John M.
Yelp
SERVICE, that's the problem. Not attitude or friendliness, but timeliness is a persistent problem. We came for a weekend in July; it was moderately busy, but not full capacity. The property is beautiful with a majestic view of Camelback mountains (we had a second-story room with a commanding view). The room was spectacular, with a large, fluffy bed, plenty of space and a very comfortable balcony. So why can't they get their service act together? When we arrived, two couples ahead of us checking in were having room-readiness problems (their rooms were not ready yet) and staff clearly had no idea of when the rooms might be ready (why can't they contact housekeeping? It's 4pm and check-out was 11am, so why are the rooms not ready?). We got lucky: our room was ready.
The Kasbah pool is excellent for wading and kid-friendly; but it takes about 30 minutes to get a drink (from placing order-to-delivery, and I'm talking about a drink in a can, not a specialty cocktail). We ordered twice, and it was a 30-minute wait each time for no apparent reason (it wasn't that busy). Staff were very friendly, but they seemed oblivious to the issue of TIME. We met a nice couple at the pool who were having the same issue. I made a comment after waiting forever for my second drink order, and the server apologized, saying they too are disappointed when service takes too long. Nice, but confusing and not helpful.
We left to get food (please see my review for CASA CORAZON -- ah-MAAAAAZING!!!!), so I cannot comment on the food, but it looked good.
The next morning, my wife got us coffee at the resort coffee shop (good coffee; and there are Keurigs in the room as well). In the room, she decided she wanted to ice it. I called the front desk just to find out where the ice machine was. Couldn't get through. Called room service; they told us it was in the next building but said "No problem, we can just bring you some right now." We waited about 20 minutes, looked at each other and realized that I just should have gone to the ice machine. So I got dressed, got a little lost but eventually found the ice machine (which was, ironically, below our balcony and across the walkway). I returned, my wife iced her drink, and 10 minutes later (about 40 minutes after my call), guess who was at the door with a giant bucket of ice? I thanked him but noted that I already got the ice because, well, it was taking a long time.
I'm not going to complain about prices: it's a resort, so things are going to be expensive, and I fully understand that. And, as I mentioned, staff are very friendly! They just, apparently, have zero concept of timeliness.