East Valley hotels hope for a renaissance
March 26th, 2008, 4:39 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Donna Hogan
The Renaissance Scottsdale Resort could be losing its brand name.
The old resort is tucked into a secluded, lushly landscaped pocket of land west of
Scottsdale Road, next to the Kerr Cultural Center and the elegant Borgata shopping center.
It is in dire need of an upgrade to stay upscale.
But the property, owned by a Chicago-based investor group, reportedly has been on the market for some time, and the current owners are not opting to do necessary maintenance to save the resort’s upscale reputation.
Renaissance is a Marriott International brand, and Marriott gets to say whether a property can use the name or not.
Steve Hart, Marriott’s regional vice president, admitted the company is studying the
langushing resort, but he stopped short of saying Marriott would remove the Renaissance name.
Hart said the company has three or four options and high hopes that a potential buyer would invest enough money into the property to restore it to its former elegance.
Another planned Renaissance never got to adopt the brand name in the first place. But Hart is hopeful that Chandler will eventually get its Renaissance ClubSport.
That’s a specialty hotel aimed at health-conscious travelers. It includes an attached
full-sized gym, not the closet-sized spare room with a couple of treadmills that serves as a fitness center in most urban-style hotels.
A developer started building a Renaissance ClubSport at Elevation Chandler, near Chandler Fashion Center, but he ran out of money before finshing the project.
Marriott still likes the location, Hart said, and he hopes the project is eventually
resurrected.
“We love Chandler, especially that location,” he said. “We still want to be a part of it.”