If you’ve watched my channel before, you know I usually review hotels connected to theme parks and big touristy destinations – so this is a bit different, but still just as fun.
Typically when we travel, we pack our time full to the brim with roller coasters and sight-seeing, but this past November, we were visiting family in Arizona and Derrick and I decided to steal 24 hours to ourselves – no schedules, no theme parks, no rushing (and no children). We booked a stay at a stunning resort I hadn’t planned on reviewing – but once we really leaned into how relaxing the property was, I knew I wanted to share about it.
This is a full, in-depth review of The Scottsdale Resort and Spa, Curio Collection by Hilton located at 7700 E McCormick Parkway in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona. We stayed there for one night in November 2025, and this was our experience.
OVERVIEW
You might find yourself wondering: why are you doing a review of a hotel in Phoenix, Arizona? That isn’t close to any particular amusement park – and you’d be correct! This is definitely a review that falls outside of the normal amusement park-based hotels I typically review.
My husband’s parents and some of his extended family live in the Phoenix, Arizona area, so about once a year, we travel out west to spend some time in the desert. In the past, we’ve used Phoenix as a springboard to visit parts of California, as well as the Grand Canyon. But this year, outside of a day-trip to Sedona, we mainly planned to stick around the Phoenix area. Since this was a more relaxing, chill trip, Derrick and I took the opportunity to leave our kids with their Nana and Papa for 24 hours and book a night to ourselves at a really nice resort.
And so, here we are.
The Scottsdale Resort and Spa is part of Hilton’s “Curio Collection” – what does that mean?
In a nutshell, Hilton’s Curio Collection is made up of 193 independently owned, high-end resorts across 47 different countries around the world. These are unique, one-of-a-kind properties – a few steps above your average Embassy Suites or Hilton Garden Inns. Even though they are independently owned and operated, they are still part of the Hilton family, so by staying at a resort in the Curio Collection, you get all of the great points and perks that Hilton offers within their loyalty programs – all while experiencing something extra special.
The Scottsdale Resort and Spa is very conveniently located to A LOT of touristy things to do in Arizona – Old Scottsdale (which is a very popular place to shop and eat) is about 10 minutes away, downtown Phoenix is about 30 minutes away, Sedona is about 2 hours away, and the Grand Canyon is about 3 ½ hours away.
The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is about 20 minutes away (and just in case you’re wondering, this resort does not offer a shuttle to or from the airport).
Additionally, in less than 20 minutes, you can be at the Phoenix Zoo, the Desert Botanical Gardens, the Talking Stick Casino, the OdySea Aquarium, plus there are SO many hiking trails scattered around close by.
And if you love to golf, well, The Scottsdale Resort and Spa is located right next door to the beautiful, award-winning McCormick Ranch Golf Club, not to mention the Silverado Golf Club and others that are just a few miles down the road.
Upon chatting with the bartender at the pool, he told us that the resort had recently undergone an extensive 60 million dollar renovation. Especially around the pools, the courtyards, and the outdoor areas – you can see that a lot of those areas are new and beautifully updated.
THE POOL AREA/RESORT
So, before we get into the rooms, the food options, and some other details, let’s specifically talk about the resort.
Pulling onto the property really sets the tone for the entire resort. The entrance is GORGEOUS – complete with a palm-tree lined drive with string-lights stretched across that ends in a circle around a beautiful fountain. During the day, it’s beautiful, but at night, it’s STUNNING.
The landscaping of the entire resort is really well kept. The courtyards are accentuated with different plants, palm trees, cactuses, and flowers. The property is beautiful, just begging to be strolled around at a leisurely pace so that it can envelop you in its quiet stillness.
Much of the resort is open to the beautiful outdoors (or is able to be open to the outdoors.) We visited in November, which means in Phoenix temps rest around the mid-80s to low-90s – absolute perfect weather to swing open the doors and let the sunshine and fresh air in. I’d imagine they keep the doors closed during the peak summer heat (you know, when temps reach up into the 120’s), but otherwise, so many of the seating areas, the lobby, the coffee shop, and the restaurant – all had doors that swung wide to the outdoors.
Being that we were at this resort for 24-hours as a child-less couple, we were happy to find a huge variety of areas where we could sit and relax. Obviously there was the pool to sit around (more on that in a minute), but outside of that, there were seemingly endless courtyards to discover and enjoy.
Right off of the lobby and main entrance, there was an extra large courtyard with tons of different seating areas around a fountain and large fireplace (including tables and chairs, as well as couches and lounge chairs – seriously something for everyone!)
There was a courtyard outside of the main pool area with jumbo yard games, like Jenga, Connect 4, and Cornhole.
And there was a courtyard area outside of the bar that had a large, beautiful fire pit that they lit after the sun went down.
And that just names what I feel like were the MAIN courtyard areas – there were plenty of other little nooks and areas to sit and relax.
Upon walking into the resort, we realized very quickly that the grounds and rooms had a very distinctive scent. It wasn’t overly cleaner-like (like bleach or disinfectant you get hit with upon walking into some hotel rooms), but this was a really light, pleasant aroma that was present throughout the resort. I’m usually pretty sensitive to strong scents (which is why I don’t use any soaps or detergents with a fragrance to them), but this was VERY pleasant and light enough to be noticed, but not be overwhelming.
The resort has two distinct pool areas – there is the larger “main” pool, and then there is a smaller pool in the unique shape of a perfect circle (we’ve never seen anything like it before!) Sadly, there were no hot tubs on property, but to be honest – I’m not sure how much use a hot tub in Phoenix would get. The pools were pleasantly warm – not like “bath-water” warm – you know those pools that you get in and it’s nice, but then it’s just too warm to actually enjoy. No, these pools were cool enough to feel refreshing upon first getting into them, but then warm enough that they were comfortable to simply sit in and relax (which, if you ask me, was the perfect temperature).
There were bathrooms conveniently located off to the side of the main pool (next to the bar) – and yes, there was a bar offering food and drinks adjacent to the main pool. (That secondary circle pool didn’t offer any amenities, other than it being a very quiet and relaxing spot.) I’ll talk more about the bar and it’s food options when I dive into the food, but I’ll simply note that the food and drinks we got there were delicious – you just have to watch out for the birds, as they get a little aggressive (we were warned by the bartender not to leave our food unattended or they’d swoop in and steal it).
Both pools had complimentary towels and there were quite a few private cabanas you could rent lining the perimeter of the main pool. If the resort was busy and you were going to spend an entire day relaxing at the pool with a group of friends or your family, I could see wanting to rent a cabana as a “home base” – otherwise there were TONS of lounge chairs and seating options around the pool.
Oh and one last thing about the pool: it was salt-water based – not chlorine! This made spending time in the pool SO enjoyable – chlorine can be hard on your skin, and salt water is much gentler.
A few other areas of the resort I want to highlight – there is a room up on the 3rd floor called the Social Boardroom. We went looking for it the first night we were there, but somehow we missed it – we found it when we were exploring the next morning. If you go up the main staircase, take a right at the top – it’s the first door on the right (it’s labeled, but not in a flashy sort of way, which is why we missed it the first night).
This room is awesome and the perfect place to hang out. They have games up there, like Chess, Connect 4, and Backgammon. There is a pool table and shuffleboard. And there is a virtual golf range. This was so much fun and since we found this area in the morning – we had the entire room to ourselves, so we had a blast.
There is a bar in the corner of the room that is only open during the evening hours AND as a special SECRET: this room also opens into a special Speakeasy location that is only open select hours starting at 5pm. The only reason we found out about it is because we asked one of the ladies at the front desk if she could tell us where the Social Boardroom was – and she told us about it. She said at 5pm, the big bookcase on the one end of the room opens up and reveals a really fun, but elite Speakeasy club. She suggested if you wanted to spend time there, to make a reservation because sometimes the space fills up. We were so bummed that we missed this the night we were there – but now that you know, maybe you can take advantage of it!
The resort has a HUGE fitness center, but it sits down from the main entrance in a completely separate building – next to a large, grassy courtyard, and the pickle ball courts (we saw TONS of people playing pickle ball!)
Outside of the entrance, there were complimentary bikes you could take and ride around (we didn’t have time to take advantage of that, but it seemed super fun).
And we also did not take advantage of the spa, so unfortunately, I can’t speak to how wonderful that is (but I’m sure it’s on par with the rest of the resort and is amazing though).
THE FOOD
The Scottsdale Resort and Spa does not offer a complimentary breakfast, but there are plenty of food options on property.
The main restaurant is called La Fogata Restaurant and it is beautiful. We had dinner there out on the patio and the food was delicious. It was pricey, but I feel like that’s to be expected at an upscale hotel restaurant. The food was insanely fresh, obviously cooked right then and there for us, and was SO good. We sat outside (because being from Pennsylvania in November – we were going to take advantage of all the outdoor areas that we could), but if you sat inside, you could watch your food being prepared in the open kitchen. The outdoor seating area overlooks the 18th hole of the McCormick Ranch Golf Club, but by the time we sat down to eat dinner (around 6:15pm), the sun was already setting and it was getting dark, so there was no golf to be observed.
All of the food had a distinctively Mexican flair, as one might expect in Phoenix, Arizona.
Outside of the main sit-down restaurant, there is the poolside bar called Twisted Vine – this is where we had lunch. The menu is lighter and more what you’d expect from a poolside bar (sandwiches, tacos, salads) but it was still really fresh and delicious. We always love a good, poolside bar that we can get food from – that way we can continue enjoying the pool, without having to dry off, shower, and get changed. (And let’s be honest: we typically spend a lot of time hanging out at the pool at resorts like this!)
Off of the main lobby is a coffee-shop/gift-shop location called Barnaby’s Cafe and Wine Bar. They offered coffees, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, parfaits, etc. for breakfast, had lots of grab-and-go drink options, tons of snacks, and other small food items you could purchase and take with you. Then, in the evening, this location flips into a wine bar serving fine wines and snacks. Additionally, Barnaby’s doubled as the gift-shop for the resort, selling t-shirts, hoodies, souvenirs, and the usual “frequently forgotten” items.
As with most coffee shops within hotels, this location does get busy in the morning (the day we were there, the rush seemed to hit around 8:15am), so in our experience, the earlier you can visit the better.
Room service was offered and a menu was easily found in our room. We almost ordered room service for breakfast, but ultimately, the beautiful sunshine wooed us outside and we just got pastries and coffee from the coffee shop instead so we could sit outside and enjoy the sun.
I will note that if you are staying at the Scottsdale Resort and Spa and find yourself looking for a small dessert item or sweet treat – I HIGHLY recommend getting a cookie from Barnaby’s. They had these big, delicious chocolate chip cookies for just $3 a piece – they’ll even warm them up for you and they’re SO good! We got a pair along with some wine to take back to our room after dinner and it was the perfect sweet treat!
Last but not least: there was complimentary water located just about everywhere – the lobby had fruit-infused water available, each of the bars had water stations set up, the Social Boardroom had water – they definitely don’t want you to get dehydrated (and trust me, it’s DRY in Phoenix – this always catches us off-guard with just how much water we need to drink, no matter how many times we visit!)
THE ROOMS
We stayed in a 1 King Bed standard room – and it was huge. Since we didn’t choose any upgrades or request a specific view, we simply got a room overlooking the parking lot, but if the view out of your window is important to you, there are options to choose a room overlooking the pool or the golf course next door.
The room was beautifully decorated and designed with lots of thoughtful touches to be found. There were cotton balls, q-tips, and makeup remover wipes in the bathroom, plush robes hanging in the closet, the soaps were all “upgraded” from the usual ones we find in Hilton hotels (and yes, we are Hilton Diamond Members, so we’ve stayed at a lot of them), and there was even a steamer in the closet.
The bathroom boasted a beautifully tiled, walk-in shower, but upon closer examination, it did have some mold in the corners and corrosion on the shower heads. I know this is almost unavoidable at hotels, but still, it was slightly disappointing considering that this is a AAA Four-Diamond Resort that just went through a major renovation and upgrade.
The counterspace in the bathroom was adequate for two people and there was a small, lighted mirror for doing makeup – but this space would get very small, very fast if say, a few girls were getting ready for a wedding in here.
The pillows were fluffy (you know, sometimes hotel pillows appear fluffy, but almost instantly go flat as soon as you lay down on them – that wasn’t the case here) and the bed was very soft. And, despite quite a few events taking place around the resort, our room was extremely quiet and peaceful.
We had two couches in our room and our TV was definitely one of the largest we’ve ever had in a hotel room!
Overall the room was stunning, very quiet, and offered a lovely sense of relaxation from the moment you walked in. From the art on the walls, to the light fixtures, to the glasses above the mini fridge, to the coffee table book next to the bed, the room was beautiful, full of intentionally chosen details that really elevated the space.
EXTRAS OF NOTE
We found the staff at the Scottsdale Resort and Spa very friendly and very helpful. From the moment we checked in, to our interactions as we got food, to whenever we had a question about trying to find the Social Boardroom – they were happy to help in any way.
When booking your stay, you’ll notice a small line in the pricing that says that the room price includes a $45 daily resort charge per night. This charge includes WiFi access, the bike rentals, the lawn games, access to the Social Boardroom, 2 reusable water bottles (we found in our room), and special discounts on dinner at La Fogata and select spa services.
And since we’re talking about additional fees: as you might expect, The Scottsdale Resort and Spa offers two different parking options both valet and self-parking. Both do come at a fee – so you can pick your poison.
Since we usually (cough) always (cough) travel with our kids, we found ourselves asking the question: would this resort be acceptable to bring our kids to? And the answer is: yes. It wasn’t overly stuffy enough to feel like they wouldn’t belong or would be out of place (we did see a few families with young kids around the property). We originally wondered if the resort would be too formal for them, but heck, there were people in the main restaurant eating dinner wearing bikinis with a small linen cover-up style jacket. So, while it definitely has an elevated “formal” feel with all the beautiful landscaping and upscale details, it also has a very casual manner as well.
Other than the lawn games, there were no true kid “amenities” like other resorts we’ve stayed at, but we definitely wouldn’t hesitate to bring our kids here if we ever went back.
Even though this is a resort and spa, it’s also a HUGE event center. The resort boasts 21 different meeting rooms, spanning 50,000 square feet of interior space, paired with 40,000 square feet of exterior space as well.
As we explored around the resort, we found so many areas for receptions, cocktail hours, private dinners, expos, and conferences. There were clearly multiple events going on while we were there (we might have joked about casually joining one or two that looked particularly beautiful with delicious food, but of course, I wouldn’t tell you if we did or not).
There was space for several weddings to take place at a time (and I’m a full-time wedding photographer, so you know I was scoping those details out) – but here’s the thing: even though there were clearly lots of events happening while we were there, the resort never felt over-crowded. Sure, there were a lot of people milling around the conference room section of the resort, but the lobby, courtyards, and pool areas never felt too busy – which I think is a testament to just how HUGE this resort is. There is plenty of space for people to really spread out and relax, without feeling like they have to sit on top of each other.
CLOSING
When we checked in, they gave us two specialty tokens along with our room keys. We weren’t sure what they were, but when we asked, they said they could simply be kept as a souvenir or they invited us to throw them into the front fountain and make a wish.
As our stay drew to a close, we knew that we couldn’t have wished for a better 24-hour getaway to relax and re-connect, so we simply kept our tokens as a souvenir of our time away.
For us, this stay ended up being more than just a night at a resort – it was a chance to slow down, reconnect, and enjoy a really beautiful space together.
The Scottsdale Resort and Spa feels elevated without being stuffy, peaceful without being boring, and thoughtfully designed in a way that makes it easy to truly relax.
If that’s the kind of stay you’re looking for in Scottsdale, this is absolutely a resort worth considering.
