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| - Beautiful topography as the resort is built around the buttes with plenty of spectacular rock views, elevation change, and hard to beat sunset viewing. It was originally designed well to allow for such an interesting layout as you find yourself going up, down, around and so forth to a hot tub, or to a bar, or to the pool.
We also enjoyed the (mostly) very polite staff in almost every area of the resort that we visited. The pool has a good layout and is more fun than most hotel pools by far.
Drawbacks are considerable, however. They have a problem with freeloaders showing up to use the pool so there's official hotel wristbands required, though I'm skeptical it is doing the job effectively. The parking lot was curiously low volume yet there were no open pool chairs and the pool was quite full. When the pool is such an important component of the visit to a resort like this, they need to go above and beyond and get this sorted out.
The age of the resort shows as well, and in some ways it isn't charming. The rooms were partially updated but much of it seemed decades old nonetheless. The hallways smelled like an odd mixture of a Grandma's house with something along the lines of lavender or eucalyptus. Ceilings are incredibly low, unlike most resorts built in the last decade or two. Resorts can be older and still feel top notch, but they need to be on top of things with updates and modern touches. Even if not modern, at least do the historical/cozy/older look right.
Given the above factors this can still be a good resort vacation, but only if there is considerable value in the pricing. The layout, age, pool, and everything together place this resort in a tier or two below the likes of the Princess, GW Marriott, Camelback Inn, and others. So if the pricing is dramatically lower, then maybe this place could be worth considering. And unlike the aforementioned places, this resort feels like it is in a sketchy area if you need to get out to a very close place for groceries or a quick bite to eat. There were a lot of dumpy cars in the parking lot too, and either there was a tattoo convention going on or somehow the other pools I've been to have a much different mix of people.
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