Hotel Review: Dulles, VA Fairfield Inn and Suites

After my stay at the Winchester Fairfield Inn and Suites, I was one stay shy to earn a free night through Marriott's Unexpected Bonus. I decided to do a mattress run to earn that free night. After a quick search,  I found a $50 night stay at the Dulles Fairfield Inn and Suite.

After taking the bus from Tysons, I wondered over to the area where hotel shuttles pick up passengers. It is located on the ground level around the 2A sign. I decided not to call the hotel and request a pick-up. Instead, I waited to see if the shuttle would arrive. Luckily, it arrived 20 minutes later. There was a sign at check-in that stated that you need to call the hotel to request a shuttle. It doesn't normally run to the airport.

The hotel is located on Indian Creek Drive, about a mile away from the airport.

This Fairfield Inn and Suites is one of the unrenovated hotels. The lobby was tiny, but had a very homey feel to it.

I was given a room on the first floor that faced the main road.

         
                      

You could tell this room was unrenovated. It had a look of an old country country club. Green carpet, dark wood furniture and tacky art work. The room was very clean and the only real sign of age was the tub.

The hotel has a small gym has two treadmills, an elliptical, a set of weights and a bench. The gym faces the pool.

The pool is a great size for swimming laps. There are a few places to sit around the pool. No need to bring towels from your room as big beach towels are provided. The pool is open until 11 pm on weekdays and
8 pm on the weekend.

Directly outside of the pool is an area outside to sit, sun bath and have a smoke or two.

One of the benefits of staying at Fairfield Inn and Suites is free breakfast. On the weekends, breakfast is served until 10am in the cafeteria.

They had a variety of cold options

      

 

And hot food; eggs, bacon and a waffle maker:

In the cafeteria room is a computer for your use:

A couple quick notes, there is only a subway located in a gas station in terms of walking distance for food. The airport is about a 10 minute van ride. Overall, this hotel was OK for a quick mattress run. The hotel was clean except for cigarette buds in the hall way.

Finally, what is this list? It was taped on the door outside the door across the hall from me

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Hotel Review: Fairfield Inn and Suites - Winchester, VA

As I wrote here, my friends and I went to a drive-in movie theater. We didn't want to drive home after the movie, so we decided to get a hotel room for the night.

Since Cash Back Boy was in the group, we had to stay within the Marriott Brand. The cheapest Marriott was the Fairfield Inn and Suites located on Front Royal Pike.

The AAA rate got the cost to $103 all-in. This Fairfield was one of the renovated hotels. Just walk into the lobby and you can feel how the fresh and modern this hotel is:

Our room was on the second floor. The room was a suite with a king bed and pull-out couch:

                           

The room was very modern with bright ascents

The room was clean on first inspection. When we pulled the sofa bed out, we found some surprises:

Hairs

Stains on the Comfrtable

The hotel has a gym with a few treadmills, an elliptical and weights machine:

In addition, the hotel has a pool and whirlpool:

Right outside the pool was a deck area with lounge chairs and a table with a few chairs:

The hotel has hot breakfast until 10am. However, I did not make it. Cash Back Boy went down and informed me their was eggs, bacon, cereal, bagels, some yogurt and fruit. Not to shabby:

The hotel was good enough for a quick night. The room was somewhat clean, the location was perfect, but the customer service was great. Small things go a long way:

I would defiantly come back to this hotel.

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Hotel Review: Austin Country Inn and Suites

After a great night at the Hyatt Regency, my sister and I moved on for two nights at the Country Inn and Suites. The hotel is located north of downtown Austin in the St. John neighborhood. My sister was thinking about working at a school near the hotel and I though it important that we spend time in the neighborhood.

We booked the trip very last minute. The hotel is a category 3, costing 28,000 Gold Points a night. However, one of the unique benefits of having the Club Carlson Visa Card is that you get the last night free on award nights. Therefore, 28,000 points got us 2 free nights at the Country Inn and Suites. Due to our late booking, the cost for one night was $150; costing us $300 for the stay. Trying to keep the cost low for the trip, I spent my points which were earned by applying for the Club Carlson card. The Cash + Points offer was not available when we booked, but that would have been the option I would have chosen.











The lobby has a homey feel to it:

The check-in was a breeze. They did not recognize my Gold status, they did not thank me stay nor did they ask for a credit card. She just hand us keys and sent us on our way.

The hotel is old and had a funky smell. I could not pin point what it was, but both my sister and I both noticed it.

We were given a room on the third floor at the end of the hallway. This is where the real fun began as we found a surprise in our room. And no it was not a welcome gift or at least I hope it was not a welcome gift!

As you can see, at 62 seconds in, I find ants. Lots and lots of ants in the room. Some of them dead, others limping around and others trying to get out.

We quickly walked back downstairs to the front desk to ask for another room. The front desk attendant was  very apologetic and "upgraded" us to a Queen Suite. The only real difference was a couch. I don't now if a having a couch automatically makes a room a suite, but I'll go with it.



The hotel had a very small gym.

And an outdoor pool. It was very nice to jump in the pool after spending all day in the Texas sun.

The hotel serves breakfast every morning. I did not try it, but my sister did. She said it was average, but adequate.

As I stated here, one of the weirdest things we encountered was the spinning shower head.


               

Cool to look at, but not very practical.

One last compliant was the wireless internet was slow. Almost AOL dial-up slow.

The hotel would not be a place I would stay at again. However, the hotel served it purpose as being close to the school, she wanted to work at. We spent time and got a real feel of the neighborhood especially at night.

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