The Cactai

The Cactai occupies a 1948 courtyard motel in Palm Springs' Uptown Design District that has carried three previous names — Los Dolores, Colibri Inn and Chaps Inn — across nearly eight decades. Three friends, among them former tech worker Joel Milne, bought the 12-room property and relaunched it in 2024 as an adults-only boutique hotel pairing mid-century architecture with contemporary conveniences, down to an AI-driven guest-service system.

The place

The Cactai occupies a courtyard property at 312 E Camino Monte Vista, in Palm Springs' Uptown Design District, a few minutes' walk from the strip's galleries, mid-century furniture dealers and restaurants. The district's identity as a design-focused counterpoint to downtown suits a hotel built entirely around a mid-century restoration.

The concept

The property's paper trail runs from Los Dolores, a roadside motor inn from Palm Springs' earliest tourism boom in the late 1940s, through Colibri Inn, named for the hummingbirds in its gardens, to Chaps Inn, a fixture later owned by actor Stubby Kay in the 1970s with a loyal repeat clientele. Joel Milne and two partners bought the 12-room property and rebuilt it as The Cactai, keeping the low-slung, courtyard-around-a-pool layout intact while replacing cabinetry, fixtures and systems throughout. Each room is sized like a small apartment, with a full kitchen or kitchenette, premium bedding and Japanese heated bidet toilets, a detail the owners lean on in press materials. The hotel restricts stays to guests 21 and older, setting it apart from the family resorts elsewhere in the city, and adds rotating local artwork for sale and an AI-driven concierge for routine requests. It is a small-scale bet that guests will pay for a fully renovated mid-century room with hotel-grade technology rather than a legacy motel's worn charm.

Dining & wellness

There is no full restaurant; the focus is the year-round pool, hot tub and sun terrace, backed by a curated selection of wine, beer and spirits available poolside and a mini-golf setup for guests who want something other than sun.