CopperWynd Resort, the Fountain Hills hotel with striking views of Scottsdale and the McDowell Mountains, is closing its doors indefinitely as a result of the economy.

Starting Monday, the upper level of the resort’s main building and all 32 European-inspired guest rooms will close until further notice. The resort’s upscale restaurant, Alchemy, also will cease operations.

Spa, fitness, tennis and pool areas will stay open for private members, according to the resort’s Web site.

“The circumstances dictating this course of action are unfortunately unavoidable,” said CopperWynd manager Doug DeLong in a letter to resort members.

Straddling an area between Scottsdale and Fountain Hills, the four-diamond resort debuted in 1999 to much fanfare. Its grand opening included a 26,500-square-foot country club with a spa, fitness center, nine tennis courts and three swimming pools.

Alchemy, which serves New American cuisine with a Sonoran flair, reopened with a new design in 2001.

Five years after courting investors for a potential expansion project, the resort has suffered from decreased spending and low occupancy, DeLong said in the letter.

By funding a “sizable” deficit every year, ownership has “done everything” to ward off a closure, he said.

The resort and club, which overlooks a nearby golf club and mountain ranges, was ranked second on Arizona list in Condé Nast Traveler Gold List World’s “Best Places to Stay” in 2007. It has been honored as a Four Diamond Award winner in AAA’s recognition program every year since 2003.

Frank Ferrara, president and CEO of the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce, called the luxury inn the “jewel” of Fountain Hills. He remembered when owners first posed plans for the project.

“We just thought it was great and a beautiful concept,” Ferrara said. “(The property) was just a mountain then.”

According to Ferrara, there is no time limit on the closure. The resort’s economic hardship is “a hardship on everybody,” he said.

“The amenities are going to be there for the members as long as they can continue to operate on it. I imagine (operators) are exploring all their options.”

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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

Free Furlough Fridays

Fridays in Arizona. You don’t have to be a California state employee to get in on the “Free Furlough Fridays” deal at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa outside Phoenix — you just have to be a California resident. Present a valid California ID to get Friday night accommodations for free at this resort along the Gila River when you stay a Thursday or a Saturday at rates starting at $199. Deal also includes $25 Aji Spa credit and $50 gasoline card. Use promotional code CALI2009 when booking. (602) 225-0100

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Hotel – Click to Play Dining – Click to Play Golf – Click to Play Spa – Click to Play

The resort is located in the Sonoran Desert on an expanse of rugged Arizona landscape where the ancient vistas, mountains and roaming wild horses remain untouched. A unique blend of two cultures, the resort offers the quiet serenity created by Native American tribes who found haven here.  This destination resort includes two 18-hole Troon-managed golf courses, the Aji Spa, a 17,500 square foot spa with 17 treatment rooms, the Koli Equestrian Center for riding lessons, trail rides and outdoor events, and is also equipped with tennis courts and jogging trails. We offer four pools with cascading waterfalls and a 111-foot waterslide modeling the ancient Casa Grande Ruins.

Enjoy the 2-1/2 mile replica of the Gila River that meanders through the resort grounds with scenic boat rides to shuttle guests to the Whirlwind Golf Club and nearby Wild Horse Pass Casino. Let the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort’s professionally trained staff plan your event, for groups of ten to 2,000, in extensive function space including a 17,376 square foot ballroom and an abundance of scenic outdoor venues. Experience a truly unique resort with a multitude of on-site activities in a spectacular setting.. ]]> http://arizonaresortsgetaway.com/travel/2009/02/28/phoenix-az-spa-resort-special-for-california-drivers/feed/ 0 http://arizonaresortsgetaway.com/travel/2009/02/24/hotels-for-white-sox-spring-training-phoenix-az/ http://arizonaresortsgetaway.com/travel/2009/02/24/hotels-for-white-sox-spring-training-phoenix-az/#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:56:10 +0000 Arizona http://arizonaresortsgetaway.com/travel/?p=665

Hotels for White Sox spring training
Many places to stay near stadium in Phoenix

WHERE TO STAY

The west side of Phoenix is a sprawling expanse of sunbaked and comparatively faceless little towns stuffed with housing tracts that extend for miles. But being here makes more sense than staying in downtown Phoenix because of the hassle of driving back and forth about 20 miles each way to the stadium. Instead, fans will be best off near the new stadium, Camelback Ranch in Glendale.

Some options:

Comfort Suites,  Closest to the grounds (1.1 miles), this year-old hotel is the most convenient option. The hotel also has a free stadium shuttle. The White Sox front office staff has latched on to most of the rooms, so availability is minimal. Rates start at $179, but most of the remaining available rooms are upgraded suites and will cost about $239 and up.

Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa. This upscale hotel, 3.2 miles from the stadium, is near the open-air Westgate City Center, which has more than 15 bars and restaurants, a 20-screen movie theater and a handful of shops. But it has limited availability in March, with rates from $149 to $349.

Hampton Inn & Suites Glendale-Westgate. The Hampton Inn is a five-minute walk across a huge parking lot to the Westgate City Center and is a little more than 3 miles from the stadium. The Hampton is about half-booked for March. Rooms run from $179 to $209.

Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa. This sprawling low-rise property, with most rooms in casitas, has three pools, three golf courses and a new spa. Wigwam, about 5 miles from the stadium, has good availability in March, with rates from $259.

Glendale Gaslight Inn. A comfortable B&B 8.2 miles from the stadium, in Glendale’s historic district. Each of the 10 rooms is themed. The ones we checked were nicely decorated and spacious. Rates run from $145 to $179, and there is availability in March.

Others: Nearby is a cluster of mid-priced Glendale hotels adjacent to Westgate and about 4 miles from the stadium. All show decent availability for March.

Holiday Inn Express, from $179

Staybridge Suites, $189

SpringHill Suites, $209,

Residence Inn by Marriott/Glendale, $209

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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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In the dictionary, paradise is defined as “a state of bliss, felicity or perfect delight, an Eden.” So it takes a lot of chutzpah to call a place Paradise Valley. Yet, here in central Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, that’s just what they did.

The credit for the name is given to the promoter of a 19th-century canal project that was intended to turn the arid landscape into a Garden of Eden. Using a phrase that would do justice to a Madison Avenue advertising firm, when he saw the area in early spring, blanketed in wildflowers and Palo Verde trees in full blossom, he was said to declare, “This is Paradise Valley.”

Located between Phoenix and Scottsdale, with the Camelback and Mummy Mountains towering above it, Paradise Valley is a top-notch resort destination, with a dozen ultra-chic properties from which to choose. Among them are Camelback Inn and the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, two properties that regularly crop up in travel magazines’ best-of lists. But as of November 2008, these venerable resorts have some stiff competition from the new kid on the block.

Montelucia (“mountain of light”) is the InterContinental Hotel Group’s first resort-style property in the United States, and after five years in the making and a $300 million investment, it is ready to meet the old-timers head-on. Nestled on 34 acres at the foot of picturesque Camelback Mountain, Montelucia’s landscape and architecture are inspired by the Andalusian region of southern Spain. You see it at the reception area on the main Cortijo Plaza, and in the courtyards, fountains, colorful mosaics and tiles throughout the grounds. You can see it in the dancing waters of the Alhambra Walkway, modeled after the Alhambra Gardens in Grenada, Spain.

But just as Andalusia was influenced by the Romans, Greeks and Moors who occupied it, so the resort has used these cultural influences to temper the Spanish flavor. Just steps from the Alhambra Walkway is Prado, the signature restaurant, and although the paintings on its walls are copies of El Grecos and Goyas that can be found in its namesake Madrid museum, the restaurant itself is inspired by Michelangelo’s Villa San Michele in Italy’s Tuscany region. Another touch of Italy can be found in the resort’s private wedding chapel, Castillo Lucena, with its antique wooden doors and a ballroom representative of the one at Venice’s Hotel Cipriani.

To go from Italy to Morocco, you simply cross the resort’s main courtyard. Playing on the Spanish word for jewel, the Joya Spa has all the requisite spa and salon treatments — mineral and clay wraps, and customized body work featuring real gold and diamond dust — but its real standout is the modern interpretation of the Middle Eastern hammam, or Turkish bath.

There also is a hint of the Middle East at the Kasbah Poolside Bar, although its main attraction — apart from expertly mixed cocktails — is more international than Middle Eastern. Guests can order a sampler platter of more than a dozen kinds of french fries from around the world. You can savor white truffle fries with reggiano from Italy, Japanese fries with teriyaki wasabi dip, Swiss fries with cheese fondue, and New Zealand “chippies” with tartar sauce, among others. Believe me, you’ll never look at those spindly fast-food fries the same way again.

It is tempting to spend all your time taking advantage of everything that Montelucia offers — five swimming pools, the complimentary driving range at the Mountain Shadows Golf Club, the day camp-style Planet Trekkers Kid’s Club for children ages 5 to 12 (not just cut-and-paste crafts here; kids have their own Wii stations and a life-size checker/chessboard, as well as star-gazing, treasure hunts, gelato tastings and pajama jams with dinner and a movie). But taking at least a day to explore the Sonoran Desert is a must.

The McDowell Sonoran Preserve has been created from vast acreage of state trust land. To date, 16,460 acres — roughly half of the preserve — has been given protected status. The area is home to ancient Indian artifacts (in the 19th century, the area was the stronghold of several tribes of the Apache nation); the stately saguaro cactus, which grows only in southeastern California, southern Arizona and northwestern Mexico; and a rich abundance of wildlife, including mountain lions, deer, javelinas, Gila monsters, tarantulas and desert tortoises. Visitors can explore the preserve several ways — on horseback, on a mountain bike, on a guided hike, and one of the most popular, on a Desert Storm Hummer Tour.

Other recreational activities include backpacking, rock climbing and rappelling, hot-air ballooning, and cowboy trail rides and cookouts. Those who look to experience the cowboy way beyond trail rides and campfires can enroll in the Arizona Cowboy College, where the dorms are bunkhouses and the desert floor under starry skies, and the curriculum is cutting, branding and driving cattle.

City slickers needn’t worry. Scottsdale and Phoenix offer a variety of activities, including a leisurely browse through Scottsdale’s Desert Botanical Gardens, with its Cactus House, Succulent House and Sonoran Desert Ecology Trail, and a day at some of the Phoenix’s fascinating museums. They include the nationally acclaimed Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art and the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park, built on the site of 1,000-year-old Hohokam Indian ruins (the Hohokam were a prehistoric people who came to Arizona from northern Mexico about 300 B.C.)

But whatever you choose to do, you’ll find a welcoming oasis back at Montelucia. From the resort’s natural beauty to its warm, ever-helpful staff, it backs up the claim of its personable general manager, Valeriano Antonioli, who says, “I believe we have succeeded in creating the most magnificent resort in the Valley.”

If You Go

Montelucia

The resort has 252 guest rooms, 39 suites and two magnificent presidential suites. All are decorated in the vibrant colors of the Southwest, and many have panoramic views of Camelback Mountain. Dining opportunities range from the fine-dining restaurant Prado and the adjoining Mbar, featuring a selection of tapas along with 100 percent agave tequilas, to the Crave Café, the place to go for a quick snack, a Lavazza coffee or a frothy gelato. The 31,000-square-foot Joya Spa has 19 treatment rooms offering a full menu of spa services, and the salon is under the direction of famed New York celebrity stylist Ray Issa, whose clients have included models and the Sex and the City women. One of the property’s unique features is the Castillo Lucena Wedding Chapel, the only private wedding chapel at a luxury resort in Arizona. Room rates begin at $145 in summer and $245 the rest of the year. 

Where to eat: Montelucia has enough culinary opportunities that you never have to leave the property, but just in case you want a night out in Scottsdale, head for Upstairs at the Estate House  for pre-dinner cocktails on the spectacular rooftop patio before heading over to Digestif  for dinner. A few suggestions from the menu: butternut squash soup, artisan pasta made fresh daily, and pan-seared grouper with onion and bacon-braised cabbage and garlic fondue, accompanied by a crisp California chardonnay or a fruity Spanish Rioja.

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Royal Palms Resort and Spa in Phoenix has been named one of the 100 Best Luxury hotels in the world according to the 2009 Travelers’ Choice by TripAdvisor. With 117 custom-appointed guest rooms, swimming pool, an award-winning restaurant and intimate courtyards hidden within lush, 100 percent green gardens and grounds, the Royal Palms is the definition of a sumptuous environment of great comfort and ease. 

To help guests get comfortable, the Royal Palms offers luxurious and private in-suite spa experiences in the Alvadora Spa Terraces. These accommodations, designed by world-renowned spa designer Sylvia Sepielli, feature some of the resort’s most stunning views of Camelback Mountain rising above tiered gardens, trickling fountains, crackling fire pits and a reflecting pool. Inside, guests will find mosaic tiles, leather furnishings and four-poster daybed with built-in therapy bed and draped in white linen, two plasma televisions, a Bose stereo, a European soaking tub and a fireplace. Spanish guitar serenades herald the setting sun.

We focused on creating a spa lifestyle rather than a hotel room Sepielli said.

Guests selecting the Alvadora Spa Terraces receive a personalized tour of the suite, 10 percent of retail purchases in the spa and daily greetings including a daily intention card, a stone of the day and a suggested yoga pose to help balance the energy in one of the body’s seven chakras. Upon arrival, these pampered guests are met with a surprise welcome smoothie. Five special indulgences are offered (for additional fees) only to Alvadora Spa Terrace guests including: Hair Ritual (hydrating and rejuvenating hair), the Journey Manicure (an intensive chakra-based treatment), the Journey Pedicure (an aromatherapeutic foot ritual), Thai Massage (a relaxing yet energetic therapeutic massage) and the Savasana (an treatment that energizes the solar plexus, sacral heart, root and crown chakras).

Of course, comfort is only one aspect of the luxury equation. Ease is the other. Unfortunately, romance can make some people very uncomfortable, especially around Valentine’s Day or weddings. Fortunately, the Royal Palms has a Director of Romance making it easy for guests to get the romance right.

My role as Director of Romance goes way beyond ordering flowers and making dinner reservations; it’s more that of a personal romance coach, especially for the ‘romantically challenged.’ It’s designing the complete, personalized, over-the-top experience that I look forward to, and I have the perfect stage for doing so at Royal Palms,” said Robert H. Vickrey upon being named Director of Romance in September 2008. Vickrey had spent more than a year as the Maitre D’ at the Royal Palms’ ultra-romantic restaurant, T. Cook’s before becoming Director of Romance.

The Royal Palms Resort lends itself to romance, from single nights away from home to destination weddings. Guests can take romantic strolls along the stone-paved walkways through 100 percent organic gardens filled with poppies, calendula, snapdragons, purple cornflowers, black-eyed Susans and none of the gravel found in most landscaping around the Valley. Regal Spanish colonial architecture incorporating state of the art materials and unique details from the namesake row of palm trees, 250-year-old fountain and laja negra dating back to 1692 at the entry to the ceramic tile “Lady of Spain” mural from the Delos Cooke’s original home, offer the ideal romantic setting for photos, meals and weddings.

The resort and landscaping are so enchanting, we don’t have to embellish the property at all and are able to focus on fulfilling the couple’s special requests,” explained Jocelyn Kraus, director of catering.

The culinary program and signature T. Cook’s restaurant, under the direction of Executive Chef Lee Hillson has earned praise from just about everyone from America’s Top Restaurants to Zagats. In January 2009, T. Cook’s four-course Inauguration menu offers guests the opportunity get the taste of John McCain’s defeat out of their mouths with dishes inspired by, and in some cases served at, past Presidential Inauguration Dinners. The Inaugural Dinner menu is offered nightly throughout the month of January 2009 for $50 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Incidentally, guests who can correctly match the Presidents to their favorite dishes during January qualify for a one-night stay in the Royal Palms’ Presidential Suite. The winner will be drawn by Chef Hillson on February 2, 2009.

The Royal Palms Resort and Spa is a AAA four Diamond resort and one of 32 independent, upscale, luxury hotels, resorts and golf clubs managed by Destination Hotels & Resorts in the United States. A member of the Historic Hotels of America, the Royal Palms was built in 1929 as the winter home of New York industrialist and financier Delos William Cooke and his wife, Florence. After serving as the private residence of several of the Valley’s most prominent citizens, the property opened its doors to guests as the Royal Palms Inn in 1948. The property underwent a multi-million dollar renovation lasting 12 months in 1997

This time may be the most consequential by far. In terms of the money involved, in terms of Mesa’s decades-old struggle to build an identity, in terms of how a vast and economically vital swath of the city will develop over the next half-century, it could be the granddaddy of them all.

Only time will tell, of course, whether two big, super-fancy hotels and a convention center will really jump-start the kind of development Mesa is hoping for. But the city and two big-money developers are begging for the chance to find out.
The developers:

• DMB Associates of Scottsdale, which owns the northern portion of the General Motors Desert Proving Ground and hopes to turn those 5 square miles into a high-end urban business center. The land is directly east of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

• Gaylord Entertainment Co. of Nashville, which wants to buy about 100 acres of DMB’s land to build an opulent hotel and convention center to pull in visitors from around the nation and world. The hotel – at least 1,200 rooms – would be the biggest in Arizona.

Voters are involved because tax money is involved.

Unhappy over several controversial development projects, Mesa voters in 2004 approved a charter amendment requiring an election whenever the city wants to spend $1.5 million or more for a sports or cultural facility, including a convention center.

The Gaylord convention center falls under that provision.

Tax breaks

It’s not that Mesa is actually spending public money up-front to build it. But City Attorney Debbie Spinner said that under terms of a development agreement among the city, DMB and Gaylord, Mesa will use tax breaks totaling far more than $1.5 million to help finance the project.

Those tax breaks will come in two ways:

• Over time, the Gaylord and a second resort will retain control of up to $51 million in bed taxes to be generated by the properties, as long as they use that money to promote Mesa tourism.

• The properties also will save millions in property taxes under a lease agreement with the city.

(Details of those arrangements will be spelled out in Mesa Republic stories Thursday and Friday.)

Geoffrey Woodward, vice president of development for Gaylord, said two independent economic analyses concluded the tax breaks are essential.

“For a project of this scale and magnitude, a public-private partnership incentive package is imperative,” Woodward said.

If voters reject the package, Woodward said, there are no alternatives on the table.

“Gaylord, DMB and the city of Mesa, under the constraints of Arizona and Mesa law, have spent countless man-hours, time, energy and resources to come up with this plan that we believe is the best strategy to bring this economic engine and catalyst not only to Mesa but to the region,” Woodward said.

“We’ve thought about many other plans but this is the best plan,” he said.

$1 billion investment

Mesa believes the benefits will far outweigh the costs.

For starters, there is the sheer size of the initial investment. City Manager Chris Brady has estimated that both hotels, the convention center, a championship golf course and other amenities, including retail, will cost at least $1 billion. Woodward estimated the project will create more than 8,000 construction jobs.

The initial cost estimate may be conservative; Gaylord estimates the final cost of its newest hotel and convention center, the Gaylord National near Washington, D.C., was $1.05 billion.

Even bigger than the one-time construction windfall would be the ongoing impact on Mesa’s bottom line.

To gauge that impact, Mesa commissioned an independent economic analysis by Phoenix-based Applied Economics. The report, dated Oct. 22, assumed that a second, 490-room resort would be built as planned, and said if the Gaylord hotel is built only to the minimum of 1,200 rooms Mesa can expect, over the next 50 years:

• $576.4 million in general-fund revenues, mostly sales taxes.

• $150 million in sales taxes for Mesa’s special Quality-of-Life program and street maintenance.

If the Gaylord is built with 1,500 rooms, the report said, Mesa’s total sales-tax collections will jump to $838 million over 50 years.

For a city faced with perpetual budget crises, that’s like pitching red meat into a lion’s den.

Mesa’s day at last?

But mere dollars and cents could not explain the jubilation last Sept. 3 when the city, DMB, Gaylord and other interested parties staged a triumphant announcement at the Mesa Arts Center with hundreds of people on hand.

It was the sense that after decades of obscurity in the shadows of Valley neighbors who were either bigger or, for various reasons, more famous, Mesa had finally arrived.

“This is where dreams intersect with reality,” Mayor Scott Smith said that morning.

The dream has long existed.

It sees Gateway Airport as the epicenter of a 21st century “aerotropolis,” an urban center teeming with education, high-end jobs and various kinds of housing, much of it high-density units intermingled with retail and other businesses.

Since buying the GM property in late 2006, DMB has worked with Mesa to develop a radical new zoning scheme for the area, much of which was codified last year in a series of historic City Council votes.

Grady Gammage Jr., a Valley lawyer and land-use expert who has worked closely with DMB, has said for years that a massive, upscale resort would be the ideal way to jump-start Gateway.

Gaylord already operates four huge hotel-convention centers, and its business model is to rotate groups from one property to the next year by year.

Gaylord, DMB and Mesa see it as the perfect match: Gaylord gets its longed-for destination in the American Southwest; DMB gets a property designed to attract other well-heeled businesses to its development; and Mesa gets not only all that tax money but, finally, a cachet befitting its big-city status.

If voters say yes and the ambitious project survives the withering economic storm, the two resorts are projected to open no later than Dec. 31, 2014.