In the mid-1920s, New York industrialist and financier Delos Cooke retired and his family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona. He chose a 65-acre parcel and built El Vernadero, their winter home. The Cookes filled the 3,500-square-foot Spanish Revival villa with treasures from around the world. They were also garden lovers and used much of their annual household budget to purchase and plant rare flora, including 900 palm trees, many imported from Egypt. This original mansion is at the center of the Royal Palms Resort & Spa today.

© Royal Palms Resort and Spa

After Cooke’s death in 1931, the home was sold to a series of private parties who added various rooms, including an in-home chapel. Anticipating a tourism boom after World War II, a group of investors added 15 hotel rooms to the west of the original Cooke home and converted the main home into more guestrooms, a reception area and dining room. The Royal Palms Inn, named for the towering palms lining the entryway, opened to guests in the winter of 1948. Royal Palms Inn was a preferred address for travelers booking winter visits and earned a reputation when celebrities such as Helena Rubenstein and Groucho Marx began staying at the hotel.

This year, Royal Palms Resort & Spa celebrates its 75^th anniversary with a number of unique offerings to its guests, including a specialty offer, bookable through the end of 2023 with code 75TH. The Royal 75 offer includes a $75 F&B credit, breakfast for two and a limited-time commemorative amenity.

Distinctive dining outlet T. Cook  provides guests with a salad, pasta dish and dessert fixed-price meal for $75. Mix Up Bar is also offering a specialty Orange Grove anniversary cocktail, with house-infused jalapeno tequila, lemon, orange, demerara and angostura bitters. Royal Relaxation: Alvadora Spa offers The Royal Facial, a 50-minute gold repair facial utilizing Knesko products to firm, lift and hydrate while relaxing the mind, rejuvenating the skin and rebalancing the spirit. This treatment is available on weekdays for $250 and Friday–Sunday for $270. Refined Retail at Royal Palms Resort and Spa offers a selection of exclusive, limited-time retail items like a 75th anniversary Vim + Vigor candle and other curated gifts.

© Royal Palms Resort and Spa

Located on the foot of Camelback Mountain, Royal Palms Resort and Spa, part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, combines the graciousness and sophistication of a Mediterranean villa with the intimacy and privacy of a secluded retreat. Guests enter the resort through a driveway lined with regal palm trees and are greeted by a 250-year-old fountain in the circular porte cochere. With 119 casitas, villas and guestrooms; more than 20,000 square feet of meeting space; Spanish Colonial architecture; Tuscan-style landscaping; and superb culinary service, the resort is the perfect choice for business and leisure travelers, corporate and incentive meetings, and romantic occasions.

The Alvadora Spa is distinguished by the Spanish Colonial design of the resort coupled with distinctive European influences, and integrates the indoors and outdoors in a unique, non-clinical environment. Features include natural stone, aged timbers, rich colors and textures, hand-made tiles, large wooden doors, garden, fountains and fireplaces. The spa has eight treatment rooms plus a variety of outdoor treatment areas in garden settings with fireplaces and fountains, a fitness center and salon.

© Royal Palms Resort and Spa

T.Cook’s has received local and national acclaim for its Mediterranean cuisine. Most of the restaurant’s ingredients like cheeses, proteins and olive oil are sourced from Spain, France and Northern Italy. Locally grown and sustainably raised foods are used whenever possible from local farmers. T.Cook’s also offers an elegant space for fine dining in private or for corporate groups.

The Mix Up Bar showcases a vibrant, garden-to-glass cocktail program with an unexpected mix of the season’s freshest ingredients and unique spirits. The Mix Up’s bold, adventurous approach to the artful side of mixology and cuisine is sure to have patrons saying “I’ll have the usual.”

Located adjacent to the swimming pool, Cabana Café offers light fare of salads, sandwiches and beverages for guests who choose to dine al fresco or in the poolside cabanas.