Radisson Fort McDowell Resort

Buy 2 nights, get the last day FREE plus $150 in resort credit!

This Rate Includes:

• $150 per room Resort credit that may be used at the Resort’s Ahnala Mesquite Room & Lounge, Poolside Cafe, In-room dining or Spa & Salon services at Amethyst Spa and is NOT valid at any of the casino or golf venues
• Complimentary membership in Fort McDowell Casino’s Fortune Club which includes $15 per person in casino slot play for new members plus $5 additional for each day of your stay. Existing members receive $5 per day in slot play.
• Deluxe accommodations featuring our exclusive Sleep Number Bed guestroom (based on availability). This allows you to set your bed to your own perfect level of comfort.
• Reserved guests receive discounted championship Golf at We Ko Pa Golf Club. Contact the concierge directly for seasonal rate at (480) 789-5377.
• 20% off Spa and Salon Services.

Rates: Starting at $139, suite upgrades available at additional charge

Promotional Code: b2g1f

Restrictions:

Not valid for groups. Rate is subject to availability and can not be combined with any other offer. Taxes and Resort fee additional. Must be 21 years of age or older. Resort credit may not be used for anything that is not specifically listed in the description. Stay nights must be consecutive, can not be split and are not transferable.

Radisson Fort McDowell Resort

10438 North Fort McDowell Road, Scottsdale/Fountain Hills AZ 85264, United States

Reservations: 1-800-395-7046 Telephone: (480) 789-5300

This premier Scottsdale hotel resort is tucked away in pristine Sonoran Desert surroundings and is adjacent to the Fort McDowell Casino. Guests enjoy an assortment of on-site amenities, including championship golf at We-Ko-Pa Golf Club, spa treatments, wild west adventures and much more. At the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort, you’ll enjoy the location, service and amenities that set us apart from other Scottsdale resorts.

Easter Weekend At Montelucia Spa Resort in Scottsdale AZ

Escape to warm weather and sunny skies at the new InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona, located in the warm, dry climate of the Sonoran Desert. Nestled in the foothills of picturesque Camelback Mountain and located just minutes from shopping, arts districts, restaurants and nightlife, the resort and 31,000 square-foot Joya spa is the newest and most luxurious way to soak in warmth and sun in the popular warm-weather destination.

In celebration of the most temperate of seasons, through June 14 stay 3 nights and receive a $300 resort credit to use in Joya Spa, Prado signature restaurant, Kasbah poolside restaurant and lounge or anywhere on the 23-acre resort property

Easter Brunch Menu & Resort Activities

Click here to view Prado’s Easter Brunch Menu!

Click here for Resort Activities for Easter Weekend

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Planet Trekkers First Annual Easter Egg Hunt

With over 300 eggs to find, this event will be one to remember! We will even have a special guest appearance from the Easter Bunny himself!

WHEN: Sunday, April 12, 2009, 8:00am – 10:00am
WHERE: Cortijo Plaza, Valencia Lawn, and Planet Trekkers

(Pick up your egg hunt bags in Cortijo Plaza!)

Planet Trekkers will will be open 7:30am – 3:30pm for this special event. Easter & Spring crafts, bouncy house, and group games are just a few of the fun things we have planned!

Make your reservations today! 480-627-3159

Exclusive Montelucia Easter Package!

Exclusive Montelucia Easter Package starts at $295!

This incredible offer includes overnight accommodations in a Montelucia Signature Suite, Easter Brunch for 2 on Sunday morning and tickets to the 1st Annual Montelucia Easter Egg Hunt starting at 8:00am Sunday morning! Kids 10 and under eat free!

CLICK HERE TO BOOK THE MONTELUCIA EASTER PACKAGE NOW!

Or please call our Experience Designers at 888 627 3010 and ask for the Montelucia Easter Weekend Package

This package is valued at $630, representing a savings of over 50%!

Sundays on Us Package

Simply put, we’re giving you an extra day to do with what you please. We want you to fully experience all that this wonderful destination has to offer, so start thinking about what you will do with your extra time…

BOOK THE “3 FOR 2″ OFFER NOW!

*Payment must be made in full at time of booking. Offer valid through April 30, 2009. Rate based on double occupancy.

$300 Resort Credit

Escape to warm weather and sunny skies at the new InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona, located in the warm, dry climate of the Sonoran Desert. Nestled in the foothills of picturesque Camelback Mountain and located just minutes from shopping, arts districts, restaurants and nightlife, the resort and 31,000 square-foot Joya spa is the newest and most luxurious way to soak in warmth and sun in the popular warm-weather destination.

In celebration of the most temperate of seasons, through June 14 stay 3 nights and receive a $300 resort credit to use in Joya Spa, Prado signature restaurant, Kasbah poolside restaurant and lounge or anywhere on the 23-acre resort property.

BOOK THE “EXPERIENCE MORE” PACKAGE NOW – CLICK HERE

For more information or to reserve this package, call one of our Experience Designers at 888-627-3010

Except for this year. The sun and baseball are still fixtures, but sky-high prices night in, night out, are mostly a memory. Hotels and resorts from Litchfield Park to Scottsdale, socked by the economy and the country’s biggest jump in room supply, have slashed rates or added freebies to lure vacationers and business groups.

Call it the hospitality industry’s economic-stimulus plan, an effort to save a season that financially carries tourism-dependent businesses through the summer doldrums.

Hotels and resorts that routinely command $300 to $500 a night during the winter are on sale for 15 percent to 20 percent off, with some dangling rates of $199 a night and less on select dates, as well as previously unheard-of last-minute deals.

The Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa has rooms for sale on Expedia.com for as low as $179 a night during the second week of March, the peak of the peak season. Stay a minimum of four nights, and the resort will throw in a $50 gift card.

The new InterContinental Montelucia Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley is offering rates on Travelocity .com starting at $195 a night in early March.

Hotels normally in those price ranges, such as the Hilton Scottsdale Resort and Villas, suddenly find themselves battling luxury competition they never had to worry about, on top of the recession. The result: Rates that have dipped below $100 a night on certain dates – rates normally seen only in the summer.

“The season as we know it is not happening,” said Susan Baer, area director of sales and marketing for the Hilton and its sister Scottsdale Road resort, Doubletree Paradise Valley.

Steve Moore, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau, is even more blunt.

“We’re in a very horrible situation,” he said.

Industry officials say the circumstances are more dire than after the 2001 terrorist attacks because the economic downturn is longer and more far-reaching.

“This is just in every facet of life,” Baer said.

The greater Phoenix hotel market registered the biggest drop in occupancy among 25 major markets last year, down 11.5 percent, according to Smith Travel Research. It also registered the biggest decline in revenue per available room, down 8.3 percent.

The pain has continued into 2009.

In the week that ended Feb. 14, which included the first part of the NBA All-Star festivities, occupancy was down 15.9 percent, with the average daily rate off 2.4 percent and revenue per available room down 18 percent, according to Smith Travel.

Year-to-date figures are not yet available, but preliminary estimates for January show Greater Phoenix with among the biggest declines in all the major categories, especially revenue per available room. Those figures are skewed somewhat by the 2008 Super Bowl in Glendale.

The area has taken a disproportionate hit for several reasons, the biggest being a significant increase in hotel rooms for sale. Metropolitan Phoenix led the country in room-supply increases in 2008, at 4.4 percent, thanks to the opening of W Scottsdale, Montelucia and the 1,000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, among others.

No other major city topped 4 percent. The U.S. average was 2.7 percent. Big newcomers opened late in the year, making this their first peak season.

Other factors:

• Luxury hotels dominate the landscape, and they have been the segment hardest hit by the Wall Street meltdown and general economic malaise. In January, occupancy in that category nationally was down 15 percent to 17 percent. Revenue per available room was off 22 percent to 24 percent, according to Smith Travel. That compares with averages of 10 percent to 12 percent and 15 percent to 17 percent, respectively.

One reason: Big businesses, which fill a majority of the rooms at the area’s largest resorts during peak season, are cutting back on their meetings and incentive trips because of the weak economy and increased public scrutiny of lavish events.

• Phoenix also has the disadvantage of being a fly-in destination. People have the added expense of an airline ticket to get here, and until recently, airfares were up sharply because of dramatic flight cutbacks by airlines coping with high fuel prices and, now, the recession.

“We don’t enjoy a huge population within 300 miles of greater Phoenix that many other destinations do have,” Moore said, citing California, Florida and Texas as examples of states that do. “That puts us at a disadvantage when these crises occur.”

In response, the Phoenix convention bureau this weekend launched its first-ever peak-season promotion of bargain room rates. The “Spring Stimulus” promotion at visitphoenix .com/springstimulus features a roundup of hotel and restaurant deals.

It is aimed at visitors and local residents and businesses seeking a bargain for a getaway or a meeting, something normally out of reach until the temperature creeps past 100 degrees and stays there for weeks.

The bureau has stepped up efforts in Southern California, too, to lure more spring-training fans given the addition of the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Cactus League. It also is targeting more trade associations, which meet once a year in good times and bad.

Potential tourists and business groups are getting a similar sales pitch from the hotels themselves.

“This is probably the best time in recent history to come to Scottsdale and the Phoenix market,” said Clark Albright, director of sales and marketing for the luxury Camelback Inn, a JW Marriott Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley.

“You’ve got all these four- and five-diamond hotels with distressed inventory.”

Albright said Camelback Inn is holding up relatively well because there was a lot of pent-up demand from regulars who stayed away last season during its $50 million renovation. It is seeing a payoff from a marketing and PR blitz about the makeover of its rooms, restaurant lineup and lobby. Still, its rates are far from usual levels.

Camelback Inn has extended its renovation introductory offer of $299 a night into peak season, which is down from the high $300 to low $400 range during the renovation a year ago. Its golf business is off 15 percent to 20 percent despite a decrease in rates of 25 percent.

Pete Ells, general manager of Royal Palms Resort and Spa, said that the luxury boutique resort in Phoenix surveyed its competitors’ leisure rates and found they each were down about $90 to $100 a night.

That’s not to say they’re giving away rooms. Top-of-the-line resorts command $400 to $500 a night and more on certain March dates with big demand.

Royal Palms and others are having to fill rooms with more vacationers than normal because of meeting cancellations. Ells said the decline in meeting attendance at Royal Palms, which gets 70 percent of its business from groups in peak season, has averaged 10 percent.

Albright said attendance at a doctors’ association meeting, a regular peak-season client, was off 45 percent as companies sent fewer representatives or skipped it altogether.

Resorts are using online travel agencies and discounters more than they have in the past during peak season. Albright said about 80 percent of Camelback Inn’s leisure business comes through Marriott reservations channels. That figure will drop to about 70 percent by the end of March as it sells rooms on Expedia.com and other Web sites.

“We’ve got to get our product on the shelf at a lot of different places in order to get the occupancy we want to get,” Albright said.

The sprawling Arizona Grand Resort, off Interstate 10 and Baseline Road in Phoenix, last week advertised on Travelzoo.com a special of $199 a night that included free golf, a $30 dining credit and $20 toward a massage. A year ago, the resort’s lowest price was $250, and that didn’t include freebies, managing director Richard Behr said.

“Everybody is prospecting,” he said.

More resorts are selling a limited number of rooms at fire-sale prices through deep discounters like Hotwire.com, where travelers don’t find out where they are staying until they’ve agreed to the price and location.

Winning bids for March stays include rates as low as $40 a night at Hilton and $70 at the newly renovated Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort, according to Web sites that track them.

Baer said, “We did not participate in those last year. We didn’t have to.”

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 Exclusive Scottsdale Spa Escape

Let the Wynd take you here to relax, dine, and spa in luxury. This one-night escape will feel like a week after invigorating spa treatments, gourmet breakfast overlooking the Four Peaks, and an afternoon on your private terrace overlooking serene desert vistas.

*Package Includes:

• One night in a luxurious mountain-view guestroom featuring gas fireplace and private balcony
• Two 60 minute spa treatment* from our comprehensive Spa menu
• Guest receives $50.00 Food and Beverage Credit per day.
• Unlimited use of our Private Club & Fitness Centre,including state-of-the-art facilities and workout programs
  such as Pilates, BodyFLOW® and Yoga
  

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Or, you can let us customize your spa vacation package today. Call our reservations department at 877-707-7760 or fill out our online request form.

CopperWynd Resort is one of the best spa resorts in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Spa will inspire the soul, swim in azure pools, golf at renowned courses, play tennis, work out at the Fitness Centre and complete your journey at Alchemy, CopperWynd’s award winning magical culinary adventure. Come Take the Journey at this one of a kind Arizona resort.

CopperWynd Resort and Club overlooks the breathtaking Sonoran Desert from its hilltop location on the border between Scottsdale and Fountain Hills. This AAA Four Diamond boutique resort property combines the luxurious services of an elegant private club with the spacious accommodations and amenities of a secluded vacation destination. Stunning desert vistas studded with saguaro cacti can be seen throughout the property, enabling guests to enjoy brilliant sunsets over a landscape possessing the stark, rugged beauty for which the American Southwest is famous. In keeping with this picturesque natural setting, the resort’s spa therapies and wellness services emphasize the importance of organic healing and rejuvenation.

In addition to an extensive menu of spa treatments incorporating elements of the surrounding landscape, visitors to CopperWynd can experience the myriad recreational offerings of Scottsdale, whose world-class golf, historic sites, and quaint storefronts are only 12 miles off property. The athletically inclined will delight in hiking and biking excursions through the five mountain ranges that surround the resort. Special packages including Pilates instruction are available for fitness enthusiasts, while couples can enhance romance with a package that involves in-room breakfast as well as spa treatments.

The travel industry might call it a “staycation” or a “naycation” – a quick, budget- focused getaway close to home.

But Chris and Heather Holm of Ahwatukee said their stay last Saturday in one of Arizona Grand Resort’s new villas was as romantic and luxurious a wedding night as they could have imagined.

The Holms, who married in Chris’s mother’s backyard Saturday morning, walked into a pristine luxury suite filled that was filled with rose petals and had a view overlooking a running brook and golf course. Pristine because the Holms were the first guests to stay in the Arizona Grand Villas, which opened Feb. 1.
Waiting for them in the room were chocolate covered strawberries and sparking cider — neither of the 21-year-olds care much for champagne.

“The whole thing was very nice,” Heather Holm said Sunday. “The view really makes you feel like you are somewhere else.”

Also happy was Chris’s mother, Tammie Holm of Ahwatukee, who gave the Suite Romance Package to the newlyweds. It cost less than $300.

“I checked all around for deals and this was the best I found,” she said. “You would pay at least $500 a night for something like this at another resort.”

All three thought it was great that the couple, who met at Mountain Pointe High School, were the Arizona Grand Villa’s first guests.

“That’s really why we are staying here,” said Chris Holms, who works as an assistant supervisor at a construction warehouse.

The Villas are a new residential part of the Grand and also part of a $52-million face lift for what used to be called the Pointe at South Mountain Resort . Money has also gone into renovating rooms and constructing a new lobby with a restaurant and pro-shop that will open in March.

The expansion began in 2007, about a year after the property was purchased by Grossman Co. Properties, which a decade ago renovated the Arizona Biltmore Resort.

The 100 villas, measuring 980-to-1,380-square-feet square feet, are the expansion’s crown jewels, said Richard Behr, the Grand’s managing director. About 70 percent of them have been sold to private investors, he said.

Some investors will keep them as second or third homes while others will treat them as investments and allow the resort to rent them out to vacationing couples like the Holms. All of the Villas are maintained by the resort and come with privileges including access to the resort’s golf course, hiking trails, mountain bikes, water park and more.

Behr expects many guests at the AAA Four Diamond-rated Grand will come from the Valley this year since convention business is down and out-of-state tourism has dropped off in the weak economy.

“Ahwatukee is a big feeder for us,” Behr said, noting that some of the community’s homes are on resort property.

Behr said about half of the resort’s business last year came from Valley visitors, including people who live as close as Tempe and Chandler. Scottsdale residents also like the resort, he said, and travel down to it because of the seven-acre water park and access to 50 miles of desert trials in South Mountain Park, he said.

Behr said Grand officials expect the trend to continue this year.

He said for many such guests, the resort itself is as important a part of a vacation as the destination – if not more so.

“We live in a world where we shop in warehouses and customer service is a recording,” he said. “Even in this economy people feel they deserve to come to a nice place and reconnect with their family. For kids, staying in a hotel is magical. It’s a chance to experience a lifestyle they don’t normally get to experience.”

Michelle Donati, public affairs supervisor for the Arizona Automobile Association, said the trend Behr has identified is going on statewide.

Other popular resorts for “staycations” include the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass near Ahwatukee and Chandler, Westin Kierland Commons Resort in north Phoenix and The Arizona Biltmore in north central Phoenix. They have packages that give an additional free night to anyone who stays three or four nights, she said.

“The economy hasn’t eliminated the need for people to get away but it is making them stay on budget,” she said.

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At cozy studio, women scrapbook and crochet, relax and bond

On a quaint corner of downtown Mesa that feels like you’ve washed ashore somewhere else, a new “staycation” destination is setting female hearts aflutter.

Blissful Living Studio is a candy-colored retreat where ladies gather for domestic-goddess classes. They crochet cupcakes, sew skirts, learn to plan a party like a queen and learn from each other. Imagine a scrapbook class, a Project Runway episode and the Anthropologie catalog all squished together, and you’re there.

Housed in a vintage brick building with old wooden floors, Blissful Living Studio offers classes on parenting and pillow-making, smart-shopping strategies and sewing aprons. There’s even yoga and, this fall, a charm school for teenage girls.
How’s this for fun: The walls are turquoise, the sofas floral and hot pink, and there’s a cabinet stacked with gumball-hued ribbon. This is pampered, pretty crafting: Students sit in deep armchairs with fat white cushions, and paper umbrellas hang from the ceiling. Guests can curl up in a corner and read The Summer House Cookbook or shop for papaya candles. If you take a class on making a skirt, the fabric has already been cut out for you.

On the wall, oversize metal letters spell “Be grateful,” and, oh yes, women are.
Thanks go to owner Kristin Alber, long adored in Mesa for her home boutique, Domestic Bliss, which is conveniently next door. Women like their learning with a little shopping, s’il vous plait.

“Everyone has their strengths,” says Alber, 35, who lives nearby in a restored vintage bungalow. “I love to entertain, but I cannot cook to save my life. Everyone has something to bring to the table, and women are looking for somewhere to share their experiences.

“We’re needing more of that sense of community and bonding with others, especially now,” she says.

This studio, she thought, was the answer, just touchy-feely enough to be as satisfying as a great chick flick, with crafting, to boot.

Alber is also focusing on local ladies worshipped in the creative world. Fabric and scrapbook designer Heather Bailey of Mesa taught a class on strawberry pincushions that ended with homemade ice cream. Beloved Mesa blogger Stephanie Nielson teaches yoga and shows guests how to make the old-fashioned photo silhouettes featured on her journal, The NieNie Dialogues.

“We’re doing all these things that people forgot about,” says Alber, “and remembering how fun it is to do them.”

On a steamy Friday afternoon in July, Pam Spong dragged her daughter-in-law, Erin Spong, to Blissful Living for a craft session. They made magnet boards coated in pretty paper and laughed the whole way through.

They discussed the varied merits of Colin Firth and the questionable decor skills of husbands. The ladies twittered over Erin’s luck in having a mother-in-law she adores. There was much sighing over each other’s creations and even talk of a scrapbooking cruise.

“If this place isn’t inspiring, then you’ve got a problem,” said Pam, 56, of Scottsdale, as she fiddled with her board. “Ooh, I want rickrack. No, that would be too much.”
Alber has big plans for fall. There will be Halloween crafts galore and a visit from a designer for Pottery Barn Kids. The studio is also open to house your bridal shower, your girls night out, even kids parties. The Blissful Living elves will decorate and find someone to cater. Come December, Alber envisions one night when women come together for a marathon Christmas gift-wrap session, with glittery paper and ribbon and tags piled for their use, and if that isn’t a gift to womankind, what is?

“I’m in that place in my life where I’m like, ‘What am I doing with my family and my kids?’ ” says Alber, mother of three. “Everything that I’m doing I want to be purposeful.”
It’s completely reinvigorating, she says, to sit in a pretty room with other moms and talk about ways to enjoy the small moments with your children or even just make a bracelet for yourself.

“Involving yourself in the things you want to be focused on makes you stronger in those areas,” Alber says. “You know how an exercise teacher is always in good shape.”

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Arizona a ‘hot’ spot vacation destination

When it comes to tourism, Arizona is becoming a “hot” spot.
In fact, Tina Miller with the Office of Tourism says 2007 was a record-breaking year with 35 million visitors coming to the state.

Over one and a half more than the previous year.
Miller says this is great news for the state. “Tourism is probably the only industry in Arizona that affects every single county. And every single county in Arizona depends on these visitors to not only bring money into their location but also just to make them a vibrant destination.”

Miller says tourism brought in just over $19 billion last year.

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Locals staying home ease Arizona’s tourism losses

The Arizona Grand Resort’s sprawling water park attracts throngs of local residents.

Every year for the past few years, Ashley Cornils and her fiance have headed out of town over the Fourth of July, cooling off in San Diego, Colorado or Seattle.
They wanted to go back to San Diego again this year, to their favorite Marriott near Seaport Village, but instead will venture up Interstate 17 to Prescott or Flagstaff.
“When we were talking about this weekend this time around, we were figuring it was going to cost $1,000 for a three-day trip,” said Cornils, 32, a Scottsdale banker. “It’s expensive to drive out to California.”

Staying closer to home is the major item on many vacationers’ itineraries this summer. Record gas prices, higher airfares, the limp economy and sour stock market have sliced into travel budgets, disappointing some travelers — but delivering a welcome lift to the local tourism industry.

Scottsdale is the new San Diego for some, and travelers who used to make the White Mountains a pit stop on the way to Colorado or Utah are plunking down there and staying.
The increase in local visitors, fueled in part by heavy marketing efforts, helps hotels, restaurants and attractions offset the loss of business from penny-pinching travelers in California and elsewhere who are themselves staying close to home.

In metro Phoenix, the extra local business provides a lift in the always-challenging summer season, one made even more difficult this year by the weak economy.
“The economic downturn,” said Richard Behr, managing director of the Arizona Grand Resort, “in a strange way has been a little bit of a windfall for us.”

The 640-room resort always attracts throngs of local residents drawn to its sprawling water park. This year, the number of Arizona license plates in the parking lot has surged.
In June, nearly half the resort’s guests were from Arizona, a 72% increase from a year earlier, Behr said.

“More people, I think, are choosing not to go to SeaWorld and Disneyland because of gas and because of airfares,” he said.

The Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix, another family favorite for its water park, has also seen a surge in local guests snatching up two-room suites that start at $99 a night.

Most years, about half the Pointe’s summer guests are local. This year, the figure is up to about 70%, General Manager Teri Agosta said.
Even better for the resort: They are frequenting its restaurants and spa.

“If they don’t travel as far, they’re not spending that dollar on the airline, so they might spend half of it (the savings) in the resort,” Agosta said.

At the trendy Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, the percentage of local business has topped 70% already, up from the mid-60s the past two summers.
At the same time, business from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, usually big feeder markets given summer rates that start at $99 a night, is down.

“They don’t want to drive here anymore,” said Jesse Thompson, Valley Ho director of sales and marketing.

At the other end of the spectrum, some metro Phoenix resorts, luxurious as they may be, are seeing a lift from vacationers trading down from pricier, far-flung destinations.

Northern Californians Bruce and Rhonda Prothro are stayed with their two children at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Phoenix because airfare to Hawaii was too expensive. They used frequent-flier miles to get here and timeshare points for the room. They rented a small car to save on gas.
Bruce has been taking advantage of bargain-basement golf — three rounds for the price of one in peak season — and the family has been treating itself to nice dinners.

“It allows you to do more because you can stretch your buck,” Bruce Prothro said.

Overall, the Westin Kierland has seen many more Phoenix residents than out-of-towners hanging around its pools and roasting s’mores at the fire pit. Business-wise, it basically becomes a wash, Westin spokeswoman Stephanie Dowling said, because the resort is seeing fewer guests from San Diego, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

However, the boost in local business isn’t enough to offset the broader impact of the weak economy and other trouble spots the industry has been struggling with this year.

Overall hotel and resort occupancy in greater Phoenix was down nearly 12% from a year earlier in June, compared with a nationwide decline of about 4%, according to preliminary statistics from Smith Travel Research.
“I’m not going to say we’re seeing growth (from last year),” Arizona Grand’s Behr said. “I would say we’re fairly flat.”

Northern Arizona is also seeing an influx of locals who are looking to beat the heat but avoid high travel costs.

“We’re getting the people who normally go to Colorado or Utah,” said Beverly Stepp, executive director of the Pinetop-Lakeside Chamber of Commerce. “Our visitor counts have gone up, and people are staying longer.”

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