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Come one, come all Fiesta rooms aplenty --- if you're willing to travel for Y2K
Posted: Wednesday December 15, 1999 11:05 AM
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Add the Fiesta Bowl to the list of New Year's events that aren't drawing hordes of celebrants as expected, whether because of "Y2K bug" concerns or others. The Pointe Hilton Resorts in Phoenix, which had been holding 1,800 room nights at the request of Fiesta Bowl officials, put 1,300 of them back on the market -- and at a $99 bargain basement rate. At the Sunburst Resort in Scottsdale, demand dropped from 400 rooms to 60 in two days, Darren Smith, general manager, told the Tribune. "We've seen a huge lack of interest," Smith said. "Everybody seems to be experiencing at least some of this. The whole millennium thing may be problematic to a lot of people." On Dec. 5, when Fiesta Bowl officials announced Nebraska and Tennessee for the Jan. 2 football match, local tourism leaders were jubilant. With area hotel occupancy rates already dismal and a growing disinterest in New Year's travel, having two teams with tens of thousands of loyal fans seemed a reason to celebrate. But even fanatic football followers, it appears, are worried about being away from home for the turn of the century, said Richard Lawrence, Fiesta Bowl director of tour relations . "We aren't even filling the officially designated [Fiesta Bowl] hotels," Lawrence said. "I was shocked because both of those teams travel well. But everybody I'm talking to is pointing to Y2K, between people who don't want to travel and people whose corporations won't let them travel." Y2K can wield a double whammy, agreed Ken McKenzie, general manager of the Tempe Mission Palms, located down the street from Sun Devil Stadium where the game will be played. Besides people who worry about possible failure of electronic systems -- from traffic signals to airport runway lights, planes and aviation control tower computers -- some companies are grounding key employees as part of their own Y2K preparedness measures, he said. Even corporate bigwigs may have to stay home in case their companies need them, and they are the well-heeled alumni most likely to follow their alma mater to a bowl game, said Ken Bruce, of Dodds Athletic Tours. "It's mostly employer driven," Bruce said. "A lot of our regulars, who always come and want to come this year have been told by their employers that they can't be away from Christmas until after New Year's." By Tuesday, one company phoned back and said that because of weak fan response it didn't want any rooms after all. A second called the same day, saying it only needed 60 instead of 100 rooms, a figure raised to 80 later in the week. The Pointe Resorts got the word Thursday that 70 percent of the alumni for whom they were holding rooms wouldn't be coming -- a loss of about $200,000. "There is very little we can do to fill rooms at this late date than drop our rates and hope there are still some last-minute travelers out there," Hilton vice president Bob Brooks said in a prepared statement. "If people call us now, they'll get one of the best deals of the century." Similarly, Tom Silverman, general manager of the Chaparral Suites Hotels in Scottsdale, said he has booked only a handful of Fiesta fans. "We have plenty of empty rooms," Silverman said. "I believe that because of all that's been said about Y2K, people are just more comfortable staying home." Area hoteliers see this Fiesta Bowl as an anomaly, said Sherry Henry, Fiesta Bowl board member and general manager of Tempe's Fiesta Inn. She pointed to some early signs that next year will be better, including the 22 out-of-town bands that already have signed on. This year only 14 are coming. However, said Shawn Schoeffler, a Fiesta Bowl spokesman, the stadium still will be filled. Each team has an obligation to sell 15,000 seats, and the 43,000 others are almost gone, he said.
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