After months of construction, the luxury Hotel Paseo opened its doors on Monday. "We are a 150 room, life-style and luxury hotel right in the heart of the El Paseo shopping district. We have nine specialty suites, a seven-treatment room spa," said Gil Reyes, the general manager of Hotel Paseo.
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The billiard suites come with a personal pool table and record player. The four-star Hotel Paseo also offers a trailer guests can stay in. "When you’re walking around it’s like, ‘Woah, that’s pretty neat,’" Reyes explained.
Eliot Raymond was one of the first guests to stay overnight at Hotel Paseo. He said he was impressed with the amenities. "It is very nice having beautiful views out here, and having the whole back yard out here is just gorgeous," Raymond said.
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The mayor of Palm Desert, Sabby Johnathan, said this is a chance for other businesses along El Paseo to thrive. "The vacancies, we’ve now determined are around 11%, which is not bad, but we want to improve on that. So as we see new businesses, especially ones that add to the whole mix of El Paseo, and there’s others planned. We are trending in a very good direction," he said about the grand opening of Hotel Paseo.
Deborah Quinn is the owner of Fix on El Paseo. Quinn said many businesses owners have been waiting a long time for Hotel Paseo to open. She said she expects Hotel Paseo to draw more foot traffic to the area. "I was told that the hotel should be booked for summer time as opposed to just winter time, so I think that will be a big boost for us," she said.
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Hotel Paseo is also a boost for jobs. "98% of our staff is from the Coachella valley, and it was important for us to incorporate that into our day to day," Reyes said.
