A New Snowbird’s Experience of Hotels in Phoenix

As a first-time visitor of Phoenix, Arizona determined to experience what it’s like to be a snowbird and briefly escape the harshness of a typical Canadian winter, I also wanted to gain some insight about the wide range of hotel options available for any traveller who longs to do the same thing. While my trip in early February 2024 was only four days long, I made the decision to stay in a different hotel each night to get the widest possible understanding of what a new visitor to Phoenix is most likely to expect that best matches his or her expectations of getting good value for money.

The first thing I noticed when planning out this trip was that there is a huge range of hotel options available for a traveller on where to stay in the greater Phoenix area, from the bare minimum to the wildly luxurious—and with a comparable large price range to match. For myself, I had very specific objectives in mind in where I wanted to stay. First of all, regardless of all other considerations the hotels I wanted to select had to meet the minimum standards of cleanliness and physical safety. Beyond that, my priorities were to choose hotels in locations well situated to easily reach tourist attractions, restaurants, and/or the airport, for example. The only other requirement for my travel needs was having complimentary WiFi access in my room, after which all other amenities offered become optional. With these conditions in mind prior to booking, I made the decision to select the following three hotels to experience as a first-time traveller in Phoenix.