Ep. 21: Think outside the hotel room, with Moniqua Lane.
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This is part one of a two part episode, the second half of the interview will air next week.
When I first came up with the idea for this podcast, it was on a poster board covered in Post-its. I had probably 50 Post-its stuck to that board. Some of them with name ideas, some with topics, and some with reasons why I needed to start this show. One of those Post-its has been stuck to the corner of my computer screen ever since: “Hospitality needs more voices,” it says.
I want to help make hospitality truly welcoming, and I know I can’t do it alone. That’s why one of the missions of this show, is to bring in voices we don’t hear enough from in hospitality. By hearing these voices, these accounts and experiences, we can get to a place that lives up to the ideal of hospitality—that everyone’s welcome here.
It's been amazing carving out space for women in hospitality on this podcast. I wrote a wish list when I first dreamed about creating this show, and today I’m introducing you to someone who I’ve admired for years, and who was on that original list.
I’m guessing she had no clue about this fan-girl from Oregon, but I’ve been out here. I did send a couple of love letters over the years in the form of a travel blog and some Instagram Stories, but today, we’re making it official. Moniqua Lane is joining me today. She’s the owner of The Downtown Clifton, based in Tucson, Arizona. Turns out, she loves Tucson as much as I do. Maybe even more.
First, let me share a little of my backstory. I used to live in Tucson, Arizona. Specifically in one of the Barrios—which are the original downtown neighborhoods dating back to the 1800s. In fact, the house we lived in was built in 1895. And it’s where my husband and I fell in love, what feels like 100 years ago, but more like a dozen.
Now you guys know me, I’m always looking for the best hotels and places to stay. So when The Downtown Clifton opened as a motel turned boutique hotel, only a few blocks from where we’d lived in Tucson, it rose to the top of my list.
I’d been suggesting The Downtown Clifton as a place to stay in Tucson without having set foot there myself for two reasons, (1) it’s prized location in the Barrio Viejo neighborhood, and (2) because of it’s website. Between the mid-century modern rooms and the quirky website that didn’t take itself too seriously, it really spoke to me. As someone who writes copy for hotels every day, this is big. It’s like a film director watching a movie and appreciating it instead of picking it apart. The website copy is really good.
This past January, I finally had the chance to stay at The Downtown Clifton for a night. That night turned into a very late night of us chatting with locals at The Red Light Lounge, the hotel bar. That late night gave way to a leisurely morning at 5 Points Market for an amazing breakfast, followed by a nostalgic walk around the neighborhood. Then, in an absolutely crazy move, we put an offer on a house about two blocks from the hotel. That’s how much we enjoyed this experience, and how much I love Tucson. But let’s back it up a bit, because this episode is about Moniqua’s story, not my own.
Moniqua Lane is a native Tucsonian and University of Arizona College of Law alumni. Moniqua’s deep connection to and reverence for Tucson’s history, culture, and geography informs her company, MKL Development Inc., with a focus on innovative, small scale hospitality, and multi-family development, striving to create meaning through place.
In 2014, after retiring from her law practice, Moniqua purchased a piece of property which, by April 2015, had become The Downtown Clifton Hotel. What started as a simple real estate deal became a multi-part labor of love. In the summer of 2019, The Downtown Clifton Hotel completed a major expansion, tripling its size.
Moniqua is at the helm of the hotel’s vision and direction. She’s also breaking ground on her second project, The Citizen Hotel, a boutique hotel in downtown Tucson with a twist. Moniqua recently formed a construction company with a partner that builds commercial projects in and around Tucson and the City of South Tucson.
Today, Moniqua’s joined me to talk about how she got started in hospitality, how she’s responded to the multiple crises we’re facing as a country, how that response shows up at the hotel level, and driving force behind all of that. We talk about community partnership—and the lengths Moniqua and her team have gone to be a true partner and to remain open.
In next week’s episode we’ll go deeper into Moniqua’s process of building a hotel that truly represents the community, the one-of-a-kind guest experience she’s created, a hilarious brush with a celebrity, and we’ll get into her plans for her new project, The Citizen Hotel, and beyond.
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Well, that's just the first half of my interview with Moniqua. It's pretty great so far, right? I really appreciate the way Moniqua went into the pandemic with the knowledge that her hotel was nimble. That after looking at the numbers and the size, she knew she could manage to stay open, and also deep down, she knew that's what she needed to do. She'd built the hotel to be a respite—to be a safe place always. And even when Tucson, hospitality as we know it, and really the whole nation was tested—and in many ways continues to be tested—Moniqua stood by what she believed. And The Downtown Clifton, maybe even more-so than it was pre-pandemic, became a safe space for the community and for travelers, where they found just what they needed in that moment.
Next week, we're going to dive into the how and the what of it: elements of the guest experience, like a keyholders club that's anything but typical, and how she's created a hotel with an undeniable sense of place. A hotel that's experiential in that it helps guests peel back the layers—something that's so necessary in Tucson—to reveal its cultural roots in art, food, and setting, and in a way that's nostalgic for the past but firmly planted in the present day. We'll also chat about Moniqua's next hotel projects. Yep, that's plural.
So if you haven't already, subscribe to the show, or my emails, so you're notified when part two airs--which will be next week. Yeah, I'm back to publishing weekly episodes now that summer's almost over.
As always, keep sharing your stories.
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