wizzy

I'll be in PHX in April with my wife and 3 yr old son. We'll be staying with friends for a few days in Scottsdale, and then need a place to stay for a few more weeknights before we leave town.

I've read through the thread, but have to admit I'm confused on current recommendations for Villas vs hotel. Villas are going for 12k night, hotel 10k. Hoping for a plat upgrade; what is the likelihood on weeknights in early/mid April? There will be 3 of us, so it would be nice for two beds and/or pull out couch. We'd like to play in the pool, and lounge access is nice (but I'm a bit put off by $10/day for my son).

Should we go for the villas or the hotel?

ldsant

That is prime spring break time and Scottsdale/Phoenix seems to get filled up with loads of families. I would just spend the extra 2K per night to ensure you get a villa room and more space.

sc flier

I agree. Go for the villas which I think are extraordinary. However, if you really want to be in the hotel environment with on-site restaurants, bar, etc., or if you really want to be in short walking distance to the neighboring shopping center, then the hotel makes more sense.

It's been a few years since I stayed at these properties, but between the two, I preferred the almost residence-level quality of the villas -- still with great pools.

wizzy

Thanks for the advice. Just booked a villa for 2 nights. The real kitchen will come in handy with my picky-eater son.

To use the lazy river/water park, do we have to go over to the hotel, or is there access from the villas themselves?

gfowler-ord-1k

It is probably a 10-15 minute walk with a kid in tow to the hotel river/pool but there is frequent shuttle van service.
See http://goo.gl/maps/w9LB for a map. The hotel and river/pool are near the bottom center.

hhyman

My wife, 3 year old son, 6 month old daughter & myself just spent 10 nights at the Villas from Dec 21-Dec 31 (i.e. last week). We were in the larger one bedroom (approx 900 sq ft). Because of the young age of our children we felt we were better off in the 1 unit rather the the larger 2 bedroom lockoff.

We have never stayed at a timeshare before. The resort is more of our previous speed. The "only" real negative for us at the villas was not realizing that there is no Pay movies in room. With a young family, watching a recent movie on tv is a real treat! All amenities were great. The pools are very nice at the villas as well.

The walk to the resort or keirland commons is maybe 5 minutes, not 15 as previously quoted. You can walk there quivker than driving as you really cut thru the golf course. The shuttle from the villas is also readily available.

If you do have a car, it is nice to simply walk out your door to your vehicle at the villas (where you park for free). as opposed to valet or a fair distance to the car.

The staff at the villas were very good. We weren't overly impressed with the cleanliness of our room when we 1st checked in; however, once we spoke to the front desk it was cleaned top to bottom and we didn't have any other concenrs of that nature during our stay. Final general ocmment: If anyone will be sleeping on the hide-a-bed it was pretty lousy - but that may be the general nature of a hide-a-bed.

There is Safeway that is a 2 minute drive from the villas, so it is easy to grocery shop etc.

We'd go back to the villas there in a heartbeat - just not in December! Weather was a little cooler than desired.

Enjoy your holiday.

ehud

From hotel's Facebook page...

It's the Sale of the Year with EXCLUSIVE Westin Kierland Special Offers for our friends, fans and followers only available here Friday, April 1st through Friday, April 22nd!

http://shop.kierlandresort.com/collections/summer-sale

wizzy

Just checked into the Villas and received my as-booked room. I knew not to expect an upgrade since it's SVO, but when I asked about my choice of amenity, I was told they don't do that here? But they do participate in green choice, so they're sort of hotel-like...

It's my first SVO stay (booked with points), so not sure if I'm missing out on anything.

Starwood Lurker

The SVO properties don't give in-hotel benefits like welcome amenities, upgrades, etc.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

wizzy

Thanks, Lurker. That's what I figured, but got thrown when I saw that they had a gold/plat check-in line.

wizzy

We really enjoyed our 2 night stay at the Villas earlier this week. We (me, wife, 3yo son) had a 1-bedroom queen. Dishwasher, washer/dryer, mini-fridge (bigger than a dorm fridge, much much smaller than a real fridge) were nice. Son slept on the sleeper sofa which was pretty soft; linens were in the bedroom closet.

As discussed above, no platinum amenity but they did send up a book of Arizona images. Twice received the offer (once @ checkin and another paper slide under door) to come back for 3 nights at the Villas @ $349 plus $50 resort credit, if we lived closer we might consider it, no hard sell on SVO while there.

No free papers @ the Villas, they sell them in the market or said to grab one at the hotel if we were over there. The market wasn't crazy expensive; 6 packs of beer (limited selection) were similarly priced to the Safeway down the street.

We spent most of on day at the on-site pool. The activity (aka kids) pool opens at 8am, and by 9:30 most of the spots around the toddler pool were gone (the next day, plenty of toddler spots @ 10am so YMMV). Fairly frequent turnover on chairs, but we did notice that things got busier from ~10am-2pm. Only a single waitress working the pool area, but she did a great job of keeping up. You have to be 42" to go down the slide @ the Villas but I was able to go down with my son as a tandem.

We went over to the hotel pool for a while, but left fairly quickly. The lazy river takes about 10 minutes to go around and doesn't offer any submersion waterfalls. The slide didn't allow for tandems under 42", even thought it didn't seem to be any faster than the one at the Villas. No separate toddler pool, and the water temp was quite a bit cooler. Took us less than 10 minutes to walk over to the property, then a few more minutes to actually get to the pool.

platbrownguy

Currently on 2-night stay at the hotel, great BRG rate of $108.23 which included the now-$25 resort fee. The resort fee can be waived for platinums who do not need the shuttle/spa/tennis court access.

The lobby smells really, really nice. The +1 really liked how everything smelled, and the candles/fire that are everywhere.

A few points:

• Stop by the concierge desk to pick up the "welcome gift." There is a list of shops across the street where you get pretty decent discounts.
• For example, we got free lettuce wraps at P. F. Chang's (no minimum purchase).
• We also got a free bar of fancy soap from Lather, some kind of all-natural body product shop that smelled even better than the Westin.
• Also, you get 2-for-1 at Starbucks. All of these discounts simply require showing the room key, and in actuality all we did was mention that we were staying at the Westin and it was taken care of, no-hassle.
• If you are offered 6500 points for taking the tour of the Villas, negotiate for 10,000.

When we checked in, we were given $25 coupons for food/bev at Deseo Lounge or The Rim, one for each night. The ceviche and the duck empanadas at the Deseo Lounge were excellent and reasonably priced.

No upgrade (except to club floor, although the view is nice - mountains, golf course). I was initially told by a Plat Concierge that the Casita Suites are select standard suites, so I was a little confused when I was told at check-in that one was not available, but a second call to Plat Concierge clarified that they are in fact not available as select standard suites, and that the select standard suites were booked for this weekend.

Breakfast at the Club Lounge was good overall. There was not a large selection of items - no hot food. However, what was there was of good quality. 4 cream cheese flavors, good flaky pastries, and my +1 really enjoyed the cranberry orange muffins. Meats/tomatoes/cheese, as in German breakfast, was an added bonus, but still, eggs would have been nice .

Overall, great property, with very friendly staff. Highly recommend.

stevens397

Returned from the villas a week ago. We own there but this trip was a trade for my Starwood in Mission Hills. I love the resort, the area, you name it!

Had an issue with points posting, however. Very small number compared to what I expected. Sent an email to Starwood and to their credit, they made an adjustment and sent a letter of explanation/apology in less than 24 hours. But the agent said that I do not receive Starwood points for dollars spent at the Kierland golf course.

Does that make any sense? Why would it be different than the hotel restuarants? Appreciate any insight - especially from William or Thyetus. Thanks!

Starwood Lurker

Makes sense to me.

"5.3(d) other fees paid such as parking, business center, high-speed internet access, retail stores, spa products and services and greens fees;"

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

stevens397

You're such a know-it-all! Only kidding.

Thanks for explaining it-

Steve