Pros
- Great for Golf- I personally have never played golf but the portion of the group that did go and play had a great time. As it is a golf resort, some of the rooms have a nice view of the course which is a nice scene to wake up to every morning.
- Multiple Pools- The Westin Kierland is separated into the resort and the villas. Both have at least 2 pools which is great in case one pool is full of people. Guests of either the resort or villa can go to all pools so there isn't any restricted access on that part. The villa has 2 regular pools while the resort has a pool and lazy river with a slide.
- Wave Pool- There is an awesome wave pool in the resort where guests can go surfing!
- Tons of Space- The employees at the Westin villas were nice enough to upgrade one of our rooms and attach our 2 reservations together, making it into one big villa. This was ideal since we were 8-9 people and everyone was able to sleep comfortably and run between the 2 attached rooms.
Cons
- No Late Checkout- Platinum SPG members usually have the option of checking out late at 4pm. The Westin villas, unfortunately, did not honor this and we had to vacate at 11am (this was their version of a "late checkout"). Regular reservations must check out by 10am which seems a tad unreasonable.
- Lack of a Full Restaurant at the Villas- The Westin villas is more of a timeshare property and only had 1 restaurant which had limited menu items to choose from. I would recommend going out to a local restaurant in Scottsdale instead of dining there.
- Limited Pool Hours- I'm personally a fan of 24 hour pools and the Westin had limited pool hours except for one pool.
- Lack of Public Transportation- Phoenix in general is not a land of great public transportation. Everything is pretty sprawled out so I recommend renting a car. The drive up to the resort from the Phoenix airport will take about 30 minutes in no traffic.
Happy travels, everyone!