Fairfield Inn & Suites

Elite '09

461

547

Michelle C.

Austin, TX

6/14/2007

The first time I stayed here, I thought it was pretty decent.  The room was fairly large and comfortable and it was very quiet.  The hotel is right next door to a Johnny Carino's, so if you're like me and not very adventurous about exploring small Texas towns when you're traveling alone on business and just finished a long day of working, it's nice be able to walk right next door and get a semi-decent meal.

But the second time I stayed here...oh. my.  god.  There must not have been anybody else in the entire hotel when I was there the first time, because I realized the second time that the walls are paper thin.  I could hear people talking on their cell phones upstairs from me, people in the hall, the people next door...it was just incredibly loud.  Fortunately, I'm a heavy sleeper, but it was a little annoying even for me.

Also, the second time I was there, I walked in at 11 pm and there were four people ahead of me in line.  Three of the people were from another country, and the desk clerk (who was alone, of course) was struggling to enter their contact information (which was in an unfamiliar format) into the system.  Figuring it was going to be a while, I sat down on a couch in the lobby and started reading the newspaper.  The desk clerk, bless his soul, then says to me, "Ma'am, are you in a hurry?  I could check you in first."

Now, I REALLY appreciated the fact that he was trying to help me cut in line, but if I had been any of the other people in line ahead of me, I would have been absolutely livid.  I have no idea what made this desk clerk offer such a thing, unless it was because I was (a) a woman; or (b) wearing a business suit.  Fortunately for the people in line ahead of me, I responded that I wasn't in any more of a hurry than anyone else and waited my turn.  But I thought the whole episode was a little weird.

They do have a free breakfast in the morning, but it's pretty bad...a few cold choices + "microwave your own generic McMuffin" type deals.  There was hot tea, but the water for the tea was lukewarm and I wasn't able to extract any tea flavor out of the bag.  No Splenda, either (I'm high maintenance about my artificial sweeteners).

They do have fresh baked cookies at the front desk in the evenings, and they're damn good.  Best part about the hotel, hands-down.

All this said, I'm not 100% sure there are any better hotels in San Angelo, so if you're headed that way...consider yourself warned.

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