Hi folks, just stayed here for two nights in May 2021. Happy to answer any questions about my stay! Please see my detailed review below. I will post photos when I can, but I'm having issues since Flytertalk doesn't support HEIC?

Overall, I would not recommend this resort. While the property does have some strong points, I found that the overall feel of the resort does not live up the standards of a “5 star” resort or the price they charge for a room. The property in general was fantastic, but I felt like the food, service, and amenities were severely lacking. Aside from the pool, I think that the hotel has implemented good measures to mitigate COVID. All staff and guests are required to wear masks, and this does appear to be enforced.

Room:
Luckily, I was able to book with points (at 70K a night) and used a SNA, which allowed me to upgrade to a 1,150 sq ft, 1 Bedroom Casita Suite with kitchenette on the second floor. When choosing between the Casita suites, I would highly recommend booking the 2nd floor as it provides you a spectacular view of the pool and surrounding fountains. P2 and I really enjoyed having meals on our balcony and this was one of the highlights of our stay. The ground floor does provide you with a larger patio and fire pit, but given the heat - I doubt you would find much use for the fire pit. I found that the quality of our rooms were fantastic, with the largest non-jacuzzi tub I have ever seen. We actually thought it may have been too big (if that was such a thing) as it was difficult to get in and out without slipping on the marble. As someone who is 6 ft, I was beginning to struggle getting out of the tub, so an less-able person may experience trouble exiting the tub. The giant tub was a strong highlight of our stay, I definitely recommend the suite based on this alone. The accompanying shower has a removable head with adjustable height, which we also really enjoyed. From my understanding, the non-suite rooms do have a large tub, but from the looks of it - they are not as large. I would call to confirm if this is important to you. As with all Luxury Collection hotels, they provide complimentary Byredo toiletries that P2 and I love very much. The room did seem a little dated, but nothing to really complain about.

Due to COVID restrictions, there were no plates or cutlery in our suite (with kitchenette), which we found rather annoying. We also unfortunately did not have the opportunity to use their in-room dining options (more on that later in the review). This was rather disappointing, since we could not plate our take-out food as we desired and just ate straight out of the box - not exactly the 5 star experience you would expect from a suite with a kitchenette.

Facilities:
Another strong point of this property, as their resort grounds and overall facilities were spectacular. A large portion of their hotel is outdoors with lush green grass, and carefully maintained shrubs and desert plants. The property is HUGE, and taking a stroll through it was enjoyable. We saw a variety of animals roaming the property, ranging from a family of ducks, "song" birds, and even hares! It was straight out of a Disney movie - you can tell the animals enjoyed the greenery compared to the vast Arizonian desert. There are picnic tables and benches sprawled throughout the interconnecting walkways, providing more locations to sit and relax. It was so lush that you would not have thought you were in the middle of the desert in 100 degree heat. On the topic of heat, I would advise against visiting Az all together for those more heat sensitive.

Pool:
We had a neutral impression. While the 5 separate pools were nice, we did not feel that they were drastically different from each other. During the day, the pool was packed and noisy. Definitely not COVID safe, if that is a concern for you. We elected to visit the pool at night (it is 24 hours) so that we could have some peace and quiet. Taking a dip at night was a serene experience, except for the fact that the pool’s drainage system kept making a terrible gurgling noise for the entire duration of our stay. It sounded like the pool’s water level was too low and the pseudo infinity pool’s drainage system did not have enough water to suck in. To picture it, imagine the the water level of the pool was below ground and the water drained into a sort of side-gutter. Unfortunately we did not get the chance to take the waterslide as it was closed at night, there was no signage to indicate when it was open. The hot tubs were also closed due to COVID. The closure of the hot tubs were not disclosed to us in advance - as we called in prior to booking to confirm whether all amenities were available - to which they replied “they were fully operational.” More on the staff’s communication later. As we only visited the pool during the night time, we did not have the chance to try the poolside drinks - but we heard that they were hit or miss from other guests.

Dining:
Definitely property’s weakest point, by far. The breakfast options at the Mowry and Cotton were pitiful. Between the two mornings, we tried the breakfast BLT with tater tots (6/10), Chorizo breakfast burrito (3/10), and lemon french toast (5/10). Overall, all these items were $20 and very mediocre. If the price was cheaper, I still don’t think I would order it again if I had the option to eat it back at home - that’s how bad it was. The welcome breakfast amenity was $18.99 each for you and a guest. Not as great as I've seen at the other Luxury Collection hotel I stayed at, but that's a pretty small sample size. I was sad to see that they did not have a continental buffet breakfast, like I see at higher end hotels. This may be due to COVID, but it doesn't look like the restaurant was set up for it.

The breakfast BLT was the only thing was close to acceptable - however they chose to skimp out and provide tater tots instead of standard has browns or breakfast potatoes. You heard me right, a five star resort was serving tater tots as part of an adult entree for breakfast. This was certainly one of the things that left a strong negative impression. Even the best tater tots are still... just tater tots. In addition, their chicken and waffles (a favorite of mine) was not even fried chicken, but chicken tenders. Talk about watering down their brand name... The breakfast burrito was mushy and the flavor was homogenous with little Chorizo. It did not come with a side of tater tots so it was $20 for a small amount of food. The lemon french toast was whatever, and did not look like the stock photos they had online - and it was also missing the vanilla curd that was part of the description. With the negative impression we had from the first breakfast, we did not feel like giving their dinner options a chance and chose to order take out to be enjoyed on our balcony.

The food options were grossly underwhelming. Glancing at the lunch and dinner items, nothing looked special or noteworthy, and was just standard American faire. I make it an effort to enjoy dinner on-resort at the nicer places I stay at, but here - there was absolutely no way considering the experience we had during our first breakfast. I may be guilty of judging a book by its cover here, but the dinner menu did not seem great either. During our stay at the US Grant in San Diego, a Luxury Collection Hotel that I highly recommend, we had a fantastic breakfast that I would be eager to eat again when I’m back in the area. It is insane how the quality of food can vary so greatly with the Luxury Collection. If I was the chef and menu curator at the Phoenician, I would be embarrassed of myself. I would have rather eaten breakfast at Denny's. I don’t think I can stress how disappointing the breakfast was. I posted my photos on yelp, if you want to take a look.

As Titanium members, we receive $18.99 a person towards breakfast. We unfortunately could not use this credit toward in-room dining, despite the menu and food being the same and from the same kitchen. This was another let down, as we spent 30 minutes getting dressed and walking to the restaurant (which is actually quite difficult to get to) so that we could bring the food back to dine on our balcony. There is simply not reason to not allow this to be used towards in-room dining, as we were able to use our credit towards in-room dining at the US Grant. Not acceptable for a 5-star resort, not good enough.

Service and overall amenities:
Another weak point. I received an automated onboarding email from the hotel, which listed an email that I could reach out to with special requests and other things in advance. I sent an email to their inbox a week prior to my stay and never received a reply. I called in a few days in advance, but I was overall really disappointed with the lack of communication. They also claimed that all amenities were operational, but their public hot tub was closed. They also did not allow guest passes to their Spa area, which is far from 100% operational (although this was disclosed to me during my call with them). Their website is also not up to date, as there were amenities that were no longer available on their website. Their resort fee includes many physically demanding activities, with no indoor activities whatsoever. Those trying to avoid the heat will find no way of making use of their resort fee. The cocktail mixology is not offered during this time of year, and there was no evidence of craft beer tasting on their property despite it being listed as an amenity. The resort fee is $40, which we unfortunately were not able to make use of - as it was far too hot for us to use the tennis court, bike rentals, or driving range. Although that is partially on us, as we are not very heat tolerant (yes, I know we chose to visit Phoenix out of all places!). That begs the question, would they charge a resort fee for a disabled guest who could not make use of the physically demanding resort amenities?

Their room service was also lacking. I found it strange that they charged a $5 service/delivery fee for requests such as wine glasses or toiletries. From what I've read on-line, this is a direct tip to the staff. If this is true - then this isn't really a negative point - but they sent two people for a single request. Not exactly the most efficient service or use of my tip. A simple request also took 38 minutes to arrive, which I did not find acceptable for a 5 star resort.

Overall, the small fees charged don’t amount to anything substantial - but it leaves a poor taste in my mouth. Just tack it onto the price of the room and be done with it.


Elite Status Recognition:
I was able to apply my SNA award up to a 1 bedroom Casita, which I thought was quite generous. Something funky was going on with their room inventory the nights up to my stay, but I was able to call in to request my desired room when it freed up. The receptionist did not acknowledge my status, and forgot to ask whether I wanted points or breakfast as my welcome amenity. Luckily, I remembered before leaving the lobby - saving myself a trip back to the front desk.