Enchantment Resort

Getting there

We started our American Southwest journey flying from SFO to PHX and then driving 2 hours to the resort in Sedona, Arizona. We would have preferred to stay at Mii Amo, Enchantment’s wellness focused division of the resort but it was under construction, so we stayed at the main resort instead.

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Checking in

We booked a junior suite on American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts to secure early check-in/late check-out, a property credit, free breakfast and a room upgrade subject to availability. At check-in, we were pleasantly surprised to be double upgraded to a Casa one-bedroom suite. 

Since Jason informed them we were celebrating our anniversary, the front desk agent gave Jason a flower to give to “his special lady.” Unfortunately, traveling as a same-sex couple we experience this a lot all over the world. Welcome letters are often addressed “Mr and Mrs Hermann,” which is kind of a humiliating way start to any hotel stay. I really value hotels that train their staff to use more inclusive language and hope Enchantment can do better in the future. This was one example where it felt like the hotel made attempts to be higher end but failed in the execution.

Casa One-Bedroom Suite

We were assigned suite 154, which had a living area, full kitchen, dining area, two balconies, bedroom with a king-size bed and bathroom with soaking tub. The suite also included its own parking spot, which the front desk agent pitched as a plus but that meant there wasn’t any luggage assistance from the car to the suite. We were traveling for over a week and had quite a few suitcases so not only would luggage help be expected at this level resort, it would have been much appreciated.

Our suite had the ability to be conjoined with room 254 to create a two-bedroom suite, which would have been a good option for a family but not ideal for a couple. There was a young family with a baby staying in 254, which didn’t feel especially thoughtful given the resort wasn’t full.

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The suite was large but was in some serious need of upgrading – I’m don’t think they’ve done a single upgrade to this room since it was built in the 80s. Moreover, it seemed like certain aspects were patently ignored – we had 2 phones in the suite, both of which didn’t work and one didn’t even have an actual phone. A lightbulb went out in one of the nightstands during our stay, and was never replaced. And one of the glass casings for the light over the kitchen island was just missing. These things are all minor but certainly not what you would expect from a 5 star resort.

We did enjoy the bathroom toiletries which are their own Mii Amo brand and had a very pleasant jojoba flower scent.

The bedroom felt large but we had to move our suitcases around multiple times as there never seemed to be a place to stow them without them blocking a pathway to the bathroom or living room. I ended up using the coffee table in the living room for my suitcase. Overall it just felt dated and we definitely prefer a more updated room – hopefully the new Mii Amo suites are a vast improvement.  

Service

Overall we felt the service was pretty junior. It was difficult to access the schedule of activities and when Jason rang guest services he was told the menu was on the TV but then the TV said to call for the schedule. We ultimately ended up getting a printed out schedule delivered to our room about an hour after we called. 

The resort offered complimentary orange juice delivery each morning, which I thought was a cute idea. However, the orange juice wasn’t freshly squeezed and the “Simply Orange” bottles could have been left in the fridge the night before during turndown to ensure they were cold. It was a luxury idea in theory but felt lazy in execution, which was surprising for a resort of this caliber.

Coming from San Francisco, we knew Covid protocol would be different, but we will still surprised at the lack of measurements in place. None of the resort employees were wearing masks, and I only saw one other group of guests wearing masks during our entire stay. Hand sanitizer was readily available throughout the resort, but I never saw anyone else use them. I’d say we are Covid sensitive travelers so we were happy it was easy to avoid being indoors for prolonged periods of time and that we were able to eat all of our meals outside.

The main pool was dramatic and beautiful, which meant it was extremely crowded all hours of the day and definitely seem to cater toward families with kids. There is an adults only pool that’s a bit more secluded but there was no pool service there. 

Unfortunately, a wildfire forced all State Parks and the hiking paths on property to be closed, so we didn’t do much hiking during our stay. It was very smoky and hazy mornings, but it typically wore off by evening and the air quality seemed to improve enough to dine outside.

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Dining

We dined at Che Ah Chi, the resort’s fine dining restaurant, on our first night shortly after arriving. We made an 8pm reservation for an outside table a few weeks before our stay but when we arrived at the restaurant the hostess told us they don’t take reservations for outside tables. We got a drink from the bar and waited for an outside table, which opened up around 830pm. 

In short, the food was odd. I’ll admit we have high standards for food coming from San Francisco and are fortunate to be exposed to a lot of creative chefs but something was amiss here. Each appetizer and main felt like an odd combination of ingredients, almost like they were trying too hard or tried to recreate a dish they’d sampled somewhere else.

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Jason had a scallop ceviche and I had corn-dusted heirloom tomatoes to start. We both didn’t finish them. 

For mains, Jason tried the scallop entrée and I had the steak, which came with co2 whipped mashed potatoes that our waiter really hyped up… they tasted like regular mashed potatoes to me. The highlight of our meal was the corn bread they brought at the beginning of dinner. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t find the breakfast to be any better. The coffee was awful! It tasted like bad conference coffee. Thankfully since we booked through American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts, we didn’t pay for breakfast during our stay. For lunch, we didn’t want to eat at the resort so went off property and found a delicious little cafe and bakery close to the resort called Layla’s. They had better coffee than the resort, delicious sandwiches and Jason-approved pastries. I’d definitely recommend stoping there before a hike to pick up coffee and lunch.

Considerations

If we’re in Sedona again, we won’t be staying at Enchantment. Instead, I’d recommend L’Auberge Sedona. We had dinner one night at their fine dining restaurant, Cress, and were very impressed with the quality of the food and level of service. We also toured a room which was updated, modern and very charming. L’Auberge is closer to town and makes activities like hiking easier to reach. Plus, when we were booking this trip L’Auberge was less expensive. 

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