For about half the year, “toasty” is an understatement in the desert area around Greater Palm Springs, California, with a temperature below 100°F eliciting comments like, “It’s not too bad today.” It’s easy to cool off at Grand Hyatt Indian Wells, though, with nine swimming pools on site, including a lazy river and waterslides for the kids.
I was visiting Palm Springs in June, not because I’m a masochist, but because I was attending a travel writers’ conference there. Let’s face it, the rates dropped significantly for the organizers when they chose June over January’s high season. When it was finished, I stayed on for a while and took a trip out to the Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas to spend some time there after the expansion.
The villas part of that name is new because the resort invested $64 million to add 43 villas to the original 531 rooms available in the hotel itself. Along with that came an extensive 30,000-square-foot spa in a new building, a new gym, and revamps of two hotel restaurants.
The villas at this California Grand Hyatt are spacious spots for a family vacation stay or for a couple of friends traveling together. They range from one-bedroom ones of 1,100 square feet (more than double your average hotel room) and go up to 1,800 square feet for the two-bedroom presidential suites. All of them have residential-sized terraces with lounging space, a barbecue grill, and views of the mountains or golf course.
These are set up like long-term stay apartments, with refrigerators, dishes, a dining area, and a living room. They’re equipped with sofa beds, 65-inch smart TVs, Marshall Bluetooth music players, and fireplaces, as well as luxe hotel amenities like bathrobes and nice toiletries in the baths. The two-bedroom units add a free-standing tub in the bathroom plus a plunge pool or whirlpool, while the largest units add a wet bar, fire pit on the terrace, and more luxurious bathrooms.
If you don’t want to buy groceries and do your own grilling, you can call the 24-hour villa hotline and have a chef grill dinner for your family, with menus to pick from and drinks delivered. The hotline also works for restaurant or cabana reservations, and villa guests have a separate check-in area at the spa so they don’t have to wait in line at the hotel reception.
The regular hotel rooms are also quite comfortable and look out at the golf course or one of the pools. The king versions have a separate sitting area with a sofa bed, while the double rooms have two queens or two kings instead. Some family rooms with bunk beds are available as well.
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Each has a balcony or terrace, robes, and an array of amenities. Wi-Fi worked well throughout the property during my visit.
Swimming Pool Complex for Kids and Adults
The big draw of this property is the expansive pool complex, a welcome sight in this brown desert area that doesn’t get much rain. (Aquafers are fed by what flows out of the mountains nearby.) The pools are a paradise for kids, with a splash park for the little ones, slides and a lazy river for the rest. Older kids also enjoy an adjoining outdoor play area that has cornhole, foosball, ping-pong, and Connect Four games.
Lifeguards man the family pools but naturally there’s an escape area for the adults who don’t have to look after–or listen to–whooping kids. An attractive free-form adult pool has a bar nearby and wait staffers circulating for those who don’t want to leave the water.
The cabanas for rent are $129 at the adult pool and $149 for the family ones, but these come with outdoor loungers cooled by misters as well as an indoor space with living room furniture, a safe, a fruit plate, and a fridge. Since the afternoon sun can be downright dangerous in the summer, it’s night to have a getaway area that’s out of it.
Spa, Golf, and Tennis in the Desert
Indian Wells got on the map by hosting golf and tennis tournaments, and the area is still popular for those enjoying both games. The resort has its own tennis and pickleball courts that guests can play on from 7:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. You also have access to the 36-hole Indian Wells Golf Course that’s next to the hotel.
The new Agua Serena Spa here is impressive, with outdoor pools, indoor pools, plus steam room and sauna options. The whole facility is open to anyone who books a massage or facial in one of the many treatment rooms, or you can buy a day pass to lounge around for hours.
The Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas has plenty of other activity options to keep you or the whole family occupied, from complimentary bike rentals to frisbee golf to weekend night movies at one of the pools. There are wellness classes and aqua aerobics as well.
Dining and Drinks
The dining and drinking options at this Grand Hyatt seem rather limited, considering the size of the place. Several of them were closed during my visit, even though the pools were packed, partly because of a conference going on. When everything is open, there are three bars, two poolside take-out places, one lobby grab-and-go store, and two indoor restaurants.
We had lunch at Carmocha, which doubles as the lobby bar, since it was the only sit-down restaurant open for lunch. (The more upscale Tia Carmen serves breakfast and dinner.) Our meal was a bit disrupted when we had to send back one undercooked item, and the other person was finished before that came circling back. They redeemed themselves at dessert time, though, with a cinnamon caramel brownie concoction that had gold flakes topping off the whipped cream.
Many of the villa guests probably stock up with their own food and drink stash, and there are additional choices nearby at other resorts and the golf club. Room service is available 24 hours for in-room dining.
Booking a Stay
Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas is open all year, even when the temps hit 120 degrees F, but rates vary quite a bit between then and the cool high season months. In the low season, you might see a rate of $224 at first, but that’s before the $50 mandatory resort fee and all the taxes, meaning rates really start at $310. They can double or more between December and March.
Villas start at around $1,050 after all the add-on fees, and the 2-bedroom presidential villas can top $3,000 in high season. Pets are welcome here, subject to an additional fee, and the entire property is well-equipped for those with mobility issues or who use a wheelchair. Book direct at Hyatt.com, at the resort’s own dedicated website, or your favorite online travel agency.
Check rates online at Expedia, Booking.com, or Hotels.com.
Review and photos by travel writer Tim Leffel, who was hosted at Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas for a day for purposes of review. As always, all opinions are his own.
