A white Tesla Model X pulled up to the entrance of the hotel. The falcon wing doors opened skyward. A tiny young woman with a tiny outfit stepped out with black platform booties and another woman, mostly matching in style, followed her. A boyfriend or a photographer or a servant gathered their luggage. It was 2 p.m., Aug. 8. I was at the opening of the pop-up Taco Bell hotel , The Bell, in Palm Springs, California ( The Desert Sun , which is part of the USA TODAY Network, paid $250 for a one-night stay). I paced back and forth in front of the entrance looking for food because I was hungry and trying to find out why only half the menu was available.

It was a marketing stunt , obviously. (An impressive stunt, but still a stunt.) But where was the food?

The first day of the four-night pop-up was filled with thoughtfully-curated social media influencers and entertainment media — within the first few minutes of the hotel opening, the collective of guests reached millions of followers with cheeky Instagram stories of nacho fries. The influencers — a person with the ability to sway potential product consumers by promoting the product on social media — took time to set up each photo shot, but were wary to call themselves influencers.

The Bell was a surreal experience, yet those photos posted to Instagram made it look even more than it really was to the Taco Bell fan at home who wished they could embody the “Live Más” life, too. (I know, no one’s Instagram life is anyone’s actual life. I was a sucker for the design of the Taco Bell hotel rooms and I Instagram-ed pics of it, too.)