Description: If you are traveling from Phoenix to visit The Grand Canyon area, a good base of operations is Flagstaff, and one of the nicer hotels in Flagstaff is the Embassy Suites. We spent two nights here during a recent family trip and found it to be an excellent location and value. Nearby, you can find many of Arizona’s best tourist destinations.
Flagstaff rests on the Mogollium Plateau in the shadow of the San Francisco Mountains and Arizona’s loftiest point, Humphrey’s Peak. Thanks to the altitude, Flagstaff is cooler than much of Arizona. Long sleeves feel pretty good, even on summer mornings. The air is thin and scented by the pines that dot the mountainsides and city. A little bit of advice: don’t park underneath one of those evergreens unless you want to look through pine sap for the rest of your trip. The blue stuff in your rental car’s window washer doesn’t work well on spruce juice. Let it dry and a razor blade will do the trick.
The hotel is located on Flagstaff’s main drag, close to the junction with Old Route 66 and near the Northern Arizona University campus. The hotel is one of the smaller Embassy properties, but the rooms are standard size and have the amenities you expect from a Hilton property. Our two room suite contained two full-size beds, a sleeper sofa, a hair dryer, an iron and ironing board, a sink, a refrigerator, a microwave, and two TVs. One notable shortcoming was that our room lacked a balcony for sitting out in the mountain air. Our two averaged-sized windows looked out a nicely landscaped central courtyard with the pool, hot tub, and several picnic tables. The breakfast and reception area opened up into the same courtyard, and there is a small dining area outside those doors. The hotel does not have a regular restaurant or lounge, but there are several in the area. A small canteen is located near the front desk and has the usual selection of pop, postcards, and scorpion paperweights. Up the street, you can find a Walgreen’s for bottled water and film. If you are on a hiking holiday, there is an outfitter’s store across the street that can supply any gear you lack.
The hotel’s service during our stay was exceptional. The desk staff was polite and helped us to find one of our vacation traditions - Chinese takeout. The breakfast staff was particularly kind and scrounged up some whipped cream for my kid’s waffles. Our room was clean, there were lots of towels at the pool, and the wakeup call came on time. I’m probably not the most demanding hotel guest on earth, but the hotel staff was friendly and genuinely tried to make our stay pleasant.
I highly recommend the Embassy in Flagstaff and will stay there during my next visit. It’s close to so many of the wonderful things that Arizona has to offer, and I know my stay will be comfortable.
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