Royal Palms Resort and Spa, Phoenix, AZ

On 9 acres near Camelback Mountain, you’ll forget you are in one of the largest sprawling cities in the United States. A 1929 Spanish colonial-style mansion has been turned into a 119 room hotel. The two-level open-air Alvadora Spa is on premises to provide treatments that you’ll love.

Enchantment Resort, Sedona, AZ

This amazing 220 room resort is set inside a red rock canyon and hosts one the of best spas in Mii Amo. Activities include many locally influenced programs from sand-painting to pottery work.

Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa, Paradise Valley, AZ

Nearly a hundred adobe and brick casitas make up this mountain property near Phoenix. The states largest infinity pool is on site. The property has gone changes over the years, from the Paradise Valley Racquet Club in the 1950s, to the John Gardiner’s Tennis Ranch in the late 1960s, and through several more names in the 1990s to it’s current name which was taken in 2001 after a complete renovation.

The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ

Another gem in the valley, this 250 acre resort came out of a makeover in 2006. A huge complex with 647 rooms, 9 pools, 12 tennis courts, a golf course, many restaurants and more offers a staff to guest ratio of 2 to 1.

JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort, Tucson, AZ

Only open since 2004, this the youngest property on my list. It is in a heavenly slice of the Sonoran Desert spiced up with all kinds of trails for hiking and biking. The on site Hashani Spa is also one of the best.

There are many other hotels where you can’t go wrong so honorable mentions go to the Ritz-Carlon, Four Seasons, The Fairmont and the Boulders Resort, all of which are in the Phoenix valley area.

You can find only and all four and five star lodging properties in my Arizona luxury hotel guide.

Which ones are consistently the best and won’t let you down? Just like the experiences we hear about we’ve probably all been to a great Best Western or a Holiday Inn and then to a terrible one. So what should you expect the next time you travel and book your favorite chain? If it’s a Four Seasons, you can safely expect a great experience. But not all of us can afford to stay there every time we travel. And even if we could, they may not have one near Grandma’s house. We need to have options and know what to look for in other cities. With some brands, you never know for sure. Many are franchises who just pay for a name and a sign. Then they are either sold or get a ton of bad reviews on TripAdvisor and change brands to start their reputation management anew. Does that statement go too far? We play what we like to call the “chain roulette” game and change individual location names on average between 200-300 times a month here at AllStays.com. And we checked into what we already noticed, over 80% of 2008 name changes were for hotels with a poor review record. The high end hotels do change occasionally but not nearly as often as when you go further down the list. If you don’t pay attention to addresses, you could book the same crappy hotel with another logo two years later thinking it’s a different one!

For the first time, we’ve taken just under ten years of reviews and comments that we’ve received and analyzed them. Here is our 2009 ranking of chains that have locations in North America with all direct links to the official websites. Extra Tip: You can bookmark this page it for the next time you need a complete list and don’t want to mess with searching around. You can also view all these chains alphabetically at our hotel chains guide.

1. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
2. Ritz-Carlton
3. JW Marriott
4. Sofitel
5. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
6. Loews Hotels
7. Embassy Suites Hotels
8. W Hotels
9. Omni Hotels
10. InterContinental Hotels & Resorts
11. Renaissance Hotels & Resorts
12. Millennium Hotels and Resorts
13. Westin Hotels & Resorts
14. Marriott Hotels & Resorts
15. Hilton Hotels
16. Doubletree
17. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
18. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
19. Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts
20. Delta Hotels
21. Hyatt Place
22. Sheraton Hotels & Resorts
23. Radisson Hotels & Resorts
24. Hilton Garden Inn
25. Courtyard
26. Four Points by Sheraton
27. Drury Inn & Suites
28. Holiday Inn
29. Homewood Suites
30. Staybridge Suites
31. Residence Inn
32. TownePlace Suites
33. Hampton Inn/Suites
34. Best Western
35. Holiday Inn Express
36. Clarion
37. SpringHill Suites
38. Hawthorn Suites
39. Quality
40. Howard Johnson Hotels
41. Candlewood Suites
42. Extended StayAmerica
43. Homestead Studio Suites Hotels
44. Fairfield Inn
45. Wingate by Wyndham
46. Country Inns & Suites
47. Comfort Suites
48. Sleep Inn
49. Baymont Inn & Suites
50. La Quinta
51. Comfort Inn
52. Microtel Inns & Suites
53. Red Roof Inn
54. Ramada Inn
55. Super 8 Motel
56. Days Inn
57. Motel 6
58. Rodeway Inn
59. Econo Lodge
60. Travelodge
61. Knights Inn
62. Americas Best Value Inn