Graduate by Hilton Tucson — Hotel in Tucson

Extremely disappointed. I am a resident of Tucson and booked a night at this hotel only as a staycation to celebrate a special occasion. My intention was to spend most of my stay relaxing at the pool and enjoying the view. This hotel wasn’t cheap and cost more than I wanted to spend, but I specifically chose this hotel because the website said there would be a heated pool that was open until 10 PM. When I first checked into the hotel, the receptionist that checked me in said that the pool is only open until 9 PM. I mentioned that the website says 10 PM and he said “it must be a misprint.” This was very frustrating because I already thought 10 PM is extremely early to close a pool at a hotel, so finding out that it closed even earlier than that was really disappointing. Then after I went to my room and changed into my bath suit, I went down to the pool and there was zero available seating. They had seating at the pool for only about 12 people and every single chair was taken. I decided to get some food at the restaurant while I waited for a spot to open up and the service was lacking. The server was nice and attentive and the food was delicious, but I ordered an appetizer that I specifically asked to come out before the entrees and it came out AFTER the entrees! Then I received a glass of wine that had food chunks floating in it and had to ask the bartender for a new one. Yuck. After eating, there was finally seating available at the pool, so I chose a spot and was excited to enjoy what was claimed to be a “heated” pool. The water was almost ice cold and completely unenjoyable to be in. The entire reason I chose this hotel was to enjoy the pool!! I should have asked for a refund at that time because now my stay was pointless. I live in Tucson, I didn’t need a place to sleep. I literally spent over $300 just to sleep in the room. The room was okay. It was clean and the decor was nice, but The lights were really dim, the AC didn’t work very well and the bed was hard and uncomfortable. Also, when I first checked into the hotel, I had to pay $31 extra for the mandatory valet which is a steep price for an already expensive stay, but I digress. Plus the tips for the valet drivers added up to be $20 by the end of my one night stay so I ended up paying $50 just for parking. I’m very unhappy with my stay and will never return as a...

Location location location. If you are a parent visiting your kids at UofA, this hotel is perfect. It’s right on campus, walking distance to shopping and restaurants including the iconic Gentle Ben’s, and an overall fun hotel to stay in!

Yes, the parking conundrum is a pain sometimes. I caved and splurged on valet so my daughter wouldn’t have to hunt her car down every time we wanted to leave. She usually parks on campus, but it’s too far to the dorms if they just wanted to come and go easily.

The décor has a contemporary Southwestern vibe with oodles of fun things to check out like the hanging dream catchers over the Moonstone bar! Too fun! We thought the wicker swings in the bar were cute too.

The rooftop pool is terrific. It’s not the biggest pool, so plan to get there early during peak months as lounge seating is limited to less than 20 chairs. There’s a nice couch if you are lucky enough to grab it.

Concierge upgraded us to a corner room with floor to ceiling windows that have a fantastic view of the city. You could see the Marriott right next door, and I was glad I opted for this hotel instead. No shade to Marriott, this is just more fun for our kids and friends to visit!

The only caveat was I have two kids at school who are under 21. So, it got a little complicated when we just wanted to hang out by the fire pits on the roof at night after dinner. We were excited about this when we saw the rooftop sitting area online, so it was in our plans for family time.

Apparently, even if you accompany your kids, you get frowns because it’s the bar. So, we took a picture and left. I felt rushed even to do this. I had a glass of champagne and had to dump that out in the bathroom (awkward)just to go take a picture. I didn’t feel it was necessary to have three people, including the foreign bouncer, hustle me in and out like I was an underage child. Slightly annoying, but everyone else was so great there, I shrugged it off. I’m sure it will be fun when my girls are 21!

I will definitely be back to the Graduate! Thank you for the upgrade!...

In addition to the standard practice of the "Graduate Hotels" of taking a distressed property and instead of investing in the costly needed infrastructure upgrades and going instead with a kitschy aesthetic, my recent stay was significantly enhanced by a front desk person offering MY MALE COLLEAGUE self parking options while I was told my only option was to valet my car. Other specifics of a distressed property include the lack of any soundproofing so one may enjoy hearing your neighbors anytime they're in the bathroom. The air handler is also ancient and sounds like a train with just the fan and brick dropping every time it kicks on the compressor - enjoy your whole room shaking. The bathroom is poorly designed - the flat-bottomed sink doesn't drain well and the shower was constructed by a madman who clearly doesn't bathe. The door only opens into the water stream, which you can't even turn on and adjust without sticking your arm directly into the water. Water ends up all over the floor. Stingy on cleaning and toiletries - no additional lotion nor bar soap provided after day 1 and no floor cleaning (I know this because bandage remnants were spread out, even in the bedding, after having to tape my dry fingers). Again in kitsch over function, the furniture was poorly chosen. Big wooden legs stick out and trap your shin and toes. Outlets on the "night stands" are below the mattress level, so you might start moving furniture around looking for outlets near the bed before you see them, like I did. Those are really night stands and not dressers - only the top drawer is functional, which is too bad because the drawers in the only "fully functional" dresser are so shallow they're almost unusable. Note the headboard gap above the mattress that with the big-legged frame, sucks pillows down into the wall gap. The only glimmer was that the cheap spring mattress wasn't so busted that the pillow top was relatively in-tact. Delighted to never...