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| - I've stayed here several times over several years. The decor is nice, the setting is serene, and the beds are comfortable. But, I can't imagine staying here except through name your own price bids on Priceline. I would bid a lower star level on Priceline, except for fear of getting some unlikely but dreadful outcome. Bidding for Scottsdale Conference Center, more Conference Center than Resort, is risk management. Sadly, I've never gotten a (different) resort in Scottsdale to take my bid. Many complain about the resort fee and the location of the self-parking. I don't love these either, but I think they're immaterial. (More thoughts on the resort fee at the end.)
I have not raised any of the following concerns before this review, because it seems futile. I have never used the pool. Why would I? It and the surroundings are forgettable compared to many relatively pedestrian hotels in the metro area and elsewhere. Also, the chemicals in the hot tub were so strong that they bleached my trunks. The chairs in the room are uncomfortable (and I don't think they are antiques, which might be worth having even if not comfortable). There are some really simple fails that I can't believe the hotel doesn't fix, and the lack of effective response seems to speak to the hotel's lack of concern for guest satisfaction...1. If you can actually get it brewed, the in-room coffee is vile--yes, vile. Remember to bring your own coffee with you, if you like having decent coffee before going out in the morning. 2. The coffee pots are dysfunctional--they get stuck regularly and don't complete brewing; the carafe is practically impossible to remove from the apparatus, which gets messy. 3. Why do the sinks still not have hot water reliably!? When the dust settles, I am still very satisfied at the name your own price rates I have obtained, but I would be irate if I paid what the hotel asks publicly.
As an aside, the hot water at the sink still doesn't work several months after the other review complaining about this issue, and I've stayed in several different rooms at the property. In light of this, the management's repeated cheeky form response (to that reviewer and to other yelpers on different issues) to the effect of "hope you aired your concerns so they could be addressed while you were there" seems hollow and phony. Frankly, I didn't need a smoking gun to divine that--it is apparent from the tone of the replies. I don't know why the hotel bothers to respond to these reviews if it's not going to do so effectively; it just makes things worse. I actually felt much better about staying here before I read the management's responses! I would prefer negligence and neglect over calculated disdain. I may share my views with the management via email or in person--hopefully it will go to someone other than the person who apparently monitors yelp.
Here is my longwinded take on the "resort fee" (a common theme on this page). It strikes me as essentially cosmetic for an informed consumer, given that practically all resorts in the local market are charging a similar fee (it's more of an issue when non-resort (in Priceline parlance) hotels charge a "resort fee"). But that doesn't make it ok. If the fee is per rooms, it should be built into the price. Otherwise, it is annoying. I can only think of two reasons to break it out separately, neither of which inspires confidence from the consumer's point of view. The most likely is that the hotel wants to trick someone who isn't likely to be a repeat customer. The other is to send a signal along the lines of "we're special, and you're paying more because you're getting more." (A resort fee is a star on a Sneetch's belly.) This, however, makes absolutely no sense, because resort amenities vary dramatically just like any other hotel amenities, and travelers generally make decisions about how much to pay for hotel-apples and hotel-oranges based on a holistic assessments. Resort amenities are no different from views, location, furnishings, staff, etc. It is obvious that most people don't read disclosures--the goal of most people who write them is to have plausible deniability but not to help the reader. A per person resort fee might make some sense, but that's not how they charge.
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