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Westin Phoenix Downtown Will Open March 10, Probably

Where: 333 N. Central Ave. [map], Phoenix, AZ, United States, 85004

If you're looking to celebrate can't-come-soon-enough spring, you could do it at the brand-spankin'-new Westin Phoenix Downtown, which will open next week, sort of.

Although the hotel's set for a March 10 opening, reservations are currently only being accepted starting March 17. When we called to ask whether that meant the hotel wasn't opening until then, we were told that no, they are pretty sure it'll open March 10 - but just to be certain, they aren't taking reservations yet. Although, the nice man said, within a couple of days, they should open up the 10th for booking. All being well. Let's hope they do, else someone's gonna have an empty hotel for the first week!

Anyways, rooms on March 17 officially start at $199 a night, but if you use the code "FMOPEN" when booking online, all of the rooms will cost $179, even those that originally cost more than $199 a night. Hotel loyalty points alert: If you stay there between March 25 and April 30, you'll earn double Starwood Preferred Guests Starpoints.

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Sleeping in Phoenix Will Be 'Heavenly' in March

Where: 333 North Central Avenue [map], Phoenix, AZ, United States, 85004

With only three more months left to go in 2010, we're already turning our thoughts to hotel openings for next year and it looks like early 2011 will be quite active. We've got 45 Park Lane, Trump Ocean Club Panama and now The Westin Phoenix which was just announced this morning as opening in March 2011.

The 242-room hotel will actually be located in the Phoenix Civic Plaza, adjacent to the Arizona State University Downtown campus, making it an ideal spot for college visitors. But it will also be across the street from a METRO stop where trains connect to the Sky Harbor International Airport and we're all about not having to fork over money for cabs from the airport.

You can also expect the Westin Heavenly bed, Heavenly toiletries, a Westin WORKOUT fitness center and the Province, restaurant which will serve Latin American and Spanish-inspired cuisine. Even better, this new Westin should get some of those fancy new room designs we talked about a few weeks ago. Reservations are not being taken yet but we will let you know when they open. Still, the new year is looking very bright indeed.

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HotelChatter Reader Deals :: The New Sheraton Phoenix Will Have Cheaper Rates in a Month

Where: 340 North 3rd Street [map], Phoenix, AZ, United States, 85004

A New Hotel Gets Cheaper With Age
$171 a night

Regular readers of HotelChatter know how much we obsess over hotel openings and their introductory hotel opening rates. And today is no different.

The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown hotel will open on September 30th adjacent to the Phoenix Convention Center and it's going to be huge. Like a thousand rooms huge.

You would think with so many rooms they would probably be a little competitive on their pricing right? Not quite. Opening rates are set at $249 a night and that's the pre-paid internet rate.

However, if you can sit tight until the end of October that rate will drop to about $171 a night. We still think it's pricey for a Sheraton near a convention center but maybe we can find it for less on a blind booking site like Hotwire or Priceline. We'll let you know if we do.

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Hotels-Near-MLB-Stadiums / Baseball Park Hotels / Phoenix Hotel Reviews / → All Tags

MLB Travel: Hotels Near the Phoenix's Chase Field

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.

Click Here to Go Straight to the Hotels Near MLB Stadiums Map

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.

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Hotel Hell / → All Tags

Room Service and Shuttle Problems

Where: 122 N 2nd St. [map], Phoenix, AZ, United States, 85004

[Ed. Note: A reader let us know about a recent stay at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix that involved some major confusion about the shuttle service. If you plan on staying here, maybe you should rent a car. Enjoy.]

I just returned from a five night stay.  The lobby and atrium are really beautiful.  But the room service food was the worst I'd ever experienced in upper class hotels --- too salty, tough meat and fish (and even the omelet that I resorted to thinking there was no way they could fail with it), potato rot in the red potatoes that had not been removed, rolls stale, food tepid, salad overdressed.   All of this was particularly strange considering the convention food and the inhotel restaurant food was what you would expect in such a hotel.  

The good news is that when I complained the hotel agreed to a token refund. This was not the end of the problems, though.  Upon arrival, I called for the hotel shuttle (which I later learned only runs from 6AM-2PM ).  It is a contract service and the first shuttle meeting the description
came and told me they were not allowed to pick me up (even though the shuttle was empty), instead I had to wait until the next shuttle came.

I had made arrangements the previous day for airport transportation. They told me that the shuttle didn't run until after I needed to go, but the staff member would notify the shuttle and there were ones available that the bellman could get at that hour.  

They failed to mention that this was twice as expensive as the shuttle, and that no bellman came on duty until the later hour.   And, of course, no one at the shuttle acknowledge that the reservation had been made.

Related Stories:
· Hyatt Regency Phoenix reviews [TripAdvisor]