JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Review
The JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass is a premier resort located in Tucson’s Sonoran Desert. It’s perched atop a mountain overlooking the pristine environment, as well as its fantastic pool and golf facilities. Let’s see how my stay went as a Titanium Elite member in Marriott Bonvoy’s loyalty program.
Booking
It was a crazy weekend in Tucson, since the University of Arizona’s homecoming was that weekend. While Tucson is normally a reasonably priced hotel market, room rates were high across the board. As such, I opted to book a Cash + Points rate of $125 + 18,500 Marriott Bonvoy points per night for my one-night stay at the JW. Room rates were over $400 per night, so I was happy with the redemption. The resort adds an additional $35 resort fee, which actually has a lot of useful inclusions, including a guided hike each morning, yoga, a tequila tasting each evening, and 9-holes of golf (plus a $25 cart fee) at their golf course.
Our Stay
As many loyal Platinum and Titanium Bonvoy members will tell you, using Suite Night Awards to try and secure a suite before arrival can be a daunting task. Unfortunately, we didn’t secure an upgrade this time to a suite, but we did receive a nice view upgrade to their lazy river, with views of the golf course and valley beyond.
Check in was quick and easy, and we received our Titanium breakfast coupons as our elite benefit. This was good for two continental breakfasts at the Signature Grill, which sadly required a $10 upgrade to the full buffet (which we did take advantage of). I’m a frequent guest of Hyatts as a Globalist, and we receive full breakfasts as a benefit of that program.
The resort is massive, since it doubles as a conference hotel. If you’re self parking ($10), the garage is underneath the conference facilities, which is quite a walk away from the rooms. Otherwise, there’s valet ($25), that is much closer to where your room is.
The resort features two resort-style pools, with two hot tubs (both were barely heated during our visit). There’s also a lap pool and hot tub as a part of the spa facilities, which we didn’t use. Finally, there’s a waterslide and lazy river, which is awesome for the kids, but doesn’t feature any shade, sadly. We did get a chance to try out the golf course, which is tight and challenging.
Our breakfast on the morning of our departure was delicious- they had fantastic posole and the server was very attentive. Even though we had to pay some money out of pocket for our breakfast, it was well worth it.
Overall
I wouldn’t hesitate to book another stay at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass. It has a convenient location for many activities in the area, like the Desert Museum, as well as the city of Tucson. It’s also got a great amount to do on property. While I do think some of the decor could use a slight refresh in the rooms, overall it didn’t detract from my stay in the slightest.
