Arizona Resorts/ Arizona Travel Deals / Arizona Golf / Spas in AZ

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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Arizona Resorts/ Arizona Travel Deals / Arizona Golf / Spas in AZ

Drop in hotel demand could spur suite deals

Valley hoteliers battle decline in bookings

A week ago, the two Pointe Hilton resorts in Phoenix started a promotion offering $99 room rates for three-night weekend stays in April and May.

That’s up to $70 off their normal room rates this time of year.

The popular all-suite resorts in north Phoenix were responding to a dip in bookings brought on by the weak economy.

“It’s (the resort’s business) softer than we’d like,” said Ron Simon, general manager of the Pointe Hilton Resort at Tapatio Cliffs.

That’s likely to be the mantra of hoteliers throughout the Valley this year, according to the annual industry outlook from the Valley Hotel & Resort Association.

Phoenix hospitality consultant Robert Hayward’s forecast wasn’t gloomy, like it was in the two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, but it was definitely lukewarm. He said demand and occupancy are expected to be down moderately this year for the second year in a row.

Demand, as measured by rooms occupied per day, fell 1.7 percent last year, the first decline since 2002. Occupancy also fell. Room supply was flat, which kept occupancy from dropping even more.

In the first two months of this year, which included the Super Bowl, the declines are even steeper. Year to date through February, demand is off 5.3 percent and occupancy is off 7.5 percent, according to data from Smith Travel Research. Nationally, the respective figures are -1.4 percent and flat.

“The economy’s the main driver,” said Hayward, of Phoenix-based Warnick & Co.

With recession talk, high gas prices and a credit crisis, vacationers and meeting planners alike are more hesitant to book trips or are waiting until the last minute to see how their budgets hold up.

“It is unclear right now where demand is going to go,” Hayward said. “There’s just a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace.”

Simon said the Pointe has noticed travelers are looking for bargains more than ever.

“People are much more watchful of their dollars,” he said, adding that the Pointes are encouraged by early response to the promotion.

Overall, average daily room rates in metropolitan Phoenix are expected to rise again this year for the sixth consecutive year, Hayward said. That has been the trend so far in 2008, with room rates up 6.4 percent, outpacing the national average with help from the Super Bowl.

The gains won’t be as healthy as they were the past few years, but it’s a positive sign amidst several negative ones. Revenue per available room, the industry’s key statistic that factors in occupancy and average daily rate, is likely to be up slightly to flat, Hayward said. Year to date, it’s up 3.1 percent.

How can room rates rise if the economy is weak? Some hotels are willing to book fewer rooms at a higher price as a financial strategy, Hayward said.

At the same time, many hotels and resorts have renovated or added amenities and can command a premium for them. This is especially true in the resort market, where Hayward said an “arms race” is under way. Name a major resort and it’s investing millions for a new look: the Phoenician, Wigwam, Scottsdale Princess, Four Seasons Troon North, Camelback Inn, to name a few. Both Pointes got a major makeover, including a new spa that opens next week at the Pointe Hilton Resort at Squaw Peak.

Hayward said there may come a time that consumers will resist ever-higher prices, with early evidence of that in the high end of the market.

“If rates get to a point where you start seeing price resistance, then people will start looking at alternative destinations or alternative (hotel) products,” he said.

Other projections:

• The weak dollar could be a bright spot as international travelers flock to the United States and U.S. residents forgo Europe. “We may see an increase this summer and the rest of the year in domestic travel,” Hayward said.

• Gas prices shouldn’t be a huge damper because Phoenix is a “fly-in” market rather than a “drive-in” market. Day-trip destinations, such as Sedona and the Grand Canyon, may suffer, though, he said.

• A lot of the long list of planned hotel and resort developments likely won’t happen, at least in the near future, given the credit crunch and the fact that many depended on a residential component to help foot the construction bill.

• The West Valley market, which saw the Valley’s only full-service hotel opening last year with the Renaissance Hotel Westgate, saw occupancy plummet 17.1 percent in the first two months of this year, given a rush of new hotels for the Super Bowl. Demand and average daily rate were up, but Hayward said the market bears watching.

“It’ll be interesting to see whether those hotels will be able to maintain those demand levels and rate levels,” he said.

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You know, when winter-storm warnings flash across the Weather Channel for most parts of the country and Arizonans start bragging about our balmy weather.

Greater Phoenix tourism officials are among those currently touting the states temperate climes, beckoning to chilled travelers around the country with splashy advertising spots featuring people eating outside, lounging by the pool or hiking.

This year’s campaign from the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau, debuting this month in Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, does something officials say its predecessors largely danced around: directly sells the area’s abundant sunshine.

The tagline, which will be used throughout the year, is “Shine On.”

Arizona’s good weather has always been implied, especially in photos, but it hasn’t been the main message until now.

“We want to really get the word out that we are about the sun, about the weather. This is not something we need as a Valley or as a destination to hide from,” said Kevin Kamenzind, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the bureau.

Economic boon

Tourism dollars are crucial to the state’s economy. In 2006, Arizona’s 34 million visitors spent $18.6 billion, up 6 percent from the previous year, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism. On average, tourists spent $50 million a day in Arizona, the bulk of it in Maricopa County.

Kamenzind said the convention bureau’s research found that people unfamiliar with the area first want to know what’s different.

In metro Phoenix’s case, it’s that you rarely have to worry about the weather, meaning that outdoor activities from hiking to dining abound.

“When you come to Phoenix, you virtually never have to do that,” Kamenzind said. “The sun’s going to shine when you come here to Phoenix, and when you come to Phoenix, just shine on.”

Summer heat

Might the campaign backfire in the searing summer months?

Julia Thorn, director of marketing communications for the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, one of two resorts partnering in the current Shine On campaign, said the Phoenix resort saw a sizable increase in out-of-town guests this past summer. Business was up 30 percent in July alone, with Texas and California the big feeder markets. Many were attracted, as are locals, by the rock-bottom room rates.

“In the past, there’s always been that hesitation to really talk about the heat because of the heat in the summer,” she said, “but they’re (guests) not afraid of the heat here, and they’re really embracing that.”

“New Yorkers can just hop a plane and come here for the weekend and not really have to worry about the weather,” she said.

Seeking all travelers

He conceded that some in the industry were a little confused when the campaign was unveiled earlier this fall.

The weather part of Shine On was easy enough to grasp, the emotional sense less so.

“People were afraid of it at first, saying, ‘Really, what does that mean, Shine On?’ ” he said. “It’s a little bit vague. At the beginning of any campaign, it takes awhile for it to get momentum. What we’re hoping is this is something that will gain that momentum.”

Arizona Resorts / Arizona Travel Deals / Arizona Golf

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Arizona is one of the most colorful places to vacation. Between enchanting sunrises and sunsets and the colorful fields, pine forests with the ever-changing climates and mountain ranges that seem to change colors by the minute, it is art for the eye.

There is much to do in Arizona. Vacation activities include golfing in world class courses, hiking, canoeing, and trout fishing. There are even areas where the temperature is such that you can water ski and snow ski in the same day.

A neat spot to sight see is the Apache Trail, which was initially built in the 1930s to support the development of the dams built by the Salt River. The drive is a loop drive of 80 miles that is partially dirt. This section provides the most amazing views of mountains with dense forestry. Along the way, you will go by Fish Creek Canyon. RV companies do not allow their vehicles to be driven on this drive due to the way the road hangs on the side of a very narrow, steep canyon.

Other destinations on the Apache Trail are the Goldfield Mining Town, which is a re-creation of an old west ghost town that was active over a hundred years ago. The Mammoth Mine produced three million dollars worth of gold in the mining years between 1892 – 1896.

Park lovers will love The Lost Dutchman State Park for exploring the mountains and hiking nature trails. There are a limited number of campsites and picnic facilities. Swimmers and boaters will enjoy Canyon Lake with its cool clear water and steep canyon walls.

Camping and picnicking is ideal here also.

Roosevelt Dam was originally built between 1905 and 1911 and restricts the water of the Salt River forming Roosevelt Lake. This dam was considered the world’s largest “cyclopean-masonry” dam, which means it was created in Greco-Roman style, using very large, irregularly shaped blocks. It is covered by concrete today.

There are other stops along the trail, such as Tortilla Flat, another old-west style settlement and Apache Lake formed by the Horse Mesa Dam. And we must not forget Tonto National Monument. This 2 story ruin, known as Sinaqua Indian Cliff looks down on Lake Roosevelt and is a delight to view.

One of the better known places to visit is Sedona. Beyond the beauty of this land, you are apt to feel the beauty of the people. This city is known for its artistry as many artisans have moved their home here. Many of the Native Americans believe the Sedona area is a spiritual one as they believe there is a vortex of energy coming from the earth’s electromagnetic fields.

Whether you believe there is anything to this belief of a heart being affected by this magnetic field or not, this enchanted area is sure to feed your soul with its atmosphere. whatever the time of the year, Arizona has something for everyone to enjoy.

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The Skywalk at Grand Canyon West, operated by the Hualapai Nation, opens March 28. Visitors walk out on a glass walkway suspended 4000 feet above the Grand Canyon floor

The Grand Canyon Skywalk has been rolled out from the cliff top at Grand Canyon West, giving visitors a bird’s-eye view of the world’s most famous chasm. This historic event, on March 7, 2007, was the final stage in the construction of the “glass bridge,” which will open to the public on March 28.

Built in the shape of a “U”, the Skywalk extends 70 feet out from the edge of the cliff. The walkway’s glass bottom gives an unparalleled view of the canyon floor and the Colorado River 4,000 feet below. The solid sides of the Skywalk help to counteract any feeling of vertigo as you stand suspended in the air, gazing at one of nature’s most spectacular creations from a new perspective.

The Grand Canyon was carved out of the vast Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River over a period of some 2 million years. It stretches for 277 miles through northwestern Arizona. Grand Canyon West, where the Skywalk is located, is the most remote of the access points to the canyon. It lies on Native American land belonging to the Hualapai Nation.

The man-made Skywalk’s statistics are equally impressive. The distance between the glass bridge and the canyon floor is more than twice the height of the world’s tallest skyscraper (the Taipei 101 building in Shanghai).

It took three years and more than a million pounds of steel to build the cantilever walkway. And it passed its engineering safety tests with flying colors. It can support the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 planes. It will be able to withstand an earthquake of 8.0 magnitude within 50 miles, and winds over 100 miles per hour from eight different directions.

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Scottsdale, long renowned for its luxury golf and spa resorts, havens for rich — and aging — baby boomers, is becoming suddenly hip.

Scottsdale ranks low in ‘hip’ spots

A handful of minimalist boutique hotels, modeled after the famed W brand, have sprouted in the city’s chic downtown district.

The boutique boom is changing Scottsdale’s tourism image. And its clientele.

Are the new urban inns muscling out the traditional resorts and their traditional visitors?

 It will help round out the offerings in Scottsdale. Communities can get pigeon-holed if they don’t change with the times.”

The sprawling destination resorts — the Hyatt, the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, The Phoenician, Westin Kierland, and the like — provide a place where visitors can come to be pampered, entertained, wined and dined, and never leave the property till it’s time to board a plane for home.

The boutique hotels are small and sandwiched into a busy, crowded commercial downtown area.

The new-style properties are compact, lacking such amenities as golf courses, tennis courts and a multitude of swimming pools and restaurants.

The new urban hotels — the Hollywood-fave Mondrian, yuppie hangout Valley Ho and the coming-soon W, the undisputed national niche leader — are attracting the Gen-X and Gen-Y travelers.

Uninterested in the more serene and relaxing resort scene, the 20- and 30-something urbanites previously stayed away from the desert city.

But hip hoteliers such as New York-based Morgan Hotel Group, parent of Mondrian, and San Francisco-based Kimpton, which transformed an old-style hotel into the trendy FireSky, are causing the yuppie travelers to notice Scottsdale.

“They are bringing a whole new demographic to Scottsdale,”
“They are younger, urban and looking for a different experience.”

The new crowd is just as affluent as the resort-goers and they are more likely to leave the hotel property for entertainment.

They are attracted to a vibrant night life, adventurous day-time activities and occasionally a golf outing or a pampering spa treatment.

“We get people from all walks of life, but our No. 1 customer is the young, in the 30s, business traveler,” said Jesse Thompson, marketing director of the Valley Ho.

The Valley Ho fits both images. A destination resort for previous generations, the 50-year-old property was made-over into a trendy, urban hotel in 2005. Thompson has since watched several other urban properties move into the area.

But he said that’s good for business.  Having a cluster of hip hotels increases national awareness of Scottsdale’s new image — one that he said hasn’t quite caught up to reality — yet.

The Waterfront, with its complex of chic shops and eateries, will help, Thompson said.

And so will the W, slated to open in February.  Scottsdale was “an obvious choice” for Arizona’s first W, said Michael Mahoney, chief executive officer of Triyar Hospitality, which is building the signature brand. Triyar, which owned choice downtown property for some time, decided a few years ago that the time was ripe to build.

“Clearly the dynamic of Scottsdale has changed dramatically. You can see it in the sports cars, the younger crowds in restaurants, and the tourists — young, exciting people looking for a Western experience,” Mahoney said.

But he agrees with Sacco that the resorts and the urban hotels are complimentary, not competitive.

“If you want to get away from it all, you will go to Scottsdale and stay at a resort,” he said.

“If you want to get involved, you will go to Scottsdale and stay at the W.”

The ‘‘trendy” list
Mondrian
Valley Ho
FireSky
Hotel Indigo
Hotel Scottsdale
Under construction
The W hotel is expected to open in February.
Planned
1, the new eco-conscious Starwood brand hotel, is planned, but has yet
to begin construction.

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Scottsdale Arizona Resorts

There’s no denying those triple-digit temperatures in the heart of the Sonoran Desert at this time of year.

“Why not?” my friend Lucy asked? We have everything right here in our own back yard – world-class resorts, luxury spas, upscale shopping environments, a huge selection of museums and cultural happenings, and an endless variety of outstanding places to eat. Near the northern edge of Scottsdale and nestled beneath Pinnacle Peak, the resort has clustered adobe casitas set into the hollows of a gentle hillside. Some of the suites even have private plunge pools, garden showers and kiva fireplaces on the patios.

The resort’s small but posh spa claims to take its inspiration from Native American healing rituals and promotes such indigenous ingredients as ground Sonoran pumice, Saguero blossoms, and Sedona Red clay. For my pampering experience at the spa, one in which I am to “sweat out my body’s toxins,” I let aesthetician Lisa wrap me in unbleached linen sheets soaked in a tingly-fresh white willow bark infusion.

A nice touch: The high-powered telescope in our suite. The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess is modeled after a Mexican hacienda and has five pools, as many restaurants, a 27-hole golf course, (think air-conditioned golf carts!) lagoon fishing and an upscale shopping arcade. The 650 rooms are clustered around pretty tiled courtyards filled with fountains, fragrant shrub-size rosemary, and brightly-hued bougainvillea cascading from every window box.

In the lavish Willow Stream Spa, we follow the sound of rushing water to find a lovely man-made waterfall, inspired, it seems, by Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon. Upstairs, at its source, there’s an adults-only “mesa” pool with private cabanas for relaxation, a massage, or an afternoon snooze. Popular treatments for men include hand and foot grooming and stress relief and jet-lag massages.

The very chi-chi Phoenician offers a complete contrast to the two afore-mentioned resorts. Instead of natural desert vegetation, the multi-storied lodgings are surrounded by a meticulously landscaped garden of bright flowers and expansive green lawns. An acre of water gardens called “The Oasis” has seven terraced pools, large and small, including an adults-only cluster of tiled hot tubs. There’s even a pool with Mother-Of Pearl tiles. Golf and tennis?

Nice touches: Daily afternoon tea in the British tradition; a two-acre cactus garden that’s absolutely stunning at sunset.

Definitely worth checking out!
Taking time for the visual arts

What a shame to be in Phoenix and not spend a morning or two perusing some of the country’s finest art museums! The Heard Museum is Arizona’s premier cultural institution. Magnificent rugs and pottery, delicately-woven baskets, handsome Navajo, Zuni and Hope jewelry, and hundreds of kachina dolls, (many from the Barry Goldwater Collection) attest to the creativity of countless, mostly nameless Native American artists whose work is proudly exhibited here.

Within the labyrinth of halls and galleries of The Phoenix Art Museum is an admirable collection of paintings and sculpture from the Renaissance to the present.

Scottsdale may be obsessed with art featuring lonesome cowboys and solemn Indians, but the boldly designed Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art also contains cutting-edge art, from the abstract to the absurd. Our favorites – a pair of Dale Chihuly art-glass installations in an adjacent building. A desert ‘island’

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright fell in love with the Arizona desert and, in 1937, built Taliesin West. “The desert is ours.”
… Along the garden’s miles of footpaths, some 4,000 clearly-marked species exist – mostly cacti, succulents and wildflowers. Among our favorites: bony-fingered ocatillos, paddle-shaped prickly pears, spiny agaves and aloes, barrel cacti, and the giant cactus known to everyone who’s ever seen a western movie – the stately Saguaro (pronounced “Sawaro.”)

Don’t forget to look for the wild creatures that seek cooler temperatures at night too. The indoor/outdoor ‘sport’ of choice

Few regions in America offer such an exceptional range of shopping experiences. From charming antique shops and boutique art galleries to “Main Street” districts and some of the nation’s most fashionable malls, shopping in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area offers sure-to-please “retail therapy” of every ilk.

We blitzed through a few of the most prominent shopping venues in the Valley – Biltmore Fashion Park, Kierland Commons, and Scottsdale Fashion Square.

If you think that shopping doesn’t fit into the theme of “keeping cool,” think again. “Misters” in the mall?
  
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