ARRIVE Palm Springs - Adults Only

The hotel’s pool area is lovely, with a great pool and hot tub, cozy fire pits, and fun yard games. I spent most of my time there and really enjoyed it. The architecture is beautiful, the rooms are cute, the location is quiet, and the staff were generally nice and helpful. The manager was especially sweet. But the shower was awful for a hotel charging nearly $300 a night. The shower head looked old and crusty, and the water pressure was so poor that I couldn’t wash my hair during our one-night stay. The automatic curtains didn’t work, either, so light came in through the three fairly large windows near the ceiling. We didn’t notice until we were in bed, and the lights kept us awake; in the morning the bright sun meant we couldn’t sleep in. There wasn’t coffee in the room, which seems like a basic thing for the price, especially since every other Palm Springs hotel I’ve stayed in had it. I bought an oat milk latte at the coffee shop on the property for $7.50. There was no water in the room, either, though filtered water was available at the bar. One smaller complaint: the pool playlist jumped from hard techno to Michael Jackson to Missy Elliott. It didn’t make for a relaxed or party atmosphere, just a weird vibe. I come to Palm Springs often and have stayed in plenty of local hotels. Arrive was my least favorite, and I wouldn’t stay again or suggest it to others.

They seem badly understaffed, and staff weren’t afraid to say “no” to some pretty basic requests. We stayed two nights and the room was never cleaned. Breakfast at the restaurant took almost an hour to arrive, even though we’d only ordered eggs. The hotel may once have been four-star, but I’d put it between two and three now. The rooms are very basic, with just one tiny chair and soft, uncomfortable mattresses that have seen better days. There’s no kettle, coffee maker, or slippers, and it’s short on other four-star basics. The location is okay, but the road outside is busy and the room was really loud. It’s hard to recommend.

The pool is stunning, and the rooms have lovely design details. Arrive Palm Springs is undeniably gorgeous, but the service made it hard to enjoy our stay as much as we’d hoped. Checking in at the bar was one of the least welcoming hotel arrivals we’ve had. The bartender seemed annoyed to be helping us, and staff continued to seem bothered whenever we asked for anything. The rooms are a little small, and there’s no coffee maker. To get coffee, we had to walk outside onto the street to the shop next door, which was inconvenient. It’s a shame, because the design and aesthetics are top-notch, but the lackluster service really let the property down.

The hot tub ruined two swimsuits in a single use. On 1/1, the chlorine stripped the dye out of my swimsuit fabric in about 10 minutes. By the next morning, my partner’s swim shorts had also been bleached and permanently damaged. We were told by a staff member at the pool that the hot tub had been chlorinated that morning. My swimsuit alone will cost $240 to replace. Fabric damage that happens in minutes is commonly associated with significantly elevated chlorine levels, rather than normal use. Given how quickly the dye came out, I’m seriously concerned about whether the facilities were safe for guests at the time. We stayed at ARRIVE Palm Springs from 12/31-1/2. We reported the damage while still at the property and followed up several times afterward, but management was dismissive, denied responsibility, and told us to take it up with Booking.com. Booking.com has since tried multiple times to contact the hotel for us, and the property hasn’t responded. Accidents and equipment problems happen. What’s worse is refusing to acknowledge a clear problem, shifting responsibility, and ignoring repeated attempts to sort it out. The way the hotel failed to respond is what really ruined the experience.