Hotel Tucson City Center, Ascend Hotel Collection in Tucson

The lobby of this hotel is very nice. The pictures of the double staircase lead the reserver to believe it is a classy facility of days long past. It really is nothing of the sort. They are renovating the rooms, however. I "think" we got one of those, but it was not easy to tell. The a/c-heating unit was extremely noisy, but we were thankful that it had a "constant" fan button to help with that and to drown out the train a few blocks away.

The good: The bed was soft, as were the pillows, water pressure in the shower was good, towels were adequate size. The room was clean and well decorated. Be careful, the bathroom floor is smooth tile and when it gets wet, it is slippery. The hairdryer was good quality with a lot of power. The front desk staff was very welcoming.

The bad: No conditioner, just conditioning shampoo in a bottle half the size of other hotels. What is one to do with long hair? There is a lot of noise from the hallway due to the doors being too thin. We didn't hear any noise from neighbors, but the sound of doors opening and closing down the hallway along with conversations was a constant. Speaking of noise, who lets their renovation crew play extremely loud music while working at a hotel? I was trying to work in the afternoon on a web call and my colleagues could hear the music. The trash from the renovations was just thrown out of the rooms (mattresses, curtains, toilet paper), all within the view of our window. I wish I had taken a picture of the mess that we had a view of. Needless to say, we kept our curtains closed the whole time. Had there not been trash everywhere, we would have had a view of the pool, a large grassy area, and a beautiful orange tree. I think either the crew needs to be cognizant of the fact that people are their on vacation, so don't make it a non-pleasant one, or close the whole place down while you renovate. You are not allowed to bring coolers in , or any outside food or drink to the pool, but none is available for purchase either. They do have a snack bar with limited choices to purchase at the front desk. The restaurant is closed except for breakfast, which you need a ticket for. There is no bar area. So, no restaurant or bar and there is NOTHING within walking distance of this hotel. You will have to drive anywhere you want to go. There is not even a convenience store nearby. The lighting in the bathroom is pretty dismal. No pad or paper to write. I wanted to leave a tip for the housekeeping staff, but had no way to write a note to let them know the money was for them to take.

Calling yourself a "boutique" hotel doesn't make it so.