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Tags: Desert Retreats / All-Inclusive Resorts / Winter Getaway Hotels / → All Tags
Desert Chic for Cheap(er) at Borrego Ranch Resort & Spa
Okay. There are officially 31 days until Winter Solstice (a.k.a. the shortest day of the year) and we’re already going a little stir-crazy with the decrease in daylight and the plunging temperatures. The solution? Head to warmer locales, like Borrego Springs in the Southern California desert.
Sure, springtime may steal this remote desert destination’s tourist thunder with its insanely beautiful display of wildflowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, but wintertime temps that hover around 70 degrees are what call our name. Right. About. Now. Besides, is there anything more spectacular than seeing the moon come up over the desert? Nah, not really.
Tags: Desert Retreats / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Openings / Desert Hotels / Desert Resorts / → All Tags
The Anantara Qasr Al Sarab Turns a Desert Mirage Into a Proper Retreat
Not everyone heads to Dubai with mall shopping and indoor skiing on their minds, or if you do, you quickly get tired of it. For this reason, more and more retreats are being built outside of the city, either in lush green environments like the Westin Golf Resort near Abu Dhabi or flat out in the desert, like the soon-to-open Anantara Resort at Qasr Al Sarab.
Due to open on October 25, the Anantara is 90 minutes away from Abu Dhabi and three hours from Dubai in the Liwa Desert, and boasts 206 rooms, although some are flat-out palatial villas with private pools and commanding views over the sand dunes. Face it: if you're coming all the way out here, you're coming to relax and just go between a hammam, a chaise lounge and your hookah all day (and night) long.
Tags: JW Marriott Hotels / Hotel Bars / Hotel Cocktails / Desert Retreats / → All Tags
Taste the Tequila Not the Floor at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort
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.
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Santa Fe Hotel Reviews / Desert Retreats / → All Tags
La Posada Ready To Unveil Expensive Renovations
We're thinking that the La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa made a stack of dough out of their $5,000 painting deal, because they're currently spending $6.2 million on a renovation. Due to be completed by May this year, the redesign also includes a new restaurant.
The redesign on the interior includes the influence of indigenous cultures--the Museum of New Mexico Foundation got involved to design indigenous fabrics and prints for the guest rooms and public areas. They're also going for a more customer-friendly feel in the lobby, including individual check-in desks rather than one long check-in counter.
The new restaurant is the Viga, which will be open for all meals and have a casual atmosphere. This will leave their four-diamond restaurant Fuego to get a furniture upgrade and to concentrate on serving fine dinners only. It will also get a new street entrance so non-hotel guests can easily access the restaurant. Or is that so that hotel guests don't feel disturbed by any locals? Whatever the case, you can check it out yourself from next month.
[Photo: SFGRL3731]
Tags: Grand Canyon Hotels / Desert Retreats / → All Tags
El Tovar Hotel: Sleeping on the Edge
It's been around 1905 and hosted Theodore Roosevelt and Albert Einstein, yet standard room rates at the El Tovar clock in at a shockingly bargain $166 for being perched about 100 feet from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The El Tovar and its scattered lodges along the edge of the Grand Canyon were built for the classic National Parks family road trip. They offer hearty breakfast buffets, unbeatable views, free parking, and immediate access to the head of the popular Bright Angel Trail (an 8 mile, 4000+' descent to the Colorado River).
If you opt for the hike down, be forewarned that it is very strenuous and splurging on some Nalgene bottles and a souvenir walking stick is necessary.
Return to rest in the El Tover lobby, both a haven for wide-eyed foreign tourists and the terminus of the never-ending dining room queue, furnished predictably in mission-style.
Indeed every postcard, tchotchke and T-shirt in the hotel gift shop induces a wave of nausea-nostalgia, so that it's impossible to forget your family reunion/senior trip/friend's wedding reception and the heavily-syruped side dishes at each.
If staying at the El Tovar, remember these two rules: print a very detailed set of driving directions, and remember that pleat-front khakis with cargo pockets are de rigeur.
[Photo: Matt Bargar]
Tags: Historic Hotels / Phoenix Hotels / Desert Retreats / Political Hotels / Waldorf-Astoria Collection / → All Tags
Stay Where Every President Has Gone Before
Here's a bit of hotel trivia for you: The term "presidential suite" came from the European tradition of "royal suites," but, as we don't have royals (no, the Kennedy's don't count), we termed the best room in the house the Presidential Suite.
In other words, it has nothing to do with whether a president has stayed there or not. Yet, while most hotels use the term as misnomer, not proof of political pedigree, the Presidential Suite at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa can use the title quite literally. Every U.S. president since Herbert Hoover has stayed in the Suite while in office.
Tags: Family Friendly Hotels / Desert Retreats / Hotel News / → All Tags
Cubicle Dreamin': Looking Ahead to Spring Break
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven/Super Mom NatalieWW plans a Spring Break the whole family can enjoy.
Believe it or not but college kids aren't the only ones who look forward to Spring Break in March and April. Families like/need a break too.
Right now, I'm thinking about heading to Zion Mountain Resort, near the East entrance to Utah's Zion's National Park. It's either that, Rocky Point or San Diego.
The kids would be jazzed about the rustic ranch setting and all of the adventurous activities the ranch offers. Me, I think the deluxe lodges with modern and even semi-luxurious amenities such as Jacuzzi tubs look great. Dad, well, he'd just be happy this trip wouldn't include shopping. Although there is a gift shop in the lobby...
Tags: Desert Retreats / Tucson Hotels / → All Tags
The Arizona Inn: 'The Place Luxury Hotels Imagine Themselves to Be'
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.
Tags: Desert Retreats / Arizona Hotels / → All Tags
A Place Where You Can Be Totally Carefree
You may not have heard of the hamlet of Carefree, Arizona. Just think of her as Scottsdale's free-spirited little sister. Founded with the motto, "Home of cowboys and caviar, where the Old West meets the new," and with street names such as Tranquil Trail, Primrose Path, and Ho and Hum Roads, you know the tone here is decidedly laid-back with a touch of whimsy.
The Carefree Desert Resort & Villas takes the relaxed Carefree spirit to the extreme. Sitting on an expansive 54 acres of Sonora high desert, it offers an indulgent way to "get away from it all."
For some, this is not necessarily a good thing, as the resort is far (far) away from the mania of Scottsdale or Downtown Phoenix. This isn't the place you're likely to bump into Paris Hilton or Matt Leinart at a party. In fact, we'd say you are actually more likely to see a jack rabbit or coyote roaming the grounds than a celebrity.
Tags: Super Bowl Hotels / Super Bowl XLII Hotels / Hotel Deals / Desert Retreats / → All Tags
Who Cares About the Big Game When You're Kicking it at a Real Live Western Ranch
We stumbled upon this intriguing option for staying in-and-around the Super Bowl vicinity and after checking it out, we could care less about who wins the Super Bowl.
Rancho de los Caballeros is a historic ranch/resort located 60 miles northwest of the metro Phoenix area in Wickenburg (and about 30 miles from the stadium itself). Los Caballeros is comprised of a main lodge, 79 guest rooms and suites, 18 holes of golf, a new full-service spa, pool, tennis courts, children's play area, conference facilities, hiking, riding trails and corrals.
And don't forget the 100 horses for exploring the surrounding 20,000 acres of Sonoran desert. The resort has also been chosen one of Golf Magazine's America's Top 75 golf resorts, and is on Travel + Leisure readers "Top 100 Golf Resorts in the World" list.
Should you want to visit in the next few weeks, a search during the Super Bowl dates reveals rooms in several rates categories are still available, starting at $554/night (normally $462) for the Original Ranch Room:
These rooms are the original ranch accommodations and offer a king sized bed or a double and a twin bed. They have the charm and character of the Southwest and are the favorites of many of the returning guests. Rooms feature a refrigerator, coffeemaker, hairdryer, and private patio. Approx. 310 Sq ft.
But remember, that's with three meals a day, and the Motel 6 around here is going for over $300 during Super Bowl weekend. So, it's actually quite a deal.
If you want to visit after Feb. 3rd, we recommend calling the resort to customize a package deal. For example, for only $100 more than the rack rate and with a 3-night minimum, you get a little time on the links, some time in the saddle, and one spa experience. Super what?
Tags: Arizona Hotels / Hotel Spas / Sedona Hotels / Desert Retreats / → All Tags
Take Your Pick: Guided Hikes or Golf Cart Rides at the Enchantment Resort's Mii Amo Spa
The majestic red rocks and canyons of Sedona, Arizona lure millions of visitors every year seeking desert solitude and inspiration. And late winter is the perfect time to visit Sedona -- temperatures are still cool but the crush of holiday visitors are starting to thin out. And if your one who craves luxury and a little culture with your desert solitude, Mii Amo Spa at the Enchantment Resort is for you.
The setting is in a word, spectacular. Don't be surprised if you find yourself muttering "awesome" even if you're not the kind who says "awesome."
Tags: Tucson Hotels / Hotel Deals / Hotel Spas / Desert Retreats / → All Tags
At Miraval, It's Better to Give AND Receive
When The Miraval Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona says that a key tenant of its philosophy is the concept of giving back, they really mean it.
Here's proof: book a reservation through the resort's Give and Receive Special Offer between January 1 and February 21, 2008 and Miraval will deduct the amount of charitable contributions you have made in the past year -- up to $1,000! That means you can partake of the award-winning destination spa's healthful gourmet cuisine, hot stone massage and Zen garden and (almost) feel like you're getting a bargain.
Rates start at $805 per person/per night and include:
· Luxury accommodations
· Use of complete resort facilities
· Unlimited access to all programs and activities
· Three gourmet meals daily, snacks, and hors d'oeuvres
· Unlimited non-alcoholic beverages
· One spa service, or one round of golf up to a $110 value per person/per night
· And round-trip transportation from Tucson International Airport.
But you must book using code GIVE1, present receipts for your charitable contributions, and stay a minimum of four nights to receive this special offer.
[Photo: BooClarendon]
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