Once again the team and I are camped out at the La Quinta Resort & Club located in Palm Springs. This place is very nice if you know what to ask for. Due to an unexpected assignment we rolled into this place early evening on a big weekend. Well the front desk is friendly and tells us that they are “fully booked.” Then out of the blue the nice young lady finds that there is a room, San Quentin 123, I swear that is the name. This place had more birthdays than many of the folks who live at PGA. And calling it San Quentin also seemed appropriate, cramped and boring, I am told that it is vintage…sure, like the pyramids…not impressed. The place was old and the landscape was more like “moonscape.” Parking was like trying to find a place to park in San Franciscos North Beach on a Saturday night…hit and miss and many more misses.
Well, we get a roll away, yup, a roll away, and we settle in for a miserable night, our client is sleeping just feet away!!! Myself and the boys’ only duty is to see that she tries to get some rest. Due to personal issues it is not always easy and at times seems almost impossible. Well, we get through the night and I make it to the front desk to inform them that we are not going to leave as the client is not feeling well and does not want to leave…and we need to get out of “San Quentin 123.”
When we checked in I had notice several photos of very, very nice suites, or as I think, places that “I” should be sleeping. Upon checking I am told that the “El Presidente” suite is taken but the “Pueblo Suite” that is almost as nice is available…San Quentin in a memory and now we have a gorgeous suite, private garden with a wonderful private pool and hot spa. And when you call for something, the hotel knows who is calling…special rooms for special people! Special is what our clients are most of the time, some far more “special” than others. And here we have two reserved spots for our cars, Maseratti and Da Hummer, and the gardens and the pool are all just beautiful to look at and is a visual banquet for the senses. We are now at the level we deserve, very nice resort and a nice place to relax and enjoy the facilities.
Well our client wants to have a nice dinner and decides that we should all eat at “Morgans in the Desert.” I figure, no problem, we are in one of those “special rooms.” I call the eatery and I ask for a 7PM reservation for 4 and I am told “nothing is available…maybe I can fit you in at 9PM…WTF? Nothing? Look at the room I am calling from, at several hundred dollars a night and I cannot get in to have a lousy steak? Well the young lady who should perhaps be working in another field tells me, I can fit you in at 6:30 PM . I am ready to go to LGs Steak House and I should have! Well when we arrive the place is NOT FULL.
At 6:30 PM there are at least 7 empty tables and when we leave at almost 8PM there still are empty tables…my suggestion, pass on this place and go to LGs. The food was good and served hot, but that reservation process is just silly, it is the classic old act of pretend you are just swamped and make the caller feel how lucky they are to have gotten in to eat your very exspensive meal…for me this will be a pass next time. This place reminded me of my dear friend Barbara Berkowitz, lawyer, whenever you call her office it is “Ms. Berkowitz is in a meeting”…sometimes I will be downstairs and will go up and find her with her feet on her desk playing with her dog…I guess there is a theory that you should always give the impression you are busy…LMAO…we love Barbara and she is on the “candy list.”
This morning we all decide to go have breakfast at Twenty6, the food is good and not priced to badly. The problem is the service is terrible, the food comes out sporadically and don’t even try getting refills on coffee…this place also charges you for refills. Talk about ridiculous…at that price you think that the coffee would come and fast…not at Twenty6. The view is pretty from were we sat, as the gardens are blooming and the waterfalls are refreshing to sit and listen to. This place is perhaps better to visit on off peak hours…very early breakfast or very late lunch. I won’t tell you to pass on Twenty6 and hit IHOP but I am very tempted to. And how about this? It cannot be too bad as I am sitting praying that the coffee god will see fit to allow someone at sometime to bring a coffee refill…who do I see stroll in? Alexandra Leichter — as in attorney at law, Big Time divorce lawyer and her husband. I have to say, she was dressed to impress and her hair was very well coifed, as she walked by she turned heads, not in an odd way but one that said, “who is that woman,” does anyone else think that she and Judge Byrd from over at the “Stanley” could be sisters? Just me thinking outside the courtroom…I mean box. Or maybe my eyes are getting bad…just a thought.
On another note, the staff here are wonderful, the cleaning staff as well as the bellman and all related service people are the best. Management will listen to you but I think it falls on what I think is deaf ears, nice smile, but little will be done to correct the problematic situation that is annoying you the paying customer no matter whatever that maybe. It is tagged as A Waldorf Astoria Resort…..hmmm, I can see that Waldo stuff at times unless I am trying to get a reservation or a pot of coffee.
John J. Nazarian, Private Investigator and Security Consultant
May 28, 2011
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