It'd been a long winter for us on the east coast. The economy presented us with some real pressures this year, so, when we started thinking about the possibility of having a brief vacation, well, we put a lot of thought into it. We've been to Palm Springs a few times and thought we had a fair handle on the town. My partner had been to the Desert Bear for a couple afternoon bear get-togethers several years ago and had a blast. The website talked of new owners and major renovations. I went ahead and made reservations for 4 nights in early March, paying 1 night as a security deposit.

When we arrived and settled in, frankly, some things were off-putting. Renovations were clearly underway, and the place needed them, tho it looked like there had not been any work done on the place in quite some time - it all had the look of a project begun but no longer in progress. Our room was recently worked on, and was OK but very spartan, though not exactly a place for two happy tribesmen to bond in our opinion. Really small, no real place to put our clothes away (no dresser) barely room to turn around. Well, that's one of the dirty little secrets of Palm Springs, you gotta understand that many of the properties were old 50s motels, OK. we could have worked around that. But it just was dismal in the common areas... Clientele was rough. The whole place was rough - half painted walls, exposed lath under unfinished stucco, broken tiles, generally not ready for business. The final straw was the visible open underwater light socket with exposed wiring in the hot tub. We were assured that the power to it had been turned off. But still.. if somebody fumbling to fix the lights trips one wrong circuit breaker it's all over. It was just too sloppy, and there was no excuse for it.

In a sense, it was death by a thousand cuts. We weren't comfortable at all - very disappointed - and the place wasn't cheap - we'd really set aside for this and were crestfallen at the predicament. The owner, who chatted us up to an extent that we felt to be more than a bit much, seemed utterly oblivious to the condition of the place and our obvious discomfort. By the next morning we decided we simply couldn't stay there and decided to move to another place in Palm Springs where, for want of a better phrase I guess, the experience would be more of a true resort. We made the decision before the checkout time of noon and were gone well before then. We didn't just bail; I told both owners politely of our reasons, that our decision wasn't arbitrary or without some consideration and and that we might even be returning on a subsequent trip once they had their act more together.

Understanding the difficulty of renting the room for that night on short notice we offered and agreed to pay for that night, a Sunday. They agreed they would make the adjustment and that was the end of it. We then went on to another resort where we were treated very well, were left alone to enjoy the immaculate premises and could truly and finally relax after a very rough season.

So, imagine our surprise when we learned the owners of the Desert Bear had charged my credit card for the three nights we did not stay. Attempts to reverse the charges have failed, as have attempts to even get a copy of the credit card receipt for the run they made on the card without our authorization. I have purposely not posted a review such as this to provide the Desert Bear with the opportunity to do the right thing, make good, and reverse the charge. However, with no contact and no satisfaction, I feel the necessity to warn my fellow travelers. While the renovations underway may eventually lift the Desert Bear, currently, there are cheaper, better experiences in Palm Springs. In the meantime we would strongly recommend extreme caution when dealing with these guys.