Wilbur

This is a misapprehension.

Old Town Scottsdale does have some hip clubs on the southeast quarter of the Scottsdale Road / Camelback Road intersection, but it has about seven times as many bars, restaurants, tapas places, sushi-yas, etc. in the Zona Turistika between Camelback and Indian School.

Downtown Phoenix is not comparable to this Old Town section of Scottsdale, it is more on par with the Scottsdale Road / Shea Blvd area of Scottsdale when it comes to sports bars, dance halls, etc. That is to say, Old Town has a much larger number of venues to eat, drink, stroll, look at art, etc. than anywhere else in the valley.

And if you want to use IHG points, the Doubletree on Scottsdale Road between Chaparral and McDonald is within easy walking / stumbling distance of Old Town.

SWCPHX

IHG points at a Doubletree?

Wilbur

Whoops, my bad.

WRCSolberg

Old town Snobsdale is probably your best bet, if you're older. Tempe and Mill Ave more specifically is very "young". Scottsdale probably has the best concentration of things to do and see(and oontzy hotel properties).

Kierland is a nice area as well, I work over there. The Westin is a nice property and has a beautiful golf course, if that's your thing. Plenty of upscale restaurants in this area.

ryanmcv

I'm surprised at the lack of support for downtown Phoenix. Based on everything I've read, downtown Phoenix will be the epicenter of Super Bowl activities in the days leading up to the game. I live downtown and I'll admit that the variety of nightlife here is nowhere near the level of Old Town Scottsdale or Mill Ave, but there are tons of amazing bars and local restaurants all within walking distance/light rail ride/cab ride. There is certainly no lack of hotel choices either. If you want to experience a Super Bowl atmosphere without actually going to the game, I think downtown Phoenix will be the place to be next year.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...wl-bounty.html
http://www.kpho.com/story/24614817/p...uper-bowl-xlix
http://www.thiscouldbephx.com/my-pho...e-ryan-tempest

mileshound

Well, I made reservations. Things were tighter for this superbowl than in the past but kind of similair to Indianapolis. It makes sense when you look at the number of hotel rooms in the market.

This was the award availability:
Hyatt and Starwood had 0 award rooms.
Marriott had a room at the airport for Tues and Wed night, then rooms in Chandler
IHG had rooms in Goodyear and Peoria.

All award nights were refundable until 1 day before. This is similiar to NYC but NOLA and Indy had no cancellation policies.

I was planning on coming in on Wed night. But then I saw the HIX in PHX at the ballpark had availability for Tues and Wed nights. I agree with ryanmvc that downtown most likely will be near a lot of the action. This would get me downtown for Wed and Thurs.

So I ended up with:
Tues and Wed PM: HIX Phoenix ballpark (25K per night)
Thurs - Mon: RI Glendale (20k per night), backup HI Goodyear (15K per night)

I will keep monitoring rooms to see what frees up.

When the Glendale RI opened up I took it. As I read more about the Glendale entertainment distict I think it is OK - especially for only 4 nights.

They have the brewery, BWW, some entertainment establishments, the movie theatre, the outlets next door and some restaurants in Peoria a few miles away. There will certainly be a festive crowd in the area.

I think 3 nights there will be the max to have some fun without getting too board of the place. The 4th night will be SB Sunday so if I go to the game I can walk there if not I am sure I will have a blast at one of the restaurants/bars. The locals say there is nothing there and that is probably right from their viewpoint. As a tourist on vacation looking to have a good time it has some good aspects especially if you can walk to the places from your hotel. New Orleans it is not but it also is not a deserted island.

daa317

Just wondering if you did indeed get reservations for a hotel for super bowl 2015. I am in the midst of that quest right now and my efforts are not going well. Any advice?

WRCSolberg

I recall reading something in the Republic not too long ago that the NFL was unhappy with how much local hotels were charging for rooms around the SB. Apparently, they actively try to prevent price gouging.

Wilbur

The Ginger Hammer would like a lot of things, but forcing Scottsdale hotels to keep prices artificially steady is (probably) outside of his power.

If the Phoenix Open golf tourney or Barrett Jackson or Spring training is going on, the high rollers come to town, book up all the available rooms, and prices rise. If it is 110 degrees in the shade and everyone has left for San Diego, prices go down. The Super Bowl is not exempt from the laws of supply and demand.

Them's the breaks, so book now.

DanCali

I was looking into this as well and one of the things I discovered was that Scottsdale has a lot of timeshares (Westin Kierland Villas, Sheraton Desert Oasis, Marriott Canyon Villas, Four Seasons Troon North, etc).

While you can rent these directly from hotel companies, and no doubt they will be very expensive for the Superbowl, you can actually rent these directly from an owner and probably pay much less for what you are getting. The advantage is that not only do you get more space (500 sq ft to 1000 sq ft+) you also get a kitchen so you can save on meals.

Some of the websites where you can rent timeshares (with Scottsdale locations) that I found are:

http://myresortnetwork.com
http://timesharerentalvacation.com
http://tug2.com/timesharemarketplace/
http://redweek.com (requires $25 annual subscription to see listings)

WRCSolberg

Sure, he can't force anyone to do anything. But he can punish those who don't play by his rules like he did with Glendale and moving all pre-SB events to Phoenix instead of keeping them in Glendale, which is the more logical choice and was the location of those same events back in 2008.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/g...wl-events.html

SWCPHX

Since the last SB, however, there has been an outlet mall built on what used to be available parking space. The area around Univ. of Phoenix stadium just doesn't have enough hotel space available either. Not to mention the new security ring that will encompass the stadium.

mkjr

I was making some tentative plans. You are not kidding. Nothing in Phoenix. And the 1 stars. What, 899 a night. Joke. I'll drive from Blythe thank you and fly in and out of LAX. Phak Phoenix. I don't drink if my team is playing so driving in and out is no issue for me.

mkjr

Compared to NYC, parking will be plentiful in Phoneix. I can guarantee that. I mean, you could not get a pass for the parking lot around the stadium for less than 2000 last year. Now, maybe 200.

Lost

If someone is willing to pay it....

I would be looking in Tucson, Prescott, or Flagstaff. Much more reasonable rates for that weekend within a couple hour drive. Only issue in Flag and Prescott would be the possibility of snow.