01. Introduction: I flew to San Francisco so that I could drive a fun car in Arizona
02. Virgin America A319 first class San Diego to San Francisco
03. American Airlines A321 first class San Francisco to Phoenix
04. Westin Downtown Phoenix
05. 3 awesome reasons why February is the best time to road trip through Arizona
06. Hilton Garden Inn Phoenix Airport
07. American Airlines 757-200 first class Phoenix to San Diego
It wasn’t until I was bouncing around in the back of the taxi cab on the way to the hotel that I started having doubts about how well I thought I knew the city of Phoenix. I’ve been there too many times to count over the years, so much that it’s almost started to feel like a second home for me. I have a deep fondness for the state of Arizona – and I think Phoenix is pretty rad too.
However, the last time I had been to downtown Phoenix was way back in 1999, which was so long ago that it’s pretty much gone from my memory. I remember very little from that trip (other than the fact that it was ******* hot as hell), and being in the downtown area again was making me feel a bit of culture shock.
You see, the Arizona I know and love is a gorgeous place with rugged brown mountains and those funny cactuses like we used to see on the Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner TV show on Saturday mornings. But here in downtown, it might as well have been Chicago with all those glittering lights and fancy hotels. Whoa! I certainly wasn’t expecting this.
I’m terrible when it comes to making graceful appearances, and in typical SANspotter form, I accidentally left my wallet in the taxi cab and didn’t realize it until it was driving away from the entrance of this Westin. “WAIT!!” I yelled, clumsily running after the taxicab realizing that this trip was about to come to an abrupt end if I didn’t get it back.
I can only imagine what the door man and the crowd of other hotel guests standing at the entrance must’ve thought as they saw me chasing that taxi cab down the street waving my arms in the air like a hysterical 8-year-old girl. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but dammit I got my wallet back, and walked back into that hotel with a gigantic smile on my face with no shame and feeling as proud as could be.
I had a bit of time to compose myself while standing in line to check in, and during that time I was starting to notice that this was a pretty fancy hotel – a lot fancier than I was expecting. The nice guy who checked me in was, well…a nice guy.
I always feel a little bit uncomfortable when checking into fancy hotels, mainly because of the way that the staff over exaggerates their politeness to the point where the entire interaction seems forced and awkward. But not this guy. He was super friendly, down to earth, and got me on my way feeling right at home within minutes.
It’s been a while since I’ve stayed at a Westin property (November 2016 to be exact, at DTW), and I forgot how nice they are. This one was no exception, and I was blown away at the size of the room. Seriously, was one of the largest non-suite hotel rooms I’ve had in a good long while, and it almost felt excessive for one person on a short one night stay like this. I wasn’t complaining though, as it felt really good to spread out after a long day of traveling.
My favorite part about this room? The views! The views are incredible from the Westin here in downtown Phoenix, as it’s located directly in the middle of everything and the view from my particular room offered me a perspective of Phoenix that I had never seen before.
This is a legit city with legit skyscrapers (and all the urban culture that comes with something like that), so it was fun for me to sit there at the window with all the lights off my room overlooking the city and soaking it all in.
In conclusion, my time here at the Westin downtown Phoenix felt much too short. It was so good as a matter fact, that I was starting to feel like I screwed up with my hotel choices for this trip and that I should’ve booked two nights here instead of one. Especially since my reservation for the following night was at a dumpy little Hilton Garden Inn on the airport perimeter that didn’t look all that great. I’ll bet you can’t wait for that review, can you?
If you’re looking for stylish digs in downtown Phoenix, the Westin is it.