We stayed at the Marriott this past weekend while in Tucson to see the Mythbusters Behind the Myths tour (awesome show by the way!!) We got a pretty decent deal, I thought, on the room for the night with a discount. When we arrived, check in went smooth although the woman working the desk could have been a bit less like a wet dish rag and a bit more enthusiastic about having customers (who ultimately are the reason she gets a paycheck). (Yes I've worked in the hospitality industry and I know how the job goes.)
The lobby area seemed clean and well kept. I inquired about the roll away bed as I requested when I made the reservation and was told if one was available it would be brought to the room (for an additional $20 fee! which was not listed on the reservation website) since I'd requested the room with king bed. We got into the room and it was clean and fairly roomy but the room we had at a Homewood for less money was bigger and had a kitchen! This one didn't even have a fridge. They wanted $4 for a bottle of water, which they conveniently leave out. The bed was fairly comfortable, the pillows (foam) were pretty decent. The bathroom was huge and well cleaned. I just can't believe people pay $200 or more for these rooms. This was nothing special, especially compared to other rooms we've paid less for! I'll stick with Candlewood or Homewood because even if I don't intend to cook, it's really nice to have a fridge available without getting charged for every little thing. Oh and since we were there on the weekend, parking in the garage was free but during the week they'd charge on a per night basis to use it. We didn't bother with the internet connection but I'm told they charge for that. The location was great for getting to Centennial Hall on the ASU campus where the show was. There was a wide variety of options for places to eat or drink within a reasonable walking distance. Surprisingly to us, most places were shutting down at 10pm on a Saturday night in a college town! We were disappointed because we would have like to get a bite to eat after the show and the choices were pretty much bars at that point- not a good idea with a preteen. We ended up going to a grocery store about 3 miles away which is okay but made finding ready made and healthy choices that didn't need any prep a bit challenging.