We just spent a night at the Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Bungalows. We had a 16-hour overnight in Phoenix, so rather than staying at one of the (rather depressing) airport hotels, I figured it would be more fun to redeem World of Hyatt points and stay at a property that offers a bit more of an experience.
I’ll have a full review soon, but in this post I’d like to sort of address a topic more broadly. I think this hotel stay sums up why I really don’t particularly enjoy staying at most hotels in the United States. Essentially, I’d argue that we’ve basically seen the complete decoupling of price and quality when it comes to hotels, and that’s just hard for me to come to terms with…
To be clear, it’s not that the Andaz Scottsdale is a bad property… it’s not. Instead, it’s that more often than not when I stay at a hotel in the United States, I’m in disbelief at how much hotels are trying to charge, while offering so little. For what it’s worth, the hotel was charging around $1,100 per night including taxes & fees, and that seems to be the rate for most of the month (I redeemed 29,000 points).
The Andaz Scottsdale has beautiful grounds, but needs a little love
Prior to booking the Andaz Scottsdale, I read some of the online reviews, and most of the takes from Hyatt loyalists seemed to be similar — the grounds of the property are beautiful, but the hotel is starting to show its age, and could use some improved upkeep.
I think that’s exactly accurate. I love the landscape in this part of Arizona, and the Andaz is located on a beautiful 23-acre plot of land.
The thing is, the hotel opened in 2016, and it feels like it probably hasn’t gone through any meaningful updates. The property’s 200+ accommodations are spread across a couple of dozen buildings, and everything is on the ground floor, which I generally like.
I understand the concept of mid-century modern design, and the general minimalism in architecture in this part of the country. But the room was just looking a bit rough, and if anything, I think the pictures make it look nicer than it actually is.
For example, why is part of the wall hanging off of the back of the light switch?
The room also had an unpleasant odor, though it wasn’t so bad that we couldn’t stay in it. Still, it’s not exactly a great first impression. I also didn’t feel like housekeeping was terribly thorough, or had great attention to detail.
Like, I went to grab a single tissue from the tissue box… great. And then I went to grab a second tissue, and found there were no more. Like, shouldn’t housekeeping check to make sure there’s more than one tissue?
You’d think that the the housekeeper could’ve at least had all of the toiletry bottles with the labels facing outward, no?
In the closet space, one of the two cabinets was just sitting open, as if no one had even been there to clean the room. I hate ragging on housekeepers, because they are the hotel employees who work the hardest and get paid the least, but I also have to be honest.
I guess the Andaz Scottsdale has completely eliminated free minibars (which used to be a key point of differentiation for the Andaz brand), yet I couldn’t actually find a price list for the minibar? That says nothing of the Keurig coffee machine just being dusty AF, so I just decided to skip making a coffee in the morning.
Let me emphasize, these are all very minor things individually, but they just add a high level of friction to stays, which shouldn’t be the case if you’re trying to charge these kinds of rates. It’s one thing if this hotel were charging $200 per night, but when the property is charging four figures, it should be a different story, in my opinion.
Are there no basic service expectations at a hotel charing this much?
We landed in Phoenix late at night, and only arrived at the hotel around 11:30PM. Of course I understand hotel staffing is much more limited at that hour, but does that mean you should expect no service, especially at a hotel of this size? I mean, I imagine many people have flights arriving late at night, right?
As we pulled up to the hotel, there were no employees in sight. We went into the lobby, and there were two people on top of one another sort of cuddling and making out. We saw someone walk away to a different room (I guess this was the night auditor, but you never really know at Andaz, since they don’t have traditional front desks or uniforms).
We weren’t sure what was going on, so we just sort of waited there, in hopes that someone would show up. Fortunately he returned after around five minutes.
He was super kind and checked us in, but there was no offer to help with bags, to show us to our room, etc. So we tried to find our room, which was oddly hard to do late at night with luggage, when the property is 23 acres, and there’s a lack of lighting for the limited number of signs. It took us a good 10 minutes to find our room.
The only other interaction we had with staff was in the morning, when we went for breakfast. We just sort of stood there, as there was no host. Eventually we were seated, and then later someone came by and asked if we wanted menus. Umm, yes please. Then a few minutes later our server showed up. She didn’t say “hello” or “good morning,” but instead just said “what can I get for you?”
I want to be clear — I acknowledge all of these things are super minor, and I’m not suggest this is some horrible property, or we suffered some terrible injustice. I don’t feel that way at all. Instead, my point is that I’m in disbelief how hotels in the United States so frequently charge outrageous rates, while delivering so little.
I just feel like if you have the guts to charge guests $1,100 per night to stay there, you’ve gotta make it an experience, rooms have to be nicely maintained, and service has to be good. It’s one of the reasons I appreciate Four Seasons as a brand — sure, their properties are expensive, but they actually have a minimum service standard globally, so they don’t charge ultra luxury prices while delivering a limited service experience.
All of this is just such a contrast to traveling to Asia, where we just landed. We’re staying at an amazing luxury hotel that costs a fraction of what the Andaz is charging, and we also arrived very late at night. We were greeted by no fewer than four people, we haven’t been able to touch our bags, and everything is spotless.
Of course at the Andaz, we redeemed points. And I suspect in reality this is just a “points farm,” and I hope a vast majority of people aren’t paying the retail rate. But I can’t help but reflect on how hospitality in the United States has evolved. It’s one thing if you get this level of service at a $100 per night limited service hotel, but at a hotel charging over $1,000? It’s highway robbery.
But I guess this is just the reality, and it’s something we have to come to terms with? And that brings me back to what I said at the beginning of this post… this is why my appetite for staying at hotels within the United States is limited.
Bottom line
We just spent a night at the Andaz Scottsdale, which has beautiful grounds and a nice pool, though is otherwise feeling like it could use a little love when it comes to maintenance.
The biggest thing that stood out to me about the stay is how the hotel was charging $1,100 per night, while offering poor housekeeping, and a complete lack of service, from check-in to breakfast. It just seems like when you’re charging four figures per night for a stay, you should expect a little more than you’d get at a limited service property.
All too often that isn’t the case in the United States, though. I recognize I’m probably in the minority by voting with my wallet, but this is why I rarely bother vacationing in the United States, at least in terms of the hotel experience.
Is anyone else put off by so many hotels in the United States for this reason?
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