AC Hotel Tucson Downtown — Hotel in Tucson

Great Hotel…. BUT, you need to do your homework….

You might be wondering what the title of this review means. How can it be great, but yet, “need to do homework?” Let me explain…. First of all the AC Hotel in downtown Tucson is brand new (opened in late Fall 2017), immaculately clean, staffed with the most friendly and helpful people, has great atmosphere, wonderful rooms, and just an overall great vibe.

So, why the “homework”?

Firstly, the hotel brand. AC Hotels by Marriott are not your typical Marriott hotel. By that I mean that the AC Hotels are modeled after modern, chic, European style hotels. Minimalistic styling. All new. But the furniture is not “cushy” nor padded, it’s wonderful leather and comfortable, but not all soft and plush and “sink into it as you sit in it” style. The rooms have basically hardwood floors all throughout (material is actual a modern composite style tiling that looks like wood, but isn’t). IMPORTANT… this is NOT to say that my room was not comfortable; it was. It is just a style that a lot of people in America may not be used to. I liked the minimalistic styling, but I overheard others saying the the room was “cold” (not temperature, but in atmosphere). What they were calling “cold”, others would say “functional” or “stylistic”. The AC Hotel is not a Courtyard by Marriott or a Town Place Suites by Marriott. Think of the AC Hotel as a sort of W Hotel but more modern, chic, updated, and, well.. minimalistic.

Second, the area where the hotel is located: Downtown Tucson. When you reserve a room at this AC Hotel in Tucson, you are LITERALLY in the heart of the new, revitalized, Downtown Tucson. Tucson has gone through a renaissance in the last five years. You are in the heart of the excitement. It is NOT quiet in this area on Thursday nights, Friday nights, and Saturday nights. The place is hopping! For me, I have been visiting this area a lot and know it well, so I had no problem whatsoever with any noise. IMPORTANT: IF you want quiet, ask for poolside/interior room.

I stayed in one of the suites. There are only 6 in the whole hotel. They cost more, but if you’re looking for roomy spaciousness, this is the room to stay in. There are LOTS of USB ports in almost all the electrical outlets. Very nice for charging the many devices we all carry with us these days.

Housekeeping was AMAZING. My suite was immaculately cleaned every single day flawlessly. In addition to the bed I wished I could take home, I found myself wishing I could take housekeeping too!

Ok.. what about the noise? Other reviewers made lots of complaints. Well… I really heard none. On Friday night, the club next door (Playground) was HOPPING. I was wondering how much sound would transfer back into the hotel. I sat at the hotel bar for a while before going upstairs to my suite and really could NOT hear the sound of the club unless I really strained to hear it. In my suite, I could NOT hear anything at all.

ALL staff members I encountered from the front desk (who were ALWAYS friendly, polite, courteous, and professional) to the bartenders are great. Also great, are the valets who park your car. IMPORTANT NOTE: You need your ROOM KEY to land on any floor other than the ground floor. So, if you arrive and self park, you can get in the elevator and go to the ground floor to check in. But to go to any room floor, you need to hold your room key up to the round black sensor in the elevator until the little green light stays solidly lit, THEN you press the floor .

Meals: There is a great breakfast served each day with two fresh cooked items and the rest are buffet style. BUT… the meals cost $15 each time you eat. There is NO complimentary breakfast.

Bar: Hotel has a GREAT bar (I mentioned the bartenders above). It’s open until 11:30pm Mon-Thurs and until 12:30pm Fri-Sat. You can order small “tapas” plates while at the bar that are fresh cooked in the kitchen.

In summation…. this was a GREAT hotel that I will be happy to return to on my next...

Hotel: Actually a pretty nice place. No complaints about the hotel or rooms.

Location: Good and bad. Good for walking to restaurants/coffee shops/etc. Bad because of the loud music from the nearby nightclub. If you're bothered by the (somewhat) distant thump/thump/thump of club music when you're trying to get some sleep, this isn't the place for you.

Service: Good, and then awful. Story: Club music kept me from getting to sleep so I went to the front desk to see when it might stop. Was met with little sympathy but did get offered another room. It’s almost midnight at this point so I’m tired and frustrated, plus there’s loud music in the lobby and I’m having trouble hearing what the front desk person is saying. I hold up the keycard to my old room and ask what needs to happen, she says something like “she’s not going to need it tonight”. That’s very considerate, I think to myself. Now I just need to grab what I need for the night in the new room and get my stuff out of the old room in the morning. I get up to the old room and tell my wife and son we’re moving to another room, but my son (sleeping on the sofa sleeper) asks if he can just stay. I’m thinking, front desk says she didn’t need the room tonight, hotel isn’t going to lose out on revenue, and they have to clean both rooms anyway…sure son, go ahead and stay. Fast forward to 7am when the new front desk person calls my son and tells him he’s not supposed to be in the room so he clears out within 30 minutes. My wife and I also get the 7am call in the new room. I go down to the front desk asking why the wake up calls and get met with serious attitude from the new person for not vacating the old room and the declaration that she’s charging me for another room. As soon as I protested the additional room charge the night shift front desk person transitioning off shift jumps in with “I told you to move all your stuff to the new room”. To top it off, the valet from the night shift jumps in and says that he heard her say it (he was actually outside at the time and couldn't possibly have heard anything we discussed ). So, it’s a 3 to 1 situation with loads of attitude flying my way. I was tired and angry at this point and frankly could’ve reacted better, but there was no cussing or threatening behavior/language at any time. Since the three employees clearly felt emboldened as team and had zero interest in actually providing any type of customer service, I then asked for and received the manager’s name and number. I called the Assistant General Manager, Mr. A. O. and left a voicemail explaining what had happened and a request to remove the second room charge, along with my phone number should he want to discuss what had happened. I also suggested he train his staff to be more clear when in this situation. A simple statement from the front desk like “sir, here’s the keycard to your new room, please be sure to completely empty and vacate the old room or you’ll be charged for a second” would make things perfectly clear. I also pointed out that if I was going to get charged for the second room anyway, why did we get kicked out at 7am? Alas, Mr. A.O. chose the simple and lazy path, charged me for the second room and never made contact. I think I see where the employees' customer service skills are coming from. Anyway, if you’ve read this far thanks. I may have had a one-off incident but I see other reviews stating that the front desk is rude at this hotel. Good luck if you choose...

You might be wondering what the title of this review means. How can it be great, but yet, “need to do homework?” Let me explain…. First of all the AC Hotel in downtown Tucson is brand new (opened in late Fall 2017), immaculately clean, staffed with the most friendly and helpful people, has great atmosphere, wonderful rooms, and just an overall great vibe.

So, why the “homework”?

Firstly, the hotel brand. AC Hotels by Marriott are not your typical Marriott hotel. By that I mean that the AC Hotels are modeled after modern, chic, European style hotels. Minimalistic styling. All new. But the furniture is not “cushy” nor padded, it’s wonderful leather and comfortable, but not all soft and plush and “sink into it as you sit in it” style. The rooms have basically hardwood floors all throughout (material is actual a modern composite style tiling that looks like wood, but isn’t). IMPORTANT… this is NOT to say that my room was not comfortable; it was. It is just a style that a lot of people in America may not be used to. I liked the minimalistic styling, but I overheard others saying the the room was “cold” (not temperature, but in atmosphere). What they were calling “cold”, others would say “functional” or “stylistic”. The AC Hotel is not a Courtyard by Marriott or a Town Place Suites by Marriott. Think of the AC Hotel as a sort of W Hotel but more modern, chic, updated, and, well.. minimalistic.

Second, the area where the hotel is located: Downtown Tucson. When you reserve a room at this AC Hotel in Tucson, you are LITERALLY in the heart of the new, revitalized, Downtown Tucson. Tucson has gone through a renaissance in the last five years. You are in the heart of the excitement. It is NOT quiet in this area on Thursday nights, Friday nights, and Saturday nights. The place is hopping! For me, I have been visiting this area a lot and know it well, so I had no problem whatsoever with any noise. IMPORTANT: IF you want quiet, ask for poolside/interior room.

I stayed in one of the suites. It was AMAZING. There are LOTS of USB ports in almost all the electrical outlets. Very nice for charging the many devices we all carry with us these days.

Housekeeping was AMAZING. My suite was immaculately cleaned every single day flawlessly.

Breakfast is provided, but it's $15 per day. No complimentary breakfast at AC Hotels.

Staff were ALL amazing. I...