Inside East Valley Business

Long-time Mesa tourism industry leader David Muth died Sunday of a heart attack.

Muth was general manager of the Hilton Phoenix-East Mesa for 15 years until 2005 and served as a Mesa Convention & Visitors Bureau director from 1992 to 2005. He spent four of those years as board chairman.

Muth played a key role in winning passage of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in Mesa, and he was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Spirit of Unity Award by the city for his efforts.

He  also was involved in numerous community groups and charitable endeavors during his tenure in the Valley.

“David was a great manager, mentor and friend,” said Mesa Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO Robert Brinton.

Muth is survived by his wife Carolyn and four sons. His son Aaron is Sports Sales manager for the Mesa Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Bluebonnet Hills Funeral Home in Colleyville, Texas.

The service will be immediately followed by a celebration of Muth’s life at the Hilton Dallas-Fort Worth Lakes Executive Conference Center.

Tempe-based US Airways is scheduled to turn off the music and movies Nov. 1 in coach cabins on domestic flights, airline president Scott Kirby said Thursday.

The in-flight entertainment systems weigh a hefty 500 pounds, which add to fuel costs, so the carrier plans to yank them out of the 200 or so planes it uses to shuttle passengers around the mainland.
  
Passengers traveling to Hawaii or Europe get to keep listening or watching, the company said in July when it first announced plans to shed the systems.

US Airways is planning to pilot test new seat-back systems in a plane or two, but they wouldn’t be available for regular use until first quarter 2009, Kirby said.

The on-demand entertainment system US Airways is piloting is lighter, high-tech and will allow passengers to pick and pay for whatever flick they choose.

The company said few passengers are likely to mourn the loss of the bulky systems. Most passengers bring personal DVD players, iPods or similar devices on board rather than use the old systems anyway, according to the hometown airline.

And those who do watch a movie or listen to the audio channels supplied by the airline usually bring their own headphones, so the company can’t even sell enough $5 earpieces to help defray the soaring cost of jet fuel.

Electronics giant Pioneer plans to open its second U.S. store at CityCenter in CityNorth, the 70-acre heart of the under-construction residential, retail, office and entertainment complex at 56th Street and Deer Valley Drive in northeast Phoenix.

 
Pioneer plans to sell and service Pioneer, Elite and Premier brand product lines at the Valley shop. It will feature lifestyle vignettes, including an ultimate Pioneer home cinema experience and a vehicle to demonstrate its in-car navigation, audio and video options, according to CityNorth developers.

“Pioneer’s decision to expand beyond its flagship location at South Coast Plaza in Orange County to CityCenter of CityNorth is indicative of the hand-crafted retail experience we are bringing to the Northeast Valley,” said Webber Hudson, executive vice president of Related Urban, which is piloting the retail development at CityNorth.

Other just-announced retailers for CityNorth include bebe, Lens Crafters and Bobby Chan, which sells upscale but casual men’s and women’s clothing.

CityNorth also announced new restuarants that are joining the eatery line-up. Press Coffee Food Wine, Mojo Yogurt and Saito’s Japanese Steak House have signed on. All plan to debut on High Street, which is slated to open Nov. 13.

High Street is the  first of three mixed-use neighborhoods planned for CityCenter. It features 47 shops, eight restaurants, 39 for-sale condominium residences, 60 luxury rental condos and 320,000 square feet of Class A office and medical suite space.

The JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in northeast Phoenix is one of six Marriotts nationwide to pilot a new Wii system for hotel guests.
Marriott International said it worked with Nintendo to develop a unique game system for guest rooms and lobbies in Marriott and Renaissance brand properties.
It allows hotel guests to select from a library of games without inserting game discs.
With the intuitive games menu, guests can just point the Wii Remote at a game and begin playing.
Included in each system are 20 popular games including Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports and fitness favorite Wii Fit. Marriott said new Wii games will be added to the menu as they become available.
The Wii guest room packages include unlimited Wii access for the entire stay, the company said.

You may think it’s just an auto auction, but Barrett-Jackson has sold the Miami Vice boat, John Lennon’s piano and a 40-foot tall, fire-breathing, car-crushing metal dinosaur at previous Scottsdale events.
For this January, Barrett-Jackson chairman Craig Jackson has landed a World War II-era Ford Tri-Motor plane.

It was built in 1929 for passenger service, but it unexpectedly came under fire when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941, launching the United States into the world conflict. The plane was bombarded by bullets during the attack but was fixed up and restored to passenger duty. Since 1969, it has been privately owned and was part of the Wings and Wheels museum collection previously located in Orlando, Fla.
“Ford’s Tri-Motor airplanes played a very important role in creating the modern transportation system,” said Steve Davis, Barrett-Jackson president.  “Just as he put America on wheels with the Model T ‘Tin Lizzie,’ Henry Ford created the Tri-Motor ‘Tin Goose’ airplane to help the general public realize the benefits of air travel.  This particular plane has a wonderful history and everyone who loves both automobiles and aviation will be touched by its story.”

Jackson said he hasn’t lined up the 1,000 or so collector cars he plans to auction for his signature event, which roars into WestWorld Jan. 11, but the Tri-Motor will be a star attraction.

Oil prices that plunged $50 in the last two weeks after spiking to nearly $150 per barrel will mean a $1.7 billion boost to the bottom line of Tempe-based US Airways if prices hold steady for the next year, airline president Scott Kirby told Wall Street analysts Thursday.

But it doesn’t mean the carrier will add back flights it has scratched, Kirby said. Or that US Airways will stop charging for Cokes and checked bags, he said.

Kirby was speaking at the Calyon Securities U.S. Airline Conference Thursday.

Major U.S. carriers all have announced plans to cut capacity this year and next in hopes of returning to profitablility after soaring oil prices obliterated profits — and then some.

US Airways plans to ditch 6 percent to 8 percent of its flights in fourth quarter, 8 percent to 10 percent in 2009.

The sudden and recent oil price plunge has been a remarkable turnabout, Kirby said. But the company has already gotten rid of planes and cut jobs to downsize flight schedules, and reversing that would take 18 to 24 months, Kirby said.

A la carte pricing has reaped unexpected benefits, he said. Charging for previously free amenities like sodas and sandwiches has made in-flight cabin service “calmer and more efficient” and eliminated logjams in the aisles, he said.
 
And the airline has checked about 10 percent fewer bags since it added fees for that, which also improved efficiency, Kirby said.

Separating bags and passengers and reuniting them at their destination, is “one of the most complex things we do as an airline,” Kirby said. So fewer checked bags means fewer problems, a smoother operation and better on-time performance, he said.

Kirby said the company plans to use money saved from oil price cuts and a la carte pricing to pay down debt.

The Valley is only the 18th best destination among the top 25 U.S. metro areas for shopping and a dismal 23rd best for night life, but it’s in the top five as a “restful retreat.”

That’s according to visitors who took part in upscale tourism magazine Travel + Leisure’s America’s Favorite Cities survey.

The frequent travelers panned the destination listed as Phoenix/Scottsdale as a summer getaway, didn’t like the cultural offerings, restaurants, cafes, clubs or population diversity, but ranked it the 3rd best place to go for Christmas, 7th best for weather and  9th for “peace and quiet.”

That may not be the image local tourism leaders were hoping for.
 
Scottsdale’s sprawling resorts have long attracted older, richer folks looking for a relaxing getaway. But in recent years, the city has tried to market itself as a hot spot for the young, trendy Gen X and Y travelers — the new batch of big spenders.

Boutique hotels have sprung up around the downtown core. Morgans Hotel Group opened the second version of its ultra-hip West Hollywood hotel Mondrian, old favorite Valley Ho got a major makeover emphasizing its art deco roots, San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels made over a traditional resort into one of its trendy offerings, now named FireSky. And W Scottsdale, the world-renowned model of the hip hotel trend, just opened.

Apparently the young and trendy crowd just hasn’t noticed.

The only other single-digit rankings the Valley got from the travelers surveyed were as a place to go for Thanksgiving (3), spring break (9), an active/adventure vacation (9), or to shop in luxury boutiques (9).

The good news for local city leaders is that Valley residents ranked the area higher than visitors did in almost every category.

Another retailer bites the dust as the economy continues to tank.

Bankrupt Whitehall Jewelers, which has 13 Arizona stores, including seven in the East Valley, has already started clearance sales.

Liquidators plan to have all locations closed right after the winter holidays, said Brooke Bellask, spokeswoman for DJM Realty, which is trying to find new tenants for the soon-to-be-empty stores.

Whitehall, which also operates under the name Lundstrom Jewelers and Crescent Jewelers, has shops in nearly every Valley mall.

That includes two stores in Mesa’s Superstition Springs Center complex and one each in Fiesta Mall in Mesa, Chandler Fashion Center, Scottsdale Fashion Square, Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix and Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe.

Despite big and plentiful signs announcing “Going out of business sale,” and “The vaults are emptying,” and discounts of 30 percent to 50 percent at Crescent Jewelers at Arizona Mills, the store was strikingly empty of customers Monday morning.

Bellask said DJM just got dibs on finding new tenants to take over Whitehall’s shop spaces after the holidays, so it’s too soon to say how difficult it will be to find stores willing to open when most retailers are standing pat or closing locations because of the staggering economy.

“It’s not as easy in this market, but some retailers are expanding, and Whitehall leases are attractive,” she said. “We have had some retailers interested.”
 
Whitehall has been selling gems and jewelry since 1895 and had grown to 375 stores in 39 states in June before filing for Chapter 11 protection.

The venerable retailer follows several other national chains, including Bombay, Sharper Image and Linens ’n Things, into bankruptcy since January.

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly wants help deciding on a Halloween costume.

He needs it, judging from past selections.

Kelly made a good Captain Jack Sparrow, but his tongue was way too short to summon up Gene Simmons in full KISS make-up, and he was decidedly too skinny to fill out Hairspray’s Edna Turnblad’s duds last year.

Kelly posted a challenge on Southwest’s blog, asking customers and employees to scare up some suggestions for this year’s get-up.

A few imaginative ones range from “a bag of peanuts” to “a barrel of oil.”

But most offerings are pretty dull. So far, Indiana Jones seems to be winning the poll — must be from employees hoping to curry favor with the boss.

Passengers have less to lose — maybe their luggage, but at least they didn’t have to pay to check it — by scrapping the hero hunk suggestions and going for some ghoulish garb.

Check out photos of Kelly’s past costumes and comments at http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/help-me-decide

The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, a northeast Phoenix resort with a Scottsdale address, hopes to lure people from their TVs during the Olympics by promoting themed weekends in August.
They include “Olympics viewing parties,” and sticking the name Olympics in front of menu items, spa services, golf packages and fitness events such as yoga and wellness classes and health center training.
The resort is also staging some contests in decidedly non-Olympic events such as sack races on the grounds and cannonball competitions in the pool, with ribbons or medals for winners.