Acme House Company — Local services in Palm Springs

One star seems fair as the maintenance person (Alex) was friendly and fixed things quickly. That’s the only positive thing I can say about ACME.

This company is shady, period. They’re quick to take your money but slow to fix issues or deliver on promises. They never put anything in writing, which is clearly by design. I was promised a refund of over $500 on the phone, plus an additional credit, but weeks later—no refund, no follow-up, no apology. If you book with ACME, get everything in writing or prepare to be scammed.

They claim to inspect properties before guests arrive, but that’s a joke. If they actually did their job, they would’ve caught:

*A broken dishwasher filled with dirty dishes someone clearly unloaded without running a cycle *A dryer that didn’t work *An empty gas tank on the BBQ and the backup tank *A pool that wasn’t heated despite me paying $480 in advance for it

We stayed at Boho Rhapsody last month, booked through Marriott Homes & Villas, which unfortunately partners with this disaster of a company. ACME promised the pool would be heated before our arrival. It wasn’t. As pool owners, we knew it was at least 10 degrees colder than what we paid for. I contacted ACME immediately and told them to credit us since the heat wasn’t working, and we’d just use the sauna setting if needed. For two days, they kept "checking with management" while holding my money hostage.

That night, I realized all the dishes, glasses, and utensils in the cabinets were filthy—not just spotted but straight-up dirty, like someone unloaded a load of dirty dishes. That's because that is exactly what happened. When I tried to run the dishwasher, I found out it was broken.

Then my husband tried to grill the steaks and fish we bought for dinner, but both gas tanks were empty. ACME's response? "Nothing can be done until tomorrow."

The next day, after 10 days on the road, my husband did a load of laundry —only to find the dryer didn’t work either. No timeline from ACME, so he had to go find a laundromat to dry our wet clothes.

Finally, four days into this nightmare, a technician (Alex) came out and fixed the appliances. He was the only competent person we encountered. Celine from ACME called that evening and confirmed that the pool temperature wasn’t what we paid for and promised a refund for our $480 plus an extra $100 credit for all the issues. But—surprise—nothing was ever put in writing. I’ve sent at least five follow-up emails. The only response I got was this useless message from Laura at ACME:

"Hi Victoria, I have reached out to our property care team, and they will be in touch shortly."

It’s been over two weeks, and I still haven’t seen a refund. I had to file a dispute with Amex.

Oh, and the property itself is falling apart. The floors are literally crumbling throughout the house. The rugs are disgusting, and the couch was so filthy we had to cover it with bedding just to sit on it.

At least Marriott Homes & Villas apologized and acknowledged the health concerns of dirty dishes—but nothing from ACME.

I’ll never stay at an ACME property again. I’ll also make sure to check who the property manager is before booking anything through Marriott.

If you’re looking for a professional property management company, go with AvantStay. They know what they’re doing and treat guests right. ACME? Unreliable and...

Alexander on Bedford was a great getaway for our small group....though the houses bed/baths are laid out well to comfortably accommodate quite a few people. The house has a large covered porch and plenty of umbrellas for the shade lovers, and lots of sunshine in the pool for the sun worshipers. The living/Dining/Kitchen is open, off the pool and kept us all connected excepted when we retreated to our suites. We appreciated that. The house's design is bright and fun, comfortable, plenty of seating and TERRIFIC water pressure in the showers! Having stayed in a lot of homes, this isn't always the case, so that was a great win! Despite the large open flow of common spaces, the kitchen is a tight awkward space that isn't easy to navigate with more than 1 person in it at a time...it's one of those kitchens you dance around others in. Which hey, it's vacation, so dance away! It was a challenge for our small group, so I can't imagine navigating it with a bigger group and full house. The house is in a quiet and quaint mid-century neighborhood. This was our first time staying in this neighborhood and we enjoyed it. We were a little concerned about airport noise having not stayed in this area before, but it wasn't a problem at all.

ACME for the win again for hosting us with a terrific getaway! We've stayed with ACME at various properties over the years, and continue to appreciate their service, attention to details and ensuring we are taken care of on vacation. They make communication easy, be it on the phone, email or text. Check-in and out is a breeze! For this trip, I booked direct with the office and Renee suggested several properties for me to look at that would meet our needs. I appreciate her attention to detail, hands on service and personality that she added to our planning. It made it all the better experience for us to have real life feedback on houses vs me clicking anonymously through galleries, locations, etc. The personal service Renee provided is invaluable...knowing that ACME is there to answer the phone and answer questions from planning to trip execution is wonderful. The house was uncomfortably warm for us on our first night stay, but a quick text to ACME and Mary was able to remotely unlock the thermostats to allow them to be lowered to 72 degrees, which made a HUGE difference for comfort in the house and wasn't a problem during the remainder of our...

We stayed at the Lemon Twist for 4 nights to celebrate my 40th birthday. It was perfect for 3 couples! I probably looked at every Acme property that could sleep 6-8 and it took me a month to choose Lemon Twist -- it did not disappoint! It was important for us to have a large kitchen as we made a lot of meals and hired a private chef one night. Beds are truly comfortable and the air conditioning kept up well with daytime temps in high 90's. The layout is great and open and we were never on top of each other. Love how the master bedroom has doors out to the patio and then there are two sets of doors out to the pool. Even though we didn't watch much TV the living room was a fun lounge area. We used every eating area but especially loved the outdoor table by pool for brunch and then the outside table & high top grill area for dinners. The yard is like a U-shape around the house and I worried it would separate our hangouts but instead it created neat spaces to enjoy either pool time, cornhole/grill/fire pit, or golf (also used putting green as yoga/workout area). Twinkly lights and high green hedges make it very private. Great location if you have a car and it's sort of nice it's on a busier street so you don't have to stress about your voices outside as much. We respected the music/voice ordinances and the only time we played music was from a cell phone on low volume by the pool while we were under a wind advisory so sound didn't travel. The pool was AMAZING - it does have a deep end and is big enough for everyone to be in it. We loved the lemon slice floaties, so fun and relaxing even though they are starting to show some wear. The pool ended up being heated in May and that still made it nicer for morning and evening swimming. Very minor drawbacks -- the doors are squeaky and don't always latch and one night the hot tub wouldn't work after 1am (?) As long as you start the hot tub in advance it gets super warm - takes about 30 min, the instructions on that could be better. It would be nice if the kitchen had a list of items but def was fully stocked with blender, coffee grinder, bar items, and plenty of plates/glasses, even nice water bottles for taking with you on outings. We are already planning our next trip to Palm Springs and would definitely choose Lemon Twist again -- great value and space for what you get as well as lots of fun areas, yellow colors, and fun signs for...