Spent 4 nights here with my wife in January. She had meeting here so I came along to check out the Phoenix area (had never been before, save the airport).

Short version - The hotel was just okay, calling it a resort is a bit of a reach - more like hotel with a big pool. Embodies the very idea of an aging Marriott. Small details lacking here. Overall appearance is tired. Staff were polite and accommodating. Surrounding area is commercial and housing is depressed, don't stay here without a car as there is NOTHING to do within walking distance.

First and foremost it should be noted that this hotel, while conveniently located, from an airport and automobile perspective, is absolutely isolated. If you intend to come here for a getaway and hope to go for a run, romantic walk or hit some bars/clubs or restaurants in the immediate surrounding area on foot you will VERY disappointed. The hotel is located in a Tempe commercial area bounded by I10 (more on that later) on one side, baseball diamonds and ghetto (bars on windows - the whole deal) on an other and a gravel cemetery on yet another side. Other than a 50m path up the side of the rock the hotel is build on there is no recreational opportunities at this "resort" that are accessible by foot.

On the plus side, regarding location, the Hotel is on I-10 basically in the very middle of the metro area and only 5 minutes from the airport. The south mountains are also a 10 minute drive away which gives you access to great views and 50+ miles of hiking and mountain biking. BUT...you will need to rent a car to get there.

Due to the hotel being built into a small mountain, getting from the lobby/bar/restaurant to the rooms is a bit annoying, involving a combination of long hallways (which stink), elevators (which smell greatly of hydraulic fluid or other lubricant), tunnels and stairs. The hallways smelled very musty, are depressed looking and the exit signs are so low that I can hit my head on them (WTH?!). The southwest "charm" left a decade or two ago. Some room doors were noticeably discolored as we made our way to our room. The room itself was clean and in good shape overall. The shower was big and clean. HOWEVER the bathroom pocket door did not work properly. It had fallen off of it's track and basically impossible to move. We didn't notice this until we were all unpacked and being busy with meetings and such didn't get around to reporting it until a few days later. The strange part is that this MUST have been noticed by the cleaning staff as they would not have been able to move it, yet they didn't report it. I called eventually and was told that they would have to move us to another room as the repair would involve making holes in the wall. That seemed fair but we elected to put up with it as moving would have been a pain. The broken door is a good metaphor for the hotel.

The food was just okay. Breakfast was about $20 each morning, buffet style. The selection was good but the quality was of a Denny's or IHOP level (save the custom omelet bar). French toast was dry, eggs benedict had hard yokes and maple syrup was artificial...as examples. Due to the quality of the breakfast we never tried the "Top of the Rock" for supper. We did eat at the bar one night. Food was just okay again, over priced and lacking creativeness. Dinning room was in need of some repair (in high traffic areas particularly), a bit dirty (dust covered the small cactus on my table) and staff fold napkins and silverware at a table in the corner...not very resort like. However the service was prompt and friendly and the view of the city was nice.

Pool is nice here, it has a bar and is sandwiched between the lobby area and the rooms means it's protected and you can't hear the highway as much. Completely dead in January which could even allow a person to do laps. The pool area consists of 2 full size pools, 4 hot tubs and a small waterside (very small). The hot tubs are located above the pool area dug into the mountain and provide some views of the city, very nice. Besides the view from the restaurant/lobby this is the ONLY redeeming quality of this hotel, everything else is average or worse.

The Interstate - This was a big issue for us. Busy I10 is basically 100m from the hotel. Half the rooms face it, ours was one of these rooms. For some reason the hotel has very cheap glazing, like cheapest windows ever cheap. These aluminium single lite relics offer no sound attenuation at all. It's like the damn highway is in your room.

Despite a huge parking lot, and the inconvenient hotel location, it costs $10 a night to park your rental car. Land are cheap here....Booo.

While they call this a resort I would not recommend isolating yourself here. If you have a conference in this hotel book a room at the Embassy Suites on the other side of 48th street and get a rental car. Or better yet stay in nearby downtown Tempe and drive the 10 minutes to the meeting.