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Mt. Lemmon Hotel welcomes first guests after facing several obstacles

A look inside the finished Mt. Lemmon Hotel casitas.
Posted at 1:58 PM, Apr 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-04 16:58:18-04

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The first guests at the new cabins on Mt. Lemmon arrived this week.

Co-owner Justin Hafner told KGUN9, all nine of the hotel’s cabins are already booked up on weekends through August.

“We’re incredibly ecstatic with the turnout and support we’ve had from those in Tucson,” said Hafner.

Ecstatic and relieved - the development plans were no easy feat. During the two-year journey of trying to build, Hafner says, his family and team battled one obstacle after another.

“We had multiple crews stricken with COVID. We had the wildfire, we were shut down for two months. We had one of our cabins when it got delivered, it clipped one of the overpasses driving under the I-10. So it’s just been a long two-year process,” said Hafner.

Then winter came along with so much snow over a two to three-month period, which stopped crews from working yet again.

“If you’ve ever competed in a really long race or tough challenge, you know, I kind of feel like a wounded dog coming through the finish line. You’re glad it's over but you need a little bit of time to recover and nurse those wounds,” said Hafner.

The locally family-owned hotel is looking to build six more cabins in addition to the nine already on site as well as a retail complex in the near future.

For more about the cabins and to check availability, click here.

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