Summer is here, which means baseball-obsessed people all over the U.S. are hopping in planes, trains, and automobiles to visit MLB fields around the country. To help these fanatic fans/hotel guests, we will be looking at ballparks around the country and give you a quick rundown of your closest, safest, and best hotel options. "America's Favorite Pastime" with some of America's finest second cities--what is not to love? If you got any hotel questions or suggestions or even better, firsthand baseball park hotel reviews, send them here and share them with other MLB fans--even if they are Yankee fans.
We chose to look at the Arizona Diamondbacks team today because we realize we don't have much on hotels in Phoenix. And now we know why. Downtown Phoenix has been a struggling neighborhood for quite some time. Although there is some good redevelopment going on, swanky boutique hotels have yet to hit the area.
For now, the closest hotel to Chase Field is the Wyndham Phoenix, which reviews would describe as "decent" at best.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quoted here were captured on April 3, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
We started poking around looking at Memorial Day weekend deals and found a $169 rate at the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix (this week's Good Rate) on Orbitz. It looked like a few other hotels were dropping their own rates as a result for that weekend, but not the Embassy Suites. In one of those weird twists you see when one company takes longer to blink, it'll cost you more to stay at the Embassy Suites in Phoenix than it will to stay at the Ritz-Carlton a few blocks away.
Now we understand that you'll be able to go downstairs to get breakfast without paying extra at the Embassy Suites, as well as more room to stretch out on a couch, but we get those things at home too and don't get all that excited about them. If you're going to get away somewhere for the weekend, and pay the same price, go for the fine linens and toiletries in a place where everyone is trained to suck up to you instead of leaving you to your own devices.
Our guess is that this rate won't stick, so if you need some extra room in Phoenix over Memorial Day, check back in a week or two and see if the nightly price has dropped. As a bonus, you'll get valet parking for $8 a day, which is one-third what a spot will cost you at the Ritz.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quotes here were captured April 3, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
With hotel occupancy rates at their highest level since 2000, it pays to plan a bit ahead on holiday weekends. Fortunately, that's when a lot of city business hotels are hurting for business, so you can snag a deal if you look around. Take this $169 Memorial Day weekend rate through Orbitz at the Ritz-Carlton Phoenix.
This isn't one of those Scottsdale golf resorts: The R-C is four miles north of downtown Phoenix in the Camelback corridor. Golf is only three blocks away though and it is across from the Biltmore Fashion Park upscale shopping complex. You get a view of either the city skyline or Squaw Peak mountain.
Alas, with Ritz-Carlton the rate quoted is only the beginning of their hand in your pocket. You'll pay $10 a day for Internet access and valet parking is $24 per night. Many of the reviews on TripAdvisor call the place disappointing by Ritz-Carlton standards, especially when it comes to the (lack of) grounds and the service. Hmmm, maybe that's why the reviews on Orbitz are dead links?
But hey, with a lot of the nearby hotels charging similar rates (see this week's Bad Rate) and this one often flirting with $400 mid-week, this is a good deal if you were planning to head to Phoenix.
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by juliana
