Renaissance Esmeralda Resort and Spa

If you are looking for an truly unpleasant vacation, this is definately the place for you. Very few staff members were capable of smiling, helping, or speaking English for that matter. In my experience, staff members should wait until they are well off of the hotel grounds before letting their true personalities "shine" through. If you need a long vacation but don't have an extended period of time available, this too is the place for you. My two week stay seemed like two months.

We had to cancel our original honeymoon plans because of a hurricane, and my husband suggested we head to Palm Springs instead. We found a great deal (but that was probably because it was August and 100+ degrees out every day) on this hotel and booked it. The hotel was clean and luxurious.

This hotel catered to our every need. The concierge helped set up our tee times and dinner reservations, as well as arrange for an awesome Hummer tour of Joshua Tree. The ladies at the spa helped us out with some discounts for some of their services. (I especially recommend the mud wrap.) The pool was nice but very crowded... get up early to get a chair in the shade!

The restaurants here are great, but a little pricey. Sirocco is amazing, and we had one of the best meals of our life there.

We had a fantastic honeymoon here, and I'd love to come back someday.

Don't believe for one moment that this is a 4 star/top rated hotel (owned by Marriott Corp)!

I left the room to go to lunch and when I returned, my new, designer made earrings were stolen out of my room. Hotel security assured that Marriott's insurance would cover my loss but now, after repeated calls I've had to make to follow up on my claim, they are denying coverage. Outrageous! I am a frequent traveler and make it a point to stay in top rated hotels. I have never had one item stolen in my travels until this incident.

Given it was 114 degrees we had a great time staying here. They do a great job of catering to kids with poolside movies; cool-off crafts and a lot of fun swimming activities. They also had sponsored a cooking event that was a lot of fun for my kids.

The rooms were spacious and the onsite amenities catered to what mom and dad needed (good food; good wine; golf; spa).

My kids can't wait to go back, but this time not in August.