The Three Fifty Hotel

The location and inspiring style are great, and the pool and hot tub have a nice view. Service was excellent. Breakfast across the street was enough for us, with Greek yogurt, fruit, pastries, and coffee in a comfortable setting. The room needs some updating, especially the bathroom: cracked tiles, an old, short shower, and no fan. The room also smelled musty, and the walls were paper thin. It has lots of potential, but still needs a few updates.

I expected a stylish boutique hotel, but this felt like an old, run-down motel. The views around the pool are spectacular, though that was the main highlight. I was also surprised that the hotel kept a large part of my deposit without telling me why. My room had a microwave, kettle, mini fridge, plates, bowls, and mugs, but no utensils. Luckily I travel with a spare spoon and fork. The bathroom is dated. I liked the strong shower spray, but if you’re taller than 5'3" you may hate it. Water sprays outside the tub and is making the laminate floor peel; the original dark gray tile has white paint peeling off in spots. The closet was large and had a safe, but no hangers. There was only one bedside lamp for two nightstands, so I assumed one was missing and hadn’t been replaced. The floor-to-ceiling windows were nice, but the curtains wouldn’t close all the way and left big gaps. I fastened one side with a hair clip, but still couldn’t get full privacy. The bedding was sparse, and I wished I’d brought my lightweight sleeping bag. The heater worked well. On closer look, the room wasn’t clean: the floors were dirty, and the bedside tables had grime with hair stuck in it. My suite was spacious and stylishly decorated, but I was placed next to the only other guest in a motel with ten suites. The walls are paper thin, and loud news from the neighboring room woke me on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. My own TV didn’t work, but that wasn’t a dealbreaker since I don’t watch much TV. Check-in was across a busy road at a different hotel, so I had to put my luggage back in the car instead of carrying it across the road in the dark. No one answers the phone at the hotel across the street, so don’t bother calling the Three Fifty.

We booked one night for Feb 13 several days ahead, and the website gave us a very different impression from what we found. Maybe we got the worst room, but it looked more like a 1970s place in Banning than Palm Springs in the 2020s. The materials seemed low grade, and there was deferred maintenance and lax cleaning. The MDF and melamine flooring was delaminating, the baseboards were dirty, the toilet seat was old, and the floors were grimy. The bed wobbled and was missing hardware and fasteners. When we checked out the next morning, I quietly mentioned some of this to a very nice young woman. She just lowered her eyes, as if she already knew. The next day, once home, I tried contacting corporate on LinkedIn and social media, but got no response anywhere. They’ve earned the photos, which I’ll share widely.

This charming property has so much potential, but the company seems to put its attention into the place across the street and skip basic upkeep here. There was awful mold in the bathroom, and the hot tub was moldy too, with no working lights at night. The setup is cute, but there were no towel refills or water. They could even add vending machines in the little office for juice or ice cream. I’ve managed hotels for years, and this company is stepping over dollars to pick up dimes.