Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort Review
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BOTTOM LINE
The Crowne Plaza San Marcos is a historic Mission Revival golf resort in the heart of downtown Chandler, Arizona, wrapped around Arizona's first golf course. It is a strong, character-filled base for winter golf and MLB spring training, with an IHG-affordable price and a recently renovated course. Book it on IHG One Rewards points or cash, and use it as a walkable Chandler home base rather than a sprawling destination mega-resort.
Arizona in the winter is one of my favorite value plays, and Chandler is an underrated place to set up. Right in the middle of the old downtown sits the Crowne Plaza San Marcos, a historic hotel with a golf course that predates almost everything around it. Staying somewhere with this much history is a different feel than the newer North Scottsdale resorts.
The San Marcos name goes back more than a century. The golf course opened in 1913 as Arizona's first, and the hotel is one of the state's earliest reinforced-concrete buildings and its best example of Mission Revival style. That heritage is the reason to stay here, and it comes at an IHG-friendly price rather than a luxury one.
Booking the Crowne Plaza San Marcos
This is an IHG property, so it books on IHG One Rewards points or cash, and it sits at a price point that makes it easy to justify for a Chandler winter trip. IHG One Rewards runs from base membership up through Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond Elite, and status here can bring perks like room selection benefits and points bonuses on paid stays.
The fastest way to elite status with IHG is through the co-brand cards. The IHG One Rewards Premier card comes with automatic Platinum Elite status and can be worth carrying if you stay with the chain even a few times a year. On a golf-and-baseball trip where you might book several nights, that status and the annual free-night certificate can pay for the card on their own. That’s exactly how this stay happened for me: I had an expiring IHG certificate from my credit card that I needed to burn, hadn’t found a good use for it all year, and ended up discovering a genuinely historic resort in my own backyard — plus the little perks like the two bottled waters waiting in the room as part of my IHG benefits.
Because rates here run reasonable for the area, this is a property where I would price both the cash rate and the points rate and pick whichever looks better on your dates. During spring training and peak winter weather, book early, since Chandler fills up when the weather turns cold everywhere else.
Best cards for booking
To get the most from a stay here, the cards I would reach for are the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Capital One Venture X.
Location
The resort sits right in downtown Chandler, which is its best trait. You can walk out into the old downtown with its restaurants and bars, and you are centrally placed for the wider Phoenix and Chandler area. That walkable-downtown position is rare among Arizona golf resorts, which usually sit far out on their own.
For spring training, Chandler is well located for the Cactus League. Several stadiums around the East Valley are within a reasonable drive, so you can base here and hit a handful of games across a week. Combine that with easy access to Phoenix Sky Harbor and it becomes a practical base for a March baseball trip.
Lobby and Check-In
The arrival experience leans into the history. The Mission Revival architecture and the older bones of the building give the lobby a sense of place you do not get at a modern box hotel. It reads as a historic property that has been kept up rather than a brand-new build, and that is exactly the appeal. The resort dates to 1912, making it one of the very first in Arizona, and it featured the state’s first grass golf course — founded by Mr. Chandler himself, the man who named the town after himself. There’s a nice history display just off the main lobby, and even after the modern renovation you can feel the age in the best way: original wood staircases, vaulted ceilings, and that sense of a building with stories.
Check-in was straightforward, and the staff were used to golfers and baseball visitors coming and going. If you are here for a tee time or a game, they can point you in the right direction quickly.
The Room
Rooms are comfortable and well-appointed, with the standard amenities you expect from a Crowne Plaza, including complimentary Wi-Fi. This is a historic hotel, so the rooms carry the character of an older property rather than the identical feel of a new-build resort tower. For most travelers that trade is a plus.
Set your expectations to a solid, comfortable golf-resort room rather than a sprawling luxury suite. The value here is the setting, the course, and the downtown location, and the rooms do their job as a comfortable base for all of it. My room 317 took some finding — the hallways can turn you around if you’re not positioned right — but opened onto a nice palm-lined interior courtyard view. Inside: a makeup and seating area with a Keurig next to the bathroom, a pull-out couch, a firm bed with plenty of plugs nearby (though no USB-C), a mini fridge, and a balcony over the street; the small flat-screen TV could honestly use an update. The bathroom is on the smaller side, but the shower has clearly been redone with sliding glass doors, and the toiletries are the wall-mounted reusable kind, so do not plan on taking anything home. One quirk of the building: the hallways all overlook open-air atriums filled with grass and some impressively tall old trees, which is a lovely touch, though the layout got me turned around more than once on the way to my room.
Pools and Amenities
The headline amenity is the golf. The San Marcos Golf Course is fresh off a multi-million-dollar renovation, including a new irrigation system for year-round conditions and an upgraded clubhouse, so the course you play today is in far better shape than its age might suggest. There is an 18-hole layout, a driving range, lessons, and a full pro shop. Keep expectations calibrated on the course itself: it’s right across the street, there’s a resort shuttle to the golf shop (though it’s honestly a short walk), and while the historic layout isn’t the most exciting by modern standards, playing Arizona’s first grass course has a charm the newer builds can’t match.
Beyond golf, the resort has an outdoor pool with a jacuzzi and a large amount of flexible event space, which explains why it draws groups and meetings. For a leisure traveler, the pool and the course are the two features you will use most, with the walkable downtown filling in the rest. The pool complex is genuinely beautiful — rows of lounge chairs, rentable cabanas, a small hot tub, and a poolside restaurant with surprisingly reasonable pricing, plus a pool bar that was closed on my visit but surely hops during spring training. The gym is more modest: one or two converted rooms with fresh, new equipment, water bottles, and towels — kudos for the effort, but with 249 rooms on property, expect a short wait for machines on busy mornings.
Food and Drink
On property there is a bar and grill at the golf clubhouse, which is convenient for a post-round meal or drink. The real advantage, though, is the location. Because the resort sits in downtown Chandler, you can walk to a genuine restaurant and bar scene rather than being stuck with hotel dining.
That walkable downtown is a real perk on a longer stay. Rather than driving out for every meal, you can wander into Chandler's restaurants on foot, which makes evenings here easier than at a resort marooned out in the desert.
Service
Service fit the property: friendly and used to a mix of golfers, spring-training visitors, and business groups. This is a working golf resort and event hotel, so the staff move a lot of different guests through without fuss. It is not a luxury-tier service experience, but for the price point and the setting it was reliable and welcoming.
Who Should Stay Here
Great fit if
Look elsewhere if
You want to play a historic, freshly renovated Arizona golf course
You want a big modern mega-resort with waterslides and a lazy river
You are basing a spring-training or winter-golf trip in the East Valley
You want luxury-tier rooms and service
You value a walkable downtown location and IHG points
You prefer the newer resort scene of North Scottsdale
You appreciate historic architecture and a sense of place
You need a large pool complex for kids
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called the San Marcos?
The property carries the historic San Marcos name and is built around the San Marcos Golf Course, which opened in 1913 as Arizona's first golf course. The hotel is one of the state's best examples of Mission Revival architecture.
Is the golf course any good after its age?
Yes. The course recently went through a multi-million-dollar renovation with a new irrigation system for year-round conditions and an upgraded clubhouse, so it plays in much better shape than its long history might suggest.
Is this a good base for spring training?
It is. Chandler sits centrally in the East Valley, and several Cactus League stadiums are within a reasonable drive, so you can base here and hit multiple games across a trip.
How do I earn and use points here?
This is an IHG property, so you earn and redeem IHG One Rewards points. The IHG One Rewards Premier card grants automatic Platinum Elite status, which can be worth it if you stay with IHG a few times a year.
Is the location walkable?
Yes, and that is one of its best features. The resort sits in downtown Chandler, so you can walk to restaurants and bars rather than driving out for every meal.
Is it a family water resort?
No. There is a pool with a jacuzzi, but this is a golf and event resort, not a waterpark property. Families wanting slides and a lazy river should look at the larger Phoenix-area resorts.
Bottom Line
The Crowne Plaza San Marcos is a rewarding pick if you value history and location over a modern mega-resort. A century-old golf course that has just been renovated, a Mission Revival building with real character, and a walkable downtown Chandler location add up to a distinctive Arizona base at an IHG-friendly price.
Book it on IHG One Rewards points or cash, come for the golf and the winter weather, and use downtown Chandler as your dining scene. For a spring-training or winter-golf trip in the East Valley, it is an easy resort to recommend.
