Ok I know I am really jumping the gun, but it will be my first IM…cut me some slack.
Does anyone know when the deals/room blocks are made? I called a hotel today and they said the IM folks had not made the block of rooms available yet, but when they do, they go fast.
I want a hotel close to the finish line so my friends will know where to deliver the body.
thanks,
Trisha
Trisha
I stayed at the Candelwood Suites, Baseline Rd, Tempe
6 miles from the finish - nice clean and new hotel.
Not within walking distance of town - but the rooms had a kitchen and were clean and comfortable.
I booked the hotel independent of IMNA - and got a much better deal by going direct.
My room was $71.10 per night - my in-laws got a room there two weeks before the race when the price had gone up to $129 per night.
Worth checking out Priorityclub.com
Good luck - tempe is a great town!!
Trisha:
We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard (I think on Ash). It is about 2 blocks from the transition area/finish/expo/etc. It is much cheaper than the host hotel & the rooms were fine. A lot of athletes stayed there. They even opened the restaurant at 4am on race day so we could all have breakfast. Have a great race in '06. Looks like the bike course will probably be 2 loops.
-Tim
Two hotels that are close are: Courtyard Marriot and Tempe Mission Palms. I am planning on using Courtyard Marriot, it is somewhat closer and much cheaper… yes even though I live close I am planning on staying the night before and after in an hotel 
Hope this helps.
so is that official then, you are in? way to go Trish!
Yup. I am in…I figured I would always wonder “what if” if I didn’t at least try and make it to the start line.
Still want to know how to find out when the “blocks” of IM rooms open up.
I called the Marriott Courtyard as suggested above, but they said that the “block” of IM rooms had not been reserved yet so the cost was much, much higher than it would otherwise be.
-T
FWIW - In each of my IMs…Expedia not only had cheaper rates…but they also had availability. In one instance (in a race to remain anonymous), the hotel only wanted to book X amount of rooms for IM and wanted to keep X amount open for business/personal travel.
Crazy, I tell ya.
Need to revisit this conversation. Although the race is not full yet it appears that those who are racing are all staying at the Courtyard or Palms mentioned already. Other suggestions?
I am staying with family most of the week but would like my own space (for all of our sanity:) the night before and after. Any other suggestions?
I would like to be close but also would like to keep it to just clean, quiet and affordable since I will not be there much. I see a La Quinta at 911 S 48th St. Can anyone from AZ help me out and tell me about how far this is and if it is a safe choice.
I thought I was being proactive on this but guess not:)
Thanks for the help
Updating this after checking expedia.
The 48th location isn’t too bad, it’s on the border of some industrial area, but there are several hotels there so you should be okay, but you’ll either need to bike or drive to the race site. My preference would be Springhill Suites, which is probably more expensive but quite close, or one of the hotels on Scottsdale road (Best Western, Country Inn Suites, Hampton Inn Suites). Other good choices within walking distance are the University Hotel on Mill (looks sort of cheap motel-ish), and Twin Palms on Mill/Apache. There are some hotels on Apache east of the University (Holiday Inn, Days Inn) that are outside walking distance but you can take the Flash free bus anywhere in the ASU/downtown area.
I’ll second the Marriott Courtyard. Reasonable, close, and right next to the bar It was one of the hotels that offered an IM rate for the whole training season.
Even though I am from here (Phoenix) I do not know for sure the name of all of the hotels in Tempe. But, you may want to look at the Fiesta Bowl web site and see if they offer suggestions as to where to stay. The stadium where they have the Fiesta Bowl is right by the transition area. Just an idea. Another suggestion though is to always ask a hotel what the major crossroads are because Phoenix is set up on a grid system and some roads go for miles and miles. What may seem to be close could actually be 15 miles away. If you seriously need some help though, PM me and I would be more than happy to help. This goes for anyone out there that is ever coming to Phoenix.
Curious, what was the IM rate last year for the Courtyard? The Marriot website says $200. I found a Holiday Inn on Apache (much cheaper) that says it is about a mile from the Town Lake Park. The IM AZ hotel page is not up now so can’t find any IM rates for 06.
Sorry I really don’t remember, but I thought it was around $150/night. The IM rate was much cheaper than their std. book rate. This is only a couple of blocks from the transition and finish areas. FYI-I live in Phoenix and this was the hotel I chose for the best value for the proximity.
Thanks Shaner, I will hold out a bit and watch for them to get those rates posted. Since I have a place to stay in Ahwatukee (sp?) it is really just a luxury for me so it isn’t life or death. It just would be real nice to not have to deal with any commute to and from on race day.
I just called IMAZ office. She said they will not be working on anything else for this race until 2006!!! Even the hotel blocks… seems like a long time to wait, huh?
The Holiday Inn is 1 mile from the lake, but more like 2 miles from the expo/start finish area. The Flash bus will go between them though, and you are also less than 1/2 mile from the only grocery store in the area.