Each room has its own personality, Byrd says, from hand-stenciled designs on walls to mounds of pillows on beds. Chain competition Despite the charms of Tucson's older hotels, competition from chains is fierce. Smaller hotels and resorts, many of which are independently owned, tend to have fairly tight budgets. That makes it tough to compete with large corporate chains, the most successful of which have massive amounts of cash that allow for huge advertising campaigns and special programs that reward repeat customers with discounts or frequent flier miles. We've really tried to play up our cultural identification vs. the cookie-cutter hotel, where the only way that you know where you are is by looking at the stationery in the room.
Many historic properties rely heavily on word-of mouth and on repeat customers.
Once we get them through the gate, they're in another place and another time. It's a little memory. While new hotels can choose their surroundings, many older ones find themselves in areas that were once remote but now are in busy neighborhoods - sometimes, a neighborhood in decline. Ghost Ranch Lodge owner Richard Bristol, for example, has grappled with the urban shift on Miracle Mile. The retired Sunset Magazine executive planted a screen of trees and a fence to shield visitors from the neighboring topless bar that moved into a former dinner theater.