When temperatures go up, rates go down. While that old adage still applies to many desert destinations, it’s less applicable than it once was.
“It used to be that you could hear a pin drop around here during the summer,” says Ann Gorman, director of sales for the soon-to-open Agua Caliente Resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif., in reference to the Palm Springs area. “Now it’s not unusual for hotels to sell out on summer weekends. The leisure drive market is really strong then. A lot of people want to escape the summer fog on the California coast.”
As a result, time of the week has become almost as big a factor as seasonality at desert resorts. While the Agua Caliente Resort, a 340-room luxury property set to make its debut in April, is looking to book groups requiring as many as 200 rooms midweek, that number falls to 50 rooms on weekends.
“Any resort hotel is going to go for midweek business, and the airlines are encouraging this as well,” Gorman says. “Come Sunday-Monday instead of Friday-Saturday, resort destinations draw leisure guests on weekends who will pay a higher rate than groups.”
While summer season rates in hot-weather destinations such as Palm Springs and Phoenix still tend to be quite a bit less than winter rates—anywhere from 30 to 60 percent less—desert hoteliers say the duration of the low season has been steadily shrinking.
“High and low seasons are still far apart, but the shoulder season is extending and has been growing in popularity with groups,” says Chris Kandziora, director of sales and marketing at Miramonte Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, Calif., near Palm Springs. “May, June and September are very good months. The temperatures are not that hot and rates are reasonable—you will find savings of 30 to 40 percent over high season.”
He adds that even the winter high season has its value periods.
“A really good time is the first two weeks of January,” he says. “You will also save if you have the group arrive on Sunday night, which is the slowest night of the week. That’s more valuable to us than arriving on Monday.”
It’s also important to note that not all desert destinations have the same high and low seasons. In the high desert of New Mexico, where elevations of 5,000 feet or more bring cooler weather, the situation is far different than in Arizona or California.
“Our slowest times are early December and the month of February, while our summers are fairly busy,” says Nina Santellanes, director of sales for the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort near Albuquerque. “Our daytime summer temperatures rarely exceed the low 90s and the nights cool down into the 60s, which is much cooler than in Arizona.”
High season for Tamaya is April through June, while October is perhaps the busiest month because of the annual Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, she adds.
In California’s Death Valley National Park, high season usually extends from mid-February until late April or early May, according to Phil Dickinson, director of sales for the Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch Resort.
“You’re not going to find any deals here during that time,” he says. “The time for value is late October through early December. November has especially good weather—in the 70s and 80s during the day.”
January through mid-February is also value season in Death Valley, a time when daytime temperatures are usually in the mid- to upper-60s, he adds.
