Ritzy Renaissance

This past February, when Jennifer May and her sister Colleen Tebrake opened the doors of their brand-new resort hotel in Sedona, they had no idea what to expect.

Lodging industry novices, the sisters had painstakingly devoted the past eight years to developing the novel resort concept they dreamed up, but neither of them had ever owned or managed a hotel before. What’s more, as the months ticked by and they approached their grand opening, the COVID-19 pandemic was still upending businesses everywhere, the economy had taken a major hit due to rampant inflation, and recreational travel had slowed dramatically.

To put it mildly, the sisters were nervous.

Now, some eight months post-opening, May and Tebrake are breathing a bit easier. Their resort hotel, Ambiente Sedona, is flush with reservations and beating the sisters’ most optimistic business forecast.

“We had no idea that it was going to take off as much as it has,” May says. “We’ve had such a huge amount of interest in this hotel and the way it’s designed—it’s been nothing short of fantastic.”

Of course, as May describes it, Sedona presents a really unique destination for travelers all over the world, so the idea of a new resort hotel property that promises to, as May says, “immerse guests in the beautiful landscape and natural surroundings they’ve come to Sedona to enjoy” might be expected to have some unique cachet.

Surprising as it may seem, the sisters’ successful opening of a new, higher-end resort hotel appears to be more the rule than the exception when it comes to recent luxury hotels coming online in Arizona. In fact, a quick glance at state lodging industry development plans reveals that there’s a surge in the opening or impending launch of several new, dazzling hotels and resorts throughout Arizona.

A handful of them are recently up-and-running around the state, with several more slated to open in the coming months. It’s a turn of events that seems to fly in the face of some of the more ominous economic projections that have swept the lodging trade media over the past couple of years.

In Phoenix, for instance, workers are putting the finishing touches on the stunning new Global Ambassador resort hotel. Located in the city’s Arcadia neighborhood, the luxurious 141-room property is slated to open this fall.

Owned and developed by Sam Fox, the longtime Arizona restaurant developer, The Global Ambassador will offer guests exclusive amenities such as a “private members’ restaurant and bar,” five Mediterranean-influenced restaurants, an 18,000-square-foot rooftop restaurant and a wellness center with fitness, an outdoor yoga deck and spa.

Commenting on his plans recently, Fox said, “With The Global Ambassador, we are evolving luxury hospitality at every level and from every perspective in order to deliver something truly remarkable for the well-traveled set looking to be inspired and intrigued in an authentic and unexpected way.”

In Scottsdale, a brand-new resort hotel, Caesar’s Republic, is poised to join the glut of luxury hotels and properties that the city has long been renowned for. Scheduled to open in early 2024, the hotel, under the brand-leading Caesar Entertainment banner, will feature 265 guest rooms, five top-floor 2,000-square-foot penthouse suites, 28 additional luxury suites and a bevy of high-end, high-concept restaurants on-site.

Adding to the allure, Giada De Laurentiis, the celebrated chef, author, philanthropist and TV personality, will be opening two new concept restaurants—Luna by Giada and Pronto by Giada—on the hotel’s first floor.

Perhaps most spectacular of all, the highly anticipated VAI Resort is set to debut in Glendale in 2024. The $1 billion, 60-acre resort destination property is being ballyhooed as “Arizona’s largest and boldest hotel, entertainment and culinary destination.”

Grant Fisher, the 27-year-old resort development wunderkind who’s heading up the VAI development team, refers to the massive project as “the manifestation of a dream to create the world’s most iconic resort in the most unexpected yet perfect location.” With more than 1,100 luxury rooms, suites and villas set across four distinctive towers, the resort will be anchored by a manmade water feature with a beach-bordered oasis dubbed Konos Island. The island will be surrounded by “sparkling, Caribbean-blue” water to create tropical-paradise-style luxuriating and partying.

A spokesperson for Hotel Management put it in perspective. “Many of these [new Arizona hotel] projects were already financed, and their ground broken before COVID-19 struck. The most significant hotels to be built were the two Canopy by Hilton properties in Tempe and Scottsdale, which both boast rooftop views. There was also a mixture of limited-service, select-service and extended-stay branded hotels that were added into the room night supply in 2020, in other parts of the state, including Tucson, Yuma and Sedona. [However] there were no economy brand hotels added in the state.”

Then in 2022, according to a study conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AMLA), something rather unexpected occurred that added ballast to the resort development movement.

“Amid these headwinds, opportunities arose,” the study noted. “The rise of ‘bleisure’ travelers (a blend of business and leisure) and digital nomads (those who take advantage of remote work policies to explore new destinations) represented a significant shift in consumer attitudes and behaviors, prompting us to identify 2022 as the year of the new traveler.”

And yet another study, this one conducted by McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm, reported that, this year, Americans are beginning to come out of their COVID-enforced hibernations and starting to spend money again. In fact, the study found that 51% of consumers reported a desire to splurge and indulge themselves in what the report called “a fit of post-pandemic revenge spending.”

The report went on to say that “Even the happiest homebodies are once again eager to spend time and money outside the home on dining, entertainment and travel.”

That “travel” translates to finding hotel accommodations wherever their wanderlust leads them, and the clear trend is toward a higher caliber accommodation than they might previously have settled for.

Back in Sedona, along with the post-COVID factor, May ascribes much of the interest in and attraction to Ambiente to its uniqueness as a new concept in lodging.

“A lot of [local] hotels were aging, and they really were just the standard, typical design, where visitors come into a ‘built’ environment and stay in that environment. What we wanted to do with Ambiente is to turn that concept inside-out and really feature what people come to Sedona for—to view the red rocks, hike the trails and experience the whole area,” she says. “So we decided to take these hotel ‘atriums’ as we call the independent room structures, and immerse them into the landscape. We offer that expansive, immersive view in as many ways as possible—from inside with extensive glass windows, as well as up on the rooftop of each atrium, which is equipped with a deck, a firepit, a day bed, etc.”

Still, however, May agrees that the pandemic phenomenon is driving a significant uptick in interest in their business right now. “I think that post-COVID, there has been a huge surge in travelers and guests here, and one of the reasons is that we offer so many outdoor activities for them. That outdoor experience is so critical to the way I think the pandemic has reshaped people’s thinking about travel,” she notes.

“We never even thought about this benefit—that this hotel promotes the idea of being outside, in fresh air and sunlight, and not right next to a lot of other people, if guests desire not to be. We never foresaw anything like this happening when we began designing the hotel, but it’s been a really important realization for us.”