DISCLAIMER: I have nothing negative to say about the staff at this hotel. They’re ordinary people trying to do their jobs the best they can. It is not their fault that management and corporate aren’t doing their job to maintain this property.
Nestled in a corporatesque complex featuring a Black Bear diner, another Marriott property, and what I assume is a resort or timeshare, the Marriott Courtyard Scottsdale North is, in fact, a hotel in the narrowest sense. It is certainly not the worst place one might choose to stay in the general Phoenix area, but if you’re looking for something special, this isn’t it - unless by something special you mean dirty rooms, broken beds, and doors that don’t fit their frame, more on that later.
As other reviewers have noted, parking is not free. You might assume that it is because there isn’t much parking or a problem with people taking up spots belonging to hotel guests, but you’d be incorrect. There was plenty of parking the entire time we were there, even when we returned later at night after my MRI at the Mayo Clinic. It’s tucked away, and I cannot imagine a time when there would be an out-of-control demand for parking spaces. The Black Bear Diner and the Persian restaurant nearby don’t qualify as late-night go-to spots, and the nearby Mall is far enough away that parking here would be impracticable at best and, during the hot months, stupid. These considerations lead one to believe that greed is the primary motivator for the two Marriott properties. I am a long-time Courtyard customer and haven’t encountered paid parking often, and I’m usually in more popular destinations than this suburban location.
The lobby looks…fine. It was a bit of a mess when we arrived because they were redoing their marketplace area. Closer inspection revealed that the walls, baseboards, lighting, and furniture were all rather dingy and cracked in places.
Once again, I have nothing bad to say about the front desk staff. The woman who checked us in was professional and courteous. Throughout our stay, the employees behind the front desk always greeted us or told us they hoped we had a good day.
Housekeeping comes only every other day but will go daily if requested. We did not.
My MRI was scheduled on short notice, and the Residence Inn on campus did not have rooms available. I read this hotel's reviews beforehand and thought it wouldn’t be all that bad, but I brought cleaning supplies with me just in case since we were making the six-hour drive to get there.
For the three nights we stayed there, we were assigned a room on the third floor. The elevator area has an Indiana Jones quality, as it is strangely narrow, and the laminate flooring is bubbling on the floor, making it squishy. Additionally, the gentle swaying of the car itself might lull you into a false sense of security or make you hold your breath—you choose.
The room itself had a distinct odor. It’s hard to pin down, but if I had to, I’d say it is somewhere between old gym socks, the desperation of someone trying to pick you up at closing time, and a touch of wet dog. There is a wall unit AC, one of the big ones, the size of a RAM pickup truck, and it sounds like it, too.
I began cleaning once we brought our things up from the car, which now slept in its own comfortable $11-a-day parking spot. Overall, the room was relatively dust-free, the sheets were clean, and there weren’t bed bugs. What seemed to be a smaller-than-necessary housekeeping staff was doing their best with their limited time per room. However, some things were neglected. The inside of the windows was coated in ick that came off black on paper towels, the vents on the AC unit were hiding enough dust to make a sweater for a teenager, the wall outlet in the bathroom was covered with black marks, and the shower was stained with markings of various colors and mildewing sealant.
The biggest stand out for broken and gross things in the room, #311, is twofold and located in the shower/toilet area. The first is that there is not a fan. There is a hole in the ceiling where a vent fan probably was at one point, but it’s an empty socket, which means that moisture from a hot shower accumulates and human smells from toilet use linger. It was so bad that I had to purchase a miniature Fabreeze stand-up scent thing and leave it behind the toilet. The second, most glaring issue was that the door in the bathroom was not the right size for the door frame. It did not close. Not even close. The door was yellowed and had numerous stains, indicating that it had been there for quite some time, and the hotel knew about it but had done nothing to fix it.
If you’re in a relationship in its first years, maybe don’t stay here unless you want to cross a Rubicon with your significant other, wherein you hear and smell everything they’re doing in the bathroom. The walls are paper thin; without a closing door or appropriate air circulation, they will get personal. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I’m used to better from Marriott hotels, and I was also shocked to find the provided toilet paper was essentially just ply. It's not two-ply; it’s like the toilet paper they give you at public schools or the saddest truck stops outside Lordsburg, New Mexico. It’s the toilet paper you bought during the Pandy as the just-in-case-the-worst-happens backup.
The bed was in bad shape. It made hollow noises as soon as you laid down on it, making me nervous about the frame's structural integrity. Further, the springs were messed up, and after the first night, my partner’s shoulder was super stiff, and he couldn’t even turn his head. The walls in this place are so thin that one morning, my partner and I heard someone else peeing. You can also hear everyone’s phone conversation - I hope that sale went through for you, Bob, wherever you are.
Everything is old, except the Bible and Book of Mormon in the drawer beside the bed. Those seemed in pristine condition if that matters to you. The room has a fridge, but it does not have a freezer. There is no microwave, and the coffee machine is small, so we didn’t use it.
Our room also had an issue with the front door. The automatic deadbolt would pop out as soon as you entered the room, so you had to turn around and ensure the door was closed, not just resting with the lock against the frame. Without closing fully, this door presents a significant safety issue. This faulty lock made it challenging to leave the room because the minute you let go of the handle, it would come out and not go back in if you tried to close the door from the outside. You had to take out your key, scan it, and then hold the door handle down to close it, so if you’re carrying a bunch of stuff, be prepared to drop it.
I’m sure this hotel was great once upon a time, but after staying here, I wouldn’t do so again unless it was razed to the ground and rebuilt with modern amenities and, I don’t know, doors that fit.
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