Hilton Phoenix Resort at the Peak — Hotel in Phoenix

Hilton properties are franchisees, and thus independently owned. With this in mind, it has been my experience that if you stay at a Hilton, it will either be on point and offer you an elegant stay with sublime hospitality or it will be meh. The Hilton at the Peak is the second variety. First off, I was staying here for a birthday staycation. Because of a recent back injury, I specifically requested a ground floor room or a room near an elevator because I can’t climb stairs. I also added a breakfast voucher and a pet deposit. My quoted bill was about $960 for a Thursday through Sunday stay. My sister was accompanying me. The day of check in, we decided to board the dog instead, and I notified the front desk. The front desk agent noted that when they assigned the room, it was neither ground floor nor near an elevator. He fixed it, no big deal. But here is where the fun begins. The suites have small fridges but no microwaves in them. There was dust on the ducts and the lamps/remotes, and it looked like the rooms hadn’t been remodeled since the 1970s. The first suite they had us in had a bad smell, so they moved us to another, with a drawer missing in the bedroom bureau, and again, no microwave. Apparently, whatever was causing the smell in our original room was so bad, they had a full clean up crew in there. We saw them going in and out for a couple of days. The waterpark portion is not exclusively for hotel guests, it is open to the public, and is only open until about 8pm as a result. You can kind of guess what happens here. A water park open to the public means crowded and a bunch of screaming kids. Like the property itself, parts of it were run down. The lazy river showed signs of wear and tear, with the bridge over the water closed, and showing damage. I ended up leaving that pool and didn’t use it again for the rest of my stay. There is another pool in the main part of the hotel, but it has very little aeration and has the temperature of bath water as a result. The A/C in our room wasn’t too powerful, so while cool, there wasn’t a bunch of airflow. Even though there are signs for a third restaurant on the property, it is closed. The only restaurants they have are Hole in the Wall and Slim Pickens. Hole in the Wall is a mediocre and overpriced restaurant with a limited menu. Slim Pickens is more of a snack bar for the pools and thus has limited hours. There was no room service that I could find. We ended up eating out. My $75 breakfast voucher? Gone in one meal for two at Hole in the Wall, and what’s more I got charged for it. We were supposed to stay until Sunday, but we ended up leaving a day early. The app wouldn’t let me check out, so I called the front desk. Two days later I got my bill. Instead of being $960 it was almost $1200. I was charged for the breakfast at Hole in the Wall, even though I had a breakfast voucher, and they still charged me for the pet deposit. They tacked on a bunch of fees that really racked up the bill as well like resort fees. I had to send an email to get them to correct the bill about the pet deposit and being charged for breakfast. They did, but it’s kind of telling that even though I addressed my complaints about the stay, they didn’t do anything to make it right except for a plea to give them another chance. For the record, I won’t. I wanted a peaceful time for my birthday. I got a lot of drama and noise and a stay at a place that should not have a good reputation. I have stayed in supposedly lower end hotels and motels that were nicer than this place was. They should either close the waterpark to the public and have it for hotel guests only, They also need an army to come in and renovate and redecorate every inch of the property, and get microwaves in the rooms and be worthy of the Hilton brand.

To reiterate: -Noisy crowded waterpark -No microwaves -Less than adequate dining choices -Run down hotel -No transparency on their pricing

Stay...

Don't let the photos and the Hilton website fool you. This property is in much need of some repair. Would I stay here again for a good deal (like we did this trip), maybe. I would at least consider it given we know what we are signing up for. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

We originally had selected a room with a pool view when we did check-in through the Hilton App. Once we picked up our room keys we found out we actually had a view of the hotel service and laundry area. We did mention it to the front desk who did offer to move us rooms, but at this point we had already unpacked and were ready to start our trip. This room choice ended up being a blessing in disguise.

The room itself was okay. Bed's weren't the worst I have ever slept on in a hotel but definitely weren't great. Lots of stains on the carpet and furniture in the room. Housekeeping did a great job everyday! We booked to stay in an "Agave Suite" as the website promoted it has having a "private pool", which we were really into. This was not the case. There is no key access required for any of the hotel pools. We saw signs all over the hotel directing to a restaurant called “Rico’s”, turns out it is closed. Our room was in the North building, with our not so private pool. The pool bar was not open, and we were told only the one in the other building was open (but only for select hours). The pool area was nice, the staff members working in the area did a good job at keeping the towels stocked and the garbage empty. Saturday and Sunday night was quite the party at the pool, which was definitely not our vibe. I am fairly certain that because you do not need key access for the building or the pool that majority of the people who were there both nights were actually locals and not people staying in the hotel. 10+ of them arrived both days in the late afternoon with multiple coolers, Bluetooth speakers, etc. Remember when I said our bad view as a blessing in disguise? We ended up being very happy we did not have the pool view given the noise. The waterpark was nice, but was overrun with kids/teenagers who were often roughhousing in the lazy river and running into other guests. We enjoyed it in small doses. The waterpark space definitely could use some repair and love. Lots of broken speakers, garbage, etc.

The morning of our checkout we had a few hours so we decided to go to the hotel pool. We accessed the pool through the gate (as we did all weekend) and were in their for at least an hour. After we had all been in the pool for close to an hour a staff member comes in and asks why were are in the pool, and tells us it is closed as they are balancing the chemicals and it won’t be open for another couple hours. We told him the gate was unlocked and there was no signage. He admitted that someone must have forgotten to lock the gate and advised that the pool in the other part of the hotel was open. This staff member was wonderful and offered to give us a ride in the golf cart to the other building. He was great, and apologized for the mix up in the morning. We arrived at the other pool for another hour then went back to the room to shower and head to the airport. By the time we arrived home (Canada) I was covered in a rash/itchy, and had irritated skin around my eyes. Tuesday morning I work up to inflamed and peeling skin on my face and neck from a chemical/chlorine burn. This was all a result of whatever chemicals they put in the pool that wasn’t closed properly to guests. Here's to hoping it doesn’t scar.

Majority of the staff was great, expect for the front desk staff. Both at check-in and check-out the staff we dealt with could have been a little friendlier and less annoyed at the inconvenience of having to assist a guest. The hotel location was super convenient for everything we wanted to do and see, I don’t think we spent more than 20 minutes at a...

We booked this resort for 7 nights and all I can say is what a disappointment! For the amount of money they charge for the rooms, cabanas and food and drinks at the pool bar, you would think they could use some of that money to update the entire place. Let's start with the room: we got the king bedroom suite with the sofa bed. The room is extremely out dated (along with the rest of the resort), filthy, old carpet, filthy, old furniture, king bed has old lumpy mattress, sofa mattress is worn thin and tears in it. Mini fridge does not get cold. Not worth the money we spent on the room. Next, the restaurants: there is only 1 restaurant at this resort even though the signs around the resort show 5 or 6 restaurants. When we asked about one of them we were told the signs and website are old and the restaurant was demolished a while ago. The 1 restaurant they have is terrible! The breakfast was about the equivalent of a fast food airport restaurant. The food at the pool bar is not any better. We asked for an order of fries and were told the menu is old and they don't have French fries only potato chips. Next, the charges: so we paid for our room months ago when we booked it (money taken out of our account the day we booked it) we arrive and they want a credit card for incidental, the next morning after we arrived I see a $700 charge on my card, when I asked about it they said that's $100 a day for incidental, now we did charge breakfast to our room and the pool bar to our room but 2 days later there was another charge for $429! So I asked about this charge and they print off a list of charges and said we went over our $700 so they take another $400 for the remaining 4 nights we are here! How did we spend $700 in 3 days?!?! We'll the pool bar is extremely expensive! For a bucket of beers (5 beers in the bucket) it's $40, chicken tenders and fries is $15, a salad is $15, etc. You don't get a receipt for anything you order so who knows what they are really charging you or if they accidentally put someone else's order on our room. Also on the charges is a $35 resort fee per day! When we asked about this we were told it's a fee to access the property! Isn't that what we paid when we booked the room??? The people that buy day passes don't pay this fee so why are the people that are actually staying here paying it?? Next, the water park/pools: The water is filthy no matter what time of day you come, tiles are coming off and the lazy river looks like it's been peed in all day! And a word of caution about the water slide: the slide dumps into a 3 foot pool with a strong current, my husband wanted to go down with our 4 year old grandson to make sure he would be safe, he was told they couldn't go together. I was standing on the concrete on the side of the pool he would land in, directly across where they come out of the slide, sitting in a chair with an umbrella is "a lifeguard " just looking bored to death as he chewed his fingernails. My grandson comes off the slide into the pool and is struggling to get his bearings. I am still on the concrete and looking at the "lifeguard " to see if he's going to help him (I did not know if I was allowed to get in the pool to help him) we since the "lifeguard " didn't even move I jumped in to save him (he kept going under water and had that look of panic on his face), now my husband comes down the slide and I tell him what happened and he said something to the "lifeguard " and the "lifeguard " said we are not lifeguard certified to get in the water to help anyone! What?!?!? So you just sit there and watch someone drown?!? This has been a really expensive vacation without any enjoyment from this resort! Do not waste your money! There are other resorts with water parts that are more...