Travel Roundup: SF's Four Seasons in Default, Arizona Touts Travel, Prank Calls Damaging Hotels, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco in default -- The Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco is in default on its $90 million, two-year loan, developer Millennium Partners announced today. Millennium, known for luxury condos and hotels, said that it stopped payments as a negotiating strategy with LNR Property Corp. Analysts call it a "default of convenience" and a way to force negotiations. [Source: San Francisco Business Times]

Arizona tourism officials say travel isn't a luxury -- The Arizona Office of Tourism's new campaign "Free to Be," wants tourists to know that travel is a necessity to lower stress and maintain balance. The ad campaign's focus is on leisure travel because business travel continues to wane in the region. The state had about 26.1 million overnight domestic visitors in 2008, down about 3.3 percent from the prior year. Overnight business travel dropped 7.6 percent, to 6.3 million visitors. With only $5 million to spend on promoting the campaign, the tourism office is targeting only a few cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver. [Source: Arizona Daily Star]

Prank calls cause havoc for hoteliers -- A rash of pranksters calling hotel rooms and posing as hotel officials are duping guests into damaging or trashing rooms:

• In Arkansas, a caller posing as a sprinkler-company employee persuaded a motel employee to do more than $50,000 in damage to a motel by testing its emergency alarms.
• In a Daphne, Ala. Comfort Suites, a caller ordered a guest to turn on the sprinklers for a fire that wasn't, resulting in $10,000 in damage.
• In Nebraska, a Hampton Inn employee was convinced by a caller to pull the fire alarm and the only way to silence the alarm was by breaking lobby windows. The employee sought help from a nearby trucker, who obligingly backed his rig through the front of the lobby. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]

Boulder Dam Hotel runs out of cash, closes -- The historic Boulder Dam Hotel, open since 1933 and a second home to celebrities and royalty will close Saturday. The Boulder City Museum and Historical Association, which owns the hotel, restaurant and Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum, voted Wednesday to close because it's out of cash. The hotel's two mortgages are $940,000. When opened in 1933, the Hoover Dam was still being build and it hosted celebrities like Shirley Temple, the Maharajah of Indore and a honeymooning Cornelius Vanderbilt. Years later, it became an eyesore and flophouse, with no one able to restore the hotel to its former glory. The board said that unless it can come up with $250,000 by Sept. 10, the hotel won't reopen. [Source: Las Vegas Sun]

Harrah's breaks ground on Cherokee Casino & Hotel tower -- Harrah's Entertainment broke ground on its Cherokee Casino & Hotel's 532-room tower today, part of a $633 million expansion. When finished in 2012, the 37-acre property will have a third tower with a 3,000-seat event center, suites, spa, digital poker room, restaurant and retail properties. [Source: Harrah's]