This is how we are directing tablets to the desktop view:
DisplayModeProvider.Instance.Modes.Insert(0, new DefaultDisplayMode("") { ContextCondition = (context => DeviceConfig.GetDeviceType(context.GetOverriddenUserAgent()) == "tablet") });
rather than creating uniqiue layouts & views for tablets, we just detect the tablets and set the DisplayModeId = "", which is the default (desktop) view.