As mentioned in Part 1 yesterday, we were able to stay for 5 nights at The Phoenician Resort & Spa for just 6,240 SPG points per night, thanks to the 5th Night Free and a 35% Discount Award. The regular cash price for the same 5 night stay was just over $500/night, so this was an exceptional Starwood award redemption allowing us to experience a beautiful resort hotel that we would otherwise not stay at.The resort is located at the base of Camelback Mountain, which clearly stands out against the otherwise flat terrain of Scottsdale. We had a great view of it from our room's private terrace, especially during sunrise which I was able to catch due to Arizona being 3 hours behind Eastern time. Given my mother liked to sleep in late, my father and I decided to take a Daddy-Daughter walk around the hotel our first morning there.
Down below, we had a lovely view of the Catcus Garden walkway where my strict Asian father would later take me to learn (the hard way) what happens when I touch random plants I don't know.
Despite having a great view from our room, we were located quite a long way from the main lobby and the resort pool area. But it did give us a chance to have a nice walk each morning on our way to breakfast through the small shopping area where you could buy tourist souvenirs, designer women's apparel, fine wines and spirits, ice cream or rent a car.
What caught my attention, however, was the Funician's Kids Club that seemed to have a lot of great things for kids, including a fish tank, tons of toys and even a computer station. Unfortunately, like many other resorts, the Kids Club was only for children ages 5-12. I still had a few years to go before my parents could pay to drop me off with the hotel's babysitter while they enjoyed some adult only time, but when we visited, they still gave me an awesome stuffed bunny toy.
Armed with my new stuffed toy, we continued our Daddy-Daughter tour. We saw from the map that there was a lower floor for conferences, weddings and banquets. So we took a small detour from our trip and went to take a look around. While I still have at least 16 years before my parents will marry me off, we thought it would be fun to look around the bedazzled hallways getting some ideas for my possible future wedding here at the Phoenician. But a lot of that will depend on if my father will get SPG Starpoints for having event there.
After the detour, we finally reached the lobby area (with their stunning fountain) which looked even better during the day than when we arrived in the evening.
The floor to ceiling glass wall in the lobby allowed you to see out into the expansive terrace that overlooked the pools and the beautiful dessert landscape. As you can see, there were plenty of seats for couples and families to lounge around and have a refreshing beverage in the sun.
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