This is an outstanding luxury resort in a wonderful location.
Written: Mar 01 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful location and weather, a world class all around luxury resort.
Cons: Dining room is over priced and mediocre. But, there are alternatives.
The Bottom Line: If you have the money give it a try. You will find it a great value compared to competitors, and you will most probably want to come back.
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| gaetanlion's Full Review: Enchantment Resort |
This is a world-class luxury resort you will often see well ranked within the list of leading established travelers’ magazines. The resort went through a recent room refurbishing investment. As a result, the room prices are a lot higher than they used to be just a couple of years ago.
The prices are definitely earmarked for the luxury traveler right now. It was not always the case. In any case, the current prices range from $295 to $395 a night for regular two queen bed rooms they call casita guest rooms or studios to $875 to $1,075 for a two bedroom hacienda. Obviously, they have several room and suite sizes and prices in between. Go to www.enchantment.com to see details and most current rates. Please note, even the “cheapest” rooms are actually very big at around 600 square feet. Most of them benefit from a striking view of Boynton Canyon that makes you feel like you are inside the Grand Canyon.
The pricing is very elastic. In other words, check at different travel sites and direct with the hotel to see where you will get the best rates. This is bound to change all the time. Also, pricing is extremely seasonal. The best time of the year to go there is March, April, May and late September, October. And, the prices will reflect that (they will be much higher). During these months, the Enchantment Resort fully deserves its name. The weather is dry and not too hot. Temperature is typically in the high seventies. Sedona is located on a plateau at about 4,500 feet; so it is a lot cooler than Phoenix and Tucson that are at sea level. The resort pool is nicely heated, so the water temperature is always above 80 degrees. The weather is perfect to take advantage of the excellent tennis courts and golf course. For a few dollars you can also rent mountain bikes. You can also hike on many wonderful trails right from the resort. You can also play crocket and ping-pong. In other words, once you have paid your night rate, the place is a paradise of outdoor sports and activities that can be had either for free or at a very low cost.
The dining room is overpriced and mediocre at best. I recommend relying extensively on room service that is gastronomically less pretentious, better, and far cheaper. Room service works very well for both breakfast and dinner. For lunch, a sandwich by the pool is pretty relaxing. Otherwise, for lunch and dinner I also recommend going into town where you will have a lot more choices of excellent ethnic foods at a much more reasonable price.
There is also the new gigantic spa called “Mii Amo.” This overpriced form of leisure is not my type of vacation. So, I am not covering it in detail. If you want some info on it, please go to www.enchantment.com. I am sure if you like spas, massages, therapy, it is a world-class place. But, get ready to pay real dollars. The sense I have is that Mii Amo aims at the upper class of the Enchantment Resort, not the regular hotel guest who is happy shelling out just $300 for a night, and not spend that much more. Mii Amo aims at the $800 a day crowd and over. If you qualify, pamper yourself.
There is a way to turn this luxury resort into a more family budget oriented one. And, that is to go during the low season. That is in July and August. Because it is much hotter (mid to high nineties, occasional low hundreds but dry and very bearable), they have to lower their rates substantially. If you shop around extensively between the travel websites and the hotel itself, you may well get a room for $195 to $235 a night that would cost you normally $295 to $395 (early 2004 prices). To deal with the heat, you may want to adjust your lifestyle a bit. Get up reasonably early in the morning, and after a quick breakfast do some sports like tennis or hiking before 10 am. After 10 am, go for a good swim to stretch your sour muscles and cool off a bit. Afterwards, go into town for a light early lunch. After lunch, catch an early afternoon movie to be out of the sun when it is at its hottest. So, between 1:30 and 3:30 pm you will be in an air-conditioned environment watching a blockbuster. When you come out, you will experience the greatest natural phenomenon in the area: the Summer Monsoon. It actually rains really hard for half an hour every day around 3:30 or 4 pm. That really cools the whole place off. After that, you are ready to come alive again and do some more leisurely outdoor activities if you care to. The evenings typically cool off a bit, which allows you to sleep soundly. This strange rhythm (movie in the middle of the day, activities early in the morning and late in the day) makes for a very exotic vacation. You feel that you are on another planet for a while. And, it is a pretty great one at that.
As can be expected, the service is impeccable, the amenities are superb, the view is outstanding. Sedona, and this resort in particular, is a little slice of paradise. Besides my opinion about the overpriced and mediocre dining room, I can strongly recommend this place if you have that kind of money. It can be either an ideal luxury vacation for a family or for a romantic getaway, or anything in between. If you go there once, you are bound to come back one or more times to try out different seasons and do different sports and activities.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
gaetanlion
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Member: Gaetan Lion
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 0 members
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