Businesses, city officials say Sedona is safe but brace for a rough month
“Sedona’s open for business” is the message the Greater Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau is sending to the world as the Pocket Fire has engulfed 27,451 acres with 73% containment, and 1,148 personnel as of Friday, July 10
The fire led to officials closing Oak Creek Canyon on the first day and only letting residents enter and exit after June 23. Seven Canyons and Enchantment Resort were placed on “Set” evacuation status over the July 4 holiday weekend.
“We’re sending up the message that it’s absolutely safe to come; Sedona itself is not on fire,” Sedona Lodging Council President Debra Shinn said. “But the big story is the pace is down, the future bookings are way down.”
“We’re trying to get all that comprehensive data together right now for the city and the county, but it’s easy to say there are double-digit reductions in booking compared to what you’d normally see over a holiday weekend, across the board,” Greater Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau President and CEO David Key said. “I’m specifically trying to understand more of the short-term rental side, because we don’t generally get as much of that data in real time.”
Shinn said she is anticipating a double-digit drop in hotel bookings in Sedona. According to the Sedona Smith Travel Research Report for the Week of June 21, the weekend occupancy was down year-over-year 4.7% on Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27, occupancy fell 8.3% year-over-year. However, calendar year-to-date revenue is up 8.8% to $114.8 million.
“Summer business is always hard to gather anyway, and this was almost like a double whammy,” Shinn said. “It’s really probably going to be quite hard on the hotels when the end of the month comes and the real numbers are out, but just based on the way the trends are going.”
Oak Creek Canyon has been economically devastated since State Route 89A closed on June 19, when the Pocket Fire ignited. Additionally, residents in the canyon were issued a “GO” evacuation order later that evening; that order was lowered to “SET,” and went into effect on the morning of June 23.
“The Junipine Resort has been closed since evacuation on [June] 19, and continues to receive significant cancellations into July,” Grace Hospitality Senior Vice President Jody Harwood wrote. “This is a similar situation to the Slide Fire [in 2014] and devastating to the business in the canyon.”
“June and July can be quiet anyway, so the road closure is kind of a difficult thing to assess, as far as [its effect on] our bottom line,” owner of Hoel’s Indian Shop Carol Watters said, and noted that its website, hoelsindianshop.com, is available for online orders. “We make sales through that, so that has helped us … but otherwise it’s been extremely quiet, and of course the closure doesn’t help business at all.”
Within Sedona city limits, Aiden by Best Western General Manager Lonnie Lillie wrote that his property has had few if any cancellations due to the fire, however new reservations have “dropped to nothing.”
“We have received a lot of cancellations across our portfolio and minimal bookings for July,” wrote Neil Shah, president of Inntech Management Inc., owner of the GreenTree Inn Sedona, Wildflower Inn at Bell Rock, Dreamcatcher Inn of Sedona and Southwest Inn at Sedona.
“We’re fully operational,” Managing Director of Enchantment Stan Kantowski said. “The trail [that] surrounds [us is] closed. However, we have other activities on the property that we offer to the guests, and we communicate with the guests, and the guest decides if they still want to come or if they want to stay, so we have a fluctuation of business, but we are here and happy to assist the guests who are coming here.”
Fire behavior around Seven Canyons and Enchantment has been “moderate” since the “Set” order, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Cyrus Forman, who said there is currently no timeline for reopening Oak Creek Canyon.
Enchantment is honoring reservations if guests wish to cancel because of the fire. “It’s beyond their control or our control. So we are working with our guests to the best of our ability,” Kantowski said.
Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies have closed the intersection of Boynton Pass and Long Canyon to nonresidents, the department announced on July 3 to social media, though the roads are open for hotel guests.
“We have full procedures for any scenario, including the fire,” Kantowski said about the scenario of the resort being given the “Go” order. “So we’ll be implementing those if need be. The safety and security of our guests, and our team is our priority. … Right now, the winds are blowing in the right direction, and we see some progress, and we hope that hardworking firefighters and first responders are successful in further control of the fire.”
The fire’s effect is not uniform across Sedona’s economy. “The interesting thing is that tour operators aren’t usually operating as heavily during peak summer heat anyway, so they’re holding up OK,” Key said. “Lodging is indirectly supported right now by firefighters and crew coming into town, so we may not fully see the consumer-side decline in the data. But the impact has been pretty evenly spread across lodging, retail and restaurants.”
The NEWS asked the city whether contingency marketing funds might be tapped in response to the fire. The city’s FY27 budget includes roughly $300,000 in tourism marketing funds, part of which is set aside as advertising contingency spending.
“We will be taking this topic and more to City Council on Tuesday, July 14,” city spokeswoman Julie Graham wrote. “We understand the fire is having significant impact on many businesses, residents and visitors and are doing our best to support them as we are able.”
“We’re just hoping that it’ll start raining soon,” Watters said.
