The Royal Palms Resort Phoenix may be my new favorite hotel in the area. The grounds are beautiful, service is excellent, and the food is even good. My own quibble would be with the rooms, which could very much use a refresh.

I stayed at the Royal Palms Resort on East Camelback Road in Phoenix at the end of 2022. The holiday period is peak of peak time, though the Phoenix area isn’t warm and in fact it was unseasonably cold and rainy.

• I was looking for a hotel where I could use points, and where I’d have a separate room for my four year old. That meant I needed a suite of some kind. The Westin Kierland Villas would have been perfect, and I’ve stayed there on points before, but it wasn’t available.

• The only place I could make work where I was certain to have the space I wanted was Royal Palms, where I could use points and confirm a suite as a Hyatt Globalist.

My best stay ever in the Phoenix area was the old Intercontinental Montelucia, where I had an $89 rate over July 4th weekend and was upgraded to a standalone home with backyard facing Camelback Mountain. The hotel is now the Omni. But without that upgrade? It’s okay…

The Royal Palms has beautiful public spaces. It’s a great property when you’re outdoors. And service is really friendly and excellent. In fact it’s as personable as I’ve found in the United States. The rooms, though (or at least my room), was meh.

Overall the property isn’t as flash as Phoenician. I like it better than the Biltmore, the Kierland, and the W. But with great service and the ability to ensure I’d be in a suite of some kind, it really works.

Service

One of the real highlights of the Royal Palms Resort was service. Everyone was extremely friendly, and prompt.

I left my car at valet on arrival – as a Hyatt Globalist using points for the stay (category 6, 21,000 – 29,000 points per night for an award night) the parking would be free – and proceeded to check-in. From there, a staff member escorted us to our room. I was offered a drink on arrival but declined.

There’s a phone in the room, and you can call the desk, but they encourage you to text for service. I’ve found that many hotels try that and simply do not respond promptly. I received responses generally in under a minute throughout my stay – whether for valet to bring my car around, to have housekeeping service my room while I was out, and for room service.

While Hyatt elite status of any kind offers a bottle of water each day complimentary, I find that hotels usually provision two. This property did as well, but they were enormous complimentary bottles. Kudos.

The hotel offered proactive housekeeping, without request, each day of the stay. And they offer turndown service which has become quite rare. However it came quite late, between 7:45 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. nightly. There was no do not disturb sign in the room to place on the door and my daughter was asleep by then so I requested they not come by via text, and this request was honored for the back half of our stay.

Grounds

The hotel’s entrance, right off of Camelback, features numerous palm treats and a fountain.

At check-in we were given a map of the hotel. The property isn’t huge, but it had numerous paths and small courtyards to explore.

While we were being walked from check-in to our room, the manager who escorted us told us a little bit about the property, from being built as a mansion for a New York family in the late 1920s (it was then sold to the head of Greyhound) to shedding much of its acreage and ultimate conversion to a hotel.

The emphasis on how the property dated back to the 1920s struck me as somewhat like Alicia Silverstone in the opening of Clueless, “Isn’t my house classic? The columns date all the way back to 1972.”

Backed up against Camelback Mountain makes for a dramatic spot, from most any part of the resort.

The hotel’s pool is heated, so both the pool and jacuzzi were in use during our stay even through temperatures hovered around 60. Our daughter was thrilled to be able to go in. Towels around the pool were plentiful, there’s a poolside bar with food service, and you can order room service to deliver there as well.

Junior Suite

A confirmed upgrade at the Royal Palms Resort is to a ‘standard suite’ which the hotel considers its junior suite (I understand they used to be to a casita).

The room had a living room, then as you walked further the bathroom, followed by the bedroom. You could close off the bathroom on either side, creating effectively separate rooms.

Here’s the living room. The sofa is a pullout, which was perfect for our daughter. Giving her a separate room is the main reason I value a suite when we travel.

The bathroom had a large main room, though much of the space was taken up by the tub. There was a very small toilet room (some will have to squeeze in and out), and a small shower. There were full-sized bath amenities in the shower, which – if they were fresh for each guest – I would love. I do not like full-sized amenities that carry over from guest to guest, however.

The bedroom was fairly small, with a closet and television. There was no room for an additional chair. One of the outlets next to the bed didn’t work.

In a way the layout reminded me of an old Embassy Suites. There was a window at the far end of the room, in the bedroom, so the rest of the room didn’t get very much light. In my case, the view was of an alleyway of sorts, so completely uninteresting.

I’d recommend requesting a top floor room. On the second floor I could hear footsteps in the room above, which is far from ideal when your upstairs neighbor comes in after you’ve gone to bed.

Royal Palms Resort Breakfast

The hotel restaurant T.Cook’s is available for Globalist breakfast from 6:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., and they serve both breakfast items and lunch items throughout that time. I was told that since the breakfast covers four people (two adults and two children) I could order up to four entrees, plus four juices and four coffees, and it would all be taken off the bill.

Here’s the restaurant menu:

The seafood pasta, at around 10 a.m. one morning, was quite excellent.

I suppose guests are really anxious to take advantage of the breakfast, and afraid to miss out, because one couple apparently came straight from the spa – in their spa robes, and little else. They were shown to a table and enjoyed breakfast at the table next to mine.

Weather wasn’t really accommodating while I was there, but there’s an outdoor courtyard area to the restaurant which would have been lovely for taking breakfast (or, I imagine, dinner in appropriate weather as well).

T. Cook’s is beside their Mix Up bar which offers food throughout the day as well.

I ordered room service for my daughter early one morning and that charge was removed from the folio as well – even though we hadn’t been told this was a benefit – and on a day that I also went to the restaurant for breakfast.

It’s worth noting that while we were likely well underneath any dollar cap that may be set for reimbursement, this bloody mary (with bacon and shrimp!) was not reimbursed, because alcohol is not included in the breakfast benefit.

Royal Palms Resort Overall

The staff is lovely. The food is good. The grounds are beautiful. There are numerous nooks and crannies of the property. I really liked the Royal Palms Resort. I just wish the rooms would be given an update. But I’ll definitely return.

One additional upside to the property? Surprisingly close to the airport! That meant an extra 15 minutes in the morning, before heading back home. It’s in Phoenix proper and just a 15 minute drive to rental car return. It’s also an easy drive to countless restaurants, so I’d generally consider location a plus.