Tribe and tested
The Pima and Maricopa tribes, who live side by side on a Native American reservation outside Phoenix, Arizona, are said to be modest by nature - their culture dictates that they should not show off or brag. But there's nothing modest about their new business venture, a $175m (£109.3m) luxury hotel resort that took three years to build and many more to plan.
The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa - so-called after the wild horses that still roam the desert - covers 1,600 acres of the 372,000-acre reservation. It includes 500 rooms and suites, 100,000sq ft of conference space, four restaurants, an equestrian centre, two golf courses and its own two-and-a-half-mile man-made river complete with an electric-powered riverboat.
Although the tribes had been running a popular casino on the reservation since 1996, the hospitality trade was new to them. But they knew what they wanted: an upmarket resort to rival others in the surrounding Phoenix area. As such, the property is one of the first of its kind in the USA. Whereas most Native American-owned hotels are midmarket and serve to accommodate casino guests, the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass stands alone from the casino and has a much wider target audience.
The tribes hired architectural firm Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, whose credits include the Regent in Bangkok and Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in Orlando. Troon Golf was brought in to manage the golf courses, the first of which opened in late 2001. And Starwood Hotels & Resorts won the contract to manage the resort.
The project caught the eye of Allen Kramme, then overseeing special projects at Starwood's head office in upstate New York. Kramme had worked in Phoenix in 1992, as regional director of operations for Interstate Hotels Corporation, and was itching to return to what he believed was a pioneering concept. "I realised the business acumen of these individuals [in the tribes] and the great foresight they had in putting together the resort," he says. He joined as general manager, and the property opened in October 2002.
The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass is more than just a foray into hospitality for the two tribes. It's also their attempt to educate the public about their culture and people, known as the Gila River Indian Community. The Native American theme is obvious as soon as you enter the hotel: there are "welcome" plaques in the entryway in both the Maricopa and Pima languages. Local Native American art abounds, including a huge painted domed ceiling in the main lobby. Lines of cacti have been used as details in the bedrooms and public areas. Native American pottery and artifacts are displayed throughout the corridors. Some of the light fixtures are modelled on a Native American plant, the devil's claw. Headboards, cabinets and bed linen have been custom-made to include Native American symbols.
Aji, the 17,500sq ft spa, uses local products and traditions like desert mud, clay, aloe and hot rocks. Kai (meaning "seed"), the 110-seat fine-dining restaurant, offers a blend of modern and Native American cuisine. Chef Sandy Garcia, from a separate tribe in New Mexico, works with consultant chef Janos Wilder, an award-winning restaurant owner in nearby Tucson, to use indigenous food such as olives, citrus, chillies and herbs from the reservation and the rest of Arizona.
Gary Bohnee, the community's director of public relations, points out that the theming not only educates visitors, "it differentiated the project from other resorts in the community".
Managing the property came with certain conditions. Starwood had to recruit as many people as possible from the Gila River Indian Community and, if not, to favour other Native Americans. Last summer, tribal members were sent for training to other Starwood-operated hotels in the Phoenix area, including the Wigwam Resort and the Phoenician. Sheraton will also have as many as five management trainees from the tribes.
All non-tribal members receive training on the community's culture and are taught some basic words from their languages, and a cultural "theming" director is being recruited to answer guests' questions, give public tours and put on educational programmes for children and adults.
Although it is Starwood which has brought the hospitality expertise to the project, the Gila River Indian Community has done more than just stump up the capital, which came from gaming revenues. Kramme, a 23-year veteran of the industry, admits that he has learnt a few new business lessons. "I'm impressed by the fact that they can think generations down the road," he says. "Very often in business, you think of your current month or quarter or fiscal year. They look forward to say, ‘What can we best do to take care of our children's children's children?' The community plans to add retail space on the land, too."
But when it comes to marketing expertise, the tribes are somewhat lacking. When sales and marketing director Jim Curtis travels to tout the property at conferences, representatives from the tribes give him a limited amount of help. They stand up and introduce themselves, then hand over to Curtis. "They don't believe in bragging and talking about how good they are," he explains. "They don't want to be outspoken. It's not in their culture."
Tribal representatives have weekly meetings with management and they are anxious to see quick results, says Curtis. "They'd like us to be full, but it doesn't happen overnight," he says. This is particularly so when the economic climate is depressed and competition is fierce - Curtis says that 2,200 new hotel rooms opened in the Phoenix market within one 90-day period last autumn.
Occupancy has been at about 33% since opening, and is expected to reach about 65% in the first year, says Curtis. The aim is for 75% of business to come from conference guests, the remainder from leisure. During southern Arizona's fierce summers, when temperatures around Phoenix can hit 110¼C and higher, the local market will be targeted, with rooms discounted to as low as $99 (£62) a night. Kramme says that he hopes to achieve an average room rate of about $150 (£94).
Native intelligence
Native American-owned hotels are a growing trend in the USA, a result of the realisation among tribes that there's money to be made from putting up tourists on their reservations.
It's also a natural extension of casinos, which the historically poverty-stricken tribes turned to a few decades ago to make money. The individual states in the USA traditionally have been restrictive with casino gambling but, because Native American reservations operate as sovereign nations, they escape state law. The only requirement - under a government act passed in 1988 - is that tribes plough gaming revenues back into the community, to education, health and housing.
Arizona's Pima and Maricopa tribes are not the only ones to have realised that the money-making didn't have to stop at gaming. In California, the Cahuilla Indian tribe owns 42% of the land in the Coachella Valley in and around Palm Springs, making it the largest single landowner in the area. Leasing land to hotel and property companies is said to be making millionaires of some tribal members.
Native American tribes are increasingly forming partnerships with high-profile hospitality companies. The Seminole tribe of Florida has signed a licensing agreement with Hard Rock Caf‚ to operate two Hard Rock Hotel and Casino resorts in Florida, to open in 2004.
And in January 2001 the Santa Ana Pueblo tribe in New Mexico opened the 350-bedroom Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort, Spa and Golf Club. Managed by Hyatt, it is similar in nature to the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass, with Native American theming and its own cultural and learning centre.
Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa
Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
Web site:www.sheraton.com
Rooms: 500
Room rates: $249-$500 (£155-£312)
Occupancy: actual, 30-40%; projected, 60-80%
