Hilton Garden Inn Fairfield — Hotel in Fairfield

TL;DR version: The hotel staff themselves are top notch, and was the major saving grace of the hotel. Rooms felt dated with small bathrooms, fridge was sketchy at best, noise level was unacceptable, food was terrible. Read on for the full and detailed review.

Full review: This is a mixed review, just like my hotel stay. I will lead by stating that all of the staff I interacted with were excellent and really went above and beyond. They were always professional and very courteous. Nothing was ever a bother to them and they made me feel welcome. The local management must also be pretty good because none of the staff seemed to be overly stressed, nor did they seem to 'just be there to collect a paycheck'. The staff seemed to actually care (not pretend to care), and in this line of work you only get that in a healthy working environment.

But the local staff was the ONLY saving grace for this review, or my stay for that matter. Just like with pretty much all things that carry the Hilton name - It looked great on paper and in photos, but when you experience it up close and personal you realize it's overpriced, past its prime, and disappointing. Again, I say that of the brand as a whole - NOT the local staff or managers. This is a sad theme that has carried over through multiple stays at various Hilton hotels within the United States.

The rooms looked 'clean enough' upon first inspection, but that's likely because the 'high use' designs and materials were designed with patterns to hide stains and grime, but were incredibly cheap in the qualities that mattered. In reality I couldn't help but feel that the room was years past its prime, and due for a touch up. Most of the wood finishes were damaged (including the table top next to my bed) which added to the 'this is past its prime and hiding a lot of wear and tear'.

For the room itself, it was adequately lit with curtains that were very effective at blocking the morning sun. While they worked well, they were a bit dingy and off white in some spots from heavy use. I felt that there was a lot of noise that I could still hear from the nearby highway as well as the hallway - far more than was acceptable. A few times I was able to clearly make out normal conversations as people walked down the hall. This is something that shouldn't happen in the price point that I paid.

The bed was acceptable, but felt like a cheap mattress that transferred too much movement between people in the same bed. The pillows (while clean), were not very good.

The food experience was a true disappointment. We ate dinner and breakfast at the hotel, and frankly was disappointment with the quality of the food that was used. Again, the local staff was doing their best, but they were given subpar ingredients (ordered in bulk that are dry/prepared/frozen) to begin with. There is only so far you can take bad ingredients. Again, that's an issue with the brand and NOT the local staff or even local management. The food we had was always served at the correct temperature and was served promptly, and the portions were a good size. The servers for both sittings were fantastic and very attentive with out being over bearing.

I will end the review on a positive note - one of the safety and security of the premise. There was a security guard patrolling at night, a well lit parking lot, and plenty of cameras watching the guest parking lot. Side and rear doors seemed to require a key card at all hours of the day (a nice thing to see). While I wasn't a fan of the building, I did feel perfectly safe...

During my 7 day stay at this hotel, I experienced a very uncomfortable situation with the Bar tender, night manager and even the General Manager(John M.)On my second day , i spent about an hour at the bar area enjoying a few beers with my spouse. When the bar tender brought my tab, he reminded me that I could pay with my room tab if I didn't have cash or card. I took his advise and put the bar tab and his generous tip on my room tab. Five minutes later when I got back to my room, I realized that I did not have my wallet (with $1000+ cash inside)! I rushed back to the bar to be told the bar tender had "gone home". I looked closely at the bar table and surrounding area for my wallet. Not there. I asked for another room key and went to search the room EVEN-THOUGH I knew that I had set my wallet on the chair next to my seat. I returned to the bar area determined to look for my wallet and I find the bar tender was still there. He did not go home. I asked him where he went immediately after we had initially left the bar and he told me he visited the men's room. I had no idea if the staff has a separate restroom but I searched the men's room near the bar and found nothing. After calling the police and giving them the details, I went back to my room .At this time, I informed the night manager and 'jay' the bar tender that I will not leave the hotel until I find my wallet, even if I have to stay a week, I will be here until I find out what happened to it. Within 10 minutes , I got a call from the front desk, telling me that my wallet 'had been returned' by someone in a blue sweater. When I went to the desk to retrieve it, the night manager did not ask me if the money was all there or even reference that I had over $1000 in the wallet. Later the next day when I spoke to the GM (John M )I was NEVER asked if all of the money was returned! To this day, no one associated with the Hotel has bothered to ask me if the money was returned. John M the GM told me that he had reviewed the surveillance camera and said a guy with a cap and white t-shirt had returned my wallet. Really? What happened to the guy in the blue sweater?? I was obviously a case of protecting the hotel staff from being found out and that really speaks volumes , doesn't it?! Within this 2 hour fiasco I had to cancel every credit card and lock my bank accounts to protect my assets. I have written to Hilton Properties and have not...

I work out of this hotel every few months holding seminars for corporations. The building has a U shape. On one side are the ballroom where the seminars are held and on the other side at the tip of the U is the restrooms. This is just bad design and there's nothing that can be done. The hotel is right off Hwy 80 so the location is great. There is also many locations to find food options. There is a mall across the parking lot. Those are the pros and cons that cannot be controlled by management. Now, the things that can be controlled. There seems to have been a massive turn over in the last two months. There was only one employee that I recognize from my last two years of working from this location. Of the four trainers that worked with me three of us had problems with our reservations. One was told he was a no show so his room was given away. Myself and another trainer were threatened to be kicked out of our room because we overstayed our reservations. We do there and five day trainings and this was our second day. These situations were handled, but not with smile. The first night we ate in the cafe in the hotel. The food was cold and not completely cooked. This was the same for all four of us. I just couldn't eat the food. On the last day I asked for a 1:00 checkout. They deactivate your keycard at noon. Therefore, at lunch I went to the desk to have my key reactivated. The key doesn't work when I get to the room. I go back to the desk and say the key doesn't work. They take the key and reactive again. I go back to the room. The key doesn't work and I lost it. A very nice maid tried to help me. She can't get the key to work and she can't open the door for me. I understand her perspective, I have no proof that I belong in the room. However, I'm not going to walk back down to the desk. She can't call the desk either. The maid called her boss. The Maid's boss called the desk. Then the Maid's boss called the maid to tell her she could open the door for me. This took a bit of time to facilitate. I now had to put my bags on a cart and take it with me to the ballroom. I don't have time to eat lunch or load the car. All the problems I had screamed lack of training. I don't know why they lost their old team but this desk team needs attention. The Hotel is clean and the hotel cleaning crew is very friendly. Hold the cleaning crew up as an example for the rest of the...