Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains — Hotel in Scottsdale

I've stayed at this hotel probably on three or four trips now. It's a nice hotel but it seems Marriott is doing their best to alienate and irritate their customers.

First, they now charge a $30/day "destination fee". This is obviously just a way of hiding the true cost of the room so that it looks more competitive when searching online. They seem to be adopting the airline model and I suspect it won't be long before they charge for pillows.

This "destination fee" did include free access to the Mountain Fitness Gym 1 mile down the road so I decided to take advantage of that. Problem is, when I went to the gym the General Manager there said she had no knowledge whatsoever of this arrangement. (The GM was very polite and gracious and allowed me to use the gym anyway. She obviously knows how to treat customers.)

Marriott also charges $17/day to park at the hotel. That's right, you have to pay just to park in their surface parking lot at the hotel. Note, they never asked me if I had a car or if I was using the parking lot -- they just added it to my bill.

Prior to my trip, I received emails from Marriott suggesting I use the Bonvoy app to check-in early and to use the Mobile Key feature to unlock my room. Great! However when I asked about the mobile key during check-in they advised "We're so sorry, you don't qualify for that". Completely maddening.

Marriott's Wi-Fi was another source of frustration. It was clunky to log onto, but once I was connected my Google Chrome browser kept warning me that this connection was not private, which was very disconcerting. I never get the message when I'm using other public Wi-Fi, for example, at Starbucks. To make matters worse, the Verizon coverage there is 1-bar and best. So you're basically in a connectivity dead zone.

I used their restaurant on my first night and got a salad with grilled chicken and a glass of wine. The salad was really sub-par. The lettuce was tired and clearly near it's use-by date, the chicken was very dry, and the dressing was unimaginative. The wine was served in a heavily water-spotted glass. Ugh.

On the positive side, the bedding is wonderful, the room was clean, and the location is very good.

I'll be travelling to Scottsdale a few more times this year and will definitely be looking for another...

Without a doubt, my favorite hotel in the Western U.S. Of course the facilities are nice and always clean, but it's the people that make each and every stay at this hotel a real pleasure for me and my wife. It's like coming home for a weekend! Everyone greets us by name and in a friendly and professional manner each time we walk by; they cater to every desire regardless of how busy the hotel is. Their skills to multi-task the many responsibilities associated with taking care of large groups of people are superb--it's no wonder you have such a small turnover of employees at this establishment. Charles greets us at the front as if we are family members coming home to visit and cheerfully assists us with our luggage. He and his team are always willing to drive us to nearby establishments should we need transportation. Your front desk staff is without peer; Seneca, Richmond, and Linnette are three that come to mind. They happily greet us upon our arrival, rapidly check us in, and ensure that we are always satisfied and that our every need is met. In the restaurant, Jennifer, Grace, Melissa, Hakeem, and Ivy treat us as if we were VIPs every time we enter the restaurant and bar! They remember our likes and dislikes and work quickly and efficiently yet are always friendly and personable. I cannot for the life of me remember our housekeeper's name (Mary, or Marylin?) but she facilitates us if we bring our dogs and is always helpful with adjusting times for room cleaning. I gladly leave her a sizable tip each and every time we bring the dogs. And speaking of dogs, when we do bring them, they too are treated like VIPs...Marriott’s pet policy is one of the MAIN reasons we stay at Marriott hotels when we travel. There are also many other wonderful people on that team who work hard to make our and others' visits to your hotel special—I just can’t remember them all at this time. I stay in many different brand hotels; unfortunately, my company generally drives us to your competitors. However, I ALWAYS stay at Marriott properties everywhere I travel for pleasure primarily because of the wonderful service I receive at the Marriott McDowell Mountain hotel combined with their...

The Scottsdale Marriott at McDowell Mountains has the potential to be a fantastic hotel. It is well placed near the 101, Scottsdale Airport and not far from the Desert Ridge shopping center. However, there seem to be post-2020 pandemic issues that are lingering with this property.

I had previously stayed at this hotel in 2019 with no issues at all. It was clean and very kid-friendly with a large pool. For a recent youth sports trip, we decided to come back since I am a fan of Marriott properties and we did have a good experience.

However, there are enough issues today that I likely won't come back in the future. These include:

Poor cleaning. Throughout our bathroom, there was a lingering smell of vomit. Around the desk area, there was a smell of burnt hair. The odd smells seemed to be caused because of a lack of thorough cleaning to remove the odors.

Beat up furniture. As an example, the ottoman in the room for the sofa had lots of discoloring and areas where the leather had been completely worn away. There seems to be a general lack of effort to keep room furniture looking clean and new.

Lack of basic supplies. Like many Marriotts, this property provides fixed bottles of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner instead of small serving size bottles. However, the conditioner was completely used when we got into the hotel, which is an issue you can't foresee until you are already in the shower.

Old and poorly functioning room features. The air conditioning was extremely loud and constantly clicking off/on throughout the night, keeping us awake. The vent panels for some of the room also were not fixed against the wall and were coming out, which could end up being a safety issue.

For the price and Scottsdale location, more is absolutely expected from the rooms. With that said, the front desk staff was fantastic and very accommodating during the check-in, as well as providing friendly greetings as we came and went.

So, this Marriott can be great. It has a lot of potential, but it's...