The Phoenician, a Luxury Collection Resort, Scottsdale

My husband and I chose The Phoenician for a mini-honeymoon, using a large number of Marriott points with the expectation of an exceptional, elevated experience. Based on its “luxury” branding and AAA Five Diamond status, we arrived genuinely excited. Unfortunately, that excitement quickly turned into confusion and disappointment. I’m still struggling to understand how this property maintains a 4-star rating. The gap between what was advertised and what was delivered was…impressive. The room itself was perfectly average. Not offensive, but not memorable either. If someone told me it was a standard 2 or 3 star hotel room, I wouldn’t question it. The balcony was nice, but certainly not enough to justify the “luxury” label. Where things really fell apart though was the service. Standard housekeeping was not provided. Over a 6-day stay, despite calling and even going to the front desk in person, we never received a proper room cleaning. At one point, someone stopped by, made the bed, and dropped off towels…while leaving behind dirty wine glasses and trash. An interesting interpretation of “service.” It gets better. Later that same day, a bottle of champagne and fruit were delivered as a congratulatory honeymoon gift (a thoughtful gesture). However, it was placed right alongside the same uncollected garbage, which made the experience feel more way more awkward than celebratory. Fast forward to when we eventually ran out of toilet paper, we had to walk to the front desk to ask for more. At that point, it genuinely felt like we might as well have packed our own. What stood out most wasn’t just the inconvenience—it was how completely unfazed the staff seemed and how they handled it - with lack of urgency or apology. At the pool, we ordered hummus that took an hour to arrive. After asking a waitress, it was pretty clear the order had been forgotten. Again, things happen—but the food finally arrived undercooked and underwhelming. Ironically, the only smooth experiences we had were the ones we paid extra for—like the $450 cabana. And to be fair, the golf cart staff were excellent and easily the highlight of the service we encountered. Thankfully, we spent much of our time off-property hiking and kayaking, which ended up being the best part of the trip, likely because it meant less time dealing with the hotel. I don’t typically write reviews, but this experience was too disappointing to ignore. When you market yourself as a luxury property, the expectation isn’t perfection—it’s basic hospitality paired with elevated service. Unfortunately, this stay delivered neither. The worst part about this entire experience has actually been having to relive it by writing this review. But my intention is to save others from having to go through a similar experience.

We stay at 5 star hotels all over the world and U.S. and the minute we checked in and walked through the hotel lobby to our room I thought 4 star at best. Unfortunately my first impressions were confirmed in a number of ways. First, our room was not cleaned during the day, requiring us to make repeated calls and even then not having a clean room until late in the evening. The pools are OK, but not enough lounge chairs or umbrellas to accommodate guests. The rooms themselves are also just OK, and appear to not have been renovated in some time. Between the daily parking fees, resort fees and taxes you’re paying at least $700-$800 a night. I now understand why they’re only ranked #10 out of 15 “luxury” resorts.

We had the Phoenician on our list for a while, after staying at the Biltmore last time, and overall it was average at best. There were definitely highlights, but given the high price, this place should do better. Highlights: the game room was great, the front desk super helpful, and the food was really good. The Iberia Pluma in particular was delicious. The pool was warmed (good since the temps dropped) and overall it felt more spread out and spacious than the Biltmore. Lowlights: the rooms were a bit run down. There was a shelf that was falling off and the paint job on the interior doors was flaking and cracking. Parking next to our Casita was too small and almost always full. The golf course was completely booked while we were there, which was disappointing - maybe they should reserve some spots for guests. The biggest challenge was the day-to-day room cleaning. The person would show up too early (9am) and when we would ask them to come by later, they just wouldn’t show up. And of the few times they did, they left empty coffee cups, didn’t refill the shower soap (despite us asking), and it took me specifically asking for more tissues when our box got soaked by the sink drainage (I had empty the box inside the holder and turned the holder on its side to indicate that it was empty - and nope, they didn’t bother filling it). Again, there were bright spots, but given the price range for this place, I was pretty disappointed with things you’d find at hotels at a much lower price point.

Amazing hotel, service and property. Due to service provided by Bonvoy as a Titanium Elite Member I caution any considering a stay at a Marriott property.

Went for a company sales meeting. The property is huge! And isolated. I’m not sure I ever figured out where I was. Everyone I interacted with (minus one guy at the front desk) was helpful and cheerful. The food was good, typical food I would expect for being part of a large group, but they did it well! It’s an older property, but has a charm about it, where it’s dated feel sort of works. The property backs up to the hill and has walking paths with gorgeous plants with information about what they are. There are several pools, so it never felt crowded. Only one had a bar attendant, but I’m not sure they were expecting we would have much time to spend there so it might not have made sense to staff it up for our little bit of time off. Wasn’t a big deal. The rooms were fine and the bathrooms were huge with a big separate bathtub. Overall, I enjoyed my stay and I would recommend for a large event or even a family event or wedding. They handled it very well. I don’t know that I would go back on my own, only because there are so many other great spots in the area but if you wanted to get somewhere and post up. This could be your spot.