In the series Last Resorts, The Show is looking at the history and future of resorts, and the Valley as a resort community. Visit some of the Valley’s oldest and newest resorts. Hear how they’ve impacted the region — from art and architecture, to how people all over the world view the West.
The Show looked back at some of the earliest resorts both in the Valley and across Arizona with Claire McWilliams, a tourism development and management assistant teaching professor in the School of Community Resources and Development at Arizona State University
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: And we start our series with a look back at some of the earliest resorts both here in the Valley and across Arizona. To help do that, I'm joined by Claire McWilliams, an assistant teaching professor at ASU, where she teaches classes on tourism development and management. And Claire, the state has had tourism as a big part of its economy for a long time. Resorts and hotels, of course, have been a big part of that from your perspective. Where did all that start?
CLAIRE MCWILLIAMS: I think the the story is the same as it would be in modern day, which is, you know, Arizona has its five Cs: cattle, citrus, copper and cotton — but then there's climate. That's a C. we have been a winter escape climate for a long, long time. And then our other C is the [Grand] Canyon. We have a celebrated natural wonder in the state, and people have been wanting to see it for a long, long time. And that's in my opinion, kind of the birth of part of our industry is, is at the Canyon, with the Grand Canyon Hotel being built in 1892.
And I want to say that lodging always mirrors whatever the attractions that are being developed are and what the transportation innovations are of the day.
BRODIE: So at the Grand Canyon, for example, that would be natural wonders and, and railroads, right?
MCWILLIAMS: Absolutely. So if you think about, let's say the late 1800s, there were these magazines being published, like Scribner's and National Geographic, and they painted this beautiful picture of the canyon, maybe the Southwest at large, if you will. And that captured the imaginations of people who, for the first time, had time and money to participate in leisure away from home. And yes, railways come along. They make Arizona accessible, and you have early hoteliers and entrepreneurs like Fred Harvey. I don't know if you've heard of his Harvey Girls, but he set up shop in the 1880s, along the Santa Fe Railway route. And it started employing females as providing great service in his hotels and restaurants along the way.
BRODIE: So at what point and how did all of this migrate south? Because the Phoenix area has also for a very long time — probably not as long as the Grand Canyon — but for a very long time, been a community that is, really that for which tourism is very important and ... has had a lot of hotels and resorts.
MCWILLIAMS: Well, kind of moving south with the creation of the National Park System and the the fact that we have so many national parks in our state. Again, coupling that with the weather, I think it made perfect sense that tourism would start to move into the Valley. People wanting to explore during those winter escape months and finding their way to other attractions in doing so. I think the fact that we have another C, which is culture, and we have this access here in the Valley. Our proximity to Mexico. Our 22 federally recognized native American tribes in the state.
There's just a fertile place in all areas of the state for tourism to grow, and it certainly did here in the Valley. I think of some really cool hotels historically, like the Hotel San Carlos, which opened up in 1928. I actually see it out the window of my downtown campus in ASU. The Wigwam out in Litchfield Park or the Arizona Biltmore, which were both opened in 1929. And then maybe another reason for the Valley gaining a lot of resort-style lodging is golf.
BRODIE: Yeah. When did a lot of these places start popping up? You mentioned, for example, the the Wigwam and the Biltmore in the late '20s and the San Carlos, but you know, there are, were a ton of resorts that came after that. Was there sort of a heyday for them?
MCWILLIAMS: I think in every decade you can find some interesting types of resorts that became part of the narrative of Arizona. And something some I can think of would be like in the 1930s. That's when Camelback Inn, which is now JW Marriott. And then the beautiful Hermosa Inn that opened up in 1936. So that decade saw some really beautiful, kind of iconic Arizona properties.
And then, you know, you can go into the whole Route 66 component. That's the motor hotel, which is just a portmanteau. That's what motel is, is a motor hotel. And you know, after world war two people were road tripping all over the state.
BRODIE: At what point did resorts become a place to go — like in and of themselves, almost regardless of where they were. As opposed to like going to a resort in Phoenix and then sort of exploring around the area.
MCWILLIAMS: I think that's been in development for a long time and maybe Arizona is early to figuring out that you don't have to just stay at a place and then go elsewhere for your fine dining, entertainment, et cetera, that you can do that where you are. And if you're in the right resort. So we don't have to look at modern day to see that. You can look back at the history of the Biltmore, other places and see that those places were iconic attractions of their own. So I think it's not about when they started, it's just how they ramped up ... to the reputation that they have today.
BRODIE: So when you look at how resorts now market themselves and the kinds of amenities they offer, how much of it is about trying to keep people who are staying there at that property? Versus, you know, saying, "Hey, if you come to Phoenix, you can go, you know, see X, Y and Z, and do this and that." And then, you know, maybe come back for the spa and a round of golf and a nice meal in the evening.
MCWILLIAMS: Well, here's another great example is the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. These are properties that there's a lot of, of hotel properties that are now attached to casinos. So there's a unique opportunity to make everything that you want or need in one space, starting with gaming and then moving your way out from there. You could look at places like where Talking Stick, is the Salt River Pima Maricopa reservation near Scottsdale. That's kind of a lodging corridor, an entertainment corridor, if you will. Whether it's wanting to, you know, do privately owned attractions or spring training, it's all in one spot.
So I think that it's, it's easier now for hotels to position themselves to be not only a lodging place, but one where you can catch a show and do a variety of entertaining things while you're there. Not just to stay.
BRODIE: How important are resorts to Arizona's economy and Arizona's tourism economy in 2024?
MCWILLIAMS: Well, I think COVID showed us how important they are because, when it all shut down, it was, it was rough. It was kind of a horrific toll, short term, on our industry with hotel closures and financial losses. And really, from my perspective, a loss of talent that we still feel today. So I think having things taken away is the first way of really seeing how important they are to our economy. 2019, the year before we had COVID was a record breaking year in Arizona — $25 billion in direct spending. That's a figure from the Arizona Office of Tourism.
So it is really important. And I would like to say to you that just like tourism disappearing overnight is a nightmare, I also think that unmanaged tourism growth can also be a nightmare. So I think all of our resort community are lodging and all the other sectors of tourism really need to work on finding balance and finding out what our carrying capacity is, to make sure that we have the right types of tourism and the right types of projects developed, versus just unchecked tourism growth. Which can lead to places that I don't know if the Valley would really like to go in.
BRODIE: I'm curious what the future for resorts in the Valley looks like to you. I mean, we just had, for example, Caesars opening its facility in Scottsdale. The first — you mentioned casino — is the first one that didn't have a casino under the Caesars brand.
MCWILLIAMS: I had the opportunity to go there with my students and take a tour of it when it opened. And it's amazing using property, what it looks like on the inside compared to what you see on the outside. You just, you don't expect what you, what you see when you walk in there. So, yeah, I think a variety of models are are waiting there. There's a lot of projects that are waiting to happen that are getting ready to open.
So I don't see any stop to it in the near future in terms of in terms of projects also interested in in the partnerships that are out there, the kind of like sports tourism, for example, lots of interesting partnerships happening there.
