My preference is Courtyard. Of course, I've never stayed at a Fairfield Inn.

If you're interested in how new or newly renovated a property may be, Marriott's web site is an excellent source of that information. You can click on the "Room Details" and find out when the hotel was built and what year the rooms were renovated (if they have been). For example, the Courtyard San Diego Downtown was built in 1999 and the rooms were renovated in 2007.

I have stayed at both in the past month. I found the Courtyard had better amenities. Courtyard had restaurant (though not free) with prepared food, FF had a (free) continental breakfast with microwavable frozen biscuits. Courtyard had fitness room and FF had none. Courtyard offered complimentary newspapers on the weekend, FF had none. Courtyard had flat screen HD TV, FF had tube TV that wasn't HD. As with any brand the category pretty much dictates the difference. I have stayed at a FF on the beach that was cat 5 that had a fitness center and a breakfast buffet but the one I described above is a cat 3 and the courtyard was a cat 4. All brands are not created equal.

I think your sample size is too small.

I have stayed at many Courtyards and Fairfields where the opposite was true for every item you mentioned, except for the breakfast policy. Marriott has gotten so chintzy with newspapers in the last couple of years that even some full-service properties are not delivering them. Your Courtyard experience with newspapers on the weekend was exceptional and not representative of the brand.

Given the amenities offered to elite MR guests, Courtyards are my least favorite Marriott brand and I actively avoid them. The Priceline crowd will find them just fine.

For what it's worth, I so rarely see newspapers at any Marriott brand anymore that I've forgotten that it used to be a somewhat standard hotel benefit.

On one hand, I don't really care: newsprint is an obsolete form of information delivery. On the other hand, it's a quaint anachronism of a prior age and it brings back fond memories to touch and feel an actual newspaper. If I see one on a travel day, I grab it and read it on the flight.

I at least wish hotels kept a small pile of them in the lobby.

Well not to sidetrack the thread (which we're doing w/ the newspaper thing), I've found that a # of the hotels don't deliver to the room, but will have a stack either near the elevator or at the front desk/concierge desk.

I recently stayed at the Las Vegas Marriott, and they still deliver the papers to the room & also pay attention to the type you want (ie, USAToday, WSJ, local).

I actually like the papers; gives me something to read when I'm in the restaurant, in the bathroom, in a taxi, on the shuttle bus, on a flight.

Re: CYs vs FI. While I don't usually stay at either, I'd probably give the nod to CY for beds, possible upgrade to jr. suite, etc. However, the no points for incidentals & no brekkie at CY is a huge drawback & something I'm going to mention to Marriott execs at the FT Awards. While I'd prefer both brekkie & points, at least if they gave points for incidentals such as meals it would help.

I'm actually going to stay at a FI this weekend to cement the megabonus promo. The choices were RI or FI in my area, and you only get 5pts w/ RI.

Cheers.

Interesting discussion. I am a Marriott Rewards member going back to ca. 1985 or 1986 and used to prefer CY when I was not staying at a FS property.
Now I find FFI to be a better value. Most of the newer ones sport the Fairfield Inn & Suites moniker and I find the rooms to be as nice or nicer than CY. Now that I am retired the free breakfast is nice also. So when the FFI is $10 to $20 less per night for an equivalent room and free breakfast that is a no brainer. Oh and a lot of the FFI now have at least cardio equipment. But if not I can run outdoors.

Only downside is most FFI do not have pay per view movies in my experience. Not a deal breaker for me but I mention because have not seen that discussed upthread.

Quick question:
I've only stayed at a CY once since I became Platinum, and was given a breakfast certificate. I wasn't expecting it. Was that an exception, or is that now standard for Platinums?

Exception for sure.

I think of the two, the variance in quality is significantly higher with Fairfield Inns. I mean, yes, I've stayed in some awful Courtyards like the rest of you, but Fairfield Inns have "surprised" me more in both good and bad ways.

I agree with you about the Fairfield Inn & Suites (especially if they are 3 years or less old) in some locations being as nice or nicer than some Courtyards, especially if the CY are old. Some (not all, but many or most) of the original CY locations, from the brand founding in 1985, through about 1995-1997, are like night and day compared to those built in the last ten years, and if I am able to figure out whether it is an older or newer CY, that will inform my hotel selection decisions. For me, if it is between a pre-1997 CY and a post 2005 FI&S, and the prices and locations are roughly comparable, there is no contest for me, I would choose the FI&S, in that situation, every time.

Recently, I stayed in one of the older CY's near ATL, and it was one of the worst hotel experiences that I have ever had with Marriott. In this case, it was not just the physical hotel and room, but also dismal service, but the physical hotel and room were mediocre at best. I needed to stay at that CY because of an event I was attending around the corner, but if not for that, I would have stayed at the FI&S ATL Airport North, which I have stayed at before, and is a truly great FI&S, with beautiful large suites, and generally a beautifully maintained property, inside and out. In comparing the two ATL airport hotels, it is a real beauty and the beast situation, and breakfast was not a consideration. However, it should not go unsaid that there are also some very nice CY properties, several which I have stayed in within the last few years come to mind, such as CY Embassy Row (Washington, DC), Courtyard Boston Logan Airport, Courtyard Washington Capitol Hill/Navy Yard, and Courtyard Los Angeles Westside.

Pay Per View movies in hotels are way too expensive. For the cost of less than one PPV movie per month, I'd recommend signing up for a Netflix streaming account, and then you have a wide selection, and you also have movies in the hotels which do not even offer them.

AFAIK, that is the exception, not the rule. I can only think of one or two times I have ever received a breakfast cert when it was not included in the rate that I booked.

FYI Marriott changed to only delivering papers upon request as many guests were not reading them - you can update you profile to select if you do want a paper delivered and if so which you'd like to receive

this is exactly why they stopped delivering them...more and more guests are receiving their news via the internet

Nothing to do with cutting expenses?

The new CY Atlanta Downtown, conceived as an Intercontinental Hotel Indigo, but opened as a CY, puts a whole new spin on CY. A fresh, contemporary, boutique hotel; the furnishings put its downtown RC and Marriott neighbors to shame. http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...anta-downtown/

Arnie (Pres/COO) is as green as it gets, the overall reduction in expense is honestly quite small especially now that additional papers are an option for MR members to have delivered to the guests door

If memory serves me correctly, the Marriott Rewards Redemption Category assigned to a hotel has no correlation to the quality of the hotel or the amenities offered. The category assignment is based on the popularity of the hotel and location.