Marriott's Shadow Ridge I-The Villages — Hotel in Palm Desert

Our favorite place to stay in Palm Desert / Palm Springs||- - - - - - - -||February, 2025 Visit||- - - - - - - -||My wonderful wife and I just enjoyed a trip to Pam Desert and San Diego, with a visit to La Jolla.||This trip we stayed in Palm Desert for 6 nights and we stayed in the master suite; Shadow Ridge offers lock-off rooms which are like Embassy Suites - refrigerator and microwave; table and chairs, and bed; also offer master suite with a bedroom, full kitchen, laundry; both have patios/balconies.||The recent renovations are very nice… as mentioned in Jan., 2024 review, these beds are phenomenal!||The property os so amazing - all the views of the mountains, and on-property plants and the golf course and animals… specifically roadrunners! on three previous trips we have seen a single road runner… they are like the cartoon in overall body shape; different in color… not blue’ish purple but desert grey/browjn; they are fast but not from tall legs but fast-moving short legs.|
The sunrises and sunsets are among the best on the planet.||The staff is wonderful; we were able to meet GM Jim, who is a local and clearly cares about the property and the guests. We had more fun with Araceli and team at MAZE, and much pool + sun time.||Looking forward to more frequent visits in the upcoming years.||See you soon, Shadow Ridge!||


January, 2024 Visit


|A wonderful extended get-away weekend at Shadow Ridge

My wonderful wife and I visited Palm Desert / Palm Springs in January, and we've stayed at Shadow Ridge almost every visit, since we purchased into Marriott's Vacation Club. This is our first visit without the kids.

Shadow Ridge rooms are two bedroom, two-bath, with full kitchen and laundry, allowing for in-room breakfasts and more, and packing fewer clothes. 

The rooms can be separated, and this is the first I've we stayed in the "lock-off," the one bedroom, one-bath with a mini-kitchen... refrigerator and dishwasher and combo microwave/convection oven (no stove, nor "regular" oven), with dishes and silverware and utensils (if you need more just call and ask Housekeeping for more):

The room is NICELY remodeled... great colors and functional closet + dresser; and the bed and the sofa sleeper flipped locations, the addition of a table and chairs (vs. coffee table pre-renovation). New carpet, new artwork.

AND THE BEST BED WE HAVE EVER SLEPT ON IN A MARRIOTT!!!

The only thing that has disappointed us in our MVCI ownership has been the beds... most every trip we would both wake with achy backs... sometimes more so than others. These new beds are PHENOMENAL - firm yet with a hint of softness... unsure who makes them but so nice! THANK YOU all for making the beds so nice!

We also had a GREAT TIME at The Mirage (fka Maze)... Araceli hosted great trivia matches and the staff was wonderfully generous with popcorn and lemonade one rainy afternoon. Thank you!


And... we saw a roadrunner near the golf course!




Previous Review, March, 2021



We have visited in Palm Desert since getting engaged there in 1998, and we stay at Marriott's Shadow Ridge every time since 2002. 



The Location

About 10 minutes east of the Palm Springs Airport

About an hour east of the Ontario Airport

About three hours from Los Angeles and San Diego Airports (though only ~ 100 miles... traffic likely to be a mix of fast and slow/stopped)

Shadow Ridge is fantastically located on Monterey Ave. ... just south of I-10; 2 minutes to Costco and Walmart and other stores and restaurants.

10 minutes from The Living Desert, one street to the east, on Portola, then south past Palm Desert Dr. / Hw 111

7 minutes from the hiking trails on the hills above/behind Target and that shopping center - the Al Smith and Bump & Grind Trails

7 minutes from Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Fred Waring

5 minutes from The Palm Desert Disc Golf, at Hovely Soccer Park

2 minutes to Albertson's and Bristol Farms grocery stores, at Monterey and Country Club

30 minutes to the west of Joshua Tree National Park's southeastern Cottonwood Entrance, off I-10; 45 or so minutes from the northwestern entrance Hw 62.

25 minutes to the Palm Springs Aerial Tram parking lot, which takes you to the top of Mt. San Jacinto



The Room

Shadow Ridge has two groups of rooms in two styles of buildings - The Villas and the Enclaves. The Villas are the original buildings on the property, and have new paint and wall art and furniture since our previous trip.

The rooms are spit into two and we always reserve both the main room and the lock-off.

The main room has the master bath, kitchen, living and dining rooms and laundry, with a king bed in the master and a fold-out sofa in the living room. 

The lock-off room is like an Embassy Suites room - two double beds, bathroom and mini kitchen - plates and silverware, small refrigerator and microwave. 

The two rooms are joined by doors that open to each room, as is common in hotels and resorts.

Together the four of us are comfortable... and at least two more could sleep using the fold-out sofa bed.

The dining room table sits six comfortably, and could fit more. There are bar stools for the elevated counter. There are four chairs and table on the larger patio and other chairs on the small patio.

The kitchens have the Marriott-standard Mr. Coffee coffee maker. The stove is electric and works well. Refrigerator and dishwasher, too. Dishes and silverware for 8 in the main room, for 4 in the lock-off; containers for leftovers.

Soap for the dishwasher and sink and laundry, are provided.




Things to do... so many to count... on-property:

Activities at the Mirage - indoors and outside.... outdoors chess, shuffleboard, other games; arts, crafts, movies, much more

Several pools - the biggest and best is the Chuckwalla, which also has great snacks and smoothies; also quiet adult-only pools

Enjoy the sunrises & the sunsets

Enjoy the moon setting over Mt. San Jacinto

Enjoy the stars

Enjoy the beautiful blue skies, often without any clouds




Thank you, Shadow Ridge, for always providing us such wonderful family times. See...

I own a Marriott time share and we often exchange it for this one. we go in the summer. I have stayed in the Shadow Ridge Villages once and The Enclaves, an add on resort twice. Even though it is wicked hot in summer in Palm Springs it is dryer and if you organize your day well this can be a great way to visit this resort when it is less expensive. This resort has top Marriot amenities, amazing pools, gold course and is great for morning hikes among the palm trees. The Enclaves part of this resort ha its own lovely little gm too and there is one in the main area. For little kids they have a whole program of activities you can book that take about 30 mins and kids love. One of the pools has a rock slide. We have come to these resorts since kids were babies and even now that they are older the LOVE the resorts. IN the past we went swimming all the time. Now we swim less and just hang out for down time more or go to the mountains or shopping. Nearby are great malls, coffee shops, amazing Thai food and a health food store. I like the Palm Springs art museum and the modernist architecture it is famous for. With the Interval International exchange and or getaways these are only $100 a week or 300 a week in summer. We get up early to do things, take midday naps or have downtime (kids 12 - 15 but also visited when they were 9 and 12) and then we go do things in the evening when it is cooler out. Sometimes swimming is best in the morning and at 6 also. This is what we like. Spacious apartments, a bit outdated (90s) but clean and huge. Nice veranda to sit on. We always choose the ground floor for the patios and easy access. at 100F heat you do not want to dash back up stairs or an elevator if you forgot something or have to bring groceries back. Pools are amazing and there are MANY to choose from. IN the evenings they have movies.There are quieter pools and loud family ones, cooling stations, ones with bars, ones with food. The crowd has gotten a little partylike in last few years - parents in 30's drinking a ton and laughing loudly in the pools, so sometimes I wish there was a more classy crowd. ION our most recent visit in July 2020 this was not the case, We loved being in the area, seeing the palm trees, simple things. During non covid times the Palm Spring Airway gondola is great, trips to the cooler mountains and even trips to LA. The difference between Enclaves and this is huge. Enclaves is quieter, nicer patios on ground floor level and is much more modern inside, But smaller inside. The pool in the Enclaves is also nicer - quieter, nicer layout. BTW TV;s are in each room, living room and bedroos, full kitchen, everything you have at home - for a vacation with kids this...

This whole visit has been astonishingly poor. There is Zero concern for customer experience. I called before I booked and was ensured the pools were open without interruption. Yes, “pools”. I have 6 kids with me all registered in the room & it is why I came / for them to swim. I paid for a stay to swim and this is not what I got. I paid $1300~ for the 2 night stay so they could swim and be treated with some kind of semblance of human decency and this is not what I got. All the staff here is more rude than caring and do not know how to speak to guests or assure them. This is a failure of training, management and customer service importance. I forgot my wrist bands at the pool initially and understandable I needed them but she was extremely rude about it. She then told me we could only be at the pool from 9 to 1pm and not after that. Not what I was told when I called. Then I go to the children’s pool and slide for my 3 young children and it’s not open, not what I was told. Then when we arrived there was no water in the room initially so we called and asked about water and their response was “there is none due to covid” They didn’t even attempt to help or offer to bring bottled water or tell us if we could get bottled water from front desk, They literally said “no water bc of Covid” It’s as if they just want to disappoint you and get off the phone bc it’s too much of a hassle to help you out on even the tiniest request. When I arrived at the pool, same thing. We asked for water and was told “there is none due to Covid” It was my younger son 8 who asked and the staff did not offer to bring him a cup of water. This experience has been upsetting. I am not happy when businesses choose to take moneu without fulfilling their end of the contract. There is no mention on your website that pools are closed, or minimized time there or anything. It’s extremely frustrating especially when I called. I also called to ask if there is somewhere my nieces could do their online school and was told there’s a quiet ‘room’ near the lobby. Come Monday the front desk says there’s no such place. Maybe I expect too much. I don’t know. I got zero service. I got a room and that was it. I’m very upset about the pool situation and would not have stayed here had I known the truth. I can’t believe businesses...