Recently, my wife and I spent four nights at the adults-only, almost all-inclusive, Miraval Arizona Wellness Resort. Usually the resort costs 65,000 Hyatt points per night for two, but we took advantage of Miraval’s Buy One Get One offer and so we only had to pay points for two nights our of four. I also applied a Suite Upgrade Award to secure a nice suite for our stay (the Desert Sky King Suite).
There are three Miraval resorts: Miraval Arizona (near Tucson), Miraval Austin, and Miraval Berkshires. Miraval resorts are unlike most other resorts. For one, they allow internet devices only in your room or in designated device-use areas (but you can use your phone to take pictures). They don’t allow tipping. All meals are included, but alcoholic drinks are not. And they offer many free classes and activities including exercise classes, yoga, hiking, cooking, photography, and more. They also give each guest $175 per day to spend on paid activities (spa treatments, private dining, private classes, and various activities that go beyond the free ones). Since we had booked our stay with the Buy One Get One offer, we only received $175 x 2 = $350 credit each for our four night stay.
Miraval Arizona Wellness Resort: Bottom Line
We loved our stay. Our suite was comfortable and spacious, and included a fantastic private courtyard in the back. The food was great, especially for dinner. We enjoyed many exercise and stretching classes. During our stay, we enjoyed two guided hikes and one self-guided hike (note that nearby hiking was nice but not nearly as good as found at the Ritz or Loews). And we spent our credits on excellent spa treatments. Best of all, the stay was truly relaxing. The no-devices rule made it easier to break away from work related thoughts. And the combination of all-inclusive dining and no tipping went a long way too towards destressing me. I found the no-tipping rule especially awesome. It was great not to worry about who should be tipped and when and how much!
On the other hand, our stay was far from perfect. Read on for details…
Not quite luxury…
Guests who pay cash rather than points often pay over $2,000 per night for two. After the 23% resort charge and 12.06% occupancy tax, the all-in cash rate can soar to well over $2,700 per night! At those prices, I think it is reasonable to expect a near perfect luxury resort. But if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll probably be disappointed. Miraval fell short of luxury and perfection in a number of ways:
- Bath towels were thin — not at all like the plush towels commonly offered at luxury hotels. Worse, some of our towels had black grease streaks.
- In our room we were provided with paper cups for coffee and plastic cups for water. Where were the ceramic mugs and glass glasses?
- The toilet paper was cheap feeling single-ply.
- Each morning, our shower could only manage to get warm, not hot. It had no problem heating up in the afternoon, though.
- There were some little bits of trash outside of our room when we checked in: a toothpaste cap, a cotton ball, etc. Out of curiosity, I left that stuff there to see what would happen. The trash was still there when we checked out.
- The worst bit was at the breakfast buffet when I picked up a plate from the clean plate stack and felt something squishy on my fingers. Apparently some kind of brownish food hadn’t been cleaned off of it. Ick! I wanted to tell a staff member, but no one was around monitoring the buffet so I left it out as pictured above.
- Minimal staff interactions. Some very high end hotels and resorts assign butlers to assist guests with all of their needs. Miraval does not. When we attended activities or went to eat, the staff were friendly and responsive, but outside of those situations I don’t think I was asked once how my stay was going or if anything can be done to make the stay better. To be clear: I didn’t feel like I needed any of that pampering, but at the prices they charge I expected it.
Despite all of those misses listed above, we really did enjoy the stay and plan to return in the future. Of course, we will again book with points. I think it’s arguably worth the points even without the BOGO (buy one, get one) offer, but I wouldn’t pay Miraval’s usual cash rates.
Details
- Inclusions: Almost everything is included whether paying cash or points. Here are the inclusions as copied from Miraval’s website:
- $175 nightly resort credits per person towards spa, private sessions, programming and Miraval Equine Experience®
[Greg’s note: credits cannot be used towards alcoholic drinks] - Unlimited onsite outback hikes, mountain biking, group fitness classes, photography classes, challenge activities and climbing wall
[Greg’s note: book these early because they do fill up] - Unlimited meals, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages, available in the restaurant, poolside lounge, Brave Bill Bar, and Palm Court juice bar
[The daily chef special at lunch, and pretty much everything at dinner was great. I also loved the convenience of being able to grab food from the Palm Court juice bar nearly anytime] - Complimentary shared shuttle airport transfers from Tucson International Airport (TUS)
[We drove from Phoenix so we didn’t take advantage of this] - Welcome Gift of a Miraval tote bag & reusable water canteen per guest.
[These are really useful! The tote bags include two zippered pockets and a bottle-holder]
- $175 nightly resort credits per person towards spa, private sessions, programming and Miraval Equine Experience®
- Points Price: Miraval’s standard award pricing for a single guest is 45K per night for a standard room, 75K per night for a suite, or 105K per night for a premium suite. Add 20K per night for a second person. We paid 65K per night for a standard room for two and applied a Suite Upgrade Award to secure a suite. We also took advantage of a promo offering two nights for the price of one.
- Cash Price: Varies. I checked prices near the time of our stay and found that the cheapest price for 2 in a base room was $2,018 before taxes & fees, or $2,744 per night afterwards.
- Points Value: Excellent. Even without the 2 for 1 promo, our points would have been worth 4.2 cents each compared to the cash rate! With the 2 for 1 promo, the point value was almost double that. I wrote “almost double” because we didn’t get $175 per person credit for the free nights.
- Desert Sky King Suite: Our suite didn’t have a fireplace (indoor or out), nor did it have an outdoor shower which is available from some other units. That said, we loved it. It had a very large and comfortable living room, separate bedroom, large bathroom, and private outdoor patio with great mountain views.
- Resort Fee: 23% of room charge. This fee is not applied to point award stays.
- Tipping: Not expected / not allowed (great feature!)
- Parking: Free self parking.
- Pets: Pets are not allowed.
- Children: Children under 18 are not allowed.
- Housekeeping: Daily housekeeping service.
- Turndown service: None
- Dining: Excellent.
- Breakfast is mostly buffet, but you can ask for made to order eggs and omelets.
- Lunch is via menu service at the main restaurant or you can order at the pool. I highly recommend going with the chef’s daily lunch special.
- Dinner is offered via menu service at the main restaurant. Portions are small, but delicious. We loved the smaller portions because it made it possible for each person to have an appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert without feeling overfull. You can always order more food if its not enough.
- Other: The Palm Court cafe offers grab and go snacks available anytime, plus during operating hours they offer smoothies, coffee, and more.
- Hyatt Elite Benefits: There isn’t much in the way of elite recognition here (nor did I expect any). We received the suite we booked. Our room was ready very early (I called at 9am to ask when we could check in and was told “now”!), but I don’t think that had anything to do with my elite status. At check in we were told that we could request 4pm late checkout the day before departure, but it wasn’t guaranteed (note that this benefit isn’t guaranteed at Hyatt resorts, but some do try to offer it anyway). We didn’t need it, so that was academic for us. And there wasn’t any kind of elite welcome gift. I expect that a top tier Globalist who pays the cash rate would get the hefty resort fees waived, but it is waived for all Hyatt members who pay with points.
- COVID Notes: At the time of our visit, Miraval required staff and guests to wear masks indoors at all times except when seated at restaurant. Staff compliance (and most guest compliance) was excellent. There was plenty of heated outdoor seating for those who preferred to avoid the issue (we often ate outside). We were disappointed that all of the exercise and stretching classes we attended were held indoors where we had to wear our masks. Why not move them outside on nice days?
- Would I stay again? Yes. Despite significant issues listed above (see the section titled “Not quite luxury…”), we enjoyed our stay tremendously. I needed to destress and this resort absolutely did the trick.
Photos and Captions Follow
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At Austin right now and none of the issues you had in Tuscon are present here. Everyone is so nice, although no late checkout. Food is great, people are very friendly. We do need the hikes as our room is the most remote of all the rooms. Just having a wonderful time.
5 or 6 years ago I stayed at Canyon Ranch (before the change in ownership) and have wanted to go back ever since. Miraval seems to get a lot more press these days, but everyone I know who’s been to both says the same thing: the only advantages of Miraval are that you can use Hyatt points and you can drink. (At CR they don’t inspect your bag or anything but you can’t have wine by the pool — has to be in your room.). Otherwise, they say Canyon Ranch is nicer.
I’m still curious and wouldn’t mind staying at Miraval next time they run that promotion, but when I win the lottery, sounds like I should head back to Canyon Ranch instead.
I did this promo for Thanksgiving 2020. No breakfast buffet, just order from the menu as you would for lunch or dinner. I had an amazing time.
One note, I would suggest NOT using a suite reward and instead contacting them ahead and seeing if you can get a Sunrise room in the 600s. Most modern rooms (unless they have updated the 100-500s as I heard there were plans to do). https://singleflyer.com/2020/12/01/miraval-arizona-sunrise-room-review/
They had plastic cups in the room a year ago as well — thinking it must be a Covid thing but I just used my water bottle.
Will be at the Austin Miraval on Jan. 31 on a BOGO. Will let you know how it compares.
Why is that steak sliced with the grain instead of against 🙁
I stayed in Austin in Dec 2020 and Tucson in Dec 2021. I was very very disappointed. Your pros and cons were spotted on. I met others who had stayed in Austin and Berkshire during hiking, and they shared the same disappointments.
I ended up sending the director of operations and the manager a very long email listing everything that went wrong and also complemented the few staff that went out of the way to make it better. They called me back and invited me to go back with two nights free. Not expecting much to be honest, but won’t turn away free stay.
Last year we took advantage of the BOGO offer to try out ALL THREE properties! We, too, loved the Miraval experience and felt like it was an amazing value at 65,000 points for 2 nights. However, I can’t even imagine paying the cash rate – absolutely NOT worth that. And I definitely agree with the critique about the waitlists – there should be an organized system where someone lets you know, not where you have to keep checking back. As for food portions, our waitress in the Berkshires proactively would say “do you want a double portion?” each time we ordered. She told us that people often complain about the portion size so she just asks ahead of time now.
For anyone wondering which is the “best” Miraval, here is my take: Arizona and Texas are really, really close. The desert aspect of Arizona made this feel a little more spa like, but they had some interesting activities in Texas not available in Arizona like archery and hatchet throwing. You can’t go wrong with either. Berkshires is clearly in third place. While Texas and Arizona are separated from anything else and you feel remote, Berkshires is directly next to a golf resort with golf carts are whizzing by you constantly, and right on a pretty busy road so it does not feel “serene.” And you have to take a van to get to most activities, which also breaks the spell of being disconnected. Also, because the weather is not always favorable in Massachusetts, the rooms are connected to the main building by trailer-like corridors that are not heated, so in winter you freeze getting to your activities and meals. We did enjoy our stay in the Berkshires and if that is your only option because you can drive there, I say go for it, but if you have a choice go with Arizona or Texas.
Spot on with your pros/cons. We felt we got solid value by paying with points and BOGO free, but the property would not be justified at the cash-plus-resort-fee rates.
I would skip the hiking trails from the property- there are dozens of better local trails and you can choose the temperature by selecting the trail altitude, useful in summer.
I’m not a luxury person and this doesn’t really sound like my cup of tea (although maybe on points. . .) but I have to say: a $2,000+ a night hotel that can’t deliver reliable hot water and a trash-free environment? Your review is very kind!
We checked in a few days after you checked out (just left the property yesterday). Completely agree with your review. I felt VERY satisfied with the value I got out of the points (also did 4 nights with the BOGO offer), but kept saying “wow, I would be pissed if I spent $2k+/night”. To add to your list of items that I found somewhat acceptable for what we paid, but completely unacceptable for a top end resort:
Hard to believe we’d still agree with Greg that this was still a great use of points, but if you can get past the shortcomings, the truth is it’s a beautiful property, food was mostly great (will note it wasn’t 100% consistent but mostly great), the experiences we did were great, and taken together it’s a great value if you can set expectations and roll with it.
I’ve been to Miraval Austin twice and Arizona once. My Tucson stay was wonderful-and they did acknowledge my Globalist status at check in with an upgraded Sunrise room with fire pit and outdoor shower (no difficulties with hot water in July!!).
The spa treatments were amazing and the staff was very flexible when I had to extend my stay. Emotionally I prefer Austin but Arizona is an amazing location, too. I’m glad you enjoyed your trip 🙂
Nice review. It sounds like the $175 credit is per room and not per person.
Thanks. The $175 is per person per night. On BOGO deals, though, you only get the credit for the nights where you paid points
What was the out-of -pocket cost for the resort fee? Was it 25% of the $2000+ standard room rate?
Close. It’s 23%.
You don’t pay that when paying with points though.
We had a trip here that we had to cancel, but from the review, looking forward to the next promotion to go!
I stayed at Miraval Tucson 4 years ago and LOVED it! We did have glasses and ceramic mugs in our room so maybe the paper and plastic is a covid thing. Best massages I’ve had in my life! Awesome food and the chef is willing to share recipes!
I did wonder if it was a Covid thing. I don’t understand how ceramic mugs and glasses have anything to do with Covid, but it does seem like a lot of places moved to disposable stuff during the pandemic.
It is probably labor shortage and/or cost related. I have no idea if it costs more to wash glasses and mugs than to use disposable items. Also, people may perceive a wrapped paper or plastic cup as more sanitary (kind of like the remote in plastic).