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We just returned from a few days stay at
the Terra Cotta Inn. We love Palm Springs and enjoy the small community
environment that the Terra Cotta offers. But the last reviewer said it
best...like a favorite Aunt in the same faded house dress. Tom, MaryClare, and
Patty are wonderful and can't do enough for their guests. We have stayed there
at least four times, but each time we arrive we have to fill out a guest card
with all of our information again, like a motel in the 60's. Is this part of
the nostalgia? Time for a computer system.
The pool and pool area are
very nice, landscaping is well maintained, plenty of chairs, not enough
umbrellas. The misters are a great feature to keep cool. The pool towels were
new and there were plenty of floats and noodles to use. The music station was
mixed with static in the mornings but seem to be corrected as the morning
progressed. There is also smoking allowed outside the rooms which are very
close to the pool area. Not sure if there are restrictions, but this can be
bothersome to those non-smokers.
The hot tub is clean, but only a few
jets work and the filtration system is so loud it is difficult to carry on a
conversation. The design of the tub is old and the seats are so deep that the
water level is up to my nose, (I'm 5'2") if I sit, so I must sit on the narrow
steps and block the entrance or stand.
Breakfast is store bought
pastries, muffins, bagels, hard boiled eggs, fruit, cereal, yogurt. Certainly
sufficient and a nice touch since most prefer not to leave the grounds. The
wine and snacks at 4PM, including fresh strawberries are a nice break in the
day and Tom usually puts on his bow tie to serve it, stepping in the pool
without any hesitation. Lunch is brought in daily at an additional cost if you
choose that option.
The rooms are old and need updating. They need
paint. They need more electrical outlets. The carpet and chair cushions are
stained, the bathroom fixtures are mostly old, the ones that have been replaced
are of poor quality. The bed is not comfortable, the sheets scratchy and the
pillows are the worst I have ever slept with, lumpy and small. Lighting is poor
except for the bathroom. Bath towels are of good quality and the water pressure
is good. The air conditioning works well but is quite loud, there are new flat
screen TVs in the rooms also. It is nice that all rooms have a small
refrigerator and microwave. Tom and MaryClare provide paper plates and plastic
ware if you need them. The rooms are not made up the same time each day, some
days it was late afternoon before this was done.
We've met quite a few
guests that have been coming to the Terra Cotta Inn for many years and stay in
touch with a few. Most seem to be our age or older. We found all the guests
were friendly and had nothing but kind words for the accommodations. Many new
comers said they would definitely return. Still not sure if we will....see my
review for the Desert Sun Resort. Stayed September 2011, traveled as a
couple
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Here is response from Tom Mulhall, the owner.
October 8,
2011
Thank you very much for your review. We take them very
seriously.
We are happy to read that you think our staff is wonderful.
Yes, they are very hardworking and do a great job of taking care of our guests.
Thank you very much for the compliments.
We take guest privacy very
seriously. With large corporations and the federal government having their
computer systems hacked these days, I have made the decision not to put
sensitive guest information on our computers. Many guests are very afraid their
employers will learn they like vacationing at nudist resortd. Even though we do
have firewalls on our computers , my thinking is if large banks, governments,
etc can't always keep out hackers, the best way to protect your privacy and you
is not to have that information online in the first place. I am sorry that you
see registering as an inconvenience. Most guests are extremely happy that we
take an extra step to protect their privacy and do not mind the 30 seconds it
takes to fill out a registration card required by the city of Palm
Springs.
The jacuzzi is large at 8 ft x 15 ft. As you noted, 1 side has
jets, the other side does not. We learned years ago that not all guests want to
have jets on them. We work hard to please the majority of guests. Thus, we
purposely have 1 side of the jets off. Thus, those guests that like the jets
sit on one side, and those that don't want jets on them, sit on the other
side.
I'm glad you like our free breakfast. We serve our guests
everyday of the week since as you know we are busy and popular 7 days a week.
We are famous for our fruit. It is all very high quality restaurant grade
fruit, not cheap fruit bought at the grocery store. It is more expensive that
way, but our guests deserve the best. Also our coffee we serve at breakfast is
a Starbucks blend and the free in room coffee is the premium Wolfgang puck
brand.
We target our resort as being a great value like the free
breakfast and afternoon snacks.. We use a local restaurant to deliver lunches
at a very reasonable price. For instance where typical hotel lunches, like a
hamburger, fries and soda will cost around $15 a person, ours are only $5.90
including taxes and tip. We go around poolside taking your order and serve your
lunch poolside. Here we do not nconvenience you by making you get upfrom the
pool and go inside a hotel restaurant for a hour our so to eat lunch. You get
to eat lunch poolside. For dinner, 10 different restaurants deliver here. Once
you check into the Terra Cotta Inn, you do not have to leave our hotel grounds
unless you want to. This was one of the many reasons MSNBC picked us as the
best value nude sunbathing resort in the western US.
I am sorry you did
not like your bed or the linens. The beds are newish, top of the line king
sized Sealy Posturepedic Plush Top beds. Most of our guests tell us that they
have never had better sleep than on our beds. Many guests have bought the same
brand bed after staying here. The beds can be purchased at better bedding
stores.
Our linens are Westin brand Heavenly Bed linens. They are the
same brand that the Westin Hotel chain uses in their hotels. We are constantly
buying new linens as we recognize the importance of a good nights sleep. They
are never more than 1 year old before they are replaced. Our pillows are DuPont
Quallolfil ® pillows. These pillows have special fibers that allow the
quallofil pillow to mold perfectly to your head night after night. They are the
highest quality next to down pillows which some people are allergic to. And
many guests mistakenly think they are down pillows as they are so comfortable.
Each room has 6 standard sized pillows to sleep with for a good nights
sleep.
I know what room you were in, thank you for writing you were
from New York. I could personally inspect your room. I laid on the bed and
pillows and they were very comfortable. I have even asked guests who had your
room after you how they like the bed and pillows and they all raved about the
great nights sleep they got. I'm sorry that the Sealy brand beds and Quallofill
pillows felt uncomfortable to you. We have since bought some down pillows for
those guests that would rather have down.
Our rooms were painted by a
famous artist named Max West. He has won 2 Grammy's for his art work in the
recording industry. He comes here every December to touch up the paint in the
rooms. Elle Decor Magazine was here a number of years ago and one of the things
they loved was the room paint job. It give the rooms a fanciful tropical feel.
For people that like everything to be painted off white, they may not like the
paint in the rooms. Our thinking is it is your vacation, we try to create a fun
atmosphere throughout the hotel including the walls of the rooms instead of
boring white.. Most guests like how the walls are painted or it doesn't matter
to them.
We are in the process of redoing rooms. I have posted a photo
showing the new travertine tile floors (special non slip safety tiles) and new
furniture here in trip advisor. We have redone 25% of the rooms. Due to our
high occupancy rate and my not wanting a large work crew here to disturb the
guests, we work on one room at a time with only 1 or 2 workers at a time. We do
this because we are always thinking of our guests comfort. All rooms should be
finished by spring next year. Most guests such as yourself prefer to be right
by the pool, so those rooms have not been done yet.
When we replace
items, we always use high quality materials, we never use cheap quality as our
guests deserve the best. Even simple details that guests would never notice
like toilets are top of the line Toto brand. Shower heads are Delta multi
stream massaging shower heads. Faucets are high quality Price Pfister like in
your room. One of the reasons we have great water pressure as you noted is the
high quality fixtures that we use. The flat screen TV's are Sony brand. Rooms
have good lighting as we have 3 way 50-100-150 watt lamps which are great for
reading.
All rooms have safety power strips by the TV's as these days
guests have many electronic items. We will add another safety power strip to
the rooms. Thank you very much for this suggestion. This is one of the reasons
why we love talking to our guests as we get great ideas to always improve the
guest experience.
You are right. The rooms are not cleaned at the same
time every day. As you noticed being here midweek, we are very popular.
Everyday we can have from 3 to maybe 8 couples check in and check out. The
guests come from all over the US, Canada, England, Australia, Mexico and other
countries. We are one of only a few nudist vacation resorts instead of just
another weekend getaway like many nudist places. At most hotels you can not
check in until 3 or 4 pm. And some hotels charge you extra if you want to check
in early. We allow guests to check in as early as 10am at no extra charge. Also
at most hotels you have to leave by 11am or noon or they charge extra. We allow
guests to stay as late as 5pm at no extra charge. Our first priority is getting
the rooms cleaned for the new guests checking in. Most guests once they realize
how nice we are with our early check in and late check out policies do not mind
that their rooms are not cleaned at the same time each day. However, if you
need your room cleaned early, late or a specific time, we are always happy to
do so.
Thank you for saying our guests are so friendly. Nudists have
always said we have the best guests in the nudist resort industry including you
folks and I agree. As you know we have one of the highest repeat guest rates in
the travel industry and we have the highest occupancy rate of ALL nudist
resorts in the US. As you saw by staying at other nudist places, we we were
very busy in comparison.
We are a very popular resort as the Los
Angeles Times just picked us as the most popular small resort in ALL Southern
California in July 2011. There are many reasons we are so popular. One of them
is we are such a great value. The 2012 year will start our 5th year in a row
that we have not raised prices for staying at our resort. This is very
important in this economy as no one likes overpaying for their hotel stays. We
are affordable luxury.
We hope to see you again very soon. And again
thank you for your review. Tom Mulhall, Owner, Terra Cotta |
