Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Waco North — Hotel in Lacy Lakeview

My husband and I arrived at 4:30 for a 3 o’clock checkin and walked into a room that was not ready. The door was propped open and the room did not appear clean. I stepped into the hallway and got the attention of a member of staff and told him I thought we had been given a room already rented or that housekeeping hadn’t cleaned the room. My husband and the man agreed that the room was clean, they had only forgotten to take the trash. While the gentleman removed the trash and I used the restroom I then realized there were no towels or soap; he brought those as well. A few minutes later a housekeeper used a master key and entered our room without knocking or announcing, promptly apologized and left. At this point I’m trying to not get angry and ruin our weekend, I don’t contact the front desk but half expect a call because at this point 2 members of the staff know there is a problem with our room. The next morning I speak to the lady at the front desk and tell her everything from the afternoon before. She is very surprised and apologetic. She promises our room will be cleaned that day and gives us $20 off our stay. We leave around 8:30am and return about 2pm and find our room exactly as we left it- untouched and unclean. Again I don’t want to get angry and ruin our weekend so I decide to lay down for a nap while my husband watches the game. At around 4pm the phone in our room rings and it’s management stating they received a complaint that our room hadn’t been cleaned that day; they want to send someone up right then to clean. My husband responds that actually our room wasn’t clean when we arrived, that I am sleeping but we will head out in about 30 minutes so they can clean. When we return about 6:30 our room is yet again exactly as we left it and yet again housekeeping was a no-show. Because housekeeping did not come clean there were no clean towels. My husband calls the front desk and requests they be brought up, 30 minutes later we have still not received the towels. I walked down to the front desk and I was told that our towels WERE delivered and because I just left the room I know that’s not the case but the lady continued to argue with me for approximately 10 minutes. She agrees to move us to a new room which was an upgrade. The room appeared nice and clean- there were towels, soap etc. which we did not have at the 1st room. The next morning when I was packing up I kicked something under the bed, I bent over and picked up an empty water bottle that we DID NOT bring with us. I guess the room wasn’t so clean after all. When we were checking out the front desk agent asks how our stay was and I laughed and told her that she didn’t want to know. She insisted she did and I started at the beginning. Her manager overheard and stepped out to intervene and apologize. Ultimately we were comped one nights stay. For the most part the staff was polite but there seems to be a horrible lack of communication between the front desk and housekeeping. My husband and I made the best of our weekend away and are thankful to Shirley (the manger who helped at checkout) as well as the front desk agent who helped us at checkout even though I cannot remember her name. The hotel gets 3 stars for finally...

John Willard and Bill Marriott would be embarrassed if they knew how bad this property is. Yes, the property has been updated and the updates (mostly) make it appear competitive with other chains. The grounds are not maintained -- thick weeds everywhere. There are small details out-of-place, but for me the attitude of the front desk agent ruined the stay before I was fully checked-in. There is an overly fresh smell in the hall and that always makes me think, "What are they covering up?" My room, big pet peeve, the AC was set at 60 and the room was cold. It was 68 outside and I had to turn on the heat. Housekeeping needs to set the AC/heat to a temperature anticipating a guest's arrival, not set for the maid while they are in the room. In my room, the tub has a large gouge and crack in it. That probably can't get cleaned fully and could fairly easily be refinished -- small detail. The room was clean, but there were smudges/dirt/etc on the walls and visible on furniture. Upon arrival I observed that the parking lot is very dark, about half of the outside lights are out so there is not enough lit parking for the vehicles. That concerns me. There was a family at the (indoor) pool as I checked in and they looked out of place. After checking in, I went back down to my car and watched this same family walk out through the lobby, draped in towels to their car and they left -- they use this indoor pool as their spa. Let me add that I have been a very loyal Marriott customer for over 20 years, most of that time as a road warrior spending more nights in hotels than at home. I know what to expect. I've gotten accustomed to Marriott hiring a certain type of employee -- polished, professional, friendly, welcoming, eagerly anticipating a guest's needs and striving to exceed them. I don't know how Marriott finds, trains and motivates people to this level but they do, and they do it consistently. Starbucks employees are similar, but frequently are a little too familiar, friendly, and relaxed to the point they don't seem to care -- not Marriott people. I have used this example in employee coaching. Finally, the detail that ruined my stay -- The front desk agent was as far from this standard as I have met in a Marriott property. Yes, he checked me in and sent me on my way, he didn't rush but he wasn't slow either. It was his obvious indiference in me as a guest. Marriott front desk agents usually either pull up my history or have it on the screen as they check me in. They ALWAYS thank me for being so loyal, not tonight. In contrast, when I stopped at a local fried chicken take-away they were friendlier and more grateful for my patronage -- that's when I truly realized something was missing at...

Unfortunately, my stay started off wrong. When I was trying to check in, there was one young lady (Britney) at the counter who was on the telephone. I waited patiently for her to finish the phone call which took several minutes. When she ended the call, she asked how she could help me. I stepped up to the counter to state that I was checking in. The phone rang again. I was expecting her to ask the caller to hold while she helped me, but she went on to answer their questions for several minutes. I finally got her attention to hand her my ID and credit card and she took them while still on the phone to swipe them. She finally got off the phone with that person and then the phone rang again. By this time, I was so frustrated that I sighed real loud and stated, "Are you serious? Is there anyone else working?" I began to look around. She looked at me and asked to place the caller on hold. She didn't offer an apology once she got off the phone, but proceeded to finish my check in. I told her, "For future reference, it's considered rude to answer the phone and talk to someone else when you have someone standing in front of you ready to check-in. It would be proper to ask to place them on hold." Her reply, "Yes. I was trying to place them on hold." I laughed and waited for her to finish to give me my keys and tell me where my room was. I went outside and told my family members what had happened and unloaded the car. They were going to go ahead and go to the room while I parked the car. After parking the car, I entered the lobby and passed 2 gentleman who were waiting to check in. I noticed their disgruntled looks on their faces. By the time I made it to the room, my family told me that she had obviously not learned anything because the gentlemen that were checking in were waiting on her while she was on the phone and were looking around desperately, as well. Sadly, my stay did not improve. My daughter and I brought food back to the room that night and tried to use the microwave to heat the items and the microwave was not working properly. We could only press the number 4 and enter. Then the next morning when I tried to iron over my suit the iron wasn't working properly. As you can imagine, I was very disappointed in my stay and would not look forward to booking at this...