Talking Stick Resort and Casino

Attn Manager(s) of hotel,

We stayed at the resort Friday till yesterday (3-1-2021) Although the rooms were nice, food was good we were very disappointed in the service. We came in with a group of two other couples. On Saturday night my husband and I called room service and spoke with a nice gal. We told them the situation. We were there with another few couples and wanted to do a nice cocktail hour on the deck ( in between hotel and casino) should we order room service through them or get those drinks at the casino? We TRIPLE checked with them before spending over 100.00 on these items ensuring this was going to be ok sitting on the deck. She confirmed yes it was ok, made sure to include wine glasses and openers and had it delivered to our room. We than met everyone on the deck as planned. Well as we approached the deck we were stopped by a Very, and I mean VERY rude hostess that sits near elevators. She pointed to the sign, we said multiple times we understood but we asked multiple times if this was ok and they confirmed it and literally just spent over $100 due to this. She rolled her eyes when we asked if she could call the manager of the room service to confirm we got an ok. ( when we stated that this is fine but than we want our money back at this point because we are not going to stick 3 couples in our hotel room for an elegant cocktail hour) At this point we are feeling taken advantage of because your staff clearly said yes and let us spend our money. After being rude she called and of course the manager said yes I heard them call , let them on the deck. So we proceeded as asked. (although she pointed to the sign and went over the no beverage rule about 10 times, Im not sure how many times we told her we understood that's why we asked ahead of time before we purchased.) We sat out there for over 50 minutes before we were approached by now 2 employees who than told us to go? We have never been so embarrassed in our lives. We asked once for the ok before purchasing, got the approval again before going out to the deck than while nicely seated enjoying our cocktail we are approached again ( after almost an hour) We had dinner plans at ruths steakhouse and this just ruined our evening. How completely rude to say yes, collect our money, say ok again to sitting out there and than an hour later come over and now say something again. I hope that you are able to watch back this situation unfold from sat night ( around 6;00pm) because you will see the eye rolls of the hostess at hotel stand, the phone call made and than 50 minutes later the two staff come to make us leave. Again, she proceeded to tell us the rules. And again how many times do we need to tell you yes we understand but we were told this would be ok since the drinks could have been purchased from casino in the same manner so being delivered to our room was not an issue. Than the nerve to almost wait till we were done with the drinks ( nice tactic at being able to collect the money) and than say leave and yet again speak about the sign? This was a poor decision by the staff to say yes, say yes again than say leave. So embarrassing and all of us couples couldn't believe what transpired. If your going to stick to the rules ( which again is all good) don't say one thing, so another and than undo that yet again all while charging your guests. Unfortunate because most everything else was up to par but this incident shadows all of that.

I have less issue getting credentials through the white house to photograph the last 2 presidents then the lack or professional conduct from your staff on getting my request credentials media credentials to do my requested job at several past events

my name is Brian Cramer photographer email is [email protected] 480-703-9368

Mr and Mrs [redacted]I am checking back on your complaint about the [redacted]oncert being cancelled.  As a refresher, you submitted your complaint against TS Resort and we had nothing to do with that show.  That show was scheduled to take place downtown at the [redacted] Arena. We have no operational relationship with the Phoenix Suns other than we purchased the naming rights to their Arena to gain marketing exposure.  I contacted the [redacted] on your behalf to get you the correct person to deal with your matter and I responded with that information to this Revdex.com communication system, and I sent it a second time to your personal yahoo account s[redacted]I have not heard from you and I would like to know that you received it so we can request the Revdex.com to correct and resolve this complaint against TS Resort.  I have copied my email below for your convenience.  Please notify the Revdex.com to close this matter as it relates to TS Resort, and I hope you were able to come to a resolution with the team over at the Suns Arena.Thank you.Mike P[redacted]From: [redacted] Sent: Friday, November 03, 2017 12:12 PM To: [redacted] Subject: Revdex.com complaint regarding [redacted]oncert [redacted]  I just read your 2nd message to the Revdex.com regarding your complaint  involving [redacted] tickets. In your response you indicated you did not get the contact information that I provided so I copied my response and I am sending it to you through your yahoo email. I trust this way you should get the entire message. Here is the contact info I received from the Suns:Trent D[redacted]Guest Services SupervisorE-Mail* [redacted]Phone: (602) 379-2061 Once again I hope you are able to resolve matter and I would be grateful if you would correct this report with the Revdex.com so it does not reflect poorly on our Resort.Best wishes.Mike

Good afternoon, I have reached out to the phone number that Mr. [redacted] has on the complaint and left him a VoiceMail message - with my Direct Line [redacted] - so we may discuss a resolution to his complaint.  It is the same number I used to connect with him on Monday, and I am hoping...

to hear back from him today or tomorrow so we may resolve this issue!  If I do not hear back, I will try again tomorrow morning and afternoon to reach him - and will copy the Revdex.com on any conversations or resolutions. Thank you, Robb M[redacted]Hotel Director

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear Mr. [redacted] I reviewed your complaint but unfortunately you have reached the wrong party.  The show you are referencing was to be held at the Talking Stick Resort ARENA which is downtown in Phoenix.  Your complaint was placed with the Resort (of the same name) which is in...

Scottsdale.  The Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale is not affiliated with the Arena downtown other than we purchased the rights to put our name on the building.  The TSR Arena in downtown Phoenix is owned and operated by the Phoenix Suns.  I understand how confusing this is so I took the liberty of reaching out to them to get a contact for you and it is listed below.  I hope you are able to get your problem resolved and we hope to see you in Scottsdale sometime soon! Trent D[redacted] Guest Services Supervisor [redacted] Phone: [redacted]   Sincerely, Mike P[redacted] Director Operations Talking Stick Resort Tell us why here...

The e-mail sent from Talking Stick Resort indicated that they were providing a name and number of the responsible party(s).  The name and numbers did not appear in the e-mail that you forwarded to me.  I need those names and numbers in order to proceed with this complaint.

A while back I was online searching for something to do on a Friday night. I ran across tickets that just went on sale for Alice in Chains (one of my all time fav bands). No questions asked, I gave up my credit card info and the tickets were mine! Even better, it just so happened to be on my birthday weekend. Wow, was I excited.

They were playing at The Talking Stick Resort, at the pool in Scottsdale. All of our friends had nothing but great things to say about this place. I had been to Talking Stick several times. I have to admit, it seemed like it would be a blast. As it got closer to the show, I asked my husband to book a room for us at the Resort so we would not have to worry about a ride home that night. My husband made the reservation for 09/30/16. We planned to check in to the hotel, have dinner, and enjoy the concert. When the show was over, I planned on playing Blackjack before calling it a night.

We checked into our hotel room at 4pm. We took our bag to the room, and went back downstairs for dinner and drinks. In my opinion, the quality of the food was very poor for the price tag. My steak was burnt with no seasoning. The wait time was 1 hour, and they were not busy at all. Granted, this is a Casino in Scottsdale so we were already expecting to pay more, not a big deal.

We headed up to the room before the show, so I could put my purse in the room and our keys did not work. Strange, as they worked an hour ago. Had to go back down to the front desk and wait in line, where we were informed that "the key cards are de-magnetized by your phone and credit cards, and you cannot keep the key near those items". I've never had that problem with any other resort.

25 minutes later, our keys worked again and I got to put my purse in the room before the show started. We headed down to the pool area, and there were drink ticket booths set up. The bars were cash or drink tickets only. We were sold on the drink tickets when they told us it makes it "quicker in line". We bought 12 drink tickets and a few water tickets. It was early enough, we got our first drink and found our seats - (I paid extra so we didn't have to stand in general admission).

The opening band took stage, and my husband got up to get us both another drink at the bar. He missed the entire show (opening band). It took him that long waiting in line to get us both 1 drink. As the stage crew was setting up for Alice in Chains to take stage, I got a few sips of my drink in before I went to go set it down, my fingers slipped, and my whole drink spilled all over the place. "Screw it", I said. I just want a water at this point. I'm thirsty.

However, there was a problem. There was no water booth. You have to wait in line at the bar for water. That drink ticket for water, well it's not a free pass to just cut in line. You have to wait for the bartender to finish pouring everyone's drink that was there before you. People were cutting each other off, pushing, and arguing for their spot in line. Afraid I was going to miss the show, I gave up and went back to my seat. My husband went to the bathroom. He waited in line 25 minutes to pee. This was starting to turn into a nightmare.

My husband returned with 2 bottles of water, and 1 drink. I was shocked, and asked how he was able to do that. He said "I had to strike a deal with a guy at the front of the line, but they would not let me get more than 1 alcoholic drink because they have a limit at the bar, I have to go wait in line again". I took a water, and gave him the drink. He deserved it after all that!

Everyone in my section within hearing distance was complaining. This was such a poorly designed set-up. People who paid extra for seats had to go out into General Admission for drinks/water/soda. The venue was extremely understaffed for a sold out show, and the staff was rude.

NEW REGIME (opening band) was pretty good, and ALICE IN CHAINS never disappoints me. Their show was fantastic!!!

The show was over, and we were stone cold sober. The whole purpose of getting the room was because I expected us both to be over the legal limit, it's not like we were leaving town to go to this show. The bars inside of the pool area shut down, and would not accept our drink tickets. The drink tickets were non-refundable. Also, you could not use them inside of the Casino. We ended up with $42 in Souvenir drink tickets.

It's 11:00pm at this point, and neither one of us have a buzz. We walked over to the patio bar, got a table, and I ordered a bottle of wine and some nachos. Will ordered a beer. We both sat at the table in silence. I felt horrible. We had already spent a pretty penny, and just wanted to have a night to remember. There was just nothing to say. Neither one of us wanted to spend our time at that table complaining, so we said nothing at all. One hour went by. I was still on my 1st glass of wine. Our server was nowhere. When he did come around, we got our check. We were never offered more food, dessert, nothing. My husband's beer sat empty for 40 minutes. I had to ask for a bucket of ice for my bottle of wine.

I had cash set aside to go play Blackjack after the show, but the Talking Stick doesn't even deserve to play with my money when they feel it is a necessary protocol to rob people at the drink ticket counter.

We took the near full bottle of wine back to the room. At this point, I just wanted to drink 1 more glass of wine and go to bed. It's 12:30am. My husband goes to take the cork out of the bottle, and it snaps! The waiter shoved it in the bottle so far, it broke off and we had no way of getting it out. He calls room service. 15 minutes later, our bottle is uncorked. I go to grab a glass, and what do I find? DIRTY GLASSES (DISHES)! Can I post pictures on this review? Anyone who knows me well knows that I lose my appetite over things like this. No wine for me at that point.

I'm done. I go pull back the covers to the bed. DUST CAKED ON EVERYTHING! The pillows were laying up against a layer of dust. I get up and now i'm mad, on the hunt for what all is wrong with this room. The bathtub was dirty, had hair in it, and a muddy foot print. The sink was not cleaned, had minor toothpaste spots. The coffee cups had coffee lip drip prints on them, and coffee stickiness on the bottom cup rings. Not sure when the last time was they ran a vacuum in that room either. I want you to know that the average price of the room we stayed in at this so called "high-end resort" in Scottsdale, AZ (according to their website) costs about $199/night before tax. This is what we get for $199/night???

This is a standard room BTW, nothing special...

It is now 1am and guess who is calling the Casino manager. ME! This is UNACCEPTABLE! I was ready to check-out and drive home (since both of us were 100% capable of driving). After all we have been through this evening, I was not about to sleep in a bed that very well may have not even been changed! The hotel was sold out, and no other rooms were available. They would not allow us to check-out at 1am without being charged for the room because according to them, "you did occupy it". Yes, we occupied this room long enough to find out how DIRTY IT WAS! We were here for a concert, we were not occupying the room until just now!

It is now 2am and Housekeeping is occupying our room changing out bed sheets, coffee mugs, and glasses. Housekeeping brings in clean folded up sheets and starts unfolding them, finds that the folded sheet is dirty, quickly folds it up and heads back out into the hallway to grab a new one.

We had 3 Housekeepers, the Casino Manger, and 2 other employees in our hotel room at 2am and it was not for a hotel party! I was able to get to sleep around 3am.

The only reason I am posting this is because The Talking Stick Resort is a very popular venue that many people I know in my line of work choose as a place to host large corporate events. I am sharing my experience to hopefully not only save you some money, but also save yourself from a horrific customer service experience that no one deserves.

I know people who have spent $100,000 in one night at this place for Corporate events/parties, and i'm telling you that your money would be much better spent somewhere else. Please consider how your employees will be treated by the staff at these events before booking a location. If you want your employees to be treated with luxury, this is NOT the place! Granted, this was not a corporate event so this is not a good comparison, however, its the same staff, and same management.

I would like to add that they did credit a little bit of money to the room. Although we did not pay full price, we still paid over $100. Also, they were willing to give us so much more in comps, but they would just need our Players Card. When they found out we did not have a Players Card, they took their offer back (which was comped drinks, and food). The money that we did spend in their restaurant was not comped/refunded.

Good afternoon!  I have spoken with both the bride and groom together earlier this week, and after a review of their complaint, they repeatedly stated they had emails that backed up their claim that the Sales Manager in question ([redacted]) had made an offer for a rate for a suite that matched the...

standard room rate they had contracted for ($149). As I had a copy of the contract in front of me while we were speaking, I noticed that she had signed the contract with the standard room ($149) and suite ($400) pricing only 4 days earlier, and I asked her why, if she felt the contract was incorrect, she had signed it with erroneous information on it?  She replied that she was getting married in two weeks, she had many remaining duties to take care of, and she was hoping it would be straightened out later.   Having been involved with many weddings in my 35 years in hotels, I accepted that as an honest and reasonable answer!I asked that they send me all of their email correspondence, which they did.  While reviewing it, I never saw where it stated the rate would match, but by the way it was worded in one particular email, I coud certainly understand how someone not well-versed in hotel contracts could mistakenly misunderstand what was said.  When combined with emails where [redacted] apologized for her mistake(s), it seemed apparent that both the bride and groom walked away from one of their earlier conversations honestly believing they were getting a great deal on the suite due to the number of rooms they would be occupying during their wedding weekend.I spoke with the bride ([redacted]) on the phone yesterday, and assured her that I would be making some changes to her agreement with the resort; notably I would change the rate for the 2-Bay Suite from $400 to $149, and would additionally extend the use of the suite for a third night, also at the $149 rate.  I have asked [redacted] to provide an addendum to the present contract for [redacted]'s signature reflecting those changes, which she scan and email to [redacted].  The changes have been made in our system already, and after speaking with [redacted] last evening, I believe this situation to be resolved to their satisfaction.

Communicated directly with guest and resolved to guests satisfaction.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

6/10/16  I received the complaint from the Revdex.com on 6/9, and attempted to contact the guest that afternoon, but could only get Voicemail on several different phone numbers.  I called the number indicated by Mr. [redacted] as an evening contact number again on the afternoon of 6/10 and was...

able to reach him.  We discussed the positives and negatives of his recent stay, and it was a comfortable conversation.  I certainly sympathized with him on the unexpected noise issues from the pool parties on both Saturday and Sunday, and I subsequently offered him a choice of two resolutions - a Gift Certificate for a future two-night stay in an Executive King room (w/balcony), or a reversal of his room charges for both nights, including the upgrade charges for the change in room type at check-in; Mr. [redacted] chose the latter.  We explained to him that a review of the transaction log showed the original booking was for a Deluxe King room (none have balconies), and that is why the desk agent offered to upgrade him to a room with a balcony for an upgrade fee.Mr. [redacted] has agreed to scan and email a copy of his credit card statement showing what he paid Expedia (Hotels.com) for the two-night reservation, and I will credit his account for that amount as well as the $70 plus tax upgrade fee he paid.  He indicated he will forward that to me on 6/11 - and the Front Desk management team will at that time process the agreed upon reversal to his VISA account.
I believe both Mr. [redacted] and myself will then consider this to be a closed matter, and he told me he and his wife would love to return for the restaurants and entertainment here in the future!

Good afternoon,
 
I have reached out to the phone number that Mr. [redacted] has on the complaint and left him a VoiceMail message - with my Direct Line [redacted] - so we may discuss a resolution to his complaint.  It is the same number I used to connect...

with him on Monday, and I am hoping to hear back from him today or tomorrow so we may resolve this issue!  If I do not hear back, I will try again tomorrow morning and afternoon to reach him - and will copy the Revdex.com on any conversations or resolutions. 
Thank you,
 
Robb M[redacted]
Hotel Director

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Good morning!  I am the Hotel Director at Talking Stick Resort, and I am responding to the unusual claim from Ms. [redacted] concerning our cancellation policies.  Unfortunately, I must point out that Ms. [redacted] statement that "most hotels require a 24-hour cancellation" is...

not really accurate, especially in [redacted] level properties and above.  In a quick call around to TEN other [redacted] resorts here in the Valley, none has a 24-hour cancellation policy - three use a 48-hour cancellation, six others (as well as our resort) have a 72-hour policy, and one actually has a 7-DAY cancellation policy - this is more the standard for [redacted] hotels and resorts. 

However, in reviewing several dozen reservations sent out to upcoming hotel guests, I was able to see on a small percentage of the copies e-mailed out that the print was difficult to read with the dark background.  For this reason alone, I am willing to adjust off the Room & Tax ($292.54) that Ms. [redacted] requests, and will have our Finance Department reverse a charge for that amount to her Mastercard today.  Please alert her to the fact that as a Mastercard is a bankcard (not a credit card), this adjustment may take up to 10 working days to appear on her account.  If she does not see this reversal on her account by Monday, May 12th - she may feel free to contact me directly at [redacted] - my direct line.

In addition, I will be contacting our Marketing Department to request that a white or very light-colored font be used whenever there is a dark background color in our electronically issued confirmations that are transmitted to guests.

I hope this response will suffice to satisfy the guest's request, and please feel free to contact me directly with any additional questions or comments.

Best regards,

Hotel Director

Talkking Stick Resort