Royal Palms Resort and Spa -The Unbound Collection by Hyatt — Hotel in Phoenix

I booked a stay here for my anniversary- not knowing it would also be my engagement trip! I booked directly through World of Hyatt, where it was ridiculously easy to become a member and get the member rate for the room. I added a note upon booking that it was our anniversary. Check in PROS: Check in was a very easy process and we were welcomed with champagne and given a tour of the beautiful, lush grounds, which seem winding and confusing at first but are actually very easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. I would recommend walking around before nightfall to get your bearings. Check in CONS: Be forewarned that RP charges $100/night in incidentals and the full room price at check in. I intended to use a mileage/rewards credit card for the final bill upon check out and wasn't able to because the pending charge for the room + incidentals hadn't dropped off yet. RESORT PROS: The entire resort is BEAUTIFUL. Photos online truly do not do it justice. During the day, the foliage and well maintained gardens are absolutely stunning. I had read reviews before arriving that the rooms are outdated, but that's true only if your standard for luxury hotels is the whitewashed "modern" look you can find at any Westin or Mariott. RP has old world southwestern charm that's hard to find. There's also quirky little wildlife around, such as blackbirds and salamanders. At night, the lighting around the resort is absolutely gorgeous. You must see it for yourself. RESORT CONS: It's a little hard to navigate at night. Also, if your room needs a mini-fridge, you must request it. What looks like a mini-fridge is actually a beverage chiller that will not keep food at food safe temps. We learned this the hard way and wasted some leftovers, but were given a dining credit to compensate. ALSO: the turn out of the resort driveway onto Camelback Rd is kind of a nightmare. We were glad we had drivers during our stay because we would've certainly gotten t-boned had we been driving a rental car. SERVICE: The RP staff went above and beyond to make our stay special. You're escorted to your room upon check in and given a number to text for any issues or requests. They added special touches to our stay that were delivered promptly and with flair. The service number replies quickly with recommendations- we asked for local hiking trails- and quickly resolves issues i.e. the mini-fridge issue mentioned above. DINING: Every meal we had at RP was fabulous and wasn't price gouged unnecessarily, even market price items. We had naively budgeted to skip food and drink at the pool, and what fools we were because we indulged every single day. You get delivery service at the pool with friendly and helpful staff and it is SO EASY to go over budget and not give a damn because your experience is just that friggen luxurious. AMENITIES: RP really holds up to what you pay for. We took advantage of the 24/7 pool and hot tub access, towel service with huge chair covers and soft towels, and free sunscreen and waters. We did not even skim the surface of what is available- including 24/7 fitness center, free yoga classes daily, lawn games, fire pits at night, and I'm sure plenty more.

Overall: Royal Palms is wonderful. It is absolutely worth it for a one of a kind luxury resort experience. It is not a steal by any means, but that is to be expected. The staff will make you feel at home and the little things make it worth the money. We...

I cannot recommend this beautiful resort enough for your wedding or event/weekend stay needs! This was our dream wedding venue and we couldn’t be more thrilled with our experience throughout the entire planning process or more thrilled with our wedding weekend! From the first time we stepped foot on the property while we were touring venues, we instantly fell in love. They greeted us with a glass of champagne and everyone we met was full of friendly smiles. The property’s beauty speaks for itself with lush greenery and flowers and fireplaces lit in the fall (which is when our wedding was). We got our contract together and went to planning! We worked with Emily who is so kind and professional and I can’t praise her enough! The tasting was such a memorable experience. My parents flew in town for it and we had the best time. We tasted the wines, the hor de vours, salads, entrees and cakes and the food was absolutely delicious it was so hard to choose. Not only was the food delicious, the serving sizes are so large, you know your wedding guests will not leave hungry!

The wedding weekend itself was a dream. All the guests who checked into their rooms were greeted with champagne and our wedding went off without a hitch all thanks to the amazing staff at the Royal Palms. Everything provided by the Royal Palms was setup quickly and perfectly of course! They also provided my groom and I a “shadow” who stayed with us after the ceremony throughout the night to make sure we had water, a cocktail, if we needed food, etc… which was so amazing! She was so fantastic. The catering was so delicious just like the tasting and serving sizes so large. Everyone raved about the food! The catering staff was amazing and always made sure everyone had water and wine and no one ever went without! I wanted my guests to feel spoiled and the Royal Palms spoiled us all! I also have to mention the venue itself is so beautiful that my photographer and videographer LOVED it because you can’t take a bad picture there. Everywhere is a gorgeous backdrop and it’s the best memories of our life.

When we went back to our honeymoon suite, they surprised us with a bottle of champagne and a card from the resort staff congratulating us and it was so sweet! We popped it open and enjoyed it. It was personally a great memory popping it open in my wedding dress with my new husband in our gorgeous honeymoon suite.

We also treated ourselves room service breakfast then a spa day at the Alvadore Spa the morning after our wedding and it was the best spa experience EVER! I truly can’t recommend the Citrus Ritual enough! We will be back.

The Royal Palms truly holds such a special place in our hearts now. Our wedding was magical and a real-life fairytale thanks the amazing staff and team at the resort and we look forward to celebrating our anniversaries there and many date nights and cocktail hours at T Cooks ahead! Royal Palms, thank you for the best time of our life! FIVE STARS, FIVE DIAMONDS, FIVE...

To preface this review, these are my opinions regarding specifically the restaurant service only at Royal Palms. I was here with my family celebrating a very special occasion. Dinner was served in a private room and it was quite intimate which was perfect for the celebration. Our meal started off great; the Caesar salad was light and delicate but very flavor forward! Our dinner was served with wine that evening. Approximately half way into the meal service, my husband points out an unknown speck of some sort floating in his wine. My response to him was that it was probably seasoning from his short rib. I proceeded to fish out this speck from his red wine with a cocktail straw and we were immediately disgusted. It turns out that was a fly that took a nose dive into his wine. Perhaps the bugs in Arizona were another breed because as soon as I fished it out, it flew away! As soon as that happened, I felt the need to check my wine glass and sure enough, there was one taking a swim in my glass as well. As soon as fished out this fly and laid it out on my napkin, it proceeded to crawl around until I put it out of its misery. We flagged down our server, Katie, and informed her of not one but two flies that decided to take a dip in our wine. Her response to us made us cringe from the inside out. She began to inform is that it normal to have fruit flies out, they're harmless, and because the doors are open. She continues to say that because we're not from here (which she was right, we weren't ), we're probably not use to it. Then she had asked if we would like to have new glasses for wine. We reluctantly accepted the offer. As we entered in the 3rd course, some of our family members had asked for coffee with their dessert. Katie proceeded to ask each of us at the table if we would like a cup of coffee. When she had approached me, I had declined the offer and in response, she thought it would be appropriate to address me as "sweetie". I would have been endearing if I was 8 years old or if we actually knew each other on a personal level.

As my first visit to Arizona, this experience left a very bad taste in my mouth - literally and figuratively. As a grown adult woman, I've had my fair share of wine experiences all the way from casual dining to Michelin star dining and I have NEVER experienced anything like this. The interactions we had with Katie was rather appalling and given the type of establishment Royal Palms is, I would hope that the standards and expectations for servers were set a little higher than last night's service. I guess I was wrong, and it's probably b/c I'm not from...