An article written by: Rayne Robinson
ASU Sophomore Major: Journalism and Mass Communications
Expected Graduation: May 2027
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Scottsdale has been making a name for itself in the tourism and
hospitality world for years because of its luxury resorts, golf courses and fine dining, but since the late 2010s, Scottsdale has been welcoming a new type of tourism clientele.
Scottsdale is ranked the second best bachelorette party location as of 2023, according to a report from the Batch App, a free party and trip planning service. Nashville, Tenn., Las Vegas Miami were other top bachelorette party destinations.
Companies like Girl About Town, an event-planning business, have become the go-to for
bachelorette groups traveling to Scottsdale.
A bachelorette party is a pre-wedding celebration that honors the bride-to-be and typically
involves the bride and her bridesmaids. The tradition first gained popularity in the mid 1980s, but has since become a staple for the wedding industry, according to experts. When compared to a bridal shower, which revolves more around the bride receiving gifts and includes extended family and distant friends, a bachelorette party serves as the bride’s final celebration before her marriage.
In Scottsdale, lavish parties at short-term rentals are the current status quo. The bachelorette
industry brings revenue to both property renters and to businesses whose targeted audience are brides-to-be and girls trips.
Meghan Alfonso, the CEO and founder of Girl About Town, first started party planning because she was frequently getting asked what to do in the Phoenix area by family and friends. As a fifth generation Phoenix resident, Alfonso had a long list of recommendations.
“I was getting sick of always telling people the same thing,” Alfonso said. “So I decided that I was going to make a blog about my favorite places in the valley.”
The blog quickly turned into an event-planning company. With the help of an intern, Alfonso
began putting on graduation parties and baby showers. It wasn’t until she started posting and using #ScottsdaleBeforeTheVeil that bachelorette parties started to find her business.
“It wasn’t popular to travel to Scottsdale at the time,” Alfonso said. “But I was so excited to
introduce myself to the Airbnbs and to tell them that we would be a benefit to them.”
Girl About Town doesn’t have their own rentals for guests to use. Instead, their clients book a
separate rental, and then Alfonso and her team set up the decor before the guests arrive.
Shailey Cox, an event coordinator for the company, said the decorations usually included
bachelorette bookings are a backdrop, a balloon garland, a neon sign and favors for all of the guests. There are also additional services that can be added on such as fridge stockings, luggage storage and custom welcome signs.
“We started having a good reputation when we were coming in, and we were not damaging any of their stuff,” Cox said. “Meghan had to build a lot of trust with [the renters] to allow us to have that opportunity.”
Because Girl About Town and other similar companies don’t have their own personal properties to rent, the bachelorette party industry has become associated with Scottsdale’s short-term-rental problem.
Since gaining popularity during the pandemic, Scottsdale has experienced a rapid growth in short-term rentals. With thousands of properties available to temporarily rent, residents have
grown to dislike their new neighbors. Each property isn’t managed in the same way, which leads to parking and noise issues for Scottsdale’s permanent residents.
Excessive noise is the main complaint with the rentals. The Scottsdale Police Department was receiving so many rental-related complaints that the department created a short-term rental unit that specializes in dealing with any problems associated with rentals.
The unit consists of a sergeant and a couple of police officers. Their primary job is to respond to the complaints and deescalate the situations.
Since Alfonso and her company don’t own any rentals, there isn’t much she can personally do to decrease the number of complaints.
“It’s hard because my business relies on these people coming to town,” Alfonso said. “But there are homeowners of short-term rental properties that don’t have the necessary licensing or they’re not really watching their guests as much as they should.”
The best thing Alfonso said she can do to combat the complaints is to remind her clients to
remain respectful. Having a good relationship with both the property renter and the groups using the rentals is key for Alfonso’s business.
“We're really mindful of respecting everyone a part of the stay,” Alfonso said.
The bachelorette party industry isn’t all bad though. The increase in tourists has provided a
unique opportunity for some of Scottsdale’s businesses. Baylee Gallen was able to grow her
business, The Balanced Bachelorette, due to the rise of bachelorette groups.
Gallen has been a certified yoga instructor for almost 10 years, and first got approached about teaching a lesson for a bachelorette party in 2016. From there, she began to cater her private lessons toward bachelorette groups. Then in 2019, Gallen rebranded her business to The Balanced Bachelorette.
“Now we’ve got about 40 instructors, we’re in eight cities nationwide and we provide private
yoga classes primarily for bachelorette parties,” Gallen said. “But we also do a lot of birthday parties, girls trips and a lot of corporate events.”
Other companies throughout the area noticed the change in demographics and have welcomed their new customers.
Trevor Johnson and his wife, Amy, are the owners of Wine Girl, a wine bar that frequently serves bachelorette groups.
Initially there wasn’t a targeted audience for the business, but with the growing number of
bachelorette parties coming into town, Wine Girl started offering bachelorette packages.
“It's not necessarily a bachelorette bar,” Johnson said. “I think it's just with the vicinity and
proximity of where we put a Wine Girl in Scottsdale that they gravitated toward it.”
Besides bachelorette parties, Johnson said they host birthday parties, bridal showers, baby
showers and more celebrations. Wine Girl also takes walk-ins, so the company isn’t limited to
one type of consumer.
Not limiting yourself is a common theme found throughout companies whose clients are
primarily bachelorette groups. For Girl About Town, their services range from birthday
celebrations, picnics, proposals, fridge stocking and more all in addition to bachelorette parties.
Cox said that not having the word bachelorette in the company name has allowed Girl About
Town to expand into different avenues.
“We've learned to say yes to really everything,” Cox said.
Aside from offering a multitude of services, Alfonso is also expanding her company to new
locations. So far there are seven additional branches of Girl About Town, including in Nashville, Tenn., Chicago and New Orleans.
Becoming an international party planning brand is one of Alfonso’s biggest goals for the
formidable future. Locations in Mexico, like Cabo or Tulum, would be Alfonso’s first stops
when taking her company international.
Alfonso also wants to expand the types of services her company offers.
“We definitely are trying to put more emphasis on elopements,” Alfonso said. “I'm trying to
figure out how we can promote that side of the business.”
Alfonso said that elopements would be a higher end service when compared to the bachelorette and birthday parties that Girl About Town offers.
But for now, Alfonso and her team will continue to offer high-quality decorations and
party-planning services for everyone who books through Girl About Town.
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