The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel is looking for any assistance with our fundraising effort.

The organization we are supporting is the UMOM New Day Center located at 3320 E. Van Buren, Phoenix, AZ 85008

UMOM’s mission is to provide homeless and low-income families with food, shelter and tools to build a bridge to self-sufficiency.  New Day Centers offers emergency housing for homeless and low-income families for up to 120-days, transitional housing for families and single women for up to two years (the three nutritious meals a day and a variety of life-enhancing educational and motivational programs and activities). In addition New Day operates the Winter Overflow Emergency Shelter in collaboration with the City of Phoenix November through March, serving more than 3300 homeless men, women and children. This will soon be year-round.

Our commitment to UMOM is to raise enough funds to provide 200 children with new shoes that they can proudly wear to their first day of school.

I have attached the details of the event and organization for your reference.

To our Phoenix Neighbors, thank you again for facilitating our support of UMOM.; together we will make a huge difference.

Warm regards,

The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel Team  

* To assist in our fundraising efforts please contact Jenna Fanning at 602.262.2500 or by email at jenna.fanning@sheraton.com

In preparation for its fall opening, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel is opening a recruitment unit in the Arizona Center.

Called the Sheraton Recruitment Center, it opened on Tuesday, July 15th, in the retail, movie and restaurant complex located across the street from the hotel at Third and Van Buren streets in downtown Phoenix.

"This is an incredible opportunity for people looking to work in the downtown area. With the opening of the light rail at the end of the year and all of the new residential developments in the area, we're excited about the impact this will have in breathing some life into downtown Phoenix," said Cindy Radamaker, director of human resources at Sheraton Downtown Phoenix.

The Sheraton Recruitment Center will be open Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Candidates may also visit www.sheraton.jobs/phoenixdowntown and apply electronically.

The 1,000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, scheduled to open in October, will feature a 3,500-square-foot fitness center and a 4,500-square-foot outdoor pool and sundeck.

MICROSOFT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WILL KEEP GUESTS CONNECTEDAT SHERATON’S NEWLY BRANDED SIGNATURE COMMUNICATIONS HUB:“LINK AT SHERATON EXPERIENCED WITH MICROSOFT”  WHITE PLAINS, NY – May 14, 2008 – Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Microsoft Corp. announced today a partnership to implement products and services at the “Link @ Sheraton,” its signature communications hub rolling out in Sheraton lobbies this year. Under the agreement, Sheraton will also co-brand and rename the space “The Link @ Sheraton experienced with Microsoft.” The partnership is one component of a comprehensive effort to enhance and differentiate the guest experience at Sheraton’s 408 hotels across 75 countries, currently rolling out globally.   Sheraton’s Link is a unique virtual and physical lobby lounge space that meets the needs of Sheraton’s core guests by enabling them to work, relax and remain connected with friends and family during their travels. It offers a unique and convenient online experience, including free Wi-Fi and Internet-enabled computer stations, to allow guests to email, search the Web, review local attractions and even print up boarding passes. Through its relationship with Microsoft, the new, enhanced “Link @ Sheraton experienced with Microsoft” will offer Windows-based computers providing visitors with search, maps, email and information. In addition, many Link computers will also feature webcams, allowing guests to have free video-chats or email video postcards back home. Guests will also have access to televisions, daily newspapers, and food and beverage offerings.

PHOENIX (April 7, 2008) – Still six months out from its official opening, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown has exceeded its projections for advance group bookings, reaching the $52 million benchmark – a goal that the hotel had hoped to reach by the October opening. “Downtown Phoenix has emerged as a first tier destination, and reaching this ambitious goal so far out is a testament to the quality of this city, this hotel, and those people who have represented us so well” said Steve Spivak, director of sales and marketing at Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. “Despite what’s happening in the economy, we’re encouraged by not only the number of commitments we’ve secured, but also the continued inquiries we’re fielding from all different markets.” Since the hotel’s sales effort began in early 2006, in cooperation with the Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau, the sales team has secured commitments from groups varying in size from 50 to 2500 attendees. Committed groups include European software giant SAP and National Automobile Dealers Association. And like other Downtown venues, the Sheraton anticipates a major boost when Phoenix hosts the NBA All-Star game in 2009. With a projected on-time opening of October 1, 2008, the highly anticipated 1000-room Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel will be Arizona’s newest and largest hotel, offering luxury accommodations in the heart of Phoenix. Located in Downtown Phoenix, Sheraton boasts more than 80,000 square feet of meeting space, 17 meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 2,900 people, and three outdoor function areas. One of the more intriguing amenities of the new Sheraton is the Link at Sheraton, featuring the Link Café.  “The Link is a third place, we want our guest to have an option between the meeting room and their hotel room, an area that allows guests to connect with home or work or with each other.” said Spivak. The Link features complimentary Internet access, soft seating, flat panel TVs and a signature café experience that is social but not bar-like. Sheraton is rolling out the concept at all of its properties as part of Starwood’s focus on its largest and most recognizable brand.   The Sheraton’s 29,000-square-foot ballroom and 15,000-square-foot junior ballroom are an ideal location for annual fundraisers, training sessions or trade shows. High-tech presentations and business meetings can be held in one of two boardrooms offering state-of-the-art technology, video-conferencing capabilities and on-site audio-visual staff. Additional amenities include the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper^SM Beds, a 3,500-square-foot fitness center programmed by Core Fitness and a 4,000-square-foot outdoor pool and sundeck.  The Sheraton is located in the center of the bustling Copper Square. It is the first hotel that has been built in Downtown Phoenix since 1976. It is owned by the City of Phoenix and managed by Starwood Hotels and Resorts. It strives to be a place that is warm and comforting, second only to home, where visitors can come to connect and belong. For more information visit www.sheraton.com/phoenixdowntown.

The Link @ Sheraton will offer a unique and convenient online experience that will enable guests to surf the Internet, email loved ones, review local favorite attractions and even print up boarding passes. Customized features include free Wi-Fi and broadband Internet-enabled lounge installations in Sheraton hotel lobbies. The Link@Sheraton experienced with Microsoft was born out of guests' needs to have a sense of community and belonging while on the road.  In keeping with Sheraton's core values of warm, comforting, connections, the Link@Sheraton provides a place within Sheraton where guests can keep up with what's important to them, where they can work, relax, fit in and feel part of a community. 

The Link Café, which will be conveniently located next to the Link@Sheraton, will open early every day offering freshly brewed Starbucks® coffee, breakfast pastries, fresh fruit and sandwich selections. It's the perfect spot to relax over a cup of coffee, or grab one to go.

The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel has just finished their Phoenix Rising, Volume 2, Issue 1, Newsletter.  Although the entire newsletter will not fit in this blog, if you would like to receive an issue, please email Jenna at jenna.fanning@sheraton.com or call at 602.262.2500.

 Below is a little bit of what you can find inside the newsletter, along with information about Downtown Phoenix, the Starwood Convention Collection, Team Hot, and the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel team and how they are making a difference in our community!

On August 14^th, hundreds of people gathered in the cavernous porte-cochere of what, in exactly one year, will be the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel.   We gathered to celebrate the construction milestone known as “topping out”: the completion of the major structural steel and concrete elements of the building.  On this day, as we stood in admiration of an amazing engineering accomplishment and a major accomplishment of civic development, I could not help but well up with pride for the much less tangible accomplishments that have been realized here. 

In the last ten months while our building has grown from a thirty foot trench to a thirty two story tower, our team has grown from five associates to twelve.  We have brought on not just the most qualified people, but the most dynamic individuals from all different backgrounds with a multitude of experiences and a diversity of passions that bring brilliance to what we do every day.  We pride ourselves not only on our ability to assure a successful business performance for the hotel but on our ability to create a lasting culture that will be the true measure of the success of our efforts.  Everyday, as a team, we explore what it means to be Sheraton, how our love of this brand can translate into real meaning for our customers and for our community. 

The greatest successes of our sales efforts have not been the rooms we have booked, but the fact that we have booked them by helping customers reach their potential and by creating a synergy with the CVB, the Phoenix Convention Center and our downtown Phoenix neighbors.   What we really celebrated on August 14^th, was the creation of a body that we have the honor of breathing life in to.  The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Team is committed to being patrons of our community, servants of our customers, and family to each other.  We all hope that in October 2008, when the first guests pass through the doors of the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, they will experience first hand the love, the commitment, and the feeling that went into building this structure and giving a heartbeat to our grand hotel. 

- Steve Spivak, Director of Sales and Marketing

Actually probably just happened an hour or so ago!  The Sheraton Downtown Phoenix, a 1000 Room, 31 story bldg has reached it's full heighth and Mayor Phil Gordon was to be on hand to celebrate the milestone.  Read more now.

More to follow later today!

check out this video at azcentral.com taken high atop the Downtown Sheraton

video

The Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel continues to grow by a floor per week, and it is now starting to look a lot like the pictures that Phoenicians have been seeing publicized since 2004. Fortunately for the city, Sheraton, and all the people planning on holding events at the hotel, everything is right on time!

The response to the hotel and the emergence of Phoenix as a Convention Destination has been overwhelmingly positive. Organizations from around the world are planning events in Phoenix and more importantly, they are planning events in Downtown Phoenix!!