Fairfield Inn New York LaGuardia Airport/Astoria — Hotel in New York

First of all, to be fair, the hotel was under no obligation to check us in before the normally scheduled time. However, here's the sequence of events. Before returning our rental car, I thought it would be more convenient to drop off my significant other and our baggage at the hotel. On arrival, the clerk told us the room wasn't quite ready but invited me to check in anyway. She directed me to a machine that didn't take my credit card chip in first, so I slid it and was accepted. || I even signed when completed. I then left to return the car, take the shuttle to the airport and have the motel shuttle take me back. Almost immediately after leaving, my significant other messaged me that the room was ready. However, the lady clerk was gone and replaced by a guy who informed her that they needed my credit card before she could get the keys. When she told him we had already done that, he continued to insist that the card was needed before a key could be given. What????? In addition to having already done that, I had already used that card to make my reservations. Most hotels simply ask me if I want to keep that card for my final bill. AND in addition to that, I had received an email offer the day before offering to let me check in early. At any rate, that left my significant other guarding the bags in a very warm lobby. When I returned, I asked what went wrong. She had no explanation, so without raising a fuss, I simply went through the process again. Before going up to the room, I asked her about the shuttle to the airport. She told me it leaves every fifteen minutes. However, the next morning, we went down to the lobby before 5:30 hoping we could take that shuttle to the airport (our flight was 7:45). That clerk informed us that the shuttle doesn't begin its service until 6 a.m. and only leaves on the half hour. As we sit there waiting for 6, we hear another family tell a similar story...that the clerk had told them that while breakfast isn't served until 7, there would be something they could grab and go. The morning clerk said he knew nothing about that and...no there was nothing to grab and go. || Obviously, there is a huge communication breakdown amongst their staff. To add to the aggravation, since we had a lot of time to kill the afternoon before, we asked if we could play cards using one of the tables in the dining area. We were told no, that was off limits. Seriously, a hotel with no gathering space? We had just spent the previous 14 nights in hotels that surpassed our expectations, so this hotel was a major disappointment. Little things can add up to a huge...

When I check in, the clerk told me I will be charge a security fee of $150 and ask me for a credit card, and will be returned at checkout and I will see the return depending of my bank; Next day I returned to my room around 3 PM and the room wasn't cleaned yet, I was tired so I put the sign "Do no disturb", I needed clean towels, I asked the clerk and she told me the driver is in charge of this and he is out, so when he return I got it; Next day I told to the clerk if is possible to clean my room early, she reply rooms are not cleaned all days, she took note, when I get back the room was serviced; Avoid if possible the room close to the elevator/the dining room, there is traffic of people chatting early in the morning and later arrives; Bring your own power USB adapters, there is plenty on the room but all doesn't work, last day found that the alarm clock have USB outputs too and those works; Be sure to checkout with enough time, the driver to the airport was no where to be found; The room smell clean, the fridge and microwave works, The clerk on arrive gave me a gift bag with two small waters and some snacks, The TV is big and you have free Showtime, Pandora, YouTube the others services need you to enter your subscription information; There is Safebox in the room just ask how to use, the continental hot breakfast was satisfactory with few variations next day, you get free shuttle from and to the airport, just don't forget to tip; You can walk to the subway; There is some convenience stores walking but few place to eat or buy food; This hotel is very close to the airport but far from all the touristic attractions, be sure to use the subway, Uber are expensive (Over $50 by ride) and the wait time is huge (almost an hour wait time), be sure you are able to wait once you accept the ride, is tricky to cancel, and you will want to cancel when you see there is no driver assigned and you will still have to wait long on the pick location, your driver is very possible to be Indian with a...

Overall the experience was nice. We used the shuttle and ate breakfast most days. The breakfast was good and had good choices. It was clean and well-stocked. The front desk people were nice. The shuttle was convenient for the most part but one night we got caught with some subway issues and we called and asked what time the shuttle ran until and they told us 1:00am. We got to the Astoria Subway shuttle pick-up at 12:42am and called and we were told the shuttle would be there shortly. We waited until 1:07 am and asked if the shuttle had to go to the airport first and they said "No, he didn't come pick you up? We said "No" and he apologized but said he was no longer there and he offered to order us a cab at our expense but wasn't sure how long it would take to get picked up. We asked if it was safe to walk and he assured it was. It was 6/10 of a mile which isn't long but we did pass a night club of sorts that had rowdy people all standing out on the sidewalk. It made us very nervous but we walked across the street and around them as inconspicuously as possible. The only issue we have is that when we called at 12:42am they assured us we would be picked up and then we were not. The only other thing is we reserved the room in June for October and our reservation guaranteed a King bed. We also noted that we did not want to be in the "basement" and we had a late check-in. We even called the front desk the day before to remind them of our late check-in and our request of not being in the basement. When we arrived we got our room and as soon as we opened the door we saw it was two beds and not a king. We went right back down to the desk and we were told they were oversold on King beds and that they may have one open the next day (we were there for 4 nights) but it would probably be in the basement. I told them we would just keep the one we had. I wonder how often they depend on people to not expect what...