The Tempe Mission Palms is an Excellent Hotel in an Amazing Location

Tempe Mission Palms Review

My uncle just got a job in Phoenix, so my dad and I decided to visit and spend a long weekend in the area. We settled on staying at the Tempe Mission Palms, which is a Destination hotel by Hyatt, and had an excellent experience. There was very little that I could think could’ve been improved, other than one service mishap. Let’s dive into this Tempe Mission Palms review.

Booking

First up in this Tempe Mission Palms Review is how we booked our stay. The Tempe Mission Palms is a Category 3 World of Hyatt hotel, which means you can book it for either 9,000 points on off-peak dates, 12,000 points on standard dates and 15,000 points on peak dates. Fortunately, there are no dates in the next year with peak pricing, so that means if you are using points, the most you’ll pay is 12,000 points.

During the booking process I had an issue with the hotel going back and forth on showing availability and sold out. Even when checking the hotel 6 months out it is often showing as sold out, so this may be one that likes to play around with their availability. 

Once inventory became available I booked the hotel for $136 a night plus a $20 resort fee about 3 weeks out. This was the cheapest resort that was either a Hilton or Hyatt in the Phoenix area. The hotel was showing as an off peak award at 9,000 points a night too. That would have netted me 1.7 cents per point, since resort fees are waived on award stays, but we had plans to use our points at a later date so we booked the cash rate.

Another perk of booking this hotel is that it is a Destination Hotel, which is a Hyatt Brand that isn’t easy to find. This means that it is another brand to check off for the Brand Explorer Perk that will get you a little bit closer to a Category 1-4 Free Night Certificate.

Location

The Tempe Mission Palms Hotel is located on 5th Street, and it is located right on Mill Avenue, which is the main street in Downtown Tempe. Mill Avenue is full of excellent restaurants, and there is also a Taco Bell Cantina right across from the hotel. The hotel is about 5 blocks from Tempe Town Lake, which is a large body of water that has miles of walking trails. This is an excellent location, and this is likely going to be my first of many stays at this hotel. The location really is perfect for everything you need.

Tempe Mission Palms Review – Check-in

Since the hotel was sold out, I did mobile check-in so we would be guaranteed a room. Upon entering the hotel we went right to the front desk and they just asked for my dad’s ID before quickly handing us the keys.

Public Areas

The hotel has a large courtyard in the middle which wasn’t used much during the day in the 100 degree summer heat. It was an excellent place to gather in the evening though. On the first night we were staying there, the lobby was quite busy, but as the weekend went on, it became quite empty. The lobby area is well appointed and a nice area to lounge in while waiting for others or before heading out on the town.

Resort Fee Cost and Amenities

This hotel does charge a resort fee, which is annoying, but it isn’t terrible at $19.95 per night. The resort fee includes:

• Phoenix Airport transportation, available 5:30 am to 10:30 pm
• Valet service for your automobile at the front entrance of the hotel
• In-room coffee and tea service
• High-speed wireless Internet connection
• Local and 1-800 telephone calls made from your guest room
• Receipt of faxes through the hotel’s front desk
• Use of the hotel’s workout facility between the hours of 6:00 am to 10:00 pm

Per usual with resort fees, these amenities aren’t very helpful. I could see the airport shuttle and maybe the complimentary valet being helpful, but these and the other items included in the resort fee can be found at lower-end hotels. Plus, parking is already included, making complimentary valet not that helpful.

Tempe Mission Palms Review – Parking

Valet is included in the resort fee and self-parking is also included. Both of these amenities are increasingly rare domestically, as most hotels do charge extra for both. Because this hotel is a block from Downtown Tempe, this is an excellent perk of staying at here. The front desk gave us free parking tags to put on the windshield of my dad’s car.

Elevators

There is a total of four elevators at this hotel, two on either side of the hotel. The set closest to the front desk is best for rooms _001 to _025 and the second set is best for rooms _026 to _050. Rooms from _026 to _050 are closer to the pool and fitness center. Inside the elevators, there is some art featuring the local flora and fauna, which I thought was a great touch.

Hallways

The hallways are well appointed. There was no noise or mold smell for the length of our stay. By the elevators closest to the pool is an ice machine. There are also vending machines in that room as well, but the pricing is quite high.

Finding your room

This hotel is a big square, and there are two elevators at either end of the hotel, so the walks are a bit long to the elevator.

Room: 2 Double Beds

Next up in the Tempe Mission Palms review is our room. We stayed in a 2 Double Beds hotel room, which although it was recently remodeled, was an older hotel room that has the perks of offering more space. Along the right side of the room, there was a desk with a telephone and a lamp, along with a TV above a set of drawers. On the left side, there was a bedside table with USB and power outlets, and two double beds. There is also a large lamp and chair next to the bed. Wi-Fi was fast and free at 118.3 megabits per second for download speed and didn’t require any password.

Between the bathroom and the main guest room, there is a small area with a coffee maker, microwave, safe, and ice chest. The coffee maker had Keurig pods and was pretty good. Across from that is a closet with an iron and an ironing board, and a couple of coat hangers. There are also 2 large water bottles which are $5 for non-elite members and complimentary for World of Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist members.

The bathroom was also on the larger side. There was a sink, a toilet, and a shower/bathtub combination, and the toiletries in the shower were from Nest Fragrances. 

Overall, I liked this room. It did lack a view, but since the hotel is only 4 floors there aren’t really any views to be had anyway. The room was new, spacious, and quiet, so there was not much else I could ask for.

Room Issues

The room itself is perfectly fine, but I thought I booked 2 queen beds, while I booked 2 double beds. This wouldn’t have been an issue if it was just my mom or dad and me, but since my uncle was here, this meant the room was super tight. So, we decided to call the front desk and see if we could get a larger room or get a rollaway bed.

Calling the front desk

When my dad called the front desk, the first person we spoke with was super useless. We just asked if we could get a rollaway bed, and he said that due to fire code, they couldn’t give us one. My dad (respectfully) asked if we could speak with another agent about this matter, and he said that he would transfer us to guest services. What is guest services? The valet desk, apparently! My dad spoke with a friendly person, but since he worked in the valet department, there was nothing he could do. He transferred us back to the front desk, and we spoke with a much nicer agent, and she said she would upgrade us tomorrow to a Junior Suite.

Tempe Mission Palms Review – Junior Suite

The next morning, we called the front desk, and they gave us room keys to the Junior suite. 

The new room is at the corner of the hotel and it is over 500 square feet. This room was also recently remodeled and was furnished almost the same as our previous room. Straight ahead of the entrance is a large desk with a lamp, and across from it is a large tv and a large chair. Next to that is a pullout couch a lamp, along with another large chair, a king-size bed, and bedside tables on either side.

To the left of the desk is a bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet. The shower has a small partition, which means there was a lot of water on the floor, but it was better than other hotels I’ve stayed in. Next to the bathroom is an iron and clothes hangers, as well as a fridge, a coffee maker, and a safe. There are also two water bottles, which were quite large, but excellent for the hot temperatures in Tempe.

Overall, I enjoyed the Junior Suite. For the two nights we were there, I was very cold when I woke up on the pull-out couch. Otherwise, I have no other complaints. The room was very spacious and had all the amenities I could have asked for. 

Tempe Mission Palms Review – Amenities

Overall, this hotel has excellent amenities. There is not a sauna or steam room, but since Tempe can get as hot as 115°, this is understandable. The pool however is excellent. The pool area is expansive and has six different cabanas, along with countless lounge chairs. Cabanas are also included in the resort fee and are first-come, first-serve. This means that anyone staying at the hotel can use these, which is extremely rare.

There are also a couple of rooms that have an outdoor area on the pool deck. The Linq Las Vegas has a number of rooms that look similar, and they look excellent. This costs more than a standard room would, but less than a junior suite. Overall, the pool area never got crowded, even when the hotel was sold out. There is also a free water station, which is another excellent feature to have when it is 100° heat.

The fitness center in this hotel is also very nice. Located across from the pool, this gym has a lot to offer, including weights, along with gym equipment from Matrix. There is also a free water dispenser available as well. There aren’t any Peloton bikes, but they do have standard gym bikes available. Inside the gym, they have an air purifier machine, which was quite loud and also a bit annoying.

Tempe Mission Palms Review – Food and Beverage

We didn’t eat at any restaurants, as there are cheaper restaurants off-property. There are two restaurants at this hotel: Harry’s Place and Mission Grill. Harry’s Place serves dinner daily, and Mission Grill Serves breakfast and lunch. The menus are below for both places:

Service

Overall, I found the service to be excellent throughout our stay. At check-in, the agent was very friendly, as were the rest of the staff I interacted with throughout our stay. We even walked by a housekeeper, and he said that he hopes we enjoy our stay. I have never had that happen at any hotel, let alone a 4-star hotel. So while I did have one mishap, the rest of the staff were very friendly and eager to help us.

Tempe Mission Palms – Final Thoughts

Other than the booking mishap, which was my mistake, I thought we had an excellent stay. The staff was friendly, the location was excellent, and most importantly, we had an excellent room. I highly recommend this hotel, and as a Category 3 Hyatt, this is one of my new favorite domestic hotels.

What are your thoughts on the Tempe Mission Palms? Let me know in the comments!