New hotels in Palm Springs

We track nine new hotels in Palm Springs, California, opened between December 2023 and April 2025, with one more confirmed for summer 2026. Nearly all are adaptive-reuse conversions of mid-century motor lodges and courtyard motels rather than new construction: a pattern that runs from the Movie Colony's Hollywood-era retreats to Uptown's design-district compounds and downtown's larger-scale relaunches. Design-focused couples do best in the Uptown Design District or Movie Colony; travelers who want walkable downtown restaurants and nightlife should look at the properties clustered along Palm Canyon Drive; Warm Sands suits couples wanting a quieter, adults-only stay.

What to do

A weekend in Palm Springs

Spend the first day downtown along Palm Canyon Drive, browsing the shops near Thompson Palm Springs and Royal Sun Palm Springs, then walking to Moorten Botanical Garden at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains before Thursday's VillageFest if timing allows. In the evening, head to the Uptown Design District's galleries and mid-century furniture dealers, a short walk from The Cactai, for dinner at one of the neighborhood's restaurants. On the second day, take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up Mount San Jacinto for cooler air and mountain views, then return to Old Las Palmas or Movie Colony for a quieter evening near The Velvet Rope or Lucille Palm Springs.

A full week

A week adds a half-day at the Palm Springs Art Museum and a drive out to Joshua Tree National Park, about an hour east, for a full day of desert hiking and rock formations. Golfers can build in a round at one of the valley's courses, and design enthusiasts should reserve a morning for a docent-led tour of the city's mid-century modern architecture, much of it clustered in the same Uptown Design District where The Cactai and Casa Palma Hotel & Bungalows sit. Save an evening for Warm Sands' quieter guesthouse compounds if a slower pace interests you, and use a free afternoon for the shops and cafes along South Palm Canyon Drive near the future Palihotel Palm Springs site.

Where to stay

Downtown Palm Springs

Thompson Palm Springs opened in October 2024, spanning two and a half blocks of Palm Canyon Drive at the gateway to the Design District (168 rooms plus a separate 42-room adults-only Upper Stories tower, built around three dining concepts including the Levantine restaurant Lola Rose Grand Mezze. Royal Sun Palm Springs opened February 19, 2025 at the south end of downtown, replacing the short-lived Life House Palm Springs on a property whose bones date to the 1960s) a 66-room relaunch from Suncroft Capital and Springboard Hospitality built around a new restaurant and bar, High Moon, and event space scaling up to 295 guests. Palihotel Palm Springs, confirmed for summer 2026, is converting the shuttered Vagabond Inn motor lodge on South Palm Canyon Drive into a 116-room hotel, one of 16 Palisociety properties joining Marriott's Design Hotels collection and Bonvoy loyalty program in 2026.

Uptown Design District

Terra Palm Springs opened in early 2025 on Indian Canyon Drive, a 13-room boutique hotel built around holistic wellness programming rather than the mid-century design references common elsewhere in the city. The Cactai relaunched in 2024 inside a 1948 courtyard motel that has carried three previous names across nearly eight decades: a 12-room, adults-only conversion with full kitchens, premium bedding and an AI-driven guest-service system.

Movie Colony

Casa Palma Hotel & Bungalows opened in spring 2025 on the site of Errol Flynn's members-only Normandy Hotel and, more recently, Desert Sun Resort & Spa: a 33-key resort and social club with two pools, a tennis-and-pickleball court and a Mediterranean-leaning restaurant, reframing a Hollywood-era address as open to any guest who books a room. The Velvet Rope opened in December 2023 inside a 1951 Herbert W. Burns building first used as a private retreat for visiting Hollywood stars, restored over more than two years and five million dollars into nine suites each themed to a different Old Hollywood figure, from Elizabeth Taylor to Liberace.

Warm Sands and downtown's residential fringe

Lucille Palm Springs reopened in 2023 inside a 1921 Spanish Revival compound formerly known as The Andalusian Court, on the quiet residential fringe of downtown (nine self-catered bungalows and studios around a central pool, each with a kitchenette and a private outdoor jacuzzi tub, trading on the property's history as a haunt of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. El Noa Noa relaunched in early 2025 in Warm Sands, a seven-suite compound reportedly the former home of Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel) the hotel takes its name from his song about the Mexico City nightclub where he got his start, now an adults-only couples' retreat with suites arranged around a central pool and spa.

Which hotel for your trip

Design and mid-century modern travelers

The Cactai's 1948 courtyard restoration and Thompson Palm Springs' Design District gateway location both put design-focused travelers close to Uptown's mid-century furniture dealers and architecture, while Terra Palm Springs adds a wellness-first alternative on the same stretch.

Old Hollywood and history travelers

The Velvet Rope's nine Hollywood-figure suites and Casa Palma's Errol Flynn-era site both trade directly on Palm Springs' studio-era history, and Lucille Palm Springs' 1921 building adds a third, more residential take on the same theme.

Couples and adults-only stays

The Velvet Rope, The Cactai and El Noa Noa are all adults-only, spanning Movie Colony, Uptown and Warm Sands respectively: three distinct neighborhoods for a couples-only trip depending on how central or quiet a stay you want.

Groups and social gatherings

Casa Palma Hotel & Bungalows' tennis-and-pickleball court and two pools, and Royal Sun Palm Springs' event space for up to 295 guests, both suit a group or wedding party better than the smaller boutique properties on this list.

Travelers waiting on Palm Springs' next opening

Palihotel Palm Springs, confirmed for summer 2026, will convert the former Vagabond Inn motor lodge on South Palm Canyon Drive into a 116-room hotel as part of Palisociety's newly announced Design Hotels and Marriott Bonvoy expansion.

Frequently asked questions

What is the newest hotel to open in Palm Springs?

Royal Sun Palm Springs, which opened February 19, 2025 at the south end of downtown: the most recent of the eight hotels currently open among those we track.

What hotel is coming next to Palm Springs?

Palihotel Palm Springs, converting the former Vagabond Inn motor lodge on South Palm Canyon Drive, confirmed for summer 2026.

Are most new Palm Springs hotels adaptive reuse or new construction?

Adaptive reuse dominates: eight of the nine hotels tracked here convert an existing mid-century motel, motor lodge or residential compound. Only Thompson Palm Springs was built substantially new for its current use.

Which Palm Springs hotels are adults-only?

The Velvet Rope, The Cactai and El Noa Noa all restrict stays to adults, along with Thompson Palm Springs' separate Upper Stories tower.

Which Palm Springs hotel is in the Uptown Design District?

The Cactai, at 312 E Camino Monte Vista, and Terra Palm Springs, on nearby Indian Canyon Drive.

Which Palm Springs hotel has the most Old Hollywood history?

The Velvet Rope's building was designed in 1951 as a discreet retreat for visiting celebrities, and Casa Palma's site includes Errol Flynn's former members-only Normandy Hotel, both predate most of Palm Springs' current hotel supply by decades.

Which Palm Springs hotel is best for a wellness-focused trip?

Terra Palm Springs, a 13-room boutique hotel on Indian Canyon Drive built around holistic wellness programming rather than the mid-century design references common to most of the city's other openings.

Is Palm Springs walkable?

Downtown, along Palm Canyon Drive, and the Uptown Design District are both walkable, with restaurants, shops and galleries concentrated along compact strips. Movie Colony and Warm Sands are quieter, low-rise residential neighborhoods better suited to walking between a handful of nearby streets than covering the whole city on foot.