This Hotel is above average maybe 4 to 4 1/2 stars, but it is not a 5 star Hotel. The staff was wonderful, everyone was very friendly and helpful. The location is excellent, lots of things to do within a 5-10 min. drive. The grounds were very well maintained and beautiful. The pools were also very nice. If you have kids the water slides alone are worth the stay here. The rooms were also very nice, nothing special but comfortable and roomy. Some areas of the hotel could use some updating and it seems as if they are in the process.
The only dissapointment for me was the food. First off, La Hacienda is closed for good as of Mid-August even though it is still listed on the website. We did not know this until we arrived at the Hotel and attempted to make reservations and were informed that they are no longer open for business. They have been replaced by Michael Mina's Steakhouse, which was excellent, but pricey. If you are there on Sunday night definately go to Michael Mina's, they have a special $49 per person BBQ, which is excellent. It is part buffet, part menu and definately worth the money. This was the best meal we had at the hotel. We just happened to make reservations for Sunday night and got lucky. The Hotel should've had some advertisement for this, but they didn't and it was the little things like this that annoyed me.

LV Bistro was average food with above average prices. I was not impressed at all with LV Bistro, we had breakfast and dinner there and both were average at best. I don't mind paying $$$ for food, but when you pay $$$ and you get average food it is very dissapointing. There are way too many good restaurants in the area to wast your time eating at this place. When you pay $18 for a breakfast omelete it should be a little special and come with some extras. Same thing for dinner it was OK, we had fish and chicken and the waiter even told us that the chicken may take a bit longer because it is frozen. When you are paying $20+ for a meal and the waiter is telling you that it is frozen, you lose a little respect for the place and the food just doesn't taste as good. It led me to believe that everything is frozen and not fresh, which may or may not be the case. Needless to say this was the last time we ate there.
The Sunsplash pool food was good, but also expensive and they had a very limited menu. I believe they had 4 types of sandwiches, 2 Salads, a few appetizers and a decent kids menu. I think after 2 days we had tried everything on the menu and just wanted something different, are only other option was LV Bistro for Lunch.
The Spa was excellent. The food, service and amenities were 5 star. It almost seems as if the spa is run by an entirely different company. This may or may not be the case, but from the minute you walk into the spa you are treated like royalty. Even if you do not stay here the spa is worth a visit.
In the end we enjoyed our stay here and would probably stay here again, but go out for our meals. It is a bit of an inconvenience, but there are endless options to eat in the area and for the most part the meals outside the resort were excellent.
It is a shame, this place has everything, but good food.

My husband I decided to take the long weekend over Labor Day to get some much need relaxation. After researching, we decided on the Fairmont Princess. It was a clean, pleasant hotel. It just was not the '5 star' quality that we expected.

Although they were doing lots of construction, it was very quiet and they were discreet. We stayed in the Casita's on the west side of the property. They were EXTREMELY outdated, but clean.

After reading great views of the Willow Stream spa we decided to take a tour to see if we wanted a treatment. It was nice, but not worth the $49 day charge to just walk in the doors. Since the treatments start at about $150 each, we decided to pass.

Everything on the resort had a cost: $3.50 for a small plastic cup of coffee; $5.00 per hour to rent a raft to float on in the pool; $13.00 Mojitos, I guess that goes along with the 5 star rating.

All in all, it was average. The staff was very nice and very willing to do what they could to assist anyway they could.

My Boyfriend and I booked at 3 day stay at the Fairmont Scottsdale over Labor Day weekend on a whim, not really knowing what to expect since we had never spent time in Arizona and got a baffled response from all of our Los Angeles friends when we told them that is where we were spending Labor Day weekend.

We were pleasantly surprised and absolutely enchanted by the Fairmont Scottsdale and are planning another Labor Day weekend trip there. The hotel is lovely, the newly renovated rooms are sleek, modern and very well layed out, and the spa is terrific. The staff was extremely nice and helpful, and the pools were fabulous, as were the athletic facilities.

Easy to overlook, but extremly pleasant activities at the resort include : feeding the ducks at the lake, and playing croquet, badminton, and bocce ball on the green.

We went there for our anniversary and had a lovely, romantic vacation, but as far as we could tell, this is also a great place for families with its water slides, in-pool movies, and plethora of available acivities.

The food was also fantastic.

We will most certainly return.

I see some terrible reviews of this resort during the month of August '08 so I would like to remind people that resorts do go through renovations which are not comfortable or convenient. But I wouldn't write off this hotel.

Our stay in June '08 was fabulous. We did have to move to another suite because of A/C problems but that was dealt with quickly and pleasantly. All the staff were very helpful and prompt in all service areas.

The grounds of this resort alone are worth the stay. There are 5 pools, 4 of which children are allowed. 2 are open 24 hours!!The children's pool with the water slide is gorgeous and free flowing. It is landscaped like an oasis with many palm trees lining the deck area, and citrus fruit trees behind the slides. I loved this pool. So did a lot of other adults with out children. Then there is a large sports pool, huge resort pool with fabulous modern deck furniture; ie round couches for 2, long king size chez beds for 4, etc etc. This pool has a hot tub. In the Casita area there is another smaller pool with a hot tub. The grounds are a feast for the eyes with a large cactus garden, Giant willow tree lined ponds to fish in, streams, flower gardens, areas for lawn bowling, putting, bacci, badminton,. rose gardens. Very posh. Then there are the Casita court yards which are beautifully landscaped and manicured as well.

I would stay in this hotel just for the gorgeous gardens. We had a Casita room which was large, clean, well appointed. The beds and pillows were very comfortable. And I have a bad back.! The bathroom was huge with an open sit down shower and separate soaking tub, dual vanities, walk in closet.

Our stay wasn't perfect but the minor glitches were nothing compared with the pleasure of staying at this hotel. I've stayed at many other 5 star hotels and nothing is ever Perfect. I think a lot of it is ones attitude and expectations. The food was very good but pricey (for every meal.) There is a great whole food market and mall close by ( 2minutes up Scottsdale road) with some yummy restaurants where you can get breakfasts, lunch and dinner.

We liked this hotel so much we are staying again in November. Hope the reno's are done.