The Downtown Clifton — Hotel in Tucson

I really wanted to like this place but I ended up being constantly disappointed by it. The pictures and reviews were so promising. It’s a great location, close to congress, really cool, unique decor, decent price. But there are two areas of this hotel. The old single digit rooms in the parking lot, and the double digit nice, updated rooms through the lobby/lounge. When we arrived, our room (room 3) wouldn’t unlock (real metal keys). Had to get the woman at the desk to help. Her master key worked immediately, but our guest keys didn’t. She tried for 30 minutes to make our keys work. For some reason, our keys worked on the screen door so she said just to lock that instead of the main door which was fine but still annoying because we couldn’t have been the first guests with that issue..? It also wasn’t communicated that our keys didn’t work so when housekeeping came the next day we were locked out and had to go to the desk again. It’s a good thing it wasn’t late because no one is there at night. The room was cool but it was SO dirty. The sheets were okay but the bathroom looked like it hadn’t been properly cleaned in 10 years. It was OLD though so that’s just the way old things appear. There was a dirt line in the tub and the towel rack was ripped from the wall so the bath towels were sitting on the top of the toilet (so gross in my opinion). The water pressure was equivalent to a drizzle of rain. The heat/air unit in the room was NOT user friendly and there’s no guide for it in the room. Next, I called before our stay to verify there would be a fridge and microwave in our room and the person on the phone said YES there is both in every room. I brought breakfast burritos to save money on our 2 day trip. The first morning I went into the lobby and asked if they had a microwave I could use because there wasn’t one in my room and she had no idea there wasn’t one in every room and they DID NOT have one in the lobby. I asked if I could go to an empty room with a microwave to heat my burritos. She let me. I had to do the same thing the next morning at the start of my day. Such an annoyance and inconvenience. But I went to a room through the lobby (25 I think?) and those rooms are so much nicer, remodeled, clean, still cool and unique and had a fridge and microwave like what I saw in photos. Don’t know if they’re charging the same amount for the room I had (3) vs those other rooms but….I felt disappointed and tricked. Just set your expectations low if you stay here and maybe you’ll get lucky and be...

This place is a complete joke. And very cool, it ruins my entire trip and makes me rechedule return flight. If you’re on an international trip or road trip, stay the hell away—they do NOT have 24-hour check-in. I arrived at 11 PM, and the whole front desk was locked up with no one there. I had been calling their number (520-623-3163) and emailing them for days—no one ever responded. By the time I realized something was wrong, it was too late. I had to book a last-minute motel, waste extra money, and suffer through a sleepless night next to the highway.

The next day at noon, I went back. Still no one there. A sign said they’d be back at 3 PM—another lie. I waited in my car like an idiot until 4 PM when some guy finally showed up. When I asked why no one ever answered the phone, he just gave me another number. What the hell? Why list a fake number online while secretly using a different one?

And let’s talk about security—there is none. No fence, no gate, anyone can walk up to your door, and check-out is just "leave your key in the room". So if someone robs the place, are they blaming me?

Finally got my key. Toilet clogged that same night. Called the "new" number—same guy shows up with a broken plunger, his ONLY one. I got moved to another room. Next morning, the sink was clogged. This place is a joke.

Oh, and the air conditioner sounds like a dying engine, so good luck sleeping.

This place is run by ONE guy who barely shows up. No maintenance, no real front desk, no service, no responsibility. This loser has no idea what he is doing. He claims staff is there from 3 PM–10 PM, but in reality, it’s 4 PM until whenever he feels like leaving. Do you really think you can run a hotel like this and still charge $162 per night? It's hilarious. Why wouldn't I just go to another hotel like Hyatt or Home2 with proper management?

This is hands down the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had. DO NOT...

I wanted to give this boutique retro hotel downtown 5 stars. But on reflection, it deserves only 3.

First, here's what's great about it: It's an excellent restoration of an old downtown motel. It's clean and the food at night is great. The best thing is the mixologist behind the bar, making excellent cocktails.

The bed was comfortable with some truly wonderful pillows. I would actually stay here again, but they have to address some issues:

In no order of importance, one, there needs to be hair dryers in the rooms. Nobody travels with a hair dryer anymore.

Two, don't close up and lock down the hotel with nobody on staff and not open again until somebody finally rolls in after 7.

Third, have COFFEE for your guest in the morning: In the room, downstairs, or something. And there doesn't need to be a full breakfast, but have something, like trail bars.

Have some water and cups or glasses and the rooms.

I asked the person who opened up around 7:10 that morning about coffee, and she bluntly said coffee would be ready around 7:30 (or whenever she got around to making it, perhaps). The tone was sort of like, who the hell drinks coffee that early?

Again, it's kind of disconcerting to wake up in a hotel to find that it's closed. You can't get a copy of your bill to check for accuracy or to file for your records.

You take a shower, and there's no hair dryer. You go downstairs and your hotel is closed and there's no coffee.

I've traveled the world and throughout this country. to more places than I can remember, but I have never ever encountered this.

So, with a little attention to detail and a few more amenities, this could be not a 3 star hotel but a 5 star experience. I believe they took aim at that, but...