➤ Loews Hotels & Resorts recently purchased Tucson’s 398-room Loews Ventana Canyon Resort and is planning a multimillion-dollar makeover in 2015. Tucson’s Estes family will retain a minority ownership position in the resort, which opened in 1984. The property showcases two signature heated pools, a Jacuzzi, a full-service spa, 26 suites and 37,000 square feet of indoor function space, in addition to nearly 40,000 square feet of alfresco event space.
➤ The former Quality Inn Tucson converted to a Red Lion in May, adding new bedding and upgrading the courtyard area—which includes a heated pool, putting green and cabana—at the already recently refurbished property. The refreshed and rebranded hotel now offers 155 rooms, including 91 suites, plus 1,600 square feet of function space.
➤ A roundup of additional 2014 hotel news in Tucson also included an extensive stylistic redesign of the 86-room Comfort Suites at Tucson Mall that upgraded bedding, carpeting, furniture, wall coverings and window treatments, and also included updated amenities and free guest Wi-Fi; a sweeping upgrade of the La Quinta Inn & Suites Tucson Reid Park, which features four customizable meeting rooms comprising 5,000 square feet of space; and a spectacular infusion of more than 30,000 desert flowers and other local flora at the Casino Del Sol’s Sewailo Golf Club.