The Desert Moon is a gay hotel which sits at the beginning of the Palm Canyon strip in Palm Springs, conveniently located next to the popular gay night spot, Toucans.

I have stayed here three times over the last year and a half, wanting to like it , and hoping it had changed from the previous stay. It has had a different manager and staff during each visit but the qulaity has remained sub-par.

What can you say about a hotel where they do not offer daily maid service? How about no phones in the rooms? No kellenx in the bathroom?

When you walk into the front gate, the beautifully landscaped grounds are inviting. Then you discover that only half of the resort is landscaped. The pool area is stark without any plants or foliage.

The rooms are adequetely furnished with a television set equipped with only basic cable.

This property of over 20 rooms has so much promise. I hope the owners read this and start to really pay attention to how they run the Desert Moon Resort. If they don't really want to put the time into it, please sell it to someone who will.

I undertand that there are problems sometimes. (The jacuzzi couldn't be fixed during our weekend and that was a BIG bummer.) But overall the experience was great. When we had a problem, they tried to fix it. Some of my friends expected higher amenities but as far as a gay guesthouse , this one is fine.

The rooms were remodeled with huge sleigh beds. The location in the hot new area was cool, too. We were across the street from Rick's (famous diner) and next to Toucan's a local friendly gay bar. Also, the pool was big and the pool furniture was new. Free washer and dryer was nice since I was there for a week. Some of the rooms have gated patios so for folks with pets thats a plus. Also, for those of us WITHOUT PETS that's a plus. The grounds are nice but be wary of picking those oranges. They are pretty but not made for eating. (TRUST ME.)

I would like to see alarm clocks in every room. It's nice to be able to look up and see the time without having to search for my phone or watch. Oh, and 24 hour coffee.

I will say that the mgmt did try to accomodate us. I host a group of 20 rooms or so... we were at The Villas the year before. They are very frequent travelers with lots of (deservedly so) diverse special requests. For example one complaint was that wi-fi is only near the lobby. I LIKED THIS because folks would come up and sit and chat while on their laptops. Nowadays at a a lot of gay guesthouses I go to, folks just use their laptops in their rooms and it is hard to meet people!

SPECIAL TIP: Parking is safe and lit at the rear of the inn BUT Toucan-goers park there, too. Hopefully there is a sign there now. Otherwise you can park on the street in front. I just parked my big-ass rental car in the front drive everyday. Out of the way of course. Haha.

It started off bad and didn't get much better! They charged our credit card three weeks prior to the arrival date and basically held our money hostage. Upon arrival, the staff member that checked us in was shirtless and there were dogs running around the lobby. There was also a half empty bottle of vodka on the front desk! This should have been enough to know to leave and go somewhere else, but they already had our money and there was a no cancelation policy.

When we got to te room, it wasn't really clean. The smoke detector had been ripped from the wall and there were patch up holes in the kitchen area that was repainted with a color that didn't match the original color. The bathroom door was coming off the frame too. When we discovered that the air conditioner was not working, we were told BY THE OWNER that there was nothing that could be done as the hotel was full. We were the first to arrive and all but two other rooms were empty. After some fighting, the owner apologized and showed us some other rooms (that were suddenly available). We finally settled on a room that had a working air conditioner!

A few hours later I went to the front desk (as there are no phones in the rooms) to get the WiFi information and was told that the internet connection didn't reach our room, as it was too far away. We were told we could sit in the lobby to connect or sit in a metal chair by the hot tub and we might be able to connect from there!

Of course they advertise WiFi on their web site, but I guess it only reaches less than half of their rooms. They also advertise a free massage with a three night stay. We were there for six, but when we tried to schedule them, we were told that we were not eligible, as we were there for a special event. We also asked why we paid $149.00 a night when there website offers much lower rates. Again we were told because we were part of a special event.

During our stay, we found two roaches in the room and several ants. Roaches and ants seem to be a problem with the other guests we spoke to as well. The lock on the room door was broke and it seriously took about 3-5 minutes to get it out of the lock each time.

There were many other things that went wrong, but I am just finally happy to be home with my A/C and WiFi.

The website states: "Desert Moon Resort offers 24 beautifully appointed rooms set amid lush landscaping and a large heated pool and invigorating spa." We found a dirty room that was missing a fridge and in disrepair. Another review said this was basically a 50's style motel. That review is correct! The spa was cold. The landscaping was non-existent. The pool is surrounded by concrete and dead plants in pots. There is no security - anyone can walk into the property. Several strangers did! Luckily other guests managed to get them off. The breakfast consisted of bad coffee, stale muffins and jelly so old that it was solid! And even this horrible breakfast wasn't put out until very late. The staff acted as if we were doing nothing but getting in their way. Oh yea, we had to prepay for the entire stay 3 weeks in advance. I've never heard of this in Palm Springs - in July! I've stayed in many gay places in Palm Springs - this is by far the worst I've ever experienced. You can do better!