kmklint

I found the the mountain view casitas were great. Request a mountain Casita that's high up on the mountain. I did not think the Spa suite casitas were all that special, with no view, or even worse looking over the parking lot.

Kagehitokiri

views can be good - thats view from the casa del sano
casa del sano (top left) and neighboring rooms shown here >
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=sanct...71883&t=h&z=20

instyleprincess

Thanks for the tips!!!
I booked a Mountain View Casita with DavidO and got a confirmed upgrade to Spa Casita at time of booking, should I stick to Mountain Casita for better view??

Or are there some Spa Casita that offer good viewss??

Revolution

I had a great time at The Sanctuary last September. Very comfortable Mountain View Casita suite ( small bathroom ). Great staff and great food. I would avoid the Spa Casitas because of their location below the swimming pool. Did not enjoy the Spa which looks very dated nor my spa treatment.

Kagehitokiri

not sure there is any reason to take risk of booking into spa room, at lower left >
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=pkm...80&form=LMLTCC

i remember article (not old) about redeveloping tennis courts and parking into more rooms, did they ever start that?

kmklint

The Spa casitas are all low on the mountain, some look onto other spa suites, while others look over a parking lot. The Spa suite is nothing special, unless you want a larger bathroom, and a outdoor tub. The spa suites though are larger than the mountain casitas.

If it were me I'd pick a mountain casita that's very high up on the mountain to take in the beautiful views. The resort is weird in that
you basically drive your car to your room, so you kinda see cars parked everywhere.

troyb

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 7_0_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/537.51.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.0 Mobile/11B511 Safari/9537.53)

On a recent trip I stayed at the FS, Royal Palms, and Canyon Suites. I liked the service at the Canyon Suites the best but the grounds of the FS were better. I had a nice room at the Royal Palms but was very very underwhelmed with the service and food/beverage. I doubt I will be back to the Royal Palms but will definetly be revisiting the others. To each their own I suppose.

hairpeace

Looking for a 3-4 day getaway at an Arizona resort and would appreciate recommendations based on the following:

No kids. Quality of pool(s) important. Prefer luxury over "boutique" feel (think Ws). Leaning FS at Troon North but have heard good things about the JW Marriotts and the Boulders-Waldorf.

Thanks

Valveking

I would stay at the Four Seasons or the Sanctuary. The Boulders is a pretty spot, but is a little dated. I don't know anything about the Marriott. I have stayed at the Four Seasons many times and have been very pleased. I think the setting is beautiful.

instyleprincess

I stayed at Sanctuary earlier this year, room and grounds are nice, I was upgraded to Spa Suite, but there's no view at the spa rooms. Overall it was a ok stay, nothing too memorable, was a bit disappointed with the food, and they open their fitness center to locals (members)

Cardboard55

I'll buck the trend and say I greatly prefer the spa rooms vs. the mountain rooms at Sanctuary. The view isn't as good, but I think the rooms are nicer, and it's less walking to get to the pool and stuff. Sanctuary and Four Seasons are my two favorite resorts in Scottsdale, with the Four Seasons taking the top spot. Remoteness is a plus to me. I go to Arizona to relax, and being away from everything is great. I have plenty of "action" to walk to when I'm not in Arizona. But that's just me.

Centurion

wow...I really do not have a great recommendation. Sanctuary succumbed to expanding the bar to make more money. The restaurant has too much noisy. If that is your scene you can head to the W and hit the bars and get drunk.

hairpeace

Have a friend who just wrapped up a stay at the Biltmore. Looks dated in pictures, but he swears by it.

Thoughts?

MSPeconomist

I liked Canyon Suites (SPG LC). It's a small hotel within a hotel with its own pool, lobby, front desk, business center, afternoon wine tasting, etc. but you have the collection of restaurants and shops that only a larger resort (the Phoenician) can support. However, on my last day there it seemed that an extended family with kids seemed to take over the lobby and pool. The Phoenician's pool is legendary and they have a golf club, but I'd never stay there--too big and impersonal, modern cookie cutter style. Canyon Suites has very large standard rooms but they're getting a bit dated; they are not modern but rather more traditional with ceiling moldings, etc.

theLuxuryTravelExpert

I recently (March 2014) stayed at 2 resorts: Four Seasons (my second stay) and Canyon Suites at the Phoenician. I preferred the Four Seasons, but while it is an excellent resort, it is still far from perfect, and IMHO not totally in line with what you would expect at a Four Seasons.

What I liked about the FS:
-Location: its setting is quiet spectacular, surrounded by rocky outcrops, covered by cacti. It is a little out of the way from shops and restaurants (15 minutes by car), but I did experience that as a big plus as I was searching for some rest, relaxation and get-away-from it all. A nice hiking trail (Pinneacle Peak) starts on the resort grounds.
-Staff: very kind, extremely helpful and no attitude at all. But they are not as discrete as you would experience the staff at its sister resorts in the Indian Ocean or Azia.
-Room layout : very large rooms, good amenities, spacious bathroom, heavenly softy bed and large balcony
-Food (dinner) at the signature restaurant Talevera is excellent
-Resort grounds are very well taken care of and the pool area is quite nice as well.
-Service is the typical Four Seasons. At the pool, little complimentary snacks (ice creams, smoothies, etc ….) are regularly served.

What I did not like about the FS:
-Room décor : rooms are in need of a little (contemporary) revamp.
-The hotel was pretty full when I was there and this was very obvious at the pool area. While sun-loungers were available to all, the many children really ruined part of my so hoped for Four Seasons experience (for 2 years in a row, so I will not come back a 3rd time). Besides the hot tub, they have 3 pools that are located quite close one to another: 1 small pool for the little ones, a larger pool for adults only, and then a very nice, big pool that is open to everybody. But the latter was a magnet for children that were screaming and playing all the time. It did not help to be seated at the adults only pool, as you could hear the noisy children all over the place.
- I found that the very American restaurant proof was a little out of place at the hotel. Who got the idea to introduce a loud bar-like restaurant at a Four Seasons hotel ?

If you want, I can post some pics.