• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Hotel Valley Ho   (Photo: Courtesy of Hotel Valley Ho)

Downtown Scottsdale is finally hot, now that once-shabby hotels have been given serious face-lifts. The newest addition is the FireSky Resort & Spa (from $149), which opened last April with a stunning, daybed-laden lobby, a bar overflowing into the pool area, and a glowing onyx communal table where guests sip coffee, read, and tap laptops.

At the similarly months-old Mondrian (from $145) in Old Town, the undercurrent of original sin is everywhere, from the serpentine bench in the lobby to the red apples in the black-and-white guest rooms. The celeb-friendly hotel has all the luxury necessities: high thread counts, massive plasma screens, and iPod hookups at every turn.

Once a glamorous getaway for the likes of Bing Crosby and Natalie Wood, downtown’s Hotel Valley Ho (from $149) has been rescued from a 28-year sentence as a Ramada. Though the hotel’s shell is the same, the interior’s been gutted. Furnishings are stylishly mod, and all rooms have balconies, patios, or—in the case of the terrace suites—glass-enclosed, 800-square-foot decks.

Published on Jun 6, 2007 as a web exclusive.