Spotlight - West September 2010

Boutique and big is just the recipe for the Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel, a 410-room property attached to the Palm Springs Convention Center that ended 2009 by unveiling a $25 million rebranding and renovation.

"We renovated the hotel from top to bottom—the meeting space, the guest rooms, the pool deck, meeting rooms—everything," says General Manager Jim Davis. "The goal was to get the Renaissance look and feel and experience. We try to be a little bit edgier and hipper than your typical brand. We have everything you would expect in a new property, and we take it one level higher, not only in service but the feel. Renaissance is all about style and feel and being edgy and different."

Formerly the Wyndham Palm Springs, the hotel now offers a little more than 25,000 square feet of meeting space of its own, a number that jumps to 180,000 square feet of space all on the same level and under one roof when combined with the convention center.

According to Davis, the hip stylings of the "new" hotel match with the boutique flavor of Palm Springs itself, which has turned what many may have considered the liability of being the go-to place for Hollywood celebrities in the middle of the 20th century into a retro plus that is increasingly drawing the stars of today.

"When I was here before, Palm Springs had that ’50s-’60s feel about it," says Davis, who returned to "The Springs" for the general manager’s job. "Palm Springs is alive now—I was quite surprised myself. The downtown area has numerous restaurants and a lot of boutique hotels, and it’s kind of a hip place itself.

"We are fortunate not only with the money we spent, but also with our location," Davis continues. "We’re in the center of downtown, close to all of the restaurants and shops, so it’s easy to walk around and get a cocktail and dinner."

The hotel is also close to Palm Springs International Airport—a tad over 1.5 miles, according to Davis, who says the Renaissance is the closest property to the airport—which is also undergoing a renovation.

Highlights of the hotel renovation include a redesign of the lobby to offer a modernist, "great room" environment to greet arriving guests, complete with a "cocktail culture" bar and lounge area and front desk pods. Tech improvements include media walls, digital reader boards and high-definition TVs.

A standout element is the pool, which can be used as impressive reception space.

"The pool is the largest in Palm Springs, and during the renovation we really focused on making that a big deal," Davis says. "When you walk into the front entrance of the hotel you see an expansive lobby and then one long, direct shot to the pool."

Davis says the pool area has the capacity for about 600 people on its deck for dinner, and that the property has fit more than 1,000 there for a reception.

Food and beverage options at the hotel include ROCKS, which transforms from a coffee bar in the morning to a lounge in the afternoon and evening. ROCKS offers intimate spaces that can be used as work areas during the day—featuring PCs that are integrated into its tables—and a "chill out" space for mingling at night.

Impressive in a meetings sense, the property features a massive rolling door between the hotel and the convention center that opens to reveal one vast space, which is an apt transition for a place that straddles both the retro-hip boutique world of Palm Springs and the capability to hold a meeting that demands nearly 200,000 square feet of space.

Which all adds up to a key selling point for Davis.

"We’re fortunate to be a convention hotel in a boutique town," he says.

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