text: Just got back from a stay at the Phoenician Although the resort was beautiful I was thoroughly disappointed in their service and will not return I do not take a lot of vacations but do like to stay at a top notch place when I do go For me the service is by far the most important aspect on my trips and I found the staff at the Phoenician lacking in that respect We were given a mountain view room Typically when I hear a hotel advertise mountain versus pool view rooms it is not a big deal to me in fact I would prefer the mountain except if I am in a coastal hotel with a view of the ocean In this case though what they mean by mountain is opening your shade and being right next to a mountain so close you can tell the bugs on the bushes So essentially you do not really have a view That was not the greatest but the bigger problem was I had no phone reception on half of the room and the other half I was only able to get one bar clearly a result of being right next to a mountain We went to the NCAA basketball game on our first day in town so we were not in the room much The next morning I went down to use the fitness facility and found it to be subpar for a hotel of the level of the Phoenician needed a serious refreshthey have a bunch of antiquated machines and spin bikes I asked the concierge if she knew of a track nearby figured I would just go for a jog instead since I did not like the fitness center She had some maps laid out for jogs on the complex but I informed her that running on asphalt takes its toll on my knees and that I really needed a track I asked if there was a college nearby and she directed me to ASU but gave me bad directions had me turn right on Camelback and it should have been left I drove for about minutes and never came across the first street that I was supposed to turn on Scottsdale Blvd So that wasted over an hour of my time for nothing As I kept having calls drop off on my phone I became more annoyed with the situation and by Saturday morning complained to the front desk The snooty clerk repliedwell sir we cannot do anything about the way the hotel is constructed I thought to myself so what are you sayingyour customers have to suck it up and deal with it I would think a more professional clerk would have apologized for the inconvenience and immediately look to switch my room instead of me telling the clerk that this would not do So I had the room switched but it was not available yet it was am He said I would receive a call informing me when the room was ready By we had not received a call and had to leave for the game so I called the front desk The clerk said to leave our packed luggage on the bed and it would be moved for us to the new room by the time we got back We arrived back at the hotel at The new room was ready but the luggage had not been moved they said they would take care of it right away So we went to the bar for a little over an hour We got back to the roomstill no luggage I called back to the desk and the clerk apologized and said it would be done right way After another hour and still no luggage I went to the desk and complained we had of the clock dinner reservations at a restaurant away from the hotel and needed to change clothes We finally received our luggage just before and needless to say did not really have time to freshen up a bit before dinner actually just got to the restaurant at Although the front desk manager apologized the next day it really did not matter to me at that point She asked what she could do to make me happy and offered to comp a massage or a free meal I just asked if it was possible to get an uneventful day from her staff which was really all I wanted all along She had a look on her face like she did not even know how to respond to that request as though that might be asking the impossible I mentioned that I really did not think I was asking too much to have our luggage delivered and perhaps her staff could have at least made sure we had some ice they do not have ice machines so we had to call room service for ice She was surprised by the ice comment and questioned whether we had had turn down service apparently the maids are supposed to deliver ice every night I informed her we never received ice in the nights we had been there and I had to call for it and of course tip their room service which I thought was bogus She did end up comping our lunch but honestly it just did not matter I cannot stand it when a star hotel provides shoddy service like this There are plenty of deals out there especially with the economy being in the shape it is in even for star hotels My wife actually chose the hotel I was pushing for the Four Seasons The last day at the hotel was our th wedding anniversary but I was just too annoyed to really enjoy it Too bad the staff does not realize they ruin peoples stays when they cannot deliver a quality experience