (one of the "free" things included with the exorbitant resort fees), but it was mostly overgrown and because of all of the smokers on the balcony it was unsafe to expose our children (and a pregnant woman) to that much second hand smoke. We quickly packed up our things and high tailed it out of there. What an absolute waste of a weekend. Imagine my shock when I reviewed our bill and saw that "credit" for not being able to actually SLEEP in our bed the entire time, was $50.||||The best part of our stay was the time we spent off property in. We will never again visit this property and I'm honestly appalled that it's even listed as a Bonvoy property. I'm so disappointed that this was our experience when we tried something new (we've been visiting Palm Springs multiple times a year for 15 years). You could tell most of the staff (who I feel so badly for) was shocked and uncomfortable with the crowd that descended on the hotel. One pool attendant even said they didnt need to check our bag because he just "checked in 50 tweakers, I'm not worried about you." I've stayed in Palm Spring during festival season and it wasnt this bad. The only reason I gave two stars is because I feel so badly for the staff, who was very kind, the restaurant staff was lovely, and the grounds were pretty. Otherwise, I'd stay FAR away.||||Original Review:||We checked in today (Thursday 7/24) into the Griffin Suite. I hope to update this review during our three night stay, hoping it gets better. I’m floored that for the cost of these rooms every corner of the bathroom is covered in mold. The room doesn’t feel very clean, and one of the pillow cases even has a blood stain on it. We waited on hold for about five minutes just to ask for more towels from housekeeping. The grounds are beautiful and we ate at their tepanyaki restaurant on site tonight and it was very good, but the room is leaving a lot to be desired. I visited the front desk after dinner and had the same woman we checked in with. I asked her a lot of questions both times and she seemed to know the answers to none of them, not sure if she’s new or simply doesn’t care (all questions were about the property, room...

My fiance and I checked into this hotel 18 March 2025. As an elite Member we never encountered an issue worldwide until this trip. Let's begin the list of grievances. Rockwood Grill. After settling in to the room, which was well appointed we decided to lunch at the Rockwood. My finace ordered a chicken sandwich which upon delivery was undercooked. The server was notified and began to disagree with the order as "it was changed". This was irrelevant as the server confirmed the order departing the table. A second sandwich was delivered which was more suitable. A side note, we rarely saw her again with no refills, etc. The Salmon sandwich delicious. We walked over to the pro shop to schedule a tee time and the clock read 17:05. We knocked on the door and asked the attnedant if it was possible to schedule a tee time for tomorrow. He declined instructing us to return tomorrow citing the store was closed. Again poor customer service. He could have easily either made the reservation or taken my name. I made a reservation online that evening. The next morning, 19 March 2025, my fiance decided top explore the three mile walk. She walked over to the starter shack at the Palm Course and was instructed by Jason (NLN) to use the path that is accessed through the tennis courts. He firmly stated "stay off the cart path". We witnessed several guests walking over the bridge towards the starter shack. My fiance arrived to the starter shack as the path led back her to it. Jason, took a rude tone, by ordering her off the golf course. "I told you". She replied "I was simply following your instructions". He could have employed a better tone, as there was obvious confusion. He lacks critical guest relation skills. He could have simply directed her to the correct path. She questioned him which way to go, and he was clueless and rude. The afternoon of the 19 March 2025, I visited the pro shop and asked the attendant about the the golf school. His answer? "That's at Shadow Ridge" or wherever it was... no help to me. Nice guest customer service. 14:26 the 14:20 foursome was teeing off. I called over asking their scheduled tee time. I was ignored. I called over again, no response. One of the group, who turned out to a pro at the course walked away to the putting green as opposed to addressing the issue as in, "let the singleton play through". I muttered a few under the breath comments about protocol, etc. Nothing. To the foursome credit, they kept pace of play. Hole eight Jason arrives and queries if there is a problem. He stated he spoke with foursome and their version of the events did not jibe with mine. He took another assertive tone as he commented that we made veiled threats against the foursome which included one of the pros. I stated that was irrelevant again. I made a poorly timed joke to diffuse the situation, with Jason turning to "bully mode" stating he was sensing aggression. I asked why did it take him so long to arrive? No response. I again said there was no problem the foursome ahead was playing pace. To add fuel to the fire Jason addresses my fiance, " I had a thing with you this morning". My fiance and Jason proceeded to engage in another argument. He asked if we were staying in the villas ? Again not relevant. This guy is lacks serious customer service skills, no personal engagement with the hotel guests as this matter which was a minor issue escalated it into us making reservations at another hotel for the remainder of our visit. The pro should be ashamed of himself as an authority figure on these grounds could have easily (A.D.D.) Assess Diffuse & Disengage. Upon our return to the cart drop, We expected more from...

We booked the Signature Suite, expecting a spacious room with separate sleeping areas for our family. However, the suite had no doors between the rooms, so we all ended up sleeping together in one big space—$200 down the drain. To make matters worse, there were no doors to the bathroom either, so watching TV meant listening to... well, you can imagine. This setup is absurd for a high-end hotel.||The check-in time here is 4 PM, and the hotel charges a $45+tax resort fee, which supposedly covers boat rides on the local lake, mini golf, fitness club, 2-hour bike rentals, 1-hour hard court use, 1-hour pickleball, fish feeding, and internet access. Sounds good, right? But here's the catch: the boat rides are only available from 11 AM to 3 PM, so if you're staying for just one night, you don't get to use them at all because check-in is after boat rides stop, and check-out is before they start again.||The resort is huge, but there is only one elevator near the reception. So, to get from the parking lot to your room, you have to walk across the entire hotel to the reception, take the elevator to the 8th floor, and then walk back through the hotel to your room. It's a 10-minute walk from room to reception, 15 minutes from room to car, and 15 minutes from room to the pool. If you forget something in your car while you're at the pool, it'll take you about an hour to retrieve it. I'm a fit adult male, and I'm not exaggerating here.||The biggest disappointment was arriving at 4 PM only to find out that the poolside bar closes at 3 PM. So, no drinks by the pool after check-in, and bringing your own is supposedly not allowed. The pools themselves were decent, but the towels were so small they only covered half a lounge chair, and the pool wasn’t as clean as you'd expect from a resort of this scale.||After returning from the pool, we discovered that the arcade and other activities also close early—at 7 PM. So, in short, by the time you check in, there’s nothing to do except swim in the pool.||To top it off, after a swim, we had to choose between eating or playing mini golf because both options were closing soon. We decided to grab some quick sushi from a supermarket to have time for mini golf, confirming that it was open until 9 PM. But when we returned to the mini golf area at 8 PM, we found that the clubs and balls had already been put away, despite the hours being advertised until 9 PM. Meanwhile, we saw other families playing, but when we asked for clubs, the receptionist rudely told us it was too late.||I escalated the issue to the manager, who was incredibly rude and twice raised his voice at me, lecturing me on my tone. He only handed us the clubs after I insisted on a refund for the resort fee, which I had paid solely for internet access since nothing else worked as promised. How can you deny an 8-year-old a chance to play mini golf at a so-called luxury resort? It’s disgraceful.||Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I woke up to a $560 charge on my credit card from the hotel, despite having prepaid through Booking.com. The front desk claimed Booking.com told them I had to pay at the property, even though my confirmation clearly stated otherwise. They told me to sort it out myself, despite the evidence I provided showing I had already paid.||In summary, from 4 PM to 10 AM the next day, I paid $1,000 to sleep in a room with my kids and eat supermarket sushi. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone—an...