My husband and I arrived at Canyon Villas after a long drive from California. The reception desk was very pleasant and they gave us the keys to the villa and keys to the hotel pool should we wish to use it.
Our villa was itself was quite small as it was only an efficiency villa so we didn't have any cooking facilities, we had a comfortable bed and a smallish bathroom. The villa however was clean and quite pleasant, unfortunately the cleaning staff had forgotten to remove coats and trousers that had been left by the people before us and we had to remove these ourselves as nobody came to take them away even though we rang down numerous times and were told somebody was on their way ! The people that owned these coats etc came back for them early evening just before we went out and were fortunate to find us there. When we rang the front desk asking for these to be removed for the fourth time and nobody came we gave up and we thought this was very bad indeed of the staff there. Having said this, we have stayed at the Phoenician in Phoenix and this Resort is a hundred times nicer.
However, the whole resort is absolutely fantastic as it is next to the JW Marriott Resort & Spa and you have full use of their facilities. The pools are beautiful, the selection of restaurants are v.good indeed and we went to Roys Asian Cuisine most nights which is situated just at the side of the lounge within the hotel. The hotel is simply beautiful and has every facility imaginable. There is a large Starbucks that opens at 5.30am in order that golfers can grab a coffee and pastry before playing golf as it is 38C by 10.30. We went to Starbucks quite a lot.
The most wonderful scenery surrounds this resort and in fact surrounds Phoenix, Scottsdale and Arizona in general and we would love to go back one day as it is a relaxing place to be.
The villas are not attractive, there are far better Marriott villas and we can only assume that these were intended to be in keeping with the South Western style. However, the hotel facilities make up for the villas as it is absolutely beautiful.

We stayed at the Marriott Canyon Villas from May 31 to June 6. We checked into the hotel around 11:00am and our room was not ready, which was fine because we had requested a room on the third floor overlooking the pool. However, we came back to check in we were given a second floor room not quite overlooking the pool. However, when I went to fix the kids a snack, the dish area was crawling with ants. I called the front desk and the maintenance man sprayed for the ants. The smelled bothered me and I requested another room. We ended up in building 3300 (the farthest area from the pool) on the first floor looking at the desert (as described, but really some desert plants and a dirt road for the maintenance men.) Our next incident with bugs came after my son took his bath. There was a cockroach behind the toliet. Again the room was sprayed. (Bug season in Arizona is what I was told, haven't had these issues at the Marriott resorts in Florida) I then awoke at 4:00am to use the bathroom and the door was locked. (I closed the door to not smell the spray and the door ended up locking.) Unfortunately, there were no other rooms. During the rest of our visit, we encountered the following items: a missed wake up call, keys that did not work at the JW pool area and an unannouced visit to our room (a request was made for new towels in another room, but our room was changed in error - did not expect someone to entry our room while we were away.)
Overall, we enjoyed Arizona. We took the AZ Hummer Tour which was awesome.
The best part of the resort was the pool.
It would have been nice if an attempt was made to reconcile the issues that we encountered.

This was our second stay at this resort so we knew what to expect.The big concern this year was the ongoing construction of the two new additional buildings that are going up on the south?side.When we arrived at the front desk we asked for a top floor unit anywhere in the complex except in the two buildings that were adjoining the construction area(2500 & 2600?).The front desk clerk was more than willing to look and called over her supervisor to confirm the best spot for us,a family of four in a two bedroom unit.
The unit we were given was perfect,overlooking the pool,and we heard no construction noise at all during our stay.The staff training here seems to be very good and if I compare it to,say,a previous vacation at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Resort Villas,then I would have to say that it is vastly superior!
Having the full access to the adjoining JW Marriott hotel is great,especially for the Lazy River.The resort is entirely non-smoking which is a welcome relief and I know my children really enjoyed that aspect.
We will definitely come back again and enjoy the pools and the adjoining 36 holes of golf.(get your best rates the day before at golfnow.com).

WOW! What a timeshare property. I have stayed at a couple of timeshare properties in the past and they have been OK, but nothing like this. I might have to consider purchasing a place here.

Before Our Trip:

We were contacted by the resort a week prior to checking in to see if there any special requirements that we had. This caught us off guard because we has exchanged through interval to stay here, and we are not even Marriott's owners. We had told them that we would be arriving the morning and they said it would be no problem to drop off our bags at the front desk and get started on our vacation.

Check-In:

Check-in was a breeze, we arrived about 11am. The guy at the front desk was extremely friendly. Gave us a detailed overview of the Villas and the JW Marriott across the way. Also gave us recommendations of restaurants at the Desert Ridge Marketplace that was close by. He then realized that our room was not ready yet, but checked to see if anything else was available. The was an available room and he let us check-in to that room right away.

Room:

We were only able to find the efficiency available when we booked on interval, but it was just fine for the two of us. It was just your standard Marriott hotel room that was clean, comfortable, and enough space for the two of us. It did not have a full kitchen, but had a small sink, mini refrigerator, and microwave. If traveling with a family I would recommend at least getting the one bedroom unit. That has more room and a full kitchen and dining area.

Pools:

I found the pools at both the Canyon Villas and the JW Marriott to be very nice. They were both clean and had plenty of towels to use. I thought the pool at the Canyon Villas was not nearly and busy and cramped at the one at the JW, but the one at the JW did have the benefit of having a lazy river. At the Canyon Villas they gave us a key card to access the pools at the JW. None of them worked, but if you go the the front desk at the JW they will exchange it out for one that will work.

All and all it was a fun and relaxing vacation that was further enhanced by the helpful and friendly staff at the Canyon Villas.