The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess is a nice high end hotel. If you’re going to drop $400 a night in Scottsdale high season - and there’s a good dozen resorts in town where you can do that easily (winter golf paradise isn’t cheap) - it’s hard to find a better option. I wrote about all this in a review last winter.

And none of that excuses a $7 glass of orange juice.

That’s what Fairmont Scottsdale Princess charges unsuspecting patrons at their casual tapas bar. And this is no fresh-squeezed, exotic glass of OJ. It’s Tropicana from a plastic bottle. I watched the bartender pour it twice.

Into a small wine glass packed with enough ice to sink the Titanic. That’s $7. Twice. Cha-ching. It’s a wonder she (the bartender) could even keep a straight face. (She didn’t feel the need to mention the $7 charge before the first pour or on her ask for a refill - a $7 refill).

I met someone for lunch at the Fairmont Scottsdale and ended up spending more on a few sips of OJ than I did on all my food.

Listen, it’s one thing to gouge resort guests on alcohol. I laughed when TravelGolf.com’s Tim McDonald whined about a $10 shot of scotch at the Westin Innisbrook. Ridiculous markups for booze are almost expected.

But on orange juice? The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess’ guests are dropping more than $300 a night. And they’re getting ticky tacked on OJ on top of that.

Completely shameful.

A AAA Five-Diamond Award winner - one of only five hotels so honored in Arizona - should have much more respect for its guests than that.
Who’d ever think you had to give out travel warnings on orange juice?

Here it is: Don’t order orange juice at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess unless you’re prepared to take out an extra line of credit.

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