Tucson DoubleTree Hotel Review and My First TravelCon Experience

I attended a three-day convention in Tucson, Arizona, so I thought I’d fill you all in on what it was like!

The convention was the TravelCon yearly Convention, which is for travel content creators and businesses in that industry. It was my first such convention, and I’m happy to say it was awesome!

This was my first time visiting Tucson, and it reminded me quite a bit of San Jose, California. Like San Jose, Tucson is a city in a valley surrounded by mountains, and the weather is pleasant (in March).

DoubleTree by Hilton Tucson Downtown Convention Center

_{280 S. Church Ave}

The convention was at the Tucson Convention Center, and there was a block of rooms at the connected DoubleTree Hotel. Though it was still pricy, I ended up deciding to just stay here because I could walk next door to the convention instead of staying elsewhere and renting a car and paying for parking or using Uber/ Lyft. The downside to this approach was that I didn’t actually get to see much of Tucson.

It was indeed nice to be able to go back to my room when I had more than an hour between events/ meetings, but there was plenty of space to sit and hang out or work if you were to stay at the Convention center the entire day. This is especially true if you get the All Access Creator Pass because you will have access to a room with plenty of tables and chairs, plus coffee/iced water/iced tea all day and breakfast and lunch on certain days.

As one would expect (or I would at least!), the DoubleTree Hilton was very nice! When I double-checked my reservation the day before I left, I saw that they were offering an upgrade for $20 per night. I took the bait!

I upgraded from a King Bed room to a King Bed Deluxe room. The difference was an extra 120 sq. feet, and bathrobes. The extra space was nice, but as a solo traveler I could have easily done with the basic King room!

The only other thing I would do differently is request a room with a bathtub. I am a huge bath fan and miss taking a bath terribly when I don’t have access! (pull out a tiny violin, please).

The hotel has a pool, fitness room, two bars, and a restaurant, El Mezquite Grill & Taqueria. Room service from El Mezquite is available for breakfast and dinner.

Video Room Tour

TravelCon 2025 Review

This was my first time attending a conference related to Travel Content Creators. Of course, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I’m so happy to report that it exceeded my expectations!

As detailed above, I stayed at the connected DoubleTree by Hilton Tucson Downtown Convention Center. It was indeed nice to be able to go back to my room when I had more than an hour between events/ meetings, but there was plenty of space to sit and hang out or work if you were to stay at the Convention center the entire day. This is especially true if you get the All Access Creator Pass because you will have access to a room with plenty of tables and chairs, plus coffee/iced water/iced tea all day and breakfast and lunch on certain days.

The Conference lasted three days and had multiple lectures/sessions to choose from each day. The lobby of the convention center had booths for Affiliate Marketers, Travel Bureaus, and even Geek Squad, who sat with me for almost an hour (for free) going over my blog site to answer any questions I had and give me best practices advice.

There was another section of the lobby with multiple tall tables labeled at different times with different topics. So you could meet with other content creators who are interested in that topic. For instance, I went to meetings at the Solo Travel table and the Over 50 Travellers table. I made some great connections, and it was so fun to get to talk to other bloggers since none of my friends at home know what I’m rattling on about constantly 😀

Check out the blogs of some of the wonderful women I met:

• WonderBing Travels – Solo female road trips
• Unstoppable Stacey – Solo female world travel
• Wanderers Compass – Independent travel

I wondered if business cards were still “a thing” since I hadn’t been to a conference since the 90s, when I worked for Apple. It turned out that most of the attendees over 40 or so did have business cards to exchange, while most of the younger crowd would just take a photo of your name badge to connect with you.

YouTube Celebrities

Another highlight was meeting YouTube celebrities! They couldn’t have been nicer and were so willing to offer advice.

El Charro Cafe

_{311 N. Court Ave.}

I signed up for one of the group dinners at the conference. The convention puts together groups of 8 people with similar interests and provides a reservation at a local restaurant. Each person pays for their own meal.

We went to El Charro Cafe, about a half-mile walk from the Convention Center. It was a pleasant walk through the Tucson government and civil buildings, which featured lots of fountains and cactus gardens.

The El Charro Cafe has an impressive “resume”! It was established in 1922 and is the Nation’s Oldest Mexican Restaurant, still operated by the same family. Gourmet Magazine named it one of America’s 21 Most Legendary Restaurants, and it has won many more awards.

The restaurant is in what seems to be several old houses connected together, with great Mexican decor throughout. When we arrived on a Saturday night around 6:30 I overheard them saying that there was an hour and a half wait for walk ins.

Perhaps needless to say, the food was amazing!

Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments section about my experience at the Tucson DoubleTree by Hilton or TravelCon. Thanks for reading!