By Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — When the Taco Bell hotel in Palm Springs opened its valet Thursday afternoon, an eager cavalcade of Crunchwrap-loving guests filed in. When reservations for the pop-up hotel went on sale in June, they sold out in minutes.
The company is taking over the V Palm Springs for the weekend only and turning it into the Bell. Everything from the check-in desk to the staff uniforms is adorned with taco decals and Taco Bell paraphernalia. Check-in comes with a “Baja Blast” cocktail with a watermelon Popsicle sticking out of it. Rooms are stocked with half a dozen bags of Taco Bell chips and a fridge full of soft drinks. There’s also a plush Taco Bell robe in the closet.
House music thrummed as guests lounged by the pool on hot sauce towels. Some were dressed in bathing suits with the word “fire” across the front; one piece of the Taco Bell merch available in the lobby gift shop along with sunglasses, shirts, shorts, pins, towels and pillows.
In the salon adjacent to the pool, hotel guests can get a Taco Bell manicure or a fade with the words “Taco Bell” or “Live Mas” or the outline of a fire lick shaved into the side of their heads.
When the doors to the hotel opened, the kitchen was turning out fried chicken bites, guacamole, crudité, Caesar salad, fish tacos and veggie wraps. Taco Bell chef Rene Pisciotti created the hotel menu items as riffs on the actual Taco Bell menu. A little while later they started serving cinnamon Twists and nacho fries. The staff promised another “food drop” around 6 p.m. with different items that can be ordered at a poolside bar or lounge chair.
Drinks by the pool included actual craft cocktails such as the Cucumber Crush (vodka, falernum, cucumber, pineapple, lime) and the Watermelon Splash (vodka, watermelon, lemon, lime with a Tajin rim).
The program in the tote bag says “Mean Girls will play poolside at 10:30 p.m.,” and, until then, it seems that most of the guests assembled are focused on getting drunk and getting shots for their Instagrams.
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