| rev:text
| - This place is interesting.
For the most part I really liked it here, and would totally stay again under the same circumstances I stayed here this past time (I'll get to what I mean by that). However there were a couple of issues I did have (one of which was eventually smoothed over).
My birthday fell on a Saturday this year so I decided why not take advantage of the cheap summer rates at AZ hotels and have a "pool day" in Scottsdale before heading out for the night. When I say "circumstances" under which I would stay here again, this is what I mean. I think this is a great option for locals looking to do a night or two in Old Town. This place is a lot cheaper than the other hotels in the area (and yes, it should be) & basically if all you care about is a decent room & really nice pool area you're set. However, I DO think if you're someone from out of town (or I guess even local) & you're looking for a multi-night stay at a "resort," thinking you're getting a steal here I think you'll be disappointed.
The fact that this place doesn't have all that much to offer guests other than rooms & a pool actually works to its advantage. Basically, you can do & bring whatever you want to the pool (okay, within reason obviously, but you get my point). Everyone here (including our group), brought our own big coolers full of beer & other alcohol and it was totally cool. They have a few nice cabana areas set up (first come, first serve), plenty of lounge chairs, and a couple of gas grills set up for guests to use if you want to bring your own stuff to grill (all of the rooms have full kitchens as well). Oh yeah, there' s a peacock as well. The day we were here there was a mixture of families, youngish people partying (our group was set up in a big cabana next to another group with a guy doing a one day/night thing for his birthday as well), and a even a slightly older crowd living it up & having a good time. I really liked the freedom of doing whatever I wanted compared to other Old Town resorts on a Saturday. No organized pool parties with fees for guests, BYOB, grills to bring your own food, AND a nice pool? Yeah, I'll take it.
Now as far as the rooms go, at the end of the day I was okay w/everything, but my feelings were kind of mixed. I was able to get a good deal on a two-room "luxury" suite through Travelocity. I thought the living room/dining room/kitchen were nice enough. The furniture & decor was kind of minimal, but everything was nice & I liked the wood floors. I really liked that there was a full kitchen (including stocked w/kitchenware). However, I'm not sure how "luxury" the bedrooms were. One was still carpeted (I was told all the "luxury" suites were fully wood-floored), and in the other one the closet door was kind of loose & about to fall of tract. There was also no drawer space in either room. For us this was fine, but if you're planning on staying here a few days this could be an annoyance. This was not one of the luxury suites shown on the El Dorado's website so I do have a feeling the other ones are probably a bit nicer. It's my understanding that both the "traditional" & "luxury" suites have the same set-ups for one & two bedrooms so the fact the this place has this distinction tells me the traditional suites might not be all that nice (and it sounds that way from the reviews). I should also point out this place doesn't have an elevator. Our room was on the second floor, which made transporting stuff down to the pool a little annoying.
I should also mention I had a little snafu with my payment. I booked the room through Travelocity, so when I booked it I paid. However, when I got to the hotel to check-in they asked for my credit card (honestly, I should have questioned why since I had already paid) and discovered after checking out I was charged again (and a different amount, which confused me even more). I contacted the El Dorado immediately & they were very apologetic. The matter was resolved within a couple days. It was kind of an annoyance that it happened, but I can't complain about how things were handled. Oh, and speaking of the check-in...this place has a pretty minimal staff so things can move a bit slow.
All in all I think this place is kind of a hidden gem in Old Town depending on what your expectations are & how you plan on using it (if that makes sense). If you're not looking for a "total" resort experience & just want a nice pool area and a room that's nice enough, but mostly a place to get ready in & then come back to and in sleep in after going out in Old Town you should be satisfied.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)