JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa

Beautiful place to relax, recharge, and get spoiled!

This resort needs to really get control of the crowd at the pool. A physical fight broke out between two grown men on May 4th at the lazy river over a raft as there are not enough rafts to accommodate the guests. One of them men was clearly the instigator/aggressor and should have been kicked out of the pool. I genuinely felt unsafe sitting next to him at the pool given his extreme level of emotionally instability and action to violence. Security was called and essentially did literally nothing and allowed this drunk violent man to remain at the pool. We left the pool as it felt unsafe. Marriott needs to get more rafts and to have zero tolerance for intoxicated violent guests if they want this to be a family resort. Regarding the spa. It was nice enough n it The spa had a group of 11 women and another group of 8 and then a few smaller groups so there were about 25 women crammed in the relaxation room and talking loudly. Then a big group of them were also very rowdy in the steam room. The spa should have warned me of this large loud group and given me the opportunity to book a different day or time. Service at Tia Carmen was awful. Food was average. Food was great at kembara. Overall the resort feels like a conference type of hotel and not really luxury. It is nice but just sort of meh in some places. They have pumped a lot of money into the fire pit area and lawn which was nice. The showers are tiny in the standard rooms. The lounge for Marriott members is nice and had a good selection of food. We did enjoy the fire pits and live music as well as the Crystal sound bowl healing and body scrub making. The lawn games were also a lot of fun. The singer on May 3rd was phenomenal.

I was expecting more based upon my experiences staying at other resorts. There was a lack of attention to detail. The resort is huge. It’s at least a 10 min walk to get from your room to the front desk. The restaurants were good but very expensive for what they offered. Breakfast though was delicious and memorable. Beds were comfortable. However, new pillows are needed. The bathroom was ok. The shower stall was very small and cramped. I liked that there was a low motion sensor light that turned on when you entered the bathroom. I also liked that there were robes in the closet. With regard to parking, there is a high fee to park each day. We called the valet to bring our car out before we left the room. At first they didn’t answer. When they finally did, they forgot to get our car. The first night we were there we were told that the water would be shut off throughout the resort at 11pm for a few hours and that no one could use the toilets or showers. Also, it is important to note that the lazy river and the slides shut down around 4pm.

Beautiful property with great on-site dining.

My family and I stayed here in room 3502 (a "Suite, 1 King Bed with Sofa bed, balcony") for one night in April 2024. Rating: 5/10 Positives: • The pools, lazy river, and waterslides make for a thoroughly enjoyable aquatic wonderland, although I could see the utility of these features being limited by the season (too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter) • The quality of the pool and room service food and drink was on point although overpriced (see below). If I am going to pay $28 for a margarita (not including service charge), I'm glad to at least report that it was delicious! • Very friendly and helpful staff Negatives: • The prices for food and drink via pool or room service would be expensive even for a five star resort, let alone for a four star resort. The attentiveness of the servers at the pool was decent but certainly not commensurate with the prices on the menu. During two daytimes parked at the pool, I don't think I observed anyone come around and collect empty glasses. • This resort seems to have employed a typical accoutrement of hotels in its class or lower: an air conditioning motion sensor. While admirable energy savers in the daytime, these mechanisms can ruin your sleep when they cause you to wake up to a warm and stuffy room. Just wake up, walk around a bit, reactivate the air conditioning, and go back to sleep until it turns off again. Is that fair to ask of guests paying a $1200+ nightly rate? • Our suite included a rather boneheaded feature whereby the overhead entryway lights were also on a motion sensor. So when you wake up to use the bathroom or to reactivate the air conditioner, you can also expect the overheads to turn on which may then wake up everybody who's sleeping. • The motion-based air conditioning and lights notwithstanding, my wife and I found the bed uncomfortable, serving as icing on the cake for a poor night's sleep • We were dismayed to discover that despite offering three waterslides, there really was no waterslide geared for small children. My wife and I tested the slides on offer and while we thoroughly enjoyed them, none were good fits for our four year old or risk-averse eight year old. • On Saturday night, very loud music (possibly karaoke from somewhere inside the resort) was pumped to speakers in the front of the resort – which our room faced. The result was very unwelcome noise rattling the seemingly single paned windows of our room until 10pm. • When it was time to put our son to bed, we were disappointed to pull out the sofa bed and find that it was not already made up, necessitating a request to housekeeping for sheets • The solution in the room for streaming our own content wirelessly was limited to Netflix which was extremely slow once connected. The other option on offer was to plug a device into an "HDMI puck" – seriously, who travels with an HDMI adapter for their phone or tablet? Do better JW.

This hotel is FABULOUS!!! The property is beautiful. We loved the garden and the hand-held hummingbird feeders, lazy river, and the infinity edge hot tub overlooking the golf course. The fitness center is well-equipped and not too busy. Took a lovely yoga class that ended up being a private since I was the only yogi - thanks Joy! Got one of the best sports massages I've ever had in my life - thanks Daisy! Spent a whole afternoon enjoying the spa amenities - thanks Michelle! Every meal was excellent. We walked to a nearby shopping center and listened to live music, and hiked the nearby Gateway Loop. We ran out of time to rent bikes. This was a family trip but I'm planning a girls' trip to come back. Thank you JWM Desert Ridge!

CHAIR RESERVATION GAME at its finest. I saw everyone in their reviews was exaggerating, but I’m here at 8:36 AM and there’s no chairs available. Even in Dominican Republic resorts, the staff will take away the chairs that are reserved after an hour of nobody being there, here people are not even pretending they’re here they just leave their stuff and go for breakfast lunch and don’t even come back until middle of the day. The whole place is empty and nowhere to sit. so sad to see disheartening faces of people coming in here at 9 AM and not being able to find to sit somewhere.

The hotel is fine, definitely not 5 star, a bit worn down, and hardly any food for kids. There was a wedding on Saturday night and the club music was so loud it was as if the party was in my room. Our beds were shaking. My kids were so tired and in tears, pleading for the music to stop. Staff offered $100 for our troubles which doesn’t nearly cover the hassle. Don’t stay here if you plan to sleep during your stay.