The chic sleep: The Parker, Palm Springs

Aside from the Coachella madness that descends on Palm Springs every year, this desert enclave has long attracted progressive thinkers, musicians and free spirits who are seduced by its dry landscape and the intoxicating effect of the hot arid air, known here as ‘Valium heat’. It seems even more palpable at The Parker, a classic of design and style where guests clink martinis around the hotel’s original ’50s swimming pool. This has always been the place for a good time, as the former estate of the singing cowboy Gene Autry and, later, the game-show host Merv Griffin, who turned it into a European-style resort frequented by celebrities. Designer Jonathan Adler continues to play with that vibe, most notably at the hotel’s restaurant, Mister Parker’s – a low-slung, dimly-lit cavern of a room based on Studio 54, where torches are provided so that guests can see the wooden boards piled high with the signature surf and turf (this is The Parker, so that’s lobster and filet mignon) in front of them. And while the shag-pile carpets and vintage touches (travertine-and-walnut nightstands and paparazzi photos of Jackie O) add to the retro reverie, the most Instagrammable set pieces are the psychedelic carpets in the hallways – inspired by those in the hotel from The Shining – and Adler’s latest addition of a seven-foot-tall bronze banana sculpture on the main lawn.

Head straight from the pool to one of the hotel’s cabanas, and order the signature Gum Drop cocktail from the candy-colored lemonade stand.