Hautels: Hollywood Get-Away in the Desert

La Quinta Resort & Club has played host to Hollywood legends like Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, and Frank Capra, and financial powerhouses such as Cornelius Vanderbilt IV and William H. Crocker. Now you’re more likely to see a sports celeb, or famous golfer but the hacienda-style hotel looks very much the same today as it did when it first opened in 1926.

Set against the backdrop of the rugged Santa Rosa Mountains, the legendary La Quinta Resort is the longest-running resort in the Palm Springs desert area and one of only two resorts in the country for which a city has been named. Spanning 45 acres, it boasts 41 swimming pools and 53 hot spas, championship golf and tennis facilities, award-winning dining, expansive spa and fitness facilities, plus a variety of boutiques and shops in the two-story Plaza area.

The resort has 796 guestrooms and villas situated in charming whitewashed Spanish-style casitas with views of the gardens or mountains. Guestrooms, most clustered around swimming pools, average 462 square feet in size and include 562 casitas, 24 suites and 210 spa villas. Nearly 100 spa villa studio guestrooms can be transformed into three-bedroom suites, while the resort’s traditional suites may feature hospitality kitchens, conference tables accommodating up to 14 people, DVD players and stereo equipment, and dual wood-burning fireplaces for bathroom/bedrooms and living rooms. Eight suites also showcase private spas; and five luxury suites – among them the lavish 4,500-square-foot Hacienda Grande with its own carport, and the 1,200-square-foot Eisenhower Suite that Ike himself frequented on a regular basis – include both a private pool and spa. Another highlight is the glamorous, art-deco-style Arzner Suite, named after Hollywood’s first female film director, Dorothy Arzner.

A member of Hilton’s Waldorf Astoria Collection, the historic property is located in Southern California’s Coachella Valley in the city of La Quinta, only 130 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Today the weather is a balmy 93 degrees. What are you waiting for?

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