My Stay At The Andaz Scottsdale
I was super exited to stay at the Andaz Scottsdale based on the reviews in this sub.
Overall, I gave it an A tier grade but I wanted to give it a B.
A few things about myself and the trip that impacts the oncoming review:
- Only booked one night in Jan '25
- The intention for the stay was a retreat with my cofounder so we booked the Sonoran Suite for us two. The idea was to utilize the couch and the TV to do a review of our 2024 year and vision cast for 2025
- I realized I am not a desert oasis kind of guy after this trip. Much prefer mountains, ocean/lake views, or even high rise urban settings to the desert
Review of our stay at the Sonoran Suite:
LOCATION: B
Location was about 30 minutes from the PHX airport, less than 10 minute drive to the Fashion Square Scottsdale. Makes sense for a desert oasis-like stay. My ideal for A-grade location would be easy public transit or even walk right out the door for activities. Andaz Scottsdale seems more like a stay on property kind of place anyways.
VIBE A
First impression of the property built up some excitement for me. You saw these nice bungalows in a desert environment. We drove up to main check in building which is attached to Weft and Warp the restaurant on-site. Full floor to ceiling glass windows, beautiful lobby area. Outside you had the pool and cabanas. My favorite decor was actually seeing raked stone gardens all over the property. Thought this was clever, definitely made me not want to step on any of the rocks to take shortcuts and it felt like a Japanese zen garden in that way.
The property felt huge. I guess normally you're used to going up and down an elevator to get to places within a hotel, but everything was laid out as a campus here. Getting to the gym was probably a 3-5 min walk.
ROOM B
This is where we spent the most time so I'll write the most about it here. The photos show the room. Quite a sizeable room, my estimate was that it was in the 800 sq ft - 1,000 sq ft range. I spent a lot of time going through the photos of all the suites to choose the right one for our annual retreat and the Sonoran Suite was nearly perfect for what we needed. TV, two beds (one being a sleeper sofa which I don't mind taking), full bathroom for bedroom and full bathroom for living room, a desk, ample space to layout laptops, etc.
First impression of the room walking in: it was very dark. We opened all the shades and still felt like the room needed way more light. We shot some video content for our company during our stay there and with the windows opened, we still had to turn on all the lamps inside the rooms to get enough light. I've had dark rooms before (Park Hyatt Aviara suite, pool level floor, basically 0 natural light), but for something where I expected kind of a retreat feel in the desert, this didn't even cross my mind as something I wanted, but only realized after walking in.
The next impression: the view was very meh. You've got a viewed of the raked stone gardens outside and other bungalows. This is pretty much the view for every bungalow besides the houses that are on property. Like I said, I'm not a desert oasis guy, but even with that, you would hope that the room you're staying in would provide some level of inspiration outside your window. Not the case for me.
Last impression: it was freezing in the room. We cranked temperature up to 76 and nothing happened so we texted front desk to help us. They had facilities over in about 5 minutes and they were checking the room to make sure everything was OK. Basically they said the room was so big it was better to crank temperature up to 86 to get the room heated and then drop the temperature. Not a big deal to me, but would have been nice to have it start off at a higher temperature or at least the front desk person being aware of the situation and knowing how to solve it over text for us instead of having people come into our room.
There was a 65" TV in both the living room and the bedroom. I LOVED this. Easy viewing from the couch and bed. Chromecast (difficult to kind of use), HDMI ports great to use for our work. Bonus: TV had ESPN which is what I wanted to watch the Australian Open at night and in the morning.
Personally I don't really identify with the decor of the room which felt like a modern, wood cabana vibe so not my favorite. So far I'm 0/2 on decor in US Andaz rooms (Andaz 5th Ave).
Room had some sugary soft drinks, alcohol, some chips, saltwater taffy included we didn't take advantage of any of these.
Bathrooms were a great size. Bedroom had a suitcase closet rack, living room bathroom had a suitcase rack section as well, really great for keeping the room clean. Showers were huge (no tub) and were great. Water took a little while to get hot in the bathroom. This isn't necessary to me but just nice.
Picture shows the pull out sleeper sofa which felt like a queen size bed for one person but was probably just a full size. You have to text the front desk to have someone come set it up for you and break it down. I took a photo of the couch mattress that seemed a little dirty (my concern is always beg bugs), but the they brought clean sheets to cover it up anyways.
There was a sliding door to close off the living room from the bedroom at night.
Overall I liked the room, but some factors (lack of natural light, meh view), really stopped me from really loving it.
BREAKFAST A
Loved the breakfast at Warp and Weft, plenty of options. Globalist recognition meant we got an entree, an appetizer, and a drink for each person. We ordered the Eggs Benedict, Pastrami Hash, Fruit Salad, Turkey Sausage Patties, and Potatoes. Even with the extra appetizer order, I called later and had the charge waived. Everything tasted delicious. Service was a bit spotty, water never got refilled. Took some food to go that we didn't finish.
VALUE A
We paid cash of about $1,100 after taxes and fees. Points would be 44K or 29K with a SUA. For one night for our business, I thought it was great. Points-wise, the 29K with a SUA would work for me personally. For value, it's a subjective question of "would I pay for this again"? and not so much about the CPP which was only 2.5 CPP here.
AMENTITIES A
Two pools on property. Cabanas. Pool side bar. Hot tub. Gym with Tonal, Pelotons, decent size. Personally, we didn't use the cabanas, pool, or hot tub, but I still gave an A with all the options. There was also a full schedule of activities that were both included or an extra cost listed in the lobby that we didn't take advantage of too. I wish they had a conference room or work area that had the floor to ceiling glass windows! Overall, I would say plenty to do on-site even though my two favorite things weren't there: tennis and golf.
SERVICE B
Service was spotty throughout our stay. I loved the text the front desk option, just made it so much more efficient to ask for things instead of picking up the phone. In addition, the front desk always responded very quickly, like within 10 seconds. Things we asked for throughout the stay and I'll put the time it took to get each one given the size of the property:
- 10 water bottles over 2 days: 10 minutes
- Heating issues request: 5 minutes
- Make and break down sofa bed: 10 minutes
- HDMI cable: requested twice the first day, it was never brought, third time the second day brought right away
In addition, a lady brought a giant cart full of snacks and soft drinks came by at one point offering to give us more if we needed it.
We found a contact lens on the bathroom floor that wasn't ours and someone came to ask us if they could have someone come in to clean the whole place and we just said no it's fine just wanted you to be aware of it.
Overall, I've never had so many people come in and out of my room during a stay. I didn't mind it but I think the property is kind of set up to where you really need to depend on the front desk, and I would say they mostly delivered!
SUMMARY
Would I come back? I think I'd be interested in trying out the GH Scottsdale or Royal Palms next time. Like I said, desert oasis maybe not my vibe, YMMV. I could see people who enjoy laying by the pool, getting drinks from poolside bar, people who love palm springs, etc really loving the vibe at the Andaz Scottsdale. I personally believe the property deserves an A, but for my own preferences it's a B overall.
