My family spent Spring Break at the Fairmont Princess Scottsdale, where we enjoyed lazy afternoons by the pool, quiet mornings while our 5-year-old went to the kids' club, and gourmet meals each night. If you have young children, this is the place for you.
My Fairmont Princess Scottsdale Review:
This is an unsponsored review of the Fairmont Scottsdale. I share hotels that I love in order to help others plan their own trips.
Getting to the Fairmont Scottsdale
We flew into the Phoenix airport (PHX) and took an Uber to the hotel. It was an easy 30-minute ride to the hotel.
The Fairmont Princess Scottsdale Property
The Fairmont Princess Scottsdale is a massive property with 750 guest rooms, four pools, four restaurants, a Starbucks, a golf course, and beautifully landscaped grounds. It's 65 acres, and bellmen with golf carts are available to help you get from place to place - my daughter loved this.
Our Room
We stayed in a Signature Queen room in the Sunset Beach wing. The room had two queen-size beds, a large desk area, a balcony, and plenty of space. Even though we were staying during Spring Break and the hotel was packed with families with young kids, our room was so quiet. We never heard any noise from the hallways.
The air conditioning systems were very quiet as well. Sometimes hotels have loud HVAC systems that wake me up throughout the night as they turn on and off, we didn't have the issue here!
One consideration for families is that many rooms only have showers.
The Pools
The Fairmont Princess Scottsdale has four pools on the main property, plus a rooftop pool at the spa.
Three of the four pools are kid-friendly. The kids' club sells pool floats, toys, goggles, sunscreen, and anything else you could need.
All of the pools share a food and drink menu. The kids' menu has peanut butter and jelly pockets and burgers. Plus, snacks like chips, guacamole, and hummus and sandwiches are available. And yes, cocktails for adults.
Sunset Beach
This is Arizona's only white sand beach! It's a large wade-in pool surrounded by lounge chairs. My daughter thought this pool was "too sandy". It has much less shade than the other pools, so we only visited this pool once.
Princess Pool
A large pool in the center of the hotel's grounds with golf course views.
The Soronan Splash Pool
This is the ultimate kids' pool. It's a wade-in pool with lots of shallow water (2 feet or less), and it has two 200-foot water slides! There is lots of shade here and plenty of lounge chairs.
The Soronan Landing
The relaxing and quiet adults-only pool.
The Trailblazers Kids Club
The first words out of my daughter's mouth each morning were "Can I go to the kids' club?" She LOVED it. Each day had a different theme. On Archaeology Day, they dug for dinosaur bones, and teams competed to wrap people up like mummies. On Five Diamond Day, they got a behind-the-scenes tour of the hotel. On Soronan Desert Day, they learned about local wildlife. The head counselor got so into it that he wore special outfits to match each theme. In addition to the daily theme, the children also get to help feed Cecil, the hotel tortoise.
The kids' club was priced at $55 for a 3.25-hour session from 8:45 until 12. There is the option for kids to eat lunch at the club, and be picked up at 1 pm, for another $25.
Fairmont Princess Scottsdale's Restaurants
The on-property dining options were great. It is best to make dinner reservations a few days in advance, especially on weekends.
Toro
This restaurant was our favorite and the fanciest of the restaurants we tried - put it at the top of your list of Scottsdale restaurants to try. Toro is one of the hotel restaurants, but it is located on a golf course, a 5-minute drive from the hotel. Shuttles run between the hotel lobby and Toro, getting there and back was no problem.
Toro is a Latin-inspired restaurant from Chef Richard Sandoval, and my daughter loved dining in a fancy restaurant! Yes, it feels formal, but lots of children were dining there, and there is a kids' menu - the macaroni and cheese was a hit. My husband and I loved the Lomo Saltado and the short rib.
Fun fact: there is a Toro location inside the Fairmont Chicago, too!
La Hacienda
An upscale Mexican restaurant where my daughter ate her weight in tortilla chips. We dined here twice and loved the enchiladas and the steak entrees. The kids' menu has quesadillas, tacos, and other kid-friendly Mexican classics.
Ironwood
We started our mornings with the brunch buffet at Ironwood, where kids ages 5 and under eat for free. There is a doughnut wall, and omelette station, and the buffet has breakfast items like pancakes, french toast, oatmeal, bagels, and more.
Fun fact: a hawk with a handler attends the breakfast to scare away smaller birds that can be a nuisance to diners.
Bourbon Steak
There is also a steakhouse on property, but we chose to skip this in favor of returning to La Hacienda.
The Plaza Bar
A large indoor/outdoor bar space with outdoor firepits.
The Weather
Our trip coincided with a historic heatwave. Temperatures reached 103 degrees, but it wasn't unbearable. The humidity stayed very low, between 8%-12%, and it didn't feel sticky hot. It felt much cooler in the shade, too.
More to Know
- We used Uber and Waymo when we wanted to leave the hotel property and had no problem using either.
- You may get a sore throat. It was so dry that I woke up with a terrible sore throat the first couple of days. Drinking a lot of water helped.
- It's common for families to use Instacart or DoorDash to have food delivered to the rooms. I used Instacart to stock up on my daughter's favorite snacks.
- The rooms are equipped with mini fridges, but they don't work well. Some Googling and a call to the front desk made it clear that the SmartFridge brand mini fridges are more like coolers pretending to be fridges. If you are using the fridge for milk or food, you want to put a full ice bucket in there. Once we did that, the fridge temp went from 52 degrees to 38 degrees.
- Ask about events taking place at the hotel. We found out about children's movie screenings at the Soronan Splash Pool after the fact.
Overall, we had a great time at the Fairmont Princess Scottsdale. It's perfect for families with young children.
