Another company entertained its people with a performance reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil.

When it comes to the business of corporate meetings, Phoenix-area hotels and resorts go to great lengths to ensure that these valuable guests get what they want, leave happy and, above all, return. While the groups pay for most of their own events, accommodating their requests can be an exercise in resort flexibility.

"We'll make it happen," said Greg Hanss, marketing director at Four Seasons Resort-Scottsdale, where the CEO of a financial services group rappelled the resort walls for an 007-themed gala in the ballroom.

It also had no complaint about displaying an expensive Mercedes on a pedestal at its front door last September when Fortune magazine recognized corporate America's 50 most influential women in a gathering co-sponsored by the automaker. The car company shipped about 40 vehicles, including one model that sells for about $350,000, for the women to use as courtesy cars and perhaps whet their appetites for purchases.

Corporate and group business "is an incredibly important part of what we do as an industry," Hanss said.

The business — often involving companies trying to impress clients, showcase products or train or reward employees — fills about 60 percent of rooms annually, with comparable revenues, according to several operators of Phoenix-area resorts and hotels.

At the meeting-focused Scottsdale Resort & Conference Center, which began seeking more leisure travelers after a remodeling and name change, corporate and group business is still the bread and butter. It fills about 85 percent of rooms but it accounts for about 95 percent of revenue, according to David Reed, marketing director.

"Corporate business is all good business," Reed said.

The attendees are valuable visitors for a Phoenix tourism economy that the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau pegs at $6 billion annually. Tourism supports about 225,000 jobs, from hotel and restaurant workers to tour operators and other vendors.

While corporate business softened with the economy, Phoenix's strong leisure appeal allowed it to weather the recessionary storm better than more business-centric destinations.

The market's tourism breakdown is about 71 percent leisure, 29 percent business and convention, according to the bureau.

With indications of corporate travel rebounding, hotel and resort operators are hopeful for improving revenues.

Properties will do what they can to get the business.

If a group wants to play golf when the Phoenician is scheduled to overseed its courses, the grass will wait, resort spokeswoman Debora Bridges said.

"If you can't move around your (seeding) dates, then you're going to lose your business," she said.

For a financial institution that wanted night golf, the Phoenician went beyond setting up lights. It piped gas to the course and built a "ring of fire" for players to shoot through, Bridges said.

When groups want to venture outside a hotel or resort, properties send their customers to vendors they know will provide the best off-road tour, balloon excursion, horseback ride or paintball battle.

Yes, paintball was big for a while, Reed said.

"The longer you're in this business, the more things you see — some of them weird, some of them not so weird," said Bill Boyd, president and CEO of Dallas-based Sunbelt Motivation & Travel Inc., which arranges meetings and incentive outings for companies and groups.

Phoenix-area hotel and resort operators know they have a strong geographic location to sell, but each must try to convince meeting planners their property is best for the group. Separate from negotiating room, banquet and other rates, properties first must make an impression.

When the Phoenician was attempting to secure a Jaguar meeting, the hotel "selectively" parked about 15 of the luxury automobiles around the fountain outside the lobby, Bridges said. It got the Jaguar planner's attention.

"It worked well, because they booked the business."

Resorts and hotels typically will invite meeting planners to an all-expenses-paid trip to experience what their groups will find if they meet there. From the time a planner is picked up at the airport by sharply dressed drivers bearing chilled bottled water, much attention is paid to detail and service.

The Phoenician ensures that every meeting planner spends time with the property's general manager and key management.

It's not unusual, either, for hotels to offer planners incentives that include airline tickets, hotel points and more if they book the property.

Ken McKenzie, general manager at Tempe Mission Palms hotel and conference center, said his location off the vibrant Mill Avenue is a big plus.

Inside, the hotel provides ergonomic chairs and tables to ensure attendees' comfort and attention.

The Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort at Gainey Ranch likes to differentiate itself with its Native American Environmental Learning Center.

"A lot of people can do these destination-specific things, but we feel that we can do it differently because of the Learning Center and we like to think we do it better," spokeswoman Ann Lane said.

At Scottsdale Resort & Conference Center, Reed pitches the property's longtime focus on meetings among its differences from big hotels that rely heavily on leisure travelers.