Tucson Travel Guide

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Are Teen Lounges The Newest Hotel Trend?

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W. Starr Pass Boulevard [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
May 3, 2011 at 4:32 PM | by | Comments (2)

This might be the perfect place for Rebecca Black's follow up to her mocked hit smash single, "Friday."

Over Easter weekend, the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson opened their new Blur Lounge, a teens-only place where kids can socialize with each other and try out the latest cool gadgets like iPad2s, Playstations's 3Move game system and Xbox 360. There's also a movie area with a 46” LCD HDTV and a library of DVDs. We call dibs on High School Musical 1, 2 and 3!

Even though the place isn't quite as sexy as the Atlantis' teen nightclub, Crush, the Blur lounge will host a "Poptail Hour" every Saturday night from 6pm to 10pm where teens can make their own signature soda drink, play in Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 challenges and catch a movie in the theater.

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Forget Liposuction! Just Take a Trip to The Miraval Resort

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 5000 E. Via Estancia Miraval [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85739
July 29, 2010 at 1:23 PM | by | Comments (0)

If you're going to follow Kim Kardashian's Twitter advice and steer clear of plastic surgery, the Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa offers another option. The resort is partnering with integrative medicine trailblazer Dr. Andrew Weil for a new health and wellness program.

So instead of doing lipo, Miraval will teach people about weight management and how take charge of their overall health in a program that will launch in August.

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It's Not Because of Climate Change That You Can Ice Skate in the Desert

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W. Starr Pass Blvd. [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
December 10, 2009 at 9:39 AM | by | Comments (0)

The JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa may be smack-dab in the Sonoran Desert, but the hotel isn't letting the arid climate stop it from ushering the holidays with a winter wonderland complete with a 30-foot tree, sledding and ice skating.

The hotel will open Arctic Pass, an outdoor 1,500-square-foot synthetic ice rink and the first of its kind in Southern Arizona, when it kicks off its wintertime festivities on December 18. Santa will be in attendance, ditching the reindeer and arriving by helicopter at 8:30 p.m. After posing for pictures with the guy in the big red suit, hit the ice.

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JW Marriott Starr Pass Gets a New Sports Bar (Just in Time for Football Season)

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W. Starr Pass Blvd. [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
September 10, 2009 at 8:55 AM | by | Comments (0)

If you're ready for some football, spend the season opener at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa's new Catalina Sports Bar and Grill in Tuscon, Arizona.

Formerly dubbed Catalina Steakhouse, Catalina Sports Bar and Grill was reopened on Sept. 4 with a new casual tavern-style look, menu and focus on sports fans. Watch the kickoff from one of seven HDTVs and guzzle some beer from local breweries like Barrio and Thunder Canyon. If you visit during happy hour, daily from 4 to 6 p.m., all pints of draft beer cost $2.50, glasses of selected wines are $3 and all cocktails are $5. There are also daily specials available.

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JW Marriott Starr Pass Featured in 'Away We Go'

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W Starr Pass Blvd [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
July 28, 2009 at 12:17 PM | by | Comments (0)

Guh, did you see 'Away We Go' with John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph? It looked promising and Garden-State-esque, and it definitely delivered — lots of cute moments with generous shots of John Krasinski's face, backed by some pretty acoustic music and a whole lot of scenery changes. The movie is the story of a young couple (Krasinski and Rudolph) who goes on a journey across the country to search for a place to raise a family.

And in the scene where they go to Arizona to see Verona's sister, did anyone else manage to catch the hotel the couple dropped by? You know, where they had drinks on the patio and Krasinski's character awkwardly sorta-fell off the side of the balcony? It was the JW Marriott Starr Pass. Gorgeous, no?

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Round Up the Fam and Head to JW Marriott Starr Pass for Memorial Day

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W Starr Pass Blvd [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
May 11, 2009 at 1:00 PM | by | Comments (0)

Memorial Day is only two Mondays away (May 25th), so it's hot time you start doing your research to figure out where you're going for the long weekend — that is, if you happen to be so fortunate as to have the day off.

The always fam-friendly JW Marriott Starr Pass in Tucson is offering a special Memorial Day rate and lots of activities to keep everyone busy: on Saturday and Sunday, the resort is setting up arts and crafts or face painting and airbrush tattoos, a Hula Hoop Contest, a Watermelon-Eating Tournament, a Ping Pong Tournament, a Water Balloon Toss or Potato Sack Races, and, at night, a "Dive-In-Movie" at the pool.

On Sunday, the place will be decked out for a "tropical beach bash," complete with theme-y decor and drink specials, with a Summer Kick Off Beach Concert and carnival-ish games for the youngins — and (yay!) fireworks at the end of the evening.

Guests departing on Memorial Day (Monday) get a 3 pm checkout, and rates start at $159 — or you can opt for a room plus a $100-a-day resort credit starting at $239 per night. These rates are offered May 21 through May 25 only; use booking code PX3.

No kiddies? Um, we suggest you avoid the place on Memorial Day weekend — come the weekend before or after; golfin' and spa-ing will keep everyone happy and relaxed without the threat of rogue screaming children.

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Kick It With SpongeBob and Dora at Tucson's Starr Pass

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W Starr Pass Blvd [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
April 30, 2009 at 10:49 AM | by | Comments (0)

Hollywood can have its celebrities-gone-wild antics. In Tucson, Arizona, family-friendly Nickelodeon celebrities rule the scene, with A-listers SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer hanging out with guests at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa.

In the footsteps of other Marriott-Nickelodeon partnerships, Starr Pass is now offering a Nick Getaway program, which starts May 29 and will run every weekend this summer.

Kid-friendly perks include Dive-In Movies at the pool; Nickelodeon’s Character Breakfasts (with SpongeBob and Dora photo ops); poolside entertainment (Nick-produced skits, games, contests with slime); and arts and crafts (decorating flip-flops, t-shirt making, and sand art).

Weekend rates start around $269 per night.

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Cardinals Fans Can Take In the Super Bowl at JW Marriott Starr Pass

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W.Starr Pass Blvd [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
January 27, 2009 at 3:55 PM | by | Comments (0)

Ok, so maybe it's not Tampa — but surely the JW Marriott Starr Pass in Tucson is going to be a warmer spot to watch the Super Bowl than wherever you are right now, right?

In any case, if you're pulling for the Cardinals (or would like to be in a place where the people will be pulling for the Cardinals), JW Marriott Starr Pass' Catalina Steakhouse is throwing their first annual Super Bowl Party on Sunday.

Food and drink specials kick off at 11 am, and you can drink and eat to your heart's content while rooting for your team of choice playing on one of the 10 TV's or massive bigscreen in the place. Food and drink specials include:

· $4 well drinks, $4 import and domestic bottled beers, and $8 draft beer pitchers.
· $5 Super Bowl specialty cocktails: Margarita XLIII, The Referee, Touchdown Tea, and the Blitz.

Steelers fans: now we're just guessing here, but maybe this isn't the appropriate venue for you to watch the Super Bowl. Or maybe you could just watch it from your room — rates start at $389 this weekend.

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Taste the Tequila Not the Floor at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W Starr Pass Blvd [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
December 23, 2008 at 9:55 AM | by | Comments (4)

While we've been obsessing over some of the holiday cocktails hotels have been offering, we shouldn't neglect the year-round offerings of other resort. Especially when it comes to our favorite poison--Tequila.

The JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort in Tucson, Ariz. has dedicated every afternoon to tequila.

Every afternoon, guests are invited for a complimentary tequila toast to the “Legend of Arriba, Abaja” 5:30 p.m at Salud, the resort’s indoor and outdoor bar overlooking the Tucson Mountain Park and pool.... In addition, in November, the resort started offering tequila tasting classes offered by two Academia Mexicana del Tequilas (AMT) Tequilier Ambassadeurs. There are only a handful of people in the United States with the AMT distinction.

Salud even hand-crafts a new infused tequila each week using fresh fruits, berries, spices and other exotic flavors. This hotel certainly knows that the way to win our hearts is to do it with tequila.

The Weekly Tequila Tasting will be offered for $25 per person. The price includes the tequila tasting, light appetizers, education and materials. The topic of each tasting will change weekly, focusing on various tequila houses, styles, regionality, aging, and more.

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The Arizona Inn: 'The Place Luxury Hotels Imagine Themselves to Be'

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 2200 East Elm Street [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85719
February 11, 2008 at 9:00 AM | by | Comments (2)

We can't get enough of our Desert Retreats so here's one more to add to the list.

The Arizona Inn is a luxury boutique hotel in historic Tucson. An AAA four diamond hotel, it's also listed as a Conde Nast Traveler Gold List "World's Best Places to Stay." As one TripAdvisor critic put it, it's one of Arizona's "best kept secrets." The grounds are superb, although not typical for a desert resort.

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Mrs. Tennessee's Snakebite at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort 'Worse Than Childbirth'

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 7000 N. Resort Drive [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85750
August 31, 2007 at 11:45 AM | by | Comments (3)

This might take the prize for this week's wackiest hotel news story: Last Sunday, Mrs. Tennessee, a contestant in the 32nd Mrs. America contest, was bitten by a rattlesnake while walking to rehearsals at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, where the pageant has been underway since August 22. The wily herp sunk its fangs into her foot and slithered away.

Mrs. Idaho, a trained nurse and fellow contestant, removed the fang, paramedics arrived and Mrs. Tennessee, a.k.a. Christina Ryan, was taken to a local hospital for treatment. She said the pain between the time of the bite and the time the anti-venom meds kicked in was worse than childbirth. The 28-year-old event planner has an eighteen-month old. Mrs. Tennessee spent the night in the hospital.

Apparently, she does not begrudge the resort. Mrs. Tennessee was back at Loews Ventana Canyon the next day, according to press reports. Fox News -- those snakes! -- wondered if there was some sort of "Miss Congeniality" plot behind the snake bite.

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Bad Rate :: Corporate Romance and Hefty Cancellation Fees

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 3800 W. Starr Pass Boulevard [map], Tucson, AZ, United States, 85745
February 6, 2007 at 12:20 PM | by | Comments (0)

[Ed. Note: This is the Bad Rate in our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature. This rate was valid on February 6, 2007 and is subject to change. Enjoy.]

We're not big fans of huge chain hotels when it comes to a place to get away to on Valentine's Day. The romance factor isn't all that high when the room looks like the one where you spent your last convention. We're especially skeptical when we see one of them throwing out a "Romance Package" that looks like an afterthought. Here's one from the J.W. Marriott Starr Pass in Tucson, Arizona.

For the price above you get the oh-so-exciting amenities listed, though another page has the audacity to list "romantic starlit walks with spectacular views of the city lights of Tucson." (Um, can you throw in "romantic breaths of desert air" as well?) For a two-night getaway, you'd pay $778 and you're still on your own for breakfast the second day.

More on this Romantic "deal" after the jump.

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