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JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa
Paradise Valley, Arizona, United States · JW Marriott · Core Luxury
JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa occupies 125 private acres at 5402 East Lincoln Drive in Paradise Valley, between the slopes of Mummy and Camelback Mountains in Arizona's most exclusive residential enclave. A stone chapel built in 1938 from native Arizona rock, with copper ore embedded in its walls, still stands near the valet area, one of the few structures dating to the resort's earliest years.
- 453 rooms
- Opened 1936
- Neighborhood: Camelback Mountain
About JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa
- Jack Stewart opened the Pueblo Revival resort on December 15, 1936, with the tagline 'Where Time Stands Still,' built for $75,000 between Camelback and Mummy Mountains with financier John C. Lincoln.
- Snowball, an albino burro adopted as the resort mascot in 1937, held the post for 27 years and remains part of Camelback Inn folklore.
- Early guests included Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis, Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and J.W. Marriott Sr., whose family would buy the inn in 1967.
- The resort served as Barry Goldwater's election night headquarters during his 1964 presidential campaign, cementing its place in Arizona political history.
- In 1989 the Camelback Inn became the first spa in the entire Marriott chain, predating Scottsdale's identity as the American Southwest's preeminent spa destination.
History
The land between Camelback Mountain and Mummy Mountain in what would become Paradise Valley was, in the early 1930s, empty desert — magnificent, sun-scoured, and entirely undeveloped. Jack Stewart, a hotel professional of North Dakota origins, recognized in that emptiness an extraordinary opportunity. In 1934 he contracted with architect Edward Loomis Bowes to create plans for a resort that would occupy the desert valley between the two mountain ridges. Stewart then recruited John C. Lincoln — inventor, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and 1924 presidential candidate — to help finance the project. The resort cost $75,000 to build, a modest sum that produced something remarkable.
The Camelback Inn opened on December 15, 1936, under the tagline "Where Time Stands Still." Bowes had designed the main structures in a Pueblo Revival style drawn from the architecture of the Southwestern Indigenous peoples — flat roofs, adobe-colored walls, organic forms that seemed to rise from the desert floor rather than impose upon it. The resort accommodated 75 guests in its earliest configuration. Almost immediately it attracted wealthy travelers from across the country, drawn by the climate, the mountain scenery, and the specific combination of seclusion and sophistication that Stewart had imagined. Early guests included Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis, Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and J.W. Marriott, Sr. — a fact that would prove consequential.
The story of Snowball, the albino burro adopted as the resort's mascot in 1937, is part of Camelback Inn folklore; the animal held that post for 27 years. The resort went wet in 1938, opening the Sleepy Spanish Cantina and offering 30-cent martinis — a decision that expanded the social calendar considerably. In 1953, the inn donated 180 acres to create the Paradise Valley Country Club, receiving playing privileges for guests in return. In 1964 the resort served as election night headquarters for Barry Goldwater's unsuccessful presidential campaign, cementing its place in the political and social history of Arizona.
In 1967, Stewart sold the inn — then comprising 170 rooms and not yet equipped with air conditioning — to the Marriott Corporation, the same hospitality family whose patriarch had been among the resort's early admirers. Marriott managed the property for the following four decades, and in 2004 the Camelback Inn was rebranded as a JW Marriott resort. In 1989, it had become the first spa in the entire Marriott chain, a distinction that reflected both its long tradition of holistic guest care and Scottsdale's emerging identity as the preeminent spa destination in the American Southwest.
A $50 million renovation was completed in 2011, updating the resort's guest rooms, casitas, and public spaces while preserving the fundamental Pueblo Revival character that Bowes had given it in 1936. The stone chapel built in 1938 of native Arizona rock with fragments of copper ore embedded in its walls still stands near the valet area — one of the few structures on the property that dates to the resort's first years, an organic, modest building that is entirely in keeping with the desert landscape Bowes sought to honor. The 453-room resort, flanked by Camelback Mountain to the northwest and Mummy Mountain to the northeast, holds AAA Four Diamond status — a designation it has held continuously since 1990 — and stands as the most historically rooted luxury resort in Scottsdale, a property that carries nine decades of desert hospitality in its bones.
The setting
JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa occupies 125 private acres at 5402 East Lincoln Drive in Paradise Valley, between the slopes of Mummy and Camelback Mountains in Arizona's most exclusive residential enclave. Founded in 1936 by Jack Bell Stewart and John C. Lincoln as a pueblo-style adobe casita resort with the slogan "Where Time Stands Still," it attracted Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and J.W. Marriott Sr., who purchased it in 1967. Camelback Mountain is 30 minutes by transit, the Musical Instrument Museum 52 minutes away. Paradise Valley's topography shields the resort from surrounding density, preserving the desert sanctuary that has made Camelback Inn Arizona's most storied luxury address for nearly nine decades. 5 miles from Scottsdale's Arts District. 8 miles from Desert Botanical Garden.
Restaurants and bars
- Lincoln Steakhouse & Bar — Bar · Bar
Amenities
- Spa
- Pool
- Private pool
- Sauna
- Hot tub
- Fitness center
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Recommended (2026)
- AAA Four Diamond (2025)
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