The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess was the first place we stayed on our Tauck tour of the Canyonlands and all I have to say is wow! What a beautiful hotel, the landscaping and flowers are gorgeous & the hotel's hacienda-like layout is so open and airy-there was always a nice breeze blowing (even in the July heat.) The pool was terrific w/ its chaises, lounge chairs & cabanas & the pool bar was very convenient. It was a great place to relax & recover from our jetlag. Our room was huge & very well appointed w/ a nice view of the pool area, the bathroom was very large & there was also a good size closet. We had lunch & dinner in the restaurant and both meals were well prepared & delicious. Check-in was handled very smoothly at the front desk & bell services took all our bags & escorted us to our room then explained all the features in our room-where the a/c was, where the robes & extra towels were, etc. All in all one of the best hotels we have stayed at (& we've stayed in castles, at the Four Seasons, etc) and our only complaint was that we could only stay one night! We absolutely loved this hotel & if we are ever back in Scottsdale I know where we will be staying!!

As a frequent visitor to Scottsdale, I always wanted to stay at the Scottsdale Princess, well what a disappointment! The stay started out with going to our room. Our room was located in a building that was in the process of being renovated (which is badly needed). The elevators were filled with construction trash and dirt. Once on the floor that housed our room the hallways were cluttered with old refrigerators, toasters, trash and notes on various doors with the issues in each room i.e. No plumbing, foul smells, etc. Once, in our room, we discovered that the air conditioning was shut off and the room was over 90+ degrees the beds were the most uncomfortable rock hard beds I have ever tried to sleep in (I hope these are not new beds, if so, they might want to check out the beds at a Marriott, they are great). There was a great flat screen TV in the room but no remote to control or even turn it on, so no TV. That was our first night! The second day/night was even more interesting. The Scottsdale Princess has great pools but it is filled (over filled) with locals who either sneak in or have some type of pass to the hotel. We could not find a parking spot since it was filled with locals going out to their cars to smoke and fill their drinks. There is only 1 pool on Sunday that children are allowed to go in and for some reason the slide closed at 5:00 on a 104 degree day, never less my children were disappointed. Once we got back to our room and my daughter was changing in the bathroom the door closed and would not open, she is 5 so she was screaming to get her out. We had to pry open the door and once open we discovered that the hinges did not line up. We finally went to bed and at 12:45 were awaken by a fire alarm in the room. We called the front desk and they said that it was only in our room and not to panic, they would send up an engineer. Once the engineer got to the room he removed the alarm and said not to worry it would not go off any longer. Of course not, it was removed, but what would happen if a real fire broke out? We had crying children and we were all tired so we laid our heads back down on the hard beds and tried to go back to sleep with little success. Finally, morning came and we got ready to head back to the airport. We waited at the elevators for 10 minutes and each and everyone was filled with construction material and workers….we had to go to the other side of the floor and take the stairs. This was the worst experience I have ever had at a hotel. This is NOT a 5 star rating and no were does it tell us that they are currently going under renovations. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone.

We stayed at the resort for seven nights at the beginning of August for what was supposed to be the relaxing part of our holiday in Arizona.
We arrived late afternoon only to find that our room was not ready. Eventually, a little after 5pm, we were able to take occupancy only to discover that our non smoking room smelt very badly of cigarette smoke. Housekeeping sprayed the room but this had no effect at all. As the hotel was full we were told that a room change was only possible the following day. We had a rather unpleasant night.
The following day we were moved to a recently refurbished room. When we returned to shower before dinner we discovered that the shower only operated cold. Engineers arrived and informed us that they were unable to rectify the problem and that a room change would again be necessary. By the morning the two bathroom sinks were draining very slowly and backfilling with rusty coloured water. We packed our bags for a second time.
Once in our third room things improved however the tap in the bar area failed to deliver running water throughout our stay.
Staff in the hotel were all very apologetic and they did do their best to rectify the problems, however rooms appear to not be thoroughly checked before new guests arrive.
The hotel itself is set in beautiful surroundings and is kept spotlessly clean. The swimming pools were excellent with a plentiful supply of very comfortable sun loungers and towels. As the fitness centre is closed for refurbishment we were able to use the gym facilities in the spa and these again were of very high quality with very helpful staff.
We dined on a number of occasions at the LV Bistro where the staff were an absolute delight, very friendly, welcoming and helpful. Nothing was too much trouble for them and they were a real credit to the resort.

We were very disappointed in a recent stay. The hotel is wonderfully luxurious and the staff is outstanding, but there is a renovation going on that is getting rid of the Southwest decor and ambiance and replacing it with something like a W Hotel, very stark, modern, and generic.

Our room reminded me more than anything of an upscale business hotel in Shanghai, Buenos Aires, or Johannesburg. Definitely not what we look for in a vacation to the Southwest deserts.

Would not go back.