Sonesta Suites Scottsdale Gainey Ranch — Hotel in Scottsdale

Pretty disappointed with the customer service and overall stay here. Booked 3 nights because my place here in Scottsdale flooded. After my first night I woke up with bug bites on my legs. They looked like mosquito bites, so I called down to the front desk to have room service change all of my bedding just to be safe. The second night I woke up with more bites on my arms. Went to the front desk to request I be moved to a different room. I said they might want to check the mattress just to be safe. I was abruptly interrupted and told the mattresses have all been changed the last couple of months. I expected there to be a little more concern, considering this is a hotel. Was moved to another room that heavily smelled like men’s cologne. Im sensitive to smells and started feeling crappy within 15mins so I called again and asked if there was another room to move me to. They did move me to a 3rd room. Three hours later I realized I had left my dogs food bowl in the first room. I called several days in a row, asking if anyone found the bowl and was always told I’d get a call back, but never did. They waived some fees and one nights stay due to the “inconvenience“. The third morning I was woken up at 5 AM by the fire alarm. Threw some clothes on and got ready to head out the door when the alarm stopped so I called the front desk to ask if everything was OK and was told it was a false alarm. Jeez okay… I extended my stay another 3 nights. I was having to go day by day with plans. Sunday morning I went down to the business center to print some papers. It was not letting me access my email so I asked one of the ladies from the front desk to help. She said she wasn’t sure why and would go ask another team member. No one ever came back to help me. Monday morning I called asking what’s the latest check out time I could do since I was still trying to get into an Airbnb. I was told as a courtesy 12 PM is the latest but to call back if that wouldn’t be enough time and they could do a late check out fee for 2 PM. Perfect. Called back at 11:30 AM and asked how much the fee was for the late check out. I was then told it was too late to do a late check out that I would’ve had to notify them by 11 AM. I explained that was not communicated to me earlier this morning when I called and was told as long as I called back, I could have a later check out with a fee. Again was told that I would’ve had to notify them by 11 AM. I said that would’ve been no problem had it been communicated when I called the first time this morning and now I’m upset due to the lack of communication. I said well the noon check out is in 20 minutes and there’s no way I can be out in that short amount of time with no place to go. Asked if I could extend my stay another night and was told yes. Later in the day, I went to the front desk to get my key refreshed, and the manager asked how everything was going and said to let them know if there’s anything they could do to help make my stay better with everything I was dealing with. Called the front desk that night to ask what the latest option available was for check out with fees for the next day because I had finally found an Airbnb, but didn’t have anywhere else to go with my dog prior to checking in there. Was abruptly told late check out is not an option because they are fully booked. I asked if that also went for the additional hour for noon courtesy check out and was told yes absolutely no late checkouts because they don’t do that when they’re fully booked. Soooo basically being told earlier in the day to let them know if there’s anything they could help with to make my stay better was just words. I expressed multiple times throughout my stay my frustrations with the service and gave multiple opportunities to try and make things right. Overall the rooms are pretty rundown and could use some upgrades. The breakfast and courtyard is nice but not enough to make up for the overall experience. I have never had such a bad experience with customer service at a hotel before so it kind of took me...

I gave this place 2 stars because I feel like after a couple days during our 6 night stay (not to mention the extra $$$ hold on our credit card) is when I came to the realization that we paid WAY WAY more than we should have. When I booked our stay here at the Sonesta Suites in Gainey ranch on their direct website, it says Full Breakfast included, room services, housekeeping, etc. Basically everything you expect staying at a hotel thats charging $700 per night! Welllll, upon check in, is when we were told they do not service your room, their staff will not step foot inside due to their covid policy. You have to request new towels, which was a huge inconvenience to the front desk lady (anything I requested was a huge inconvenience for her, don’t think she likes her job very much) and they won’t take your old ones because the person ran away too fast for you to hand them your dirty ones. I wasn’t about to yell at them to wait, because thats just plain rude. They are very under staffed and you can tell!

With their daily set menu displayed in their common room, they provide a grab n go box of breakfast (there’s the Full Breakfast) and a complimentary pre-dinner snack along with complimentary wine, beer and soft drinks. The grab n go box is a plastic box or a paper plate they serve you the food, along with a to go packet of plastic fork, spoon, knife and napkin. The complimentary wine was served in a small plastic cup, when I requested a real wine glass, it was denied, even if I stayed inside and not go outside on the patio, still denied. Funny thing, there are wine glasses hanging at their bar. There was 1 bartender the entire 6 night stay, she was the funniest, nicest one there. They only serve plastic there, unless you are in your room with the fully stocked kitchenette. Plastic only in this hotel that charges a ton of $$$! Lets get to that part….

Upon the 4th night of our stay, we got an alert on our credit card about a large transaction that occurred. Yes it was just a bit under a $2000 amount! I went to the front desk at 11pm at night, because I was outraged at this point. He explained the transaction due to the night audit system they charge your credit card to make sure you are “still there” in the hotel and they have to get their books to a zero balance. We had 2 more nights until Check out! All hotels charge the FINAL amount at CHECK OUT! So I thought…

The pool and jacuzzi area was nice. The pool towels were offered in a giant plastic bag. Hang on to your pool towels when you’re swimming because if you don’t, the manager takes your towel off your chair and disposes of it, leaving you to find a new one and the towels weren’t restocked yet…that was a predicament a few times. Yes, I did watch him take our towels, one day he was hard to miss with the St Patricks day Green suit and Hat.

Overall it was okay, definitely feel like we overpaid for this place. Wanted to be up front with everyone whether its helpful or not about this place so they don’t feel like how I felt…DOOPED! I had a better 2 words to say but I’ll...

Had a truly awful experience here while attending a PGA event with a few clients... at first we found the facilities quite tasteful, however looks can be decieving and little did we know something sinister was lurking beneath the surface: Nicole Youngquist, the front office manager, or "the top of the foodchain" as nicole herself put it when asked if there was someone else we could speak with about her treatment of guests. Our issues with her began on the 2nd night of the stay, when we returned to the hotel from dinner to find that our patio door had been left wide open by housekeeping for several hours. Despite being quite unnerving, thankfully nothing had been stolen and after canceling a couple credit cards that had been left on the table we called it a night. At first we were not planning on reporting the incident, everyone makes mistakes, however when 4 PM rolled by the next day and none of our rooms had been cleaned I took it upon myself to go to the front desk and see what the story was. The first receptionist we dealt with was quite pleasant, however when I passingly mentioned the door situation she told me she would let her manager know right away. At this point nicole slithered into things and was immediately standoffish and dismissive about all of our concerns... "the cleaning staff hasn't left yet" and "you should have reported this last night" were the only forms of consolation offered. I could tell that this must be a reccuring theme here from her condescending tone and that getting my room cleaned must be an upper management decision at Sonesta, I asked to speak to her manager, which is when she hissed that gem of a one liner I mentioned earlier. At this point, rather than take the bait and get into an argument with Nicole (which was clearly her goal), we decided to take the high road and headed out to the event for the day. The golf was great (go ricky!) and scottsdale truly is a wonderful town, however little did we know that Nicole's pettiness knows no boundaries and found after a long day of traveling and standing that the patio bartender had been ordered not to serve us any alcohol for the remainder of our stay (I kid you not) despite alcohol having absolutely nothing to do with any of our interactions. At this point, with my room still dirty, toiletpaperless, and my group now surprisingly liquorless, i vowed never to stay at another sonesta as long as I live, and I highly advise you all...