JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa

Friendly attentive staff. Valet parking and pina coladas!

Always wanted to take a trip out West … coming from the east coast we enjoyed the weather very much. But so disappointed with this JW Marriott. My husband is a Bonvoy Member, my parents have had a timeshare at the Marriott in Orlando for over 30 years. My twin sister is a platinum member. We love Marriotts, and especially have always enjoyed the J. W. Marriotts we have vacationed at. I often compare them to staying at a Ritz Carlton. But this trip in was nothing like are several stays at the Ritz. But that’s not my complaint. Tonight is my biggest complaint, we have a very early flight home tomorrow, we went to dinner at the hotel and then came back to our room. As I was just about to fall asleep, my husband and I thought there had to be a rock concert going on right outside our window. It’s been a HORRIBLE Experience … it’s so incredibly loud and knowing that we have to leave at 4 am for the airport and will be having a difficult time with the 3 hour time change, all we wanted was a relaxing night of sleep. This rock concert/wedding has ruined my vacation. This is just not fair. We’ve called the front desk twice and the last time I called an hour ago they said they would bring me up a fan to help with cancel some of the noise out. It never came. The DJ feels like he’s in our bedroom and we don’t understand how this is possibly allowed … don’t they have to follow a noise violation code? I’m going to take a video from my bed so you can hear it for yourself … please know our balcony doors are locked shut.

Pros: Beautiful grounds Excellent service all around Good food options Free BF for kids under 12 before 8:30am (but pls consider adding pancakes!) Lots of pool options Despite massive hotel, pool area is divided nicely so it doesn't feel overly crowded Slides are fun Fun kid activities throughout the entire day Good location - can easily walk to shopping/restaurant area across the street Cons: Pools (other than the lazy river) are too cold. My kids haven't been able to enjoy them since the first day where it was 95 outside. This con by itself will keep us from returning, which is a shame given all the pros. I see this echoed in many other reviews found online so I'm unclear as to why upping the temp to the 82 degrees other comparable hotels have hasn't happened? They only need to be heated a few months out of the entire year and given the cost of a stay here, it very much doesn't make sense (ie the corporation can clearly afford to heat these more) makes this not worth the money.

Help me understand why a “resort spa” where the least expensive room is 1k only has vending machines/no room service after 11pm

We had a pretty frustrating experience here. We fully understood going in that this is a large resort with premium pricing, and we didn’t complain about paying $30 for cocktails or $26 for burgers poolside — that’s expected in this type of setting. What didn’t sit right with us was what happened on our third night. After spending a significant amount of money at the resort over several days (well over $1,000), we decided to order food from a local restaurant and brought it to a patio area near the entrance. Almost immediately, we were told this wasn’t allowed and that we had to leave. That felt excessive and unnecessary. After being loyal, high-spending guests for multiple days, it was disappointing to be treated that way simply because we chose to eat something off-property for one meal. It came across as more focused on enforcing rules to capture every dollar than on creating a positive guest experience. Overall, the resort feels more concerned with maximizing revenue at every turn than with customer satisfaction, which left a bad impression.

I am a capitalist. But I’ve never seen such a money grubbing business in all my life. You pay $1,200 a night for a suite, is it to much to ask for some fresh towels and sheets. Our lounge chairs, which we paid nearly $100 per chair for, were taken from us when we left the pool for 35 minutes. The staff took our belongings and gave the chairs to someone else. Why let a chance to double book and maximize revenue go to waste? By the way, we only left to have lunch in the room because we didn’t want to spent $30 on a greasy, disgusting quesadilla. When we came back, they gave us a new spot under a tree with no umbrella. In short, paying $1,200 a night won’t get you even decent service. I guess you either have to pay more, or else yell and scream and cause a scene. This is my last experience with Marriott resorts. I’ll pay slightly more to stay at the 4 Seasons, but at least they’ll pretend to care. On the bright side, at least every future hotel experience will seem better after this experience.

I went all in for my husband’s 50th bday. 475,000 points for a stay for a stay from Wed to Sun—Mountain view room with club access. My husband loves the Sonoran desert and I wanted him to be able to wake each day, looking out from our balcony at the mountains with the Saguaros. Arrived to find that they overbooked the mountain view rooms and would only offer us a resort view. Resort view is of palm trees and a pool. We live in Florida and have palm trees and a pool in our backyard. Used a ton of points, plus $300 tax to bring hubby here for his bday to look at the same thing we have in our backyard. Also, we brought our two boys with us. The room I originally booked had two beds. Instead, my 16 year old, 6 foot 2 son was stuck sharing a pull out with his 10 year old brother...FOR 457K POINTS!!! I booked this room on July 5, 2025. When I asked the individual at check in "Please help me understand how I booked this almost a year ago and it is now unavailable when I show up? His apathetic response was "I don't know. What do I need to do to make you happy?" This is classic bait and switch. We were initially offered a $150 credit for our trouble. Which is laughable, given the nightly rate right now during spring break. After an unnecessary amount of negotiating, they gave us a $300 credit and 100k points back. Unfortunately, none of that recaptures the entire intent of coming to this property and this part of the country for my husband's milestone birthday.

The resort is a beautiful property with multiple pools, water slides, lazy river, pickleball courts and a golf course. That’s about the end of the positive. The jacuzzi was broken for the duration of our stay. The staff seem like they don’t want to work here. At check in our reservation was lost in the central reservation system not the property so that took 30+ mins to check us in. Then our room was fine, but it was by the hospitality suites for the hotel, which was hosting multiple conferences during our stay. Every morning the conference attendees woke us up as they enjoyed their breakfast outside of our room. Housekeeping did not supply us with extra towels the two times we asked for our room to be made up. There was no availability for late check even for elite Bonvoy members due to high occupancy, which is fine I guess, but in all my travels I’ve never had a Marriott not give me at least an extra hour. Staff just didn’t seem to care that it made traveling with my family more complicated. Hospitality is a tough job, you deal with crabby travelers all the time, but this resort didn’t do itself any favors. I do not recommend for the price go stay at one of the other resorts in the PHX area.

Muy mal servicio en todos los sentidos