I had the urge for an impulse trip, wanted to stay at a lovely resort in a room that was not just another average hotel room (I get enough of those when I travel for business). Since my son was at his dad's house for the Memorial Day weekend, I spent about a week surfing the web, trying to find that "perfect" combination of resort/spa: 1. relatively close to Orange County, CA; 2. Affordable and 3. Luxurious.

Ha! Good luck with that, right? Especially on Memorial Day weekend!

Well, I lucked out BIG time this weekend. FIrst of all, I took my chances for the first time ever with the Priceline concept - actually booked my trip on Hotwire, but same idea. I chose to go for a 4-star hotel in Indian Wells, and there are not too terribly many of them, so when my price came up at $169 for one night, I decided to go for it. I had taken my son to the Esmeralda a few weeks back, and I knew that $169 was quite a good price for that class of hotel, especially for a holiday.

So I was quite excited when I booked the trip and discovered I had landed on the Hyatt Grand Champions. I knew exactly where it was - the Esmeralda's address was still in my "Recent" addresses on my GPS, and the two resorts are a hundred yards apart.

Things didn't start off so great, however - I was amazed at the lack of self-parking, especially compared to the Esmeralda. The valet parking is $22 a night and it almost seems like they force you to take this option given how few parking spots there were.

So after fruitlessly driving around the small lot several times I gave up and pulled into the Registration area, intending to check into my room and then try again. However, a very friendly valet suggested to me that I could self-park on the top floor of the parking garage. The parking garage with the 20-foot high sign reading "Valet Parking ONLY". I'm rather averse to blatantly breaking rules that are posted in 20-foot high letters, though, so I didn't take him up on it.

At the Registration desk I got a bit frustrated. There seem to be a lot of Phillipino employees at this resort, and the one checking me in had a really thick accent and a quiet voice. The combination made me end up asking her to repeat just about everything she said to me, two or three times at least.

Anyway, she was nice enough, and proceeded to take my information. This is where I struck gold. She very casually, very nonchalantly asked me if I wouldn't mind staying in one of the villas since there were no King beds available in the main hotel right then. I was like, I guess so - are they recently remodeled? (thinking to myself, I really don't want to be stuck in a dark, dingy, musty old room again like the Fairfield Inn next to DIsneyland last month with my son). She said they were new - four months old. Oh, okay, sounds good to me!

So she gave me the room cards and gave me directions. I had no idea, wouldn't find out for a few more minutes, what a mega upgrade she had just so casually given to me.

But first, parking. Well, it was really my lucky day now. I scored a primo spot, right in the front row by the spa and the hotel. So it was an easy walk with my bags through the resort area, past the Oasis adults-only pool, to the villas section.

I opened up the door to my villa and was delighted to see a lovely room, flat screen tv on the wall, beautiful bed, ceiling fan, and a fridge for my bottle of water. However, the fun was just beginning. I walked over to the bathroom and a huge grin took over my face. The bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom, and it was GORGEOUS! Stone flooring, fancy sinks, counter, faucets, etc. Beautiful huge shower with heavy glass, frameless door and fancy tiling, and an amazing sunken tub complete with orchid on the ledge and a decorative container full of bath salts.

Then I glanced at some of the brochures in the room and read something about how I could have the butler draw my bath and turn down my bed. At that point I realized I had scored big-time, so I pulled out my iPhone and, using the free wi-fi reserved exclusively for villa customers, checked out the cost of reserving a villa on a non-holiday weekend in the future.

$869!!! OMG! Of course, that could have been one of the fancier villas with its own patio complete with private bbq and jacuzzi, but still. I had paid only $169, far less than most of the poor slobs who were slumming it up in the main hotel building, and I was living it up in a luxurious, brand new, upgraded-to-the-max room.

Well, the rest of my stay lived up to the lovely experience with my villa. I scored a great table outside at the bar that evening after tooling around the neighborhood on the resort bicycle (not a great bike, kind of bent funny) and had a couple of martinis while basking in the late afternoon sun and cool desert breezes. At breakfast the next morning I asked the hostess if there was any room at a table out on the patio for one person and she promptly gave me the best table on the patio! She said I deserved to be treated well because I was traveling alone! I told her that as a single mother who often takes myself out and on trips by myself, this was quite the opposite of my normal experience. We had a nice chat - her name was Martha and she has 6 kids!

Before breakfast I had worked out in the fitness center. Wow. I got there at 6am and rode the stationary bike that was 12 inches away from the open french doors, looking out over the pond and feeling more cool desert breezes on my while I exercised. This was the most tranquil, pretty setting I have ever had during a workout.

After breakfast I wandered through the spa, and sat by the fountain pool for a while. I had brought my book with me but didn't open it; just lounged on the incredibly comfortable chaise, thoroughly enjoying my surprise luxe getaway.

The downside to this wonderful mini-vacation was that I am "ruined" for the regular hotel rooms there now - how could I ever be happy in a standard room after having lived the life of a rich person for a day?!!!

The service was great, the hotel is nice. We stayed on the 3rd floor with golf course view. It was nice but not spectacular. The first floor of the hotel (which we used once or twice to get to other areas of the property) was disgusting. The carpet was nasty and the hotel doors were dirty. But the 3rd, 4th and 5th floors are very clean and nice. Our room was nice, nothing over the top. The mattress was soft, lumpy and unconfortable BUT they replaced every room with brand new mattresses the day we checked out. The hotel was pretty empty; we felt like we were the only people there. Not a whole lot going on the days we were there and that is exactly how we like it. The louge was nice, food and drinks were good.
We did some golfing next door at Indian Wells Golf Resort. The courses were in prestine condition and the service was TERRIFIC. The new clubhouse is really nice. We would definitely stay at this resort again.

We had a very nice stay, but even in March the pools were chaotic. Please take advantage of the Spa instead. It was so relaxing to sit by the fountain while you look onto the lake in front of you. As a guest, admittance is free. Cucumber infused water and iced towels are also available.

We had standard room with a pool view which nice except that your balcony is immediately next to your neighbors, not exactly private.

Despite the spa, on our next stay we're going to try somewhere else.

In addition to a very nice room overlooking the golf course, the staff at the hotel was very helpful. The many pools are very inviting and the spa is also worth visiting.