AFTER THE LOVE IS GONE...

We all enjoy a romantic getaway to a Resort & Spa...

Yesterday's BLOG post was long. But I felt that I owed each of you who stop here an explanation about the lapse in time between updates on Trevor Tredaway's Fundraising project. I hope that the one thing you were able to take away from that posting was not a tale of woe, but rather a Determination we have here in Scottsdale to see this project through to success. We are not easily discouraged. In the meantime, I wanted to share a more specific snapshot of what is happening here in Phoenix.

-

Foreclosure proceedings have been initiated against seven of the most beautiful and luxurious Resorts & Spa's here in The Valley. Ion Data, a real estate research firm located in nearby Mesa, Arizona reports that the number of major liens against resorts who spent the bulk of 2008 renovating their properties has more than doubled over the past 24 months. Worse yet, the experts who track the Travel & Leisure industry say that we are only in the very early stages of this downturn in Greater Phoenix. Usually a magnet for vacationers, the General Manager of a local television station who met with me two weeks ago hit the nail on the head when he described Phoenix as "a very transient luxury market". The statistics don't lie either.

-

Consider the fact that last month, our hotel occupancy rates were down 45 percent! Now, that is actually 17 percent lower than this same time last year when the economy was blowing and going--so to speak. When lenders foreclose on a property, jobs are lost--including architects and interior designers. I have known several of the latter who carried a considerable swagger throughout 2008 and behaved as if they were invulnerable rock stars. Today, they are neither. What happened? Basically, short-term construction loans came due just as the recession in the United States deepened. The towering and troubling question for even front line resort managers who continue to smile broadly and maintain that "It's business as usual" is this: Who is going to buy these troubled properties? The market for hotel deals is absolutely awful. Much if not all of this can be placed at the feet of the credit crisis, where lenders are now increasing the terms for commercial properties while demanding more equity. As I see it, the war in Iraq is costing the United States billions of dollars (regardless of where you happen to stand on the issue; it costs a lot). Oil and gas speculators flipped tracts of oil producing properties that artificially inflated crude oil prices (and gas at over $4 a gallon at the gas pump). Then government regulators removed the partition that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt installed to prevent banks from selling securities and security houses from selling banking services. These are the facts without political partisanship. We have now have a mess on our hands! The current economic environment will take literally years to mend, according to Robert Hayward, principal with the Phoenix hospitality consulting and research firm of Warnick & Co. Into this hostile environment, my small team and I have been attempting to circumvent these ugly storm cells much like pilots do when flying a commercial aircraft. We are rethinking Trevor's event on many fronts to ultimately do whatever makes sense? We are not afraid of taking a sobering look at making changes to overcome the obstacles. We are open to fresh thinking and new ideas even if they don't come from us. There can be no ego attached to helping a child in need and I can tell you that each of us "checked our ego's at the door" a long time ago. Make no doubt about it. We are sincere and driven. Most of all: Will our outstretched hands be met with others in the Midland, Texas where Trevor lives as opposed to Phoenix? At the end of the day, I believe that they will. To me, a sick child is a sick child regardless of where he or she happens to live. However, public perception can be very narrow. If the perception is "Why are we supporting an event to benefit a child in another city?", then the answer may lie in assembling components of a fun-filled event in Trevor's hometown. Perhaps there, access to hearts and souls more empathic about a child in their own community who people are familiar with will allow us our best chance at success. We are not afraid of new ideas or change. We will deliberately embrace whatever adaptation is needed to make this event a success. By success, I mean three things: 1.) To raise public awareness of pediatric brain cancer; 2.) To raise funds to help resolve Trevors' considerable medical costs; 3.) To accomplish these objectives with a fun event that involves music and celebrates life--an event that can be duplicated time and again. These are the considerations we are facing. In the meantime, we welcome all positive thoughts and prayers. There is a precious little boy at the heart of this story who deserves nothing less.