These hip motel revivals are connecting travelers to Arizona communities

LAUREN GILGER: Motels are back in a big way across the Southwest.

What were once cookie-cutter, sometimes not-so-nice quick stays on a road trip are now boutique properties. They’ve taken often rundown, abandoned motels that might have otherwise been torn down and turned them into hip, stylish destinations with retro flair and a focus on community. Think the High Country Motor Lodge in Flagstaff or Trailborn Grand Canyon in Williams.

Longtime Arizonan and travel writer Jeff Atwell scoured the state for them for Visit Arizona. He told me it used to be that these motels were very no frills.

JEFF ATWELL: When they were in their heyday, all it took was like a neon sign and the promise of light, color TV and air conditioning to get people to pull over. It was just just basics for people to have a crash pad for the night.

GILGER: Then, in the decades since, many of them fell into disrepair — especially along Route 66, where the interstate bypassed so many towns that were once buzzing with traffic along the Mother Road.

But developers are finding them. The trend has even caught the attention of global travel publications like Roadbook. Here’s their digital editor Mhairi Mann, who noticed the trend all the way from Scotland.

MHAIRI MANN: I think hoteliers are seeing the potential in these buildings, in terms of their layout and their structure, and then they’re transforming them into these really cool boutique stays that still honor their original design codes of the buildings.

GILGER: She told me, anywhere in the world, the Americana sense of a Route 66 Motel transcends.

MANN: Their typography and their design does translate globally. So no matter whether you’re in the U.S. or Scotland or Europe, they are instantly recognizable. And this kind of new breed of motels are taking the codes of the original ones and translating them for a modern audience.

GILGER: Mann says motels represent a simpler time, one of spontaneity and nostalgia.

MANN: They are the antithesis of contactless check ins and AI-driven, faceless operations.

GILGER: And, according to Atwell, it’s all because of who is behind these renovations.

ATWELL: People in the community wanting to preserve their community or even make their community better kind of thing. Rather than seeing these old, dilapidated buildings, let’s do something with them.

GILGER: I spoke with him more about this motel revival in Arizona — and some of his favorite spots to visit.

Full conversation

ATWELL: It’s so cool to see community leaders getting the grants, getting the money, finding the local investors to, at the very least, bring these places back to what they used to be. And the one that really comes to mind is the town of Seligman, which when I-40 bypassed that, it could have completely gone away, except for the Delgadillos and other folks in that town who said, “No, we’re going to preserve it.”

And with that came, even in recent years, hotels like the Aztec and the Postcard. The trend itself is to really embellish these things into massive experiences. But in these small towns, there’s not a whole lot of room to do that. There’s not really enough traffic to do that. So what they’re doing is taking like an old motor court and bringing it back to life.

And towns like Seligman, who have such pride in what they used to be, they really are more intent on bringing them back to what they used to be.

GILGER: Let me ask you, Jeff, when you started noticing this starting to happen. Do you remember a moment when you were like, “Oh, that old motel is looking pretty hip these days?”

ATWELL: Yeah, I think it really happened in Flagstaff, and it was with the High Country Motor Lodge. You couldn’t miss it. It was like, whoa, they’re taking an old Travelodge or a Howard Johnson’s — I’m not really sure what it was. They’re taking like a 200-room, big-brand hotel and doing something completely different.

So I think I think Flagstaff’s always kind of on the forefront of Route 66 trends, at least, in preservation and bringing back to life. But then when you saw that, whoa, this place is going to have a Nordic spa, and it’s got this massive communal area. And those kinds of things, that’s different than what it used to be. And it’s totally different than reviving the small mom and pop kind of thing.

There was also one in Prescott that I noticed just passing through, the Prescott Motor Lodge, where that one is one of those time capsules. And it really just took new owners who have such pride in their hometown to love on the place.

GILGER: Yeah. So I mean, these are kind of the coolest places to stay across the Southwest right now. I mean, we’re seeing them not just in those smaller towns like Flag or Prescott, but they’re in Santa Fe. There’s one in Phoenix here. There’s some in Tucson.

I wonder what you think is behind this. Like, what do you think is happening in the culture right now in the travel world right now that people are looking for? Is this more about nostalgia?

ATWELL: I don’t think it’s so much nostalgia because these places are so bright and shiny and new, especially in the big cities. When we look at Tucson, they have the McCoy and the Tuxon, and those places don’t feel nostalgic at all. They feel slick.

And so I think that the trend is really travelers want and experience. Travelers want to leave a city feeling like they learned something about that city, and they understood the vibe of Tucson. And and if you stay in the Tuxon, you get it. And it’s very purposeful and intentional from the people who open that up to put jalapeno popcorn on your pillow at night. That screams Tucson. … You love this place.

GILGER: The common thread here, it sounds like that you’re pointing out, is that all of these places are really kind of inspired by the communities that they’re in.

ATWELL: Very much. And the people that own these places are generally locals. They love where they live. They want to share where they live.

The ones in Flagstaff are so cool. And the Americana just opened up, I think last year, following the High Country Motor Lodge trend. Here’s another massive old Travelodge that is now a like a 100-room boutique hotel, and it’s very Flagstaff and that they honor the Dark Sky community, they’ve got telescopes in the courtyard, and people are just drawn to these communal spaces that are built for people to just mingle again and for people to get to know other travelers kind of thing. It seems like that’s what people are traveling for.

GILGER: Yeah, absolutely. OK, so before I let you go, Jeff, tell me about one of your favorites. I mean, you’ve mentioned several here that you like, but is there one that really stands out to you?

ATWELL: I think I think my new favorite has got to be the Americana in Flagstaff. It’s directly on Route 66. It’s down the street from iconic places like the Museum Club. So you’ve got all these cool neon signs for the Museum Club and Miss D.’s Diner. All those things are there. So it automatically feels captured in time. And Flagstaff does such a lovely job with honoring its Route 66 legacy.

But what I like so much about the Americana is it’s purposely funny, like Flagstaff as as the first International Dark Sky City with Lowell Observatory and all of their lunar legacy that Flagstaff has. The folks at the Americana put a like statue of a guy in a NASA space suit right out front.

And I think that’s cute. And then I think that might even be the place that has a disco ball in every room? So it’s just it’s like purposefully quirky. It’s got like super geometric, tacky-as-could-be carpeting.

So in some of these places, they just just buy into this kitsch — that I guess does get to the nostalgia part — but this kitsch that people really just feel kind of unburdened by. It’s like this is fun. This is like, purposefully fun.

But then others — I was just in Williams a couple of weeks ago — and that Trailborn that you would never know was a Travelodge or a HoJo, whatever it was before. And they purposefully did not try to go in with that like neon, “Jetsons” kind of motif. Again, honoring their community and honoring their city, they went woodsy and they went Western. And it’s leather and it and it feels like Jackson Hole, Wyoming. And it fits Williams. It fits this rugged gateway to the Grand Canyon where people go outside as much as they can and the pine trees are huge and people love it.

And that too, is a motor lodge revival. This place, they’ve taken such care to fit in with its surroundings. People like more than like a vacation rental, more than a chain hotel. They want to feel like they are staying somewhere that has local vibes and people who love where they live. And each one of these places captures its surroundings.