The plan:
4 nights at Sunburst in Scottsdale
2 nights in Sedona
2 nights in an expensive resort in Scottsdale (Sanctuary on Camelback or Royal Palms Resort)

The problem: Want to do Sedona but don't want to pay Sedona prices. Can't get place on VRBO.com for Sedona as they want to rent for longer period of time than two nights. Are there any towns within an hour of Sedona that offer cheaper accomadations the you would recommend? Jerome? Prescott?

I don't think you'll find anything in Jerome, but between Jerome & Sedona is a town, "Cottonwood" - I think, where I stayed at a Best Western while bicycling coast to coast. Have also stayed at the Prescottian (BW) in Prescott. (Bear in mind that was 1990 & 91 I made those trips.) See Jerome & have lunch at Betty's Ore House.

Check out the website for Desert Quail in the Village of Oak Creek, a few miles before Sedona. Inexpensive and very very good reviews- check www.tripadvisor.com as well as searching on this board for Desert Quail.

www.desertquailinn.com

there is a coupon on their website good for a $10 discount per night too.

If you pick weeknights instead of weekends you might get better rates.

Flagstaff is less than an hour north. It has lots of very reasonable accomodations. The drive is beautiful.

A few thoughts on Flag as a base: Flag is indeed a beautiful drive, but if they want to do Sedona, it is a long, winding, steep drive to do twice a day, and I won't do the whole drive in the dark. I stay at Junipine when I go to OAk Creek/Sedona (about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up the Canyon towards Flag on 89A), and I wouldn't want to commute further than that. Also, you didn't mention time of year. Flag gets snow- real snow, not the usual dusting that Sedona gets. That scenic drive can be very rough then.

I don't know what your price range is, but the Sky Ranch Lodge near the airport in Sedona is around $95 a night for a large room. The location offers the best views in town.

We will be in AZ the first week of June to hike and bike. We never sit around the pool at a hotel and we will probably not use spa services.

I know it will be hot but we're used to riding bikes in serious humidity and heat in Indiana so I think we'll be able to chose the time of day when we can hike and bike comfortably.

Price isn't usually a big deal but I'm adding this vacation in among lots of others so I'm trying to keep costs down. In Scottsdale I can get a room at Sanctuary for $255/nt or the Four Seasons for $165 and they are such amazing hotels. I hate to pay those prices for a so so place in Sedona. I know I can't compare apples to oranges. The weather and the scenery in Sedona account for the higher prices... Thanks for all the info.

cottonwood. The Little Daisy is very cheap, very clean, very plain. Bare bones, but a real money saver. there's also a Best Western in Cottonwood that's a step up.

We stayed right in Oak Creek and right in Sedona at separate times for very little money. It was 2 years ago.

We didn't even have reservations.

But I can't remember the name of the very nice one we got for about $55 or $75 a night and it was a motel type with the outside entrance. It was clean and had a coffee/roll type free a m combo also. It had a view of Cathedral Rock and others as well. Sorry, I still can't remember the name, but I did go to Priceline, just to see if that would jog my memory. And Priceline now has Sedona as a separate category and you can bid on rooms for very little $.

Honestly, if you are looking at costs you would not need to pay that for the others you listed either. Check out hotwire or Priceline and the biddingfortravel.com web sites. You must have your dates absolutely set and you pay upon reservation to a charge card in full. If you are not picky, and you don't sound like your are, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Okay, I booked a room at the Desert Quail after checking out the fab reviews on tripadvisor.com. My room is $69/nt and I have a $10 off coupon per night so $59 rocks!

We are going to hike and bike our butts off the first six days of the "vacay"- Pinnacle Peak, South Mtn, Camelback, all over Red Rocks area of Sedona. So the last two days I am going to veg completely in a resort in Scottsdale so the service and decor matter only for those two nights. Thats why I am afraid to use Priceline or Hotwire (which I usually use). I don't want to get a BIG resort like the Fairmont Princess so much as a small one like Santuary. I'm not familiar enough with Priceline to figure out if Santuary even offers rooms. Help?

Thanks for all the ideas and the quick responses!!!

amwosu: That's great. Glad you got to use the coupon. I don't think you can beat $59 for a room like Desert Quail, as clean and nice and quiet as it is, and it is attached to that very decent convenience store for breakfast items and hiking goodies. I like the Village at Oak Creek- the coffee place there is a nice community place right on the highway there. My husband and son rented bikes at that combo coffee and bike shop to bike around Cathedral Rock area (and the famous Red Rock Crossing area) the third week of June a few yrs ago. They had a blast. I've done extensive hiking in the area over the years. If you are looking for hike recommendations for Sedona, I posted recently on my favorite hikes and hiking book, click on my name and it will come up.