Twentynine Palms Joshua Tree — Hotel in Twentynine Palms

I hesitated for a long time before writing this review. I kept on coming to this property for more than a decade and it's my favorite hotel in a 100 mile radius. Or it looks like I have to say: Was.

This was a Best Western hotel until a few years ago, but it has been changed to a SureStay Plus since and that is the time when the problems started to occur.

It looks like the management stopped caring at all about their property. There is always something broken, always some trash lying around and it hurts me to see this wonderful place to decay into oblivion. Of course the property is not brand new anymore, but it could be beautiful if just a little bit of effort would be put in keeping it maintained.

At our latest stay the pool wasn't usable (again, like almost every time I am there, there is some issue with it). It looks like someone forgot to put chlorine/algae killer in the water. This can happen, but think about how long you have to ignore a problem to become as bad as it is in the picture (there is no filter on it)? This doesn't happen overnight. To make bad things worse we asked during check in if this problem might be addressed and we were told the water should be clean by the next day. Spoiler alert: It wasn't and we wasted a day in our room waiting for things to happen that never came to pass.

The gym can hardly be called a gym but is basically a shed with a few broken workout machines. We had to do some repairs ourselves to put a least one machine to partial work to do a basic workout. But it was by far the worst fitness center I've ever seen on my travels.

Another thing that wasn't great was the breakfast. It's only available until 9 and the room was overcrowded and people were standing around waiting for a free table. Regardless of that someone announced that everyone had to leave by 9 so people left the breakfast hungry and quite angry. It's not like they missed out on something though.

It's all these tiny things that seem to run this gem in the desert into the ground. We initially planned to stay for three nights but left after two because nobody seemed to care about anything anymore.

It really hurts so much to see all this and these are all bad management decisions. It feels like they plan to run this place into the ground on purpose. The staff was quite nice, but seemed to have accepted the situation, which makes the entire thing even more sad.

Nevertheless I might come back in October to give this property one last shot before giving up on it. I'll edit this review if they manage to turn the place around. I most certainly hope so.

A little appendix for any German readers: During my stay there I met a Eintracht Frankfurt supporter and he was quite angry as well. Just try to wrap you head around it: A Eintracht Frankfurt supporter that gets mad! These guys usually reign havoc and destruction on entire cities without breaking a sweat. You can imagine how much it takes to get guys like that agitated.

Edit: My promised update is a little late; I actually did come back in October 2023 to double check on the property. The algae was gone at that time, but the other issues, especially the dirtyness of the pool area was still an issue. In March 2025 I paid another visit and the hotel deteriorated even further. The pool area looks like a battlefield, but what looks really symptomatic is that the hotel sign flipped over and fell into the hotel. Now it's just sitting there in the banged up roof. I think it's telling how much they don't seem to care about anything letting it sit there like that. I still hope they turn their business around, but I don't see that...

Update 5/2020 fromprevious stay: We have stayed at this property many times. It has really gone down the drain. This time, due to Covid19m, we were informed at check in that there would preferably be no daily maid service, which we found perfect as I had brought disinfecting materials and prefered not to do the disinfection every day. Little did we know that the room was already filthy, with a sticky floor( we were in a suite, so at least no carpet) , food remains on the floor in all corners, hence a happy cockroach i spotted, .When I undertook the wiping of the counters, the one in the bedroom left a pile of dust on my rag. I had planned on wiping clean, not imagining a thick layer of dust. I am allergic to cigarette smoke, but the room reeked of stale tobacco. In front of our room, so outside where staff can clean, there were several cigaret butts, plus a plastic toy between the tiles, which we had seen at our last visit in December, so 6 months earlier! The pool and spa were open with absolutely no mandated physical distancing rule in spite of the mandate It was packed with people partying every late afternoon/evening, so we did not go. Prices have not been adjusted with the absence of free seated breakfast, but we had been told we could go in the room and get pastries, oatmeal and juice. On the second day, I asked about unsweetened ( original, most common) oatmeal and was told they were out. By day 3 there was NOTHING at all.We will not come back.

Previous stay, 12/19 The rooms are basic. There is hot water at all times, a coffee maker but no option to make tea. Microwave and refrigerator, desk and desk chair. The heating/AC works well, thankfully, as the beds do not have a comforter or even a real blanket, only a top sheet and a terry cloth spread. The carpet is dirty, as we discovered after walking barefoot across the room and getting the soles of our feet black. The redeeming factors of this hotel are the proximity to the North Entrance of the National Park, and the included breakfast. Although you get plastic silverware and paper plates, at least there is a great variety of food items. Nothing organic except for organic oatmeal which is a good start and much appreciated,nothing recyclable, but you get fed. There is always fresh fruit too.The staff at check in is also very nice...

We’ve been traveling from NY to CA for a total of 12 days. We stayed at a Best Western Plus for the first time our second night out and were very happy so we decided to look for Best Western properties for the rest of our trip. Upon arrival I asked to see a room. I was denied access but told to look on their website to see a room. Had other reviews often mentioned cleanliness we would have left right then. I asked for a walk up room because both my husband and I have health issues that make walking difficult. We were given a room that required us to park in a parking area around the corner from our room with an incline in order to get to the door. The room was on the back side of the building not visible from parking areas. Most of the property was nicely landscaped and in order but where our room was located there was trash blowing around and large areas with spills from previous days remained uncleaned. Very unappealing. Our entrance faced the west and the door handle was so hot we literally couldn’t touch it. My husband had to cover his hand with his shirt sleeve to get into the room. We carried a face cloth with us so we could use the handle when coming back into the room. Breakfast was disappointing. Not much of an assortment. The outside of the trash cans had dried on drips of coffee and waffle batter on them. There were crumbs everywhere! Even under the tables where the buffet was set up. The glass had fingerprints all over as did the cases where bread and muffins were kept. It appeared we were the first at the buffet so I don’t believe any of the cleanliness issues were from that morning. The staff was friendly. One point for friendliness, one for a clean room. I took one point away for parking and room location, one point for mess outside our room and one point away for breakfast disappointment. I’m not sure we would stay at this...