Desire Resort Forums

This is our 3rd trip to RM and our first one without a takeover so we had some different experiences. But before I go into that I real quick background on us which will help you understand our comments:
1- we are a middle-aged couple in our 50’s and have been active in the Life Style for 8 years now so we have been there, done that, wrote the book and have very little on our bucket list.
2- We were traveling with 2 other couples on this trip which was from Jan 3-8.

To start off, we all had a hell of a time getting to the resort, lost luggage, unexpected 14 hour layovers at LAX, unplanned red-eye flights…you name it, we had it happen to our group. Along those lines we did have an issues with baggage, one of our friends had baggage issues and they spent the first two nights with out there bags. What kind of ticked us off was the bags were delivered on Tuesday night, but no one at RM told them. You would think that if bags show up at the hotel you reach out to get them to the customers. They finally got there bags the next morning when they happen to walk in to talk to the front desk about the bag issue…not good.

While the staff always does an amazing job, they were hit by a lot of people calling in sick. At one point there was one butler to work all the resort! (I believe that there are usually 4-5 at any one time). And we saw this in other places also. The hot tub often only had 1 bartender when we are usually seeing 3. We also saw a lot of new faces in the restaurants and while the service was good…it was obvious that they were coming up to speed. And this is issues is not just isolated to RM, the world is dealing with the same issues.

One thing that really amazed us was the number of smokers on property and the volume of smoking. We are from California and we are not use people smoking in public so maybe we are naive but we could not hang out at the lobby bar due to the smoke. We also gave up are pool beds due to the constant cigar and pot smoke that kept going and going and going. We have never had this issues before. When we mentioned this to the staff they attempted to correct it but we were not able to see a difference.

The food…We had great meals and a few misses. But that is about how it usually goes.

The guests- this was where we saw the biggest difference, we are use to everyone at the resort to be LS friendly but this group was not. We found a few but the energy just was not there. We tried to flirt and talk to several people and it just did not happen…kind of weird and really made us stop and think if there was something wrong with us. We also are use to the beds up at the hottub to be full of people all night…and not towels…just a different crowd.

The Trip home and Covid…As per the protocol we did our covid test the day before we left and we were negative, we also did another home test just prior to this and it too was negative. As we started to travel home we started to cough and sneezing and when we arrived at SFO we did another home test and we were positive. Our friends that were traveling with us also are not feeling well and there were many people at the resort that were not feeling well…but it is unclear if this was Covid related or not.

Overall the week was fine, the staff worked there ass’s off and did their best to overcome the worker shortage but we are not quite sure we will come back without a takeover…just not the same vibe.

People who smoke in common areas of a resort (especially cigars in a hot tub) are some of the least considerate humans that walk the planet.

Actthree wrote:This is our 3rd trip to RM and our first one without a takeover so we had some different experiences. But before I go into that I real quick background on us which will help you understand our comments:
1- we are a middle-aged couple in our 50’s and have been active in the Life Style for 8 years now so we have been there, done that, wrote the book and have very little on our bucket list.
2- We were traveling with 2 other couples on this trip which was from Jan 3-8.

To start off, we all had a hell of a time getting to the resort, lost luggage, unexpected 14 hour layovers at LAX, unplanned red-eye flights…you name it, we had it happen to our group. Along those lines we did have an issues with baggage, one of our friends had baggage issues and they spent the first two nights with out there bags. What kind of ticked us off was the bags were delivered on Tuesday night, but no one at RM told them. You would think that if bags show up at the hotel you reach out to get them to the customers. They finally got there bags the next morning when they happen to walk in to talk to the front desk about the bag issue…not good.

While the staff always does an amazing job, they were hit by a lot of people calling in sick. At one point there was one butler to work all the resort! (I believe that there are usually 4-5 at any one time). And we saw this in other places also. The hot tub often only had 1 bartender when we are usually seeing 3. We also saw a lot of new faces in the restaurants and while the service was good…it was obvious that they were coming up to speed. And this is issues is not just isolated to RM, the world is dealing with the same issues.

One thing that really amazed us was the number of smokers on property and the volume of smoking. We are from California and we are not use people smoking in public so maybe we are naive but we could not hang out at the lobby bar due to the smoke. We also gave up are pool beds due to the constant cigar and pot smoke that kept going and going and going. We have never had this issues before. When we mentioned this to the staff they attempted to correct it but we were not able to see a difference.

The food…We had great meals and a few misses. But that is about how it usually goes.

The guests- this was where we saw the biggest difference, we are use to everyone at the resort to be LS friendly but this group was not. We found a few but the energy just was not there. We tried to flirt and talk to several people and it just did not happen…kind of weird and really made us stop and think if there was something wrong with us. We also are use to the beds up at the hottub to be full of people all night…and not towels…just a different crowd.

The Trip home and Covid…As per the protocol we did our covid test the day before we left and we were negative, we also did another home test just prior to this and it too was negative. As we started to travel home we started to cough and sneezing and when we arrived at SFO we did another home test and we were positive. Our friends that were traveling with us also are not feeling well and there were many people at the resort that were not feeling well…but it is unclear if this was Covid related or not.

Overall the week was fine, the staff worked there ass’s off and did their best to overcome the worker shortage but we are not quite sure we will come back without a takeover…just not the same vibe.

Really appreciate this post, especially the Covid bit. We had friends staying at RM the same time you were. They reported they tested negative and they were unaware that anyone was sick at the resort. We're headed to Pearl (maybe) on the 24th. Trip reports from there this past week make it sound like Covid is widespread among the guests. As Canadians who need a PCR test we're struggling with making the decision to go or cancel. Today is the drop dead date for final payment or forfeit deposit. Trying to figure out if this is going to be worth it or to push the trip by a few months. Appreciate any feedback or advice.

Really appreciate this post, especially the Covid bit.

I concur with the above reply and many thanks for this info. Reading here one could conclude that no one has tested POS at Desire. And of course, I'd say you are damn lucky that you did not until your connecting flight unless you'd enjoy 14 days holed up in isolation in Mexico. The thought of that happening is effing scary! Hope your recovery goes well!

Thank you so very much for your trip report! We’re scheduled to go in March and this information is so helpful. I was alarmed to hear you mention that smoking was prevalent throughout the club. Is this typical? We would, also, find this to be unacceptable. Should we look for another place to go? Is this a smoking-everywhere kind of resort? I can’t imagine being immersed in smoke in public areas for an entire visit.

Again - appreciate your report! Thank you!

One thing that really amazed us was the number of smokers on property and the volume of smoking. We are from California and we are not use people smoking in public so maybe we are naive but we could not hang out at the lobby bar due to the smoke. We also gave up are pool beds due to the constant cigar and pot smoke that kept going and going and going. We have never had this issues before. When we mentioned this to the staff they attempted to correct it but we were not able to see a difference.

C&T wrote:Thank you so very much for your trip report! We’re scheduled to go in March and this information is so helpful. I was alarmed to hear you mention that smoking was prevalent throughout the club. Is this typical? We would, also, find this to be unacceptable. Should we look for another place to go? Is this a smoking-everywhere kind of resort? I can’t imagine being immersed in smoke in public areas for an entire visit.

Again - appreciate your report! Thank you!

One thing that really amazed us was the number of smokers on property and the volume of smoking. We are from California and we are not use people smoking in public so maybe we are naive but we could not hang out at the lobby bar due to the smoke. We also gave up are pool beds due to the constant cigar and pot smoke that kept going and going and going. We have never had this issues before. When we mentioned this to the staff they attempted to correct it but we were not able to see a difference.

We're equally annoyed by smokers smoking outside their designated area at the resort. We have seen it happen a couple of times. Cigars are the worst. But I did want to clarify - I don't think this trip report is suggesting anyone was smoking indoors or in the club. The lobby bar is outside. We've never seen anyone smoking indoors at Desire.