Palm Springs hotels preparing for busy Labor Day weekend

Arrive is not just the name of Chris Pardo’s hotel in Uptown Palm Springs.

It’s also what he hopes many visitors will be doing, as he and his staff prepares for their first Labor Day.

“I think there will be a couple of hundred for sure,” Pardo said. “It’s a pretty big event that we’re doing, and like I said we’re sold out. So, it’ll be a good weekend I think.”

Just across town at The V, staff members said it’s been a busy first Labor Day weekend for them as well, welcoming guests from all around the country for an escape to the desert.

“Today, L.A., San Diego, Arizona,” Guest Services Manager Erin Sammons said. “We just had a few people check in from Canada. We’ve got a few people coming from back east, so it’s a variety. We get a ton of people from all over.”

Travel experts said this year’s holiday weekend is expected to see a 4 percent spike in air travel with more than 2 million travelers, gas prices at their lowest in more than a decade, and hopefully drum up about $40 million for Palm Springs.

“I work in the public school system, so I start around Labor Day,” Robby Kendall said. “And we usually like to get the rest of the sun that we can get.”

So whether your weekend consists of hanging with friends, or laying by the pool, hotels and visitors said this holiday weekend is expected to be a ball.

“It’s so nice to see that every weekend, we’re starting to pick up,” Sammons said. “Every weekend, Sunday has become the new Friday. This three-day weekend you can see the hotels are going to be jam packed.”

Both Arrive and The V will be holding pool parties and other events this weekend.

Pardo said bad weather hitting other parts of the country could play a role in spiking the number of visitors expected to come to the valley this weekend.