minnz21

I would suggest never staying there. The location and parking situation is great. Their customer service is terrible.

My had an issue with my toilet. It would not stop running. Called the front desk and was told she would be right up. She told me well she doesn't know how to fix it and maintenance is not there until regular business hours.

When I asked for a solution, she told me they are sold out and can't move me to a different room. Then proceeded to say sorry and just walked out. I was shocked she would not try and re-book me to another area Marriott or another non Marriott her franchise owns.

I Called the Marriott Customer Care Center and they understood my anger. Unfortunately all Marriott properties were sold out so they could not move me. They called down to the front desk and asked if they owned other hotels, once she said yes Marriott asked them to try and re-book me.

I know for a fact their HGI had rooms because they were showing available online, I was told thought nobody has a room.

I asked for a refund and was told that would not be possible. I was going to book myself at HGI for $60 more so I could use the bathroom as well as sleep properly.

Instead I stayed the one night. I was told Marriott would call me the next day. That never happened. I did notice 15,000 points showed up as a bonus in my account. I called to ask why and they said they gave me a free Category 3 night for my troubles. I told them I preferred a cash refund and they would not do that.

Terrible customer service at this property.

joshua362

Annoying for sure and lots of ball dropping. Would have been a simple matter to suggest to turn off the water supply at the bowl and turn it on again when needed if it was so loud that you couldn't sleep until it could have been fixed...

lougord99

Do you seriously think any other FI would rebook you at some other random property because your toilet continuously ran???

I hope I can find a FI that gives me 15,000 points for an issue such as this.

Jon Maiman

I respectfully disagree. The noise from the continuously running water would probably keep me up all night. Perhaps the OP had the same issue. I also thought FI's have a satisfaction guarantee now. Something about if there is something wrong, let us know and we will make it right. The treatment of the OP certainly doesn't live up to this satisfaction guarantee.

My two cents....

--Jon

P.S. I do agree with the suggestion to shut off the water at the toilet intake valve assuming that was possible at this property. That said, the hotel clerk should have known how to do that if the OP didn't.

P.P.S. Personally I almost never ask for compensation for anything. If I am unhappy with how a hotel handles something, I will tell them. If they are unresponsive, I just don't stay there again. In 15+ years of business travel, I can't remember the last time I have ever asked for compensation. Sometimes I am given some unsolicited compensation when I have given a less than favorable rating on survey; however, I never ask for it nor do I expect it.

flyerfmaz

I stay at Marriotts weekly (right now at my usual haunt, a SS in Phoenix), and each room here has its own peculiar set of circumstances. The toilets flush differently, the A/C isn't quite the same, and there are points of wear and tear that really should be addressed. Maintenance at most hotels is spotty at best -- they're probably short-staffed and underpaid. It often shows with the sloppy caulking and other lack of attention to detail. Almost all hotel maintenance (except at the most expensive properties, I suppose), is purely reactive -- they fix things when they break but do very little proactive maintenance. No one is running around with a clipboard doing double-checks on rooms to be sure everything is "just right". They should do this, but most don't.

The running toilet you experienced is at the very least a waste of water -- and at worst an audible nuisance. However, you could have simply closed the bathroom door and turned on the A/C fan to eliminate the sound of the toilet running.

If the hotel could have moved you to another room they almost certainly would have. I've never known a Marriott to be anything less than accommodating.

That being said, we are all paying customers -- we're not staying at a relative's house for free and have no choice but to put up with a maintenance problem.

A running toilet is a borderline problem. Marriott probably did the right thing by offering you points rather than a refund. If it was a more serious issue such as lack of air conditioning then that might be a different story.

Baze

I've had the issue of running toilet before. I just turn the water off then turn on when I need it. Maintenance has always fixed it the next day while I was out. They threw me points as an apology along with a verbal apology. This is over many different chains. No, I don't have a lot of running toilet issues, just been staying at hotels for a couple decades and has happened maybe 6 times total over 20 years.

minnz21

I actually did that myself and the water was still running. Clearly the water supply line/value was the issue not the commode.

minnz21

Trust me I did turn off water line, close door, AC was running as well. Still was audible and annoying.

The points are a nice gesture but to not be offered financial compensation for an unsatisfactory condition where NO solution was even offered is what got me.

They did not offer a solution and that is my key issue here.

flyerfmaz

I'm not doubting you, I'm just not sure I understand. I'm a bit of a home handyman and can't fathom how the toilet could have been creating so much noise -- if any noise at all -- with the water off, door closed, and the A/C running. And I don't understand how it could still be running with the water off.

Let me ask this: when you reached down to turn off the water valve, you should have heard water rushing through the line. As you turned the valve off, the water should have stopped running. Are you saying that the water valve wasn't actually shutting the water off?

bitburgr

I think you have that backwards. We are all paying customers and we do have a choice to not put up with a maintenance problem.

flyerfmaz

Well - that's what I meant.

GateGuardian

Fairfield Inn imo is the worse brand under the Marriott chain. I stayed at 3 FI locations and it looked like a run down trucker motel when I got to the room. I've only given 1 FI location a positive review as it was built a year ago.

lougord99

No. FI is the least expensive brand. Why would you expect the same product at a Fairfield price as a full service motel. Fairfield is an excellent value at its price.

Jon Maiman

I disagree. Most FI's have been recently renovated or will be shortly.
Marriott has been good about making sure the properties stay current in this brand. Even the older ones that haven't been renovated recently generally do a good job of maintaining themselves.. I stay at 10 to 20 different FI properties a year. I can think of only one that was truly bad: FI Niles Warren. For it's price point, the FI is a great brand and a good value.

--Jon

dat4life

I agree the renovated and newly constructed Fairfields are very nice. However, in the area I frequent (Texas, Louisiana, and the Southeastern US in general) those Fairfields are few and far in between. Most of the Fairfields I have stayed at in that area, are in pretty bad shape. A few pretty terrible properties that come to mind are the FI Ruston, LA; FI Longview, TX; FI Tyler, TX; and FI Waco-South. FI Waco-North is newer and was once pretty nice, but it's gone down hill.

Back to the topic at hand, I have stayed at the FI Abilene and didn't find it to be terrible but not great. I did stay at the Residence Inn Abilene as well, and that was quite nice.