We recently spent four nights at the Villa Royale Inn in Palm Springs. It had always been one of my favorite get-away destinations, when I lived in La Jolla, but we now reside in Kuwait, and we were just visiting. We were able to check in a night early, at 10:30PM, which was lovely, and also able to have the same room we were to have the following night. Room 117 is tucked away in a corner, with it's own wooden gate to it's own small courtyard, which was nice and quiet, and exactly as we had hoped for. Some of the rooms face a larger couryard and/or pool area, and can be a bit noisier. We had a queen bed, with a gas fireplace and a small bathroom, but the room was exactly what we knew it would be. Our friends chose a larger room, king bed, larger courtyard, however, they had a babbling brook outside their window, which they enjoyed, but would have driven me crazy. All-in-all, the lodging was exactly the same as it always was with no disappointment! Maid service very good!
The restaurant, Europa, however, seems to have gone downhill since the sale of the property to a hotel chain. It had formerly been owned by a group of older Hollywood actors, and it was run beautifully. The food in Europa was also first-class, with never a complaint, with a nice group of men waiting tables. This time, however, it appeared that the older, friendlier staff had left and been replaced by younger staff, who either hadn't been trained properly, or just hadn't had any restaurant experience. Not good at all!
Breakfast is included with the price of your room, however, the service was horrible. Once served your cup of coffee, they never seemed to return again to offer a second cup, and never to be seen again.
There is still time to change this back to the way it once was, and we hope that is done before we decide to return again.
The pool looked inviting, however, we didn't have bathing suits with us, but there were some people enjoying it, despite the chill in the air!
