Boutique? I think not!
Well, its been a month and I still have not heard from management regarding my stay, therefore I am moving forward with my review.
This hotels website boasts a modern twist on a California 50's classic, Skylark Hotel offers 28 uniquely styled rooms meticulously restored to the character of the mid-century era.
My room was far less than meticulously restored, even for the 50's.
The hotel is isolated and secluded which is a good and bad thing, the bad is if you aren't careful you'll drive right by and miss the place; another negative is that because the hotel is not visible beyond its secluded perimeter as such at once behind the curtain its not as glamorous as they would lead you to believe. One could find the positive in that unless you are a guest you aren't able to simply wander in; another good is that it does offer privacy and seclusion.
Check-in was fairly simple however, they place a hold on your card that is far greater than what the room or weekend stay would be, somewhere upwards of $300 hold which for what you're getting is absurd. Not a big deal, however, in the sake of transparency this should be disclosed upfront or at time of booking, etc.
Hotel WiFi is slow and spotty at best, you're far better off using a personal hotspot. The technology in the hotel is severely lacking in the sense you are transported back into the 50's there are no USB connections anywhere and there are barely any outlets to plug anything into should you need to charge a laptop or cellphone.
AC units are either window or wall units and barely can keep the room cool with the Palm Springs heat; at least in my room.
The TV's while LCD are small 32 inches at best and if you are one to want to watch TV from the bed, well you're not going to see much. My office computer has two 27 inch monitors.
The rooms are all physical key, typical of hotels of the time, therefore its authentic, so be mindful not to lose your key, there's a $50 lost key charge and a $250 door service fee if you need them to come let you in your room after hours as the front desk is not manned 24 hours.
The hotel lacks sufficient parking, thus if you can't find a spot in the tiny parking lot you're forced to park on the street.
Luckily it was upward of 100 degrees as the hotel shower had difficulty generating hot water, and had little to no pressure. Speaking of the shower, the shower head in my room had so much threading tape on the shower head, however, that still wasn't sufficient in stopping the leak so the water sprayed pretty much everywhere else except on your body, if that wasn't bad enough the calcium buildup in the spray nozzles diverted water away from you rendering the shower pretty much useless.
Clearly you can tell someone recently left the room before my check-in as there was the remainder of the body wash from the previous guest rather than providing a new body wash and shampoo. Luckily I travel with my own.
Touching back on that water pressure, the toilets had little, even going number one you had to hold the handle or flush multiple times.
The railing leading to the upstairs rooms along the staircase and balconies was sketch at best as the bolts are all coming out, one wrong lean and you're going over. The stairs on said staircase are in disrepair, a nail went through my sandal and into my the bottom of my foot. The have plywood onto of the stairs rather than repairing the stairs. As this is not treated, it has become weather worn and such a severe trip hazard.
Other hazards are broken tiles in the shower, therefore I had to shower with sandals on, filters in the AC units were not changed thus if you're prone to allergies as I am, you may or may not experience difficulty in breathing whilst trying to run the AC.
There was a catalyst of other issues with my stay and this room, however, rather than continuing with the many downfalls of this hotel which would turn this review into a novel I will conclude with the following.
This would be less than a two star, however, Lenali was by far the most pleasant and helpful associate at the hotel. She truly cares about the guest and their experience, however isn't empowered to provide a solution in most cases and if forced to refer you to the GM of which does not respond to messages.
I'd like to point out another individual who displayed good guest service, I can't recall his name, however, I believe he was a cook or responsible for the continental breakfast. He was very pleasant.
I am unsure how this hotel has received the 2021 Traveler's Choice Award unless reviewers stayed at a completely different hotel, had blinders on while here or were completely delusional from the intense Palm Springs heat.
While customer service is an important part of any hotel stay and Lenali's customer service is stellar, it unfortunately doesn't negate the condition of the hotel room or the hotels inability to provide a solution due to the many issues encountered read more