Palm Desert / Shadow Ridge is still our favorite place to visit - - - - - - - - February, 2026 Visit We've visited for 25+ years and this was our first time to stay in The Enclaves (slightly newer, further back in the property). We visited Palm Desert to see our St. Louis CITY Soccer Club (SC) play Austin in pre-season MLS soccer at the Coachella Valley Invitational Tournament. This was a late-planned trip, and my wonderful wife was still able to pull off getting us into our favorite Marriott Vacation Club property - Shadow Ridge in Palm Desert. Every trip before this one we have stayed in the same building near the entrance; this was our first time staying in The Enclaves, the buildings located further back in the property, the ones with a more noticeable adobe-like southwestern motif. Being only three of us, we stayed in the studio, which is a one-bedroom with a pull-our sofa; then kitchen has counter space, but less than the master suite (no island / no wrap-around counter), and place settings for four; there is a small dishwasher. There is a coffee machine with a carafe (a pot at a time not a cup at a time). The room is laid out well and has good decorations. Our room happened to face south, so we could get some sun on the patio. We were also next to the Snakebites pool and enjoyed sun there - pool, cornhole, table tennis / ping-pong, and more. We have been visiting Shadow Ridge more often the past couple years, and that is a good thing, for doses of vitamin D from the sun, and from the relaxation we always feel when we are there. On this trip, I did work a couple days, too, and the Business Center in the lobby has much counter space and power plugs that could support 3-5 people working in there; though conf calls would be a noise challenge in such a setup; I was in there solo and was quite productive. See you soon, Shadow Ridge! ----- ----- ----- read more

I always love visiting here. It's such a beautiful place. The units are large and beautifully furnished. I love the patios. There's so much to do in this area and so many great restaurants. It's a great pleasure to visit here. My only complaint is the concrete pylons in the parking structure and our elevator. The pylons are too big and they make me really nervous when I park and the fact that our elevator wasn't working properly. It was making strange noises and failing to respond to commands. read more

Pool looks pretty cool during the mandatory pool break (ie the don't let your kids dehydrate themselves break lol). We love shadow ridge for swimming on the weekend. Kids love the slide and splash pad. Wife and I love the poolside service. read more

Shadow Ridge Resort - Resorts Near Me - Palm Desert, California

Well, I did a review on this, but I forgot to add that I had to repair the toilet as it quit working and the dishwasher door fell on my feet. read more

We stayed at the Enclaves side of the resort again. Our room was small, no kitchenette, mini refrigerator- thank goodness we brought a big cooler. Snake Bite pool, upper level was full of drunk loud partiers that security would not address, was not a relaxing environment nor weekend. We had the view of the golf course, but no balcony nor patio on the 3rd floor. Rooms are small and cramped, don't call it a resort m, you'll get peppered by time share pitches your entire stay, so much for R&R and relaxation! Oh, and they checked us out a day earlier than on our online Marriott reservation and what a nightmare that was, along with credit card machines not working at checkout. The place does NOT honor Marriott Titanium Elite members so no early check ins or late check outs (gotta get out of here by 10 am!). Will go back to the JW Marriott instead! read more

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We had a great time staying here for the first time. Our friends that have stayed here before recommended it to us. We got a one bedroom, including suite and a kitchenette. I thought it was a great space for a famiy of 4. We stayed two nights and I had the A/C blasting the entire time. When we were not in the room, we had a blast at the large family pools. The entire family enjoyed it. There are EV charging ports at the car port area. The adult bar and grill is right next to the family pool, so it was easy to order lunch and pick it up. Shout out to Britney, an employee that comes around and dances to make sure you're having a good time. read more

Such a nice resort! Cute pool area and a great golf course attached. Pool drinks were plentiful and tasty! Will definitely stay here again. read more

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Marriott Points Users - Beware! I don't write many negative reviews but, for future Points users considering Shadow Ridge, DO NOT CHECK IN LATE. Arrived one day late due to bad weather preventing travel on check-in date. The front desk said my reservation had been "canceled" because I had not contacted the resort, on the check-in date, to advise we would be one day late. There was NO NOTICE of cancellation. No email, no text, nothing. They could present no proof, nothing in writing, that the room was in fact canceled. But reception would not budge, because they had already given the room away to someone paying with dollars instead of points. Just surreal. Friday of a holiday weekend, nowhere else to stay, everything booked. Decades at hotels and various resorts and never seen anything like it. People have sued over less. Done with Marriott for good. Their guests are important only until there is a dollar to make off someone else - as I painfully learned, at your expense. read more

This place is expensive and doesn't actually protect their guests. They are more interested in making money for parking and let multiple families stay in the same room. If you like trash, this resort is for you. read more

Our room was not ready when promised. Beds were extremely hard and uncomfortable. It was difficult to get good sleep. There was an additional charge if you wanted housekeeping services., I was not impressed by the service. The food we ordered at the pool was disgusting. I ordered a turkey wrap and it came with a soggy tortilla, dry turkey, and brown lettuce. I was disappointed by the resort. Definitely not going back. read more

This course is showing its age as a top golf destination in the desert. We played it today and it showed it's not a $200 a round golf destination Pinnacle balks on the range. No towels in the cart. The rough outside the course was sad and not maintained. Most of the club was closed down. The help was non attentive. Certainly not a $200+ round of golf. Great course but lacking in attention. read more

This our favorite place to take our kids in Palm Springs. This resort has great pools, activity centers and lots of night time activities for the kids. S'mores Pool slides Basketball Courts Night time movies in the pool Build a Bear Adult Gym Golf We'll definitely be back. read more

DO NOT ENTER THIS BUILDING! Or you'll be hammered with timeshare sales nonsense pitch. When we checked in at the front desk, Marriott handed me a little card that wanted to me hand to the next desk. The lady on the desk basically talked me and my wife into listening to a 90-minute timeshare sales presentation for a trade of our last night stay to be free. We did take on the offer and went to the 9000 Building. It seems like that whole building is dedicated to timeshare sales. Long story, short: the sales presenter would not take: no, I'm not interested for an answer. Well, I had no problem slapping him around till he and his boss, Mike, gave up. Google Marriott vacation club timeshare experience before going for the presentation, if you decide you'd wanna attend. read more

Shadow Ridge Resort - Marriott vacation club Sales Gallery: AKA, the trap! - Resorts Near Me - Palm Desert, California

we been owners here for seventeen years. it has been wonderful spending one of the last weeks of summer before the kids start school. watching our kids and our friends kids grow up here has been fantastic. in this time we've enjoyed the the kid pool and water slide. the fun zone activity's with them and then on their own. getting in early morning runs in, working out at the gym or thru thrive zone. then teaching them to drive all around the resort with their learners permits may be my all time highlight. all the way until now haveing a drink of the day by the pool with them. i know what you're thinking... timeshares are not a smart investment. forget about that and just enjoy the time spent - truely priceless. don't ask me about points. i thought we would convert over with our kids in college, but it doesn't make sense to me. a few things we always do: always begin our first night at don diego's! order in some papa dan's pizza. do a little back to school shoppong at the mall and finish w a night at the river walk. read more

Came for golf and to visit friends. They charged $70.00 for one golf cart that they say is a "seasonal"fee!! We had a $300 credit which turned out to be only $238.00. Another Marriott scam to take your money. Golf course was beautiful but not happy about the additional fees charged to play here. read more

I love this property and everything that comes with it. Outstanding amenities and encompasses everything someone would want in a resort location. The golf course is fantastic and would recommend to any avid golfer. read more

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Decent resort but with course, grill and a lot of amenities not available is was just ok

From the time that we checked in, Customer Service was their mantra! Although this hard-to-book resort was 98% full (over the mid/late Nov) weeks, we felt very happy to be able to stay for our 2 weeks! GORGEOUS mountain and golf course views - that change throughout the day with the sunlight! QUIET rooms, EXCELLENT beds (We were in a 2 bedroom.), big bathrooms (Bathrooms are my "test" of how well the remainder of the place is.), large units and good layouts including full kitchens. When we arrived, one of the 3 TV's didn't work. However, the Engineer who quickly arrived (We checked in about 6:30pm), couldn't fix the seemingly loose wire connection, so he replaced the entire, flat panel TV, by HIMSELF! What a great team-member! We were tired and hungry and I wanted to fix dinner. This young engineer quickly fixed our TV issue, was also very professional and apologetic and got our vacation onto a smooth start. YAY! As to the surrounding area, there are nice sidewalks (for hikes and golf carts) all around the golf course and the spread-out, very well-landscaped property. We found a Target, Costco and Albertson's easily nearby for getting the groceries to cook. MANY good restaurants (Bellatrix is WONDERFUL!) are all within 5-10 minutes of this newer part of Palm Desert, making it feel like you have all the comforts of HOME! LOVE staying here! It has been our desert getaway from Orange County, for several years and we will definitely, return! (And, BTW, IF you decide to attend one of their time-share presentations, they press for logic and decision-making, but it is more informational and not uncomfortable. Although we didn't purchase on this visit, their presentation is worth the time spent listening to as the industry has changed - for the better.) read more

Worst vacation ever. Please save your money and go somewhere else!. They truly do not care about making sure your experience is worth it. We were told all pools where at capacity and had to wait before entering the areas, we waited over 2 hours with no luck. When asked about ensure we would be able to enter we were told to check out or deal with it. This is a money institution and not the marriot I've experienced in the past. Save your money and go somewhere else, you'll regret coming here. You've been warned. read more

Got here and was greeted by a big nasty fly in the window and a warm room that was set at 71 so we dropped it to 68 to cool off because i have hyperthyroidism with graves disease and the heat makes me feel horrible when it was too warm . As we proceeded to go and eat we come back to a room that isn't so fresh air hardly to none blowing . So we call front desk to have someone come check it . We waited 5 or more minutes on hold to speak to someone. Another 30 minutes for engineer to come check the AC . He comes in and checks the ac then checks filter and that thing was so nasty . It doesn't feel so clean to me in here now. So he leaves to get a new filter , comes back and replaces filter. I am dying not feeling well experiencing heart palpitations because thats what the heat does to me ! So then he said he now had to go to the roof to cool off the compressor because it over heated from the filter being so gross . He told us wait 40 mins for room to cool! Um ok thank you Marriott's Shadow Ridge for an experience I wouldn't want to have again . I definitely had higher expectations . Then don't forget the water being shut off tomorrow on our second day being here . read more

Marriott did a great job on this resort. We stayed in a 2/2 fully loaded. It has 4-5 pools, kids place, even a mini theatre. If you're getting a room with a kitchen like we did, before you check in stop at Walmart or Costco two minutes awAy because you have no other reason to leave the resort. The 5 kids that came along had a blast and did not want to leave. Will be back when it's less congested. Oh beware: parents allow their children to steal your things and act like they don't know what their kids own...a few families we spoke to either had things stolen like we did or kids just run and act crazy with no supervision knocking smaller kids to the ground. Where do these people come from? read more

We have stayed here for 14 yrs. I have seen the turn over in management. Last couple yrs they kept the rif-raff out. This yr, it obnoxious. The standard of "resort" people is sad. No one cleans up. Families take advantage and are 10-12 in a suite. It's not what I paid for in a Marriott time share. They sell out to outside agencies. It's not a resort anymore read more

We hadn't been here in about 5 years and wanted to dip our toe back into vacationing. Overall our stay was good. I loved that there was a noise curfew which our immediate neighbors adhered to. I did notice that some families took over entire barbeque areas, which is not the hotel's fault, but makes it sort of unavailable for anyone else. The wristband pool sessions didn't bother us, but so many people just came in through a side gate and no one at the pool checked so guests just sort of came whenever they wanted. The slide was closed for most of our stay due to someone breaking glass and they had to drain it, again, I wish there was more staff walking around the pool to make sure that doesn't happen. I will say, the pool bartender (I didn't get his name), was so awesome and friendly! Room was great for a family of four and I loved being able to do laundry/wash dishes. I loved the text messages and being able to check out via text - why doesn't every hotel do this! read more

3 weeks before coming here we asked them for a level one room.when we got there they said that all the one floor rooms where in use but it did not look like it.The second day we stayed I called for towels and all the agents were "busy" so I called again minutes later and I asked them for 4 pool towels and the agent seemed very moody to me an hour past and we had no towels so I called once again and the same lady picked up and called to ask for it once again she said the towels where on it's ways but it come hours later.all the agents are always busy and it seems like they have 5 agents picking up the phone with is crazy for a resort this big read more

I am 16, and made friends at the pool. These friends came back to a table near my room and we sat and had nice conversations until 1:30 am. A security guard came and said that the curfew for anyone under the age of 18 is 11pm (which must be false because that is the time that the pool closes, and further more there is no curfew for this resort that I could find posted on the website) The security guards continued to talk aggressively to us and said that we "need to go inside, and we should've been aware of the curfew." Even after we began to go inside our rooms they went as far as to say that they would have to "evict us from our rooms and the resort" if we didn't cooperate. As we found out they had a call come in earlier from people complaining of kids throwing rocks. They wrongly suspected that it was us. This being our last night to hangout we were quite upset as we had hung out until 2am every night with security guards passing by us with no problems. Other than those harsh security guards raining on our parade, the resort is a nice place to be, with great food and drinks. The pools are nice and offer a good amount of space for all of the guests. It does get really hot so make sure to wear sunscreen! read more