has the pricing for Fairfield crept up in the last month or two?

Over the winter and early spring I was paying in the 119/129/139 range for most fairfields in a variety of cities across the US. Now when I am looking online the general pricing is 139/149/159

Hopefully it isn't a trend. $150ish is my value cutoff for fairfield - especially with that crummy coffee. Yeah, I am still staying here but...

Hotel prices in general across the board & across chains has increased. Just read a couple of articles about it in the last week.

Cheers.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/20...-decrease.html

Demand is ahead of supply, and probably will be for awhile longer.

As long as you keep staying there, it'll keep happening. The "major" program brands keep doing this, and people keep staying there. The "budget" program brands prices tend to not rise as much, but too many people avoid them and instead pay more and more for the "major" program brands, and so the "major" program brands keep increasing and increasing.

If, all of a sudden, a bunch of people moved from Fairfield Inn to Comfort Inn, the prices at Fairfield would stablize or even drop, and the prices at Comfort Inn might go up. But most places, I don't see that happening much.

... Having said all that: Fairfield Inn, more than FS Marriott's, tends to be used by summer vacationers. So in locations where there are plenty of summer vacationers (but not as much vacation travel other times of year), Fairfield Inn might go up in price specifically for the summer, and possibly drop back down in the fall. While FS Marriott's might move up at other times of year perhaps.

In other words, there are longterm trends in hotel pricing, but there are also seasonal swings, and you have to have been watching the same locations steadily for years to have a good chance of sorting out the two.

... One thing to consider: In some areas, Fairfields are easier to LNF into low rates (than "fancier" Marriott brands), yet fewer people try. So if you're not familiar with LNF, you may want to look into that.

Yeah I stay in a decent amount of FI's and I've rarely seen them over $139 unless it's a high COL city or a vacation spot.

I don't think the price increase is an issue specific to FI as a brand. It's market inflation or, as sdsearch suggested, an issue for all MR brands. I have noticed that in several areas where I travel frequently, MR's limited services brands (CY, FI, RI) are generally significantly more expensive than their counterparts from HH and IHG. That's been true in these market areas for several years, unfortunately. I figure it's because these MR properties are booking plenty of rooms with their corporate rate clients so they can hold out for high rates on the inventory remaining.

We generally have a limit of $150/night for hotel. My travel pattern changed a lot when I don't have much notice and give Houston for example. Try to find any 3-4 star hotel under $150 within the outer loop on a less than a week notice.

that's an interesting theory but unfortunately it's not correct.....at one point in time (when the brand was being launched) the thought was "put them along freeways because the they'll get a large portion of their business from "walk-in's" coming in off the freeway"...in reality the brand obtains their business through the same sources as other brands - it's very location driven but "summer vacationers" (or leisure travelers) are a large segment for all brands, it really just depends on the specific hotels location as to how large a segment it really is

And you are correct the long term trends in the industry are to continue driving rate while the supply/demand ratio stands as it does...but don't worry, as an industry every time this happens we quickly flood the market with supply (hopefully it won't happen this time but I'm not counting on it)

That's interesting. I certainly have noticed that most FIs are near highways. I'm not really a walk-in type of customer. I did that on some trips 10-15 years ago but rarely anymore as I'm concerned hotels' more elastic pricing leaves me hesitant to rely on finding availability & good rates at 6pm the day I arrive. Nonetheless, locations by the highway tend to serve me well on many of my trips. When I'm making a pit stop on a leisure trip I like easy on/off access to the highway. The same is useful for visiting client sites in suburban areas, as the client's office may be a few exits down the highway.

I doubt it. Brands which provide free breakfast to all are likely to be more favorted by "summer vacationers" traveling with their families (that's a subset of leisure travelers) than those FS properties that charge high amounts per person for breakfast and nickel-and-dime for everything.

And, indeed, I tend to see proportionally way more families with kids when I stay at Fairfields than when I stay at FS Marriott (non-suites) or even Courtyards. Similarly, I see way more families with kids when staying at Hampton Inns than when staying at FS Hilton or even HGI.

There are other things that traveling families like, including everyone in the same suite, so whether the breakfast is free or not, brands like Mariott Suites and Embassy Suites also get lots of families with kids in my experience.

I too find it interesting when "brand inversion" occurs...the rates at the limited-service brands jump higher than the full-service brand. I've seen it most with Marriott but also some with Hilton.

I always just chalked it up to very localized demand. I see it most on the weekends, perhaps because a smaller number of roadtrippers can fill a Fairfield Inn whereas a large Marriott is much more empty. I have always thought of FI as a "by the freeway" brand (like Hampton Inn) and associate it with roadtrippers, mainly leisure travelers.

I favor hotels with free breakfast no matter whether I'm traveling solo or with family, whether for work or pleasure. It just irritates me to spend money on breakfast or wifi, even if it's the client's money.

You certainly are entitled to your point of view and as I am...having just a little history in the industry I can assure you there are many leisure folks that do think exactly the way you're expecting them to but there are just as many that don't....if individuals didn't have personal preferences we wouldn't have the variety of brands within the industry that we do

you are correct it's typically localized - thinking back to the old Detroit airport there use to be the Romulus Marriott, Airport Courtyard, Airport Fairfield Inn and another Marriott inside the old terminal...on weekends the hotel inside the terminal was the most expensive followed by the Fairfield Inn because of that hotel's demand....the Romulus Marriott was the least expensive.....it's also interesting to see the demand each brand commands naturally, speaking of Hilton brands Hampton is their powerhouse brand - in a typical location it will kick every other Hilton brand's butt (in terms of demand) and because of that increased demand the pricing might make a few folks scratch their head (of course all of this is my personal opinion - I have had some folks within the industry feel Hampton isn't as strong as it really is)

Well, what explains the observed pattern then? I stay at a FS Marriott sometimes, and at a Fairfield just one freeway exit away other times. At the FS Marriott, I see very few families with kids, stay after stay, while at the Fairfield I see tons of families with kids, stay after stay.

Now, maybe it's regional (my examples are mostly from Orange County CA, because that's where I stay repeatedly at different hotels near each other the most), but at least in these places, I see a definite difference in the people between Fairfield and FS Marriott.

I completely agree with you there....that's why there are different brands and most certainly locations to influence the guests at hotels