Hello,

I am making myself crazy trying to decide where to stay for a trip to Scottsdale next week (May 10-17th). I have read so many websites and reviews that I am lost at this point. I have been to Phoenix / Scottsdale before but have never stayed at a resort so I am not familiar with any of them. I like to get a bargain but I like to pick my hotels so Priceline won't work for me.

Would I get ripped off if I just show up at some of the hotels and ask what their price is or would I get a good last minute deal? It is just my husband and me, no kids, and we don't care about golf, just want some serious sunshine, pool time and to feel a bit pampered.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Susan

I just got back and I stayed at the Desert Oasis in Scottsdale. Its off of Bell Road. You might want to look them up it was a great hotel and the pool was incredible. It had a built in waterfall and everything.

Hi,

That is actually one of my top choices. My main concern was whether we would have to listen to a sales pitch or if they would just let us be. The basic 1 bedroom is $104 - does that sound right? It isn't available the first night so I was continuing to look at other places. Was the location okay or did it seem too far out?

Thanks for your response. It's cool that you actually stayed at one of my top picks.

Susan

This is so funny about the sales pitch. I'll get to that later. We traded a time share thru RCI so I don't know how much the room would be if you had to pay for it. We had a really nice time share room there overlooking the pool. Anyways they said they'd give us $100 in cash and a free week if we took a 2 hour time share tour. It's pretty hard to pass that up so we did it. It was a nightmare!! First of all its $35,000 for the timeshare and if you say no, they bring in the manager and they pressure the hell out of you and they won't take no for an answer. Finally we had to pretty much yell at them to tell them that we weren't buying it. The manager gave us the $100 check and said, "Next time you're staying at a Sheraton for $200 per night think of what you could have had!"
So I would highly recommend you to turn down the offer to look at time shares. You don't have to do the tour if you don't want to. Any more questions let me know.

Hi, that is a relief to know that we don't have to take the tour if we don't want to. I bet they don't stop asking though.

Sorry to see everyone is giving you such a tough time about Sedona. I will be curious to see what my reaction is to it when we go since all I ever hear are raves about it. We were thinking of renting a motorcycle and driving up but may just go in the car.

Did you go to Tortilla flats? That is another motorcycle trip we have talked about taking because I heard it is a fun thing to do.

Anyway, thanks for the response.

Susan

Sorry I just got back online. I don't know why everyone is doing this to me about Sedona! God I was just voicing my opinion. No we didn't do that. You have to go to Carrabbas restaurant on Scottsdale ave if you can. Also, I highly recommend the World Wildlife Zoo!

Since we're giving opinions

Skip Caraba's.

This might sound funny, but there is a local bar on Frank Lloyd Wright/S'dale called Brokers. You can get some of the best bar food there..not even bar food. Tenderloin, prime rib, yummy break pudding.

A better place for a bike ride: Greaswood Flats. Just ask when you get here and someone will give you directions.

I was in Scottsdale last week and can give you some restaurant recommendations if you like. As far as Sedona is concerned, I too found the town itself a little disappointing (looks like the Kittery, Maine, outlet area), but the red rocks all around, especially at the Chapel of the Holy Cross made up for it, as did some of the galleries and shops in a long-many-lettered name square (Talicky?). We stayed at the Orange Tree Golf Resort (timeshare trade) and it was quite nice.

Carraba's is a chain just like Olive Garden.
If you're out of town on vacation, by all means find something more unique.

Snarla... it's so funny that you should mention Broker's. The Mark Thomas Band plays there every other Saturday night. They're a FABULOUS R & B group whose musicians are unlike any other band I've ever encountered. The keyboard player is a physician while the other three are executives at a local Scottsdale business. It's a fun place to spend a Saturday night.