After an honest assessment of the property, the new owners of the Scottsdale, Ariz., resort have invested heavily to renovate rooms, create a new three-level spa and Athletic Club with a 4,600-sq. ft. fitness center, and renovate its signature pool area. A redesigned golf course, reducing it from 27 to 18 holes, along with a new clubhouse, restaurant and tavern, are scheduled to come on stream later this year and in 2019.

Several years ago, reported the Arizona Republic, Mark Vinciguerra, General Manager of The Phoenician resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., along with the neighboring Canyon Suites at The Phoenician, a 60-room boutique hotel, looked around several years ago and saw a lobby that was too small, a spa and fitness center that also were too small and could no longer be counted among elite resort facilities, and a golf course that was more a patchwork of 27 holes than a true course.

Taking all of this in, Vinciguerra told the Republic, he saw weaknesses that had put the resort at a competitive disadvantage when it came to attracting vacationers and conference business.

“The resort [had] withstood the test of time, but it was time to really take it and say, ‘What’s the future look like?’” he told the Republic.

Today, three years and $90 million later, The Phoenician is almost unrecognizable, the Republic reported. Rooms have been renovated and a new three-level spa features 24 treatment rooms, a yoga studio, a rooftop pool, private suite, retail shop, nail lounge and Drybar blow dry salon.

The Phoenician also now offers an Athletic Club with a 4,600-sq.-ft. fitness center outfitted with cardio machines, weights and a fitness studio with 200 classes on demand.

Other amenities include new tennis, basketball and pickleball courts, and the resort’s signature pool area has been renovated, with a longer slide and water playground for children. New seating areas for families and adults were created.

Another key attraction is a redesigned 18-hole golf course with a clubhouse and restaurant that is set to open later this year, the Republic reported. And early next year, a new Phoenician Tavern will open.

The facility is now owned by Host Hotels & Resorts, a lodging real estate investment trust that purchased The Phoenician and Canyon Suites for $400 million from Starwood Hotels & Resorts in June 2015. The new owners promised a renovation, as reported by C&RB in its February 2017 cover story on changes in the Scottsdale market (http://clubandresortbusiness.com/2017/02/changes-desert-wind/).

“[Host] said, ‘What is your vision?’” Vinciguerra told the Republic. “I said, ‘We want to be the number-one resort in the country.’”

The project, the largest in the resort’s history and one of the largest of its kind over the last two years, was completed in stages, the Republic reported. Work began in 2016 with a $10 million overhaul of the Canyon Suites hotel along with guest rooms at The Phoenician. In 2017, the lobby and pools were redone, and the Mowry & Cotton restaurant opened.

The two biggest additions, The Phoenician Spa and The Phoenician Athletic Club, are freestanding facilities that just opened and are the most noticeable changes, according to the Republic.

However, there have been challenges along the way as renovations hurt the Phoenician’s revenue, the Republic reported. At one point, occupancy dipped to 20 percent as rooms were renovated.

Last summer, the Republic reported, the Phoenician charged its lowest rates in recent memory ($169) because the sprawling pool was being renovated and a temporary pool was all that was available. And this summer, the golf course is closed.

“It was hell getting here, but it was well worth it,” Vinciguerra told the Republic.