Uptown Magazine January 2019

Darvá Fields
Guest Loyalty Relations, Fairmont
Scottsdale Princess
Remember the Nintendo Power Pad?
“I loved that thing,” Darvá Fields
recalls. “It got me into gaming in such a
major way.”
So major that he studied computer
science at Northern Arizona University in
the early 2000s with an eye to becoming a
professional game designer.
“Except, I was into the art of designing
more than the math and science, especially
the complex algorithms and binary
codes,” says Fields, who transferred to
the University of Advancing Technology
(UAT) in Tempe in 2002, where they had
design-specific classes.
Upon transferring, Fields’ parents told
him his days as a full-time student were
over: It was time to get a job.
“I needed something that allowed me
to attend classes by day, so I took a night
position at a Fairfield Inn in Chandler,”
Fields explains.
After just a few months, he was offered
an assistant manager position and a salary.
Once he graduated UAT in 2006, he
couldn’t bring himself to leave hospitality.
“I loved hospitality even more than that
Power Pad,” Fields says.
He joined Hotel Valley Ho in 2007 to
hone his skills, where he met his mentor,
Ronen Aviram. When Aviram moved over to
the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in 2009,
Fields went with him.
But, it wasn’t until he gained experience
in all levels of service from 2012
to 2018 – including as general manager
of Kai Restaurant at the Sheraton Grand
at Wild Horse Pass, general manager of
restaurants at L’Auberge de Sedona, and
general manager of Fat Ox – that he was
truly ready for his concierge role at the
award-wining resort.
“I came back in 2018 to lead our
concierge team as head of guest loyalty
relations, where we do it all from transforming
our lagoon into a fishin’ hole for kids
to putting on full-scale, multimonth events
such as Christmas at the Princess and
Summer at the Princess,” Fields says.
And he does it all while he and his wife
raise their young daughter and son, who is
an avid gamer, coincidentally enough.
Uptown January ‘19 33