The Boulders Resort & Spa

My husband and I visited the boulders this past weekend to celebrate our retirement and I must say, it was fantastic! Service was top notch, food was excellent, and the beautiful desert landscape is hard to beat. Our first night we enjoyed dinner at the clubhouse. London, who was our server, was outstanding! She was very knowledgeable about the menu and makes great lemon drop martinis. She told us things we can do in Arizona during our stay which we really appreciated. Staff was great and very attentive. We headed over to the Discovery lounge that night and we were served by two wonderful ladies, Jackie and Sierra. They were so sweet and welcoming. Makes great drinks. Palo verde was even better, Daniel gave top tier service. Very poised, polished, and charming. Tenderloin was delicious. Bell men were always accommodating and the rooms were so cozy with such a beautiful ambience. I’m very impressed with our stay. What a great crew, everybody looks like they love their job! Thank you Boulders, we will be back!

I hope I'm able to get my whole review in here. -- ON THE PRO SIDE: Beautiful grounds, especially if you like to walk, room was very pretty, the golf cart service to get you around worked very well and drivers were very friendly, we had good meals at the restaurants, except for the bar. My husband and I ordered ordered a shrimp meal. I got mine quickly, along with chips and salsa, but his never came. We stopped the waitress twice - it still never came so my husband went to the bartender who finally got it delivered. The Palo Verde Restaurant at the main lodge had a very nice patio to sit on and watch the lake with an egret walking around, and very good food and service. An average breakfast for two was $70. We were celebrating our 55th anniversary. We had never spent alot on our anniversaries but decided to go all out this time. It was just about ruined. I booked the room two months ahead. We wanted desert view but when we got there they said "your golf course room is ready." I said "nope" so she said, "wait here's another room you'd like." I said "what kind of view?" "Oh it doesn't have a view." " Oh wait, here's a desert view." So we went there. I had said no stairs - I walk with a cane. There were five stairs and no railing. Once in our room we opened the shuttered doors to go out on the patio. This was to be our big moment! Our "view" was three huge rocks, no view at all, the table and chairs were rickety and didn't match. We were about 60 feet above the golf course. They must be the worst golfers on earth as the balls came sailing up to the path on the other side of the rocks so there wasn't much privacy. A friend bought us nice robes to sit out there in the morning and drink our coffee. My husband made the coffee - the coffee maker wasn't working and it was cold. So he said "well, I'll just stick it in the microwave." No microwave. To be fair we complained to the front desk the next day and a new coffee maker arrived. When we first got in the room I took off my shoes and on the way to the bathroom stubbed a toe on the point of one of the flagstone floor tiles. There were tiles that weren't laid right and instead of redoing them they just left pointed tiles sticking up. It was like a minefield. We had complimentary slippers but the points went right thru them. --- We were told when we arrived "Phoenix has shut down all the fireplaces because of a high wildfire alert." How about you take something off the price of the room?" Answer" I've never heard of such a thing!" How about you solve that problem by putting in gas fireplaces! Now there's a thought. So now, no hot coffee in the morning, no fireplace. One damaged swollen toe. The shower was beautiful inlaid stones. No hot water in the morning and afternoon. When I tried to wash my hands at my sink of the two sink vanity, it took both my hands to turn the lever and the water shot out sideways all over the counter and me. I put my finger inside and it had grout in there. I tried to scrap it out with a nail file but couldn't. So we were now down to one sink. There was a beautiful floor to ceiling window in the bathroom. It faced east and it was nice as it lit up the bathroom as the sun came up. But the grout was cracked and falling out and the tile baseboards were cracked and falling on the floor. We looked forward to using the hot tubs. We were told there were five. There were three. One was closed for maintenance. So we went to the spa/massage building to use theirs. It closes at 5:00 and it was 4:45. We ate at the Grille restaurant and asked if there was a pool there somewhere . "Yes, it's right behind the building. In fact you can get there by going thru the locker room which is right down the hall. The stairs there will take you to the pool and spa." Ate. Went into the locker room. There were 20 stairs to the pool. Went outside the front door, walked around the building. There was a big pool and a hot tub. The hot tub had one confused man in it who thought it was a kiddy pool. The hot tub wasn't hot and we couldn't find the controls. Now no coffee, no shower, no sitting in the spa, no fireplace. The bed was very comfortable, but came to the top of my thighs and I couldn't get up on it.. I would lay face down on the bed, my husband would stick his arm out, I'd grab on and he'd pull me onto the bed. Since we were celebrating our anniversary this caused some fun. The quilt was too short so we slept with an extra blanket across our necks and chests. We had hoped to leave the patio doors open but a sign warned us that night creatures could come in. Besides, the sliding screens were falling out of their tracks. So we turned the A/C on - it was like a 747 coming in for a landing. The filters also whistled - which always means they're full of dirt. There weren't enough towels and we found out there was a 15% daily charge for maids, so we decided to do without. On the last night we had to go to the desk to get some dry towels and toilet paper. The toilet paper arrived. But towels never did. One of the strangest things was when we came back late to our room on the first night every single light was on in the room! We thought maybe it was some kind of special "welcome to your room" thing. We forgot to ask about it at the front desk but I didn't like it that someone was in our room turning all those lights on. With all the added on charges, our room was $547 a night, plus $384 in fees and taxes for a total of $931.00 a night! In that amount was a charge of $119.00 when we checked out that no one could tell us what it was for. The lack of maintenance in this room made it not at all worth that kind of money. So our dream of a beautiful anniversary made us feel like we were getting a Super 8 room. We will never stay at the Boulders again and will let everyone know not to waste their money. Instead of relaxed I felt like I'd been taken by a shyster. Management needs to go spend a night in their rooms. There were other things I haven't even written here.

From the moment you get to gates of the property you know this place is special. The staff is incredible, the landscape is amazing and the overall experience is unmatched. While many people stood out, from concierge to bar tenders, I have to give a huge shout out to the fact this property has an internship program for those interested in hospitality and that gave way to international workers that truly do a great job, specifically Etkin who made me feel at home. The golf course is so fun and beautiful. Also, please make sure to enjoy the spa: the Lomi Lomi and Ashiatsu massages are AMAZING! And don’t forget the hydrafacial…you’re in the desert and your skin will thank you.

We stopped by The Boulders for lunch and were hoping to sit outside on the patio. However, they had just closed down the outside area. London, the bartender, was kind enough to reopen the deck for us and serve us outside, which we really appreciated! She provided great service and makes the best spicy margaritas!! This was our first time visiting the boulders since we just moved to arizona so this was great! Thank you London!

Sydney the bartender had amazing service and was such a delight to talk with. She is so funny and has great customer service.