We just returned from Phoenix this weekend, and throughly enjoyed our stay at the Canyon Villa's. We were there from Wednesday thru Saturday, and stayed in the two room villa. It felt like home quickly and we really appreciated the amenities like a washer and dryer in the unit. We were able to pack less clothing, a real plus. We found the rooms very comfortable, and quite large. The balcony was also quite large. The staff were very helpful, and the place is very welcoming. Parking at the Villa's is included, and so is Wi Fi if you bring your computer. Both of these are an extra charge at the hotel. There is a free shuttle to the hotel twice every hour, and we were given a parking pass and a key to get into the extensive pool area there. You could walk over in about 15 minutes, but the hear made us think twice about it, and we drove ourselves and took the shuttle other times. We ate at the main hotel, and were able to charge the bill to our rooms at the Villa's.

The pool area at the Villa's is very large, and this time of year it was quiet and not crowded at all. The have a collection of books you can borrow, or add to, plenty of ice water at the pool, and activites that go on like a movie some nights, and other's music. One night we did star gazing with a gentleman who had a huge telescope, and lots of information about the stars.

The location is excellent for visiting the Phoenix area. The large shopping complex across the street has everything including an excellent grocery store.

The whole complex is huge, and beautiful, I hope to go back again some time soon.

We visited the last week in August, a low spot in the year. During the week it felt like we were living in a Ghost Town, we heard very little noise from other guests. The 2 Room Condo was extremely spacious, beautifully appointed and furnishings all in good order. It felt a little sparse in the kitchen implements, but we were able to get along with what was available.

Our unit faced the Childrens pool with Frog Waterfall. We enjoyed the sound of the waterfall so much we slept with the window open to hear it all night. Again, in the low season we saw very few people even use that pool. Movie night at the Main pool allowed us to watch the movie while sitting IN the pool, which we thought was a unique experience.

We specifically choose Canyon Villas for the JW Marriott Lazy River. It is beautiful and we were not disappointed. To get there we had to drive to the Canyon Villas reception area and wait for the shuttle. During our waits, we found the staff to be extremely friendly and helpful. (Thanks you Sharon) The free Ice water available everywhere (Canyon Villas and Marriott) was perfect.

The only possible downside was transit time to the JW Marriott. After a couple of days I realized that we were spending at least an hour of our precious vacation, each time we visited the 'other side'. And parking at the JW Marriott was Valet or a 1/4 mile hike from self parking, neither of which was attractive to us.

We found shopping for groceries to be super convenient, literally just down the street.
We felt very much at home and will hopefully return!

I have recently returned from an extended stay at the MCV.
I spend five weeks there with my son and then with the rest of my family.
I had a booking in a studio for a week which was adequate for two of us but limited when it came to preparing food with only a microwave and toaster to feed a 16 year old so we ate out at the Desert Ridge Mall or used the Canyon Springs pool bar.
For two weeks we had a master suite and this gave us a washing machine and full kitchen (there are washing machines for guests in studios in a laundry room which I have used in the past but did not need this year).
The extra space and large fridge was much better and enabled us to relax together and separately with the living room and bedroom.
The only thing I do not like about the master suites is the way the bath is not separate to the sleeping area it is open plan.It is also not a spa style bath which would be better and not out of place in a Marriott resort.
There is a shower/toilet accessed through the kitchen and bedroom which is adequate.
The master suite has a balcony that sits four people - this could have been cleaner tbh.
For the last fortnight of my stay I had booked a two bedroomed apartment and a separate studio for my adult son and his girlfriend.We were told it would be next door and when we went to check in for that room it had been given to someone else so they were located a few apartments away - not as convenient as we had hoped.
The two bed apartments have two balconies - in the older style buildings (2600) they have a lock off second bedroom but I understand that the newer buildings have two bedrooms without the lock off facility.During our stay I broke the glass jug of the smoothie maker and another was provided almost immediately at no cost.We also requested a few items that were missing from one of the rooms and these were delivered very quickly too.
We had no problems with checking in the only hiccup was the fact that a room for my son was not as close as we had been told it would be.
The pools are smallish but never really crowded.The basketball part of the pool is always busy but the rest is not.The larger pool is usually much cooler than the lap pool which is sometimes like a tepid bath.The hot tubs are lovely at night but very hot in the day time when temperatures ranged from 100 - 115.
The check in staff were all helpful with special mentions to Scott and Robyn.The pool bar staff are all very good Mark, Matt, Jonlyn and the long serving cooks do a sterling job in very hot conditions.We ate often at the pool bar and although the menu is small my son was happy with the chicken tenders ($8) and burgers ($10) .We bought refillable beverage mugs ($15) so they proved to be an absolute bargain.
We used the transport to the Mall which is better than last year and runs every two hours until 8pm (it was very much curtailed last year) and hope that next year the service will be hourly.Please Marriott.
I would still recommend this resort to anyone who enjoys hot summer days and am already looking forward to returning next year.

We chose this purely because we could do a timeshare exchange for the Phoenix area and we knew what standard we would get with Marriott. It suited us perfectly and we'd go back with no hesitation.

Located in the 'Desert Ridge' area in Northeast Phoenix, it's very close to the main routes to downtown Phoenix, Scottsdale and surrounding areas and there's an excellent outdoor Mall with a good choice of restaurants on your doorstep - Desert Ridge Marketplace. The 'resort' consists of the Marriott Canyon villas (the timeshare complex), the JW Marriott hotel (5* I believe the biggest resort hotel in Arizona) and Wildfire Golf Club. In cooler months I guess you can walk between them (15/20 mins) but in July we chose our air conditioned car! There's more development planned for the general vicinity but I believe the recession hit hard in 2008 and halted development in it's tracks.

We liked the pool at the villas. The pool bar staff were very friendly and helpful, providing tips for restaurants etc. We also spent a morning using the pools at the JW. The grounds are beautiful, so well maintained with a great choice of pools and a lazy river. Despite being there 4th of July weekend it didn't seem over crowded, despite it's size and sunbeds were plentiful. Staff will bring you large jugs of iced water to your sunbed etc and wait on you poolside. Excellent service.

We also used the fitness room. It's not huge but, while I would have loved to have run outdoors, it just wasn't practical in July so it allowed me to try to burn off some of the calories I was packing away at dinner every night!

It proved to be a great base for our 4 night stay in the area as part of a longer trip.