Fairbanks Inn — Hotel in Saint Johnsbury

If “0” or “negative numbers” were a choice that would be what I would pick. My husband and I planned our honeymoon road trip to a T and had made a reservation for one night at the Fairbanks Inn in St. Johnsbury, VT. We called around 8:45pm to verify that it would be okay to show up later due to being delayed in driving. The front desk person stated yes (the front desk did not ask about reservation or confirm anything… because that would be considered customer service). We arrived at 11:14. Showed our reservation, gave ID etc. they proceeded to say they did not have our room. The front desk called the manager, Chris, on call and claimed it was cancelled. My response was “by who?” Because it was not me and as I showed the person up front, I had my reservation with number. They proceeded to say they had no rooms available and could not do anything for us. For Vermont, in the middle of the fall, finding a place was near impossible.||After my husband and I left the hotel and desperately tried calling every single hotel/motel/overnight stay facility within an hour we found out every single place was booked or the front desk did not answer. Once again at this time it was nearly midnight and some locations closed their front desk at 10pm. We went to a local gas station and spoke with a police officer about the situation. His response was that it did not shock him that everything was booked it was parents’ weekend at the college and also with the fall foliage brought many tourists. The officer was nice and tried assisting us with a place to stay but was unsuccessful due to everything being booked (we already knew that but really appreciated the help). So unfortunately, we had to sleep in our car. ||From the conversation from the front desk person and manager it was very sketchy and sounded like they “gave away” our room because we had the charge still on our card the night morning. I have never been so disappointed in a hotel like this before in all my travels. Do not go here unless you are a gambling person who is willing to chance not having a place to stay.||Two days later: After the above incident occurred (this was originally posted on google reviews), I called my credit card company and spoke with them about the reservation. My husband and I had used our CC company points to reserve this room. First, the automatic operator asked if I was calling about my reservation at Fairbanks Inn on October 8, so clearly, we still had a reservation that was available. Second, when I got on the phone with a customer service representative, they stated the reservation was open and not cancelled. So- the manager on the phone when we went to the hotel and the front desk clerk lied. They claimed the reservation was cancelled on 09/20 and on 10/10 it was not cancelled but was “completed” since it was posting the date of reservation.||Thoughts of what occurred: The front desk/ hotel probably overbooked and then proceeded to lie about the situation instead of being honestly and trying to assist or make their mistake right. Then if I did not call my credit card company about the points- we would have lost all our points because WE DID HAVE A RESERVATION! So, this place I would NEVER EVER suggest...

Upon entering my second floor room (#304) on Friday June 28 I found it to be very uncomfortably warm so I proceeded to turn the thermostat down to get the a/c to come on. When I went to plug my cell phone charger in to the outlet on the desk I found it to have no power. Neither the lamp or the tv would turn on either. I looked behind the huge tv stand and saw that everything was plugged into a power strip that was shut off for some reason. The power strip had a very short cord (maybe 2' long) so in order to reach it I had to pull this huge tv stand/amoire out away from the wall to be able to reach the power strip. Once I got that turned on then everything else did work. I moved the alarm clock from the night stand next to the bed over to the tv stand. There was an outlet handy, just behind the corner of the tv stand, but it did not have a cover plate on it. The tv was a first generation flat-screen and was long overdue to be updated. Some of the buttons on the remote (channel button in particular) did not work until you pushed them 3-4 times or happened to push them "just right" the first time. There was a full bath in the room on the left side of the entrance and a combination closet/second bathroom sink area on the left side of the entrance. At that second bathroom sink the fluorescent light over the sink did not work. When I looked up into the fixture I found that there was no bulb in the fixture (like a 4' fluorescent bulb). I used the bathroom then left the room for an hour or so to go get some supper and when I returned the toilet was still running. And the room was still uncomfortably warm. I got the toilet to stop running by opening the tank cover and seating the flapper in the bottom of the tank so it would fill up and shut off. I then went to the office and complained about the a/c which was running and still was not cooliing. The person at the desk said that she would reset the breaker for the a/c unit. It was running so I'm not sure what that was supposed to do, but she turned it off and back on and after a couple more hours, no change. I went to the office again and the person at the desk said that the manager had just stepped out and when he or she returned that she would let him or her know. I got a call on the room phone from the desk person shortly thereafter. She said that the manager was going to reset the breaker and to not touch the controls for the a/c for 10 minutes. After it was reset I waited about 1/2 hour and then turned it down. It never did work. No one offered to come to the room to check it out. I was not offered the opportunity to move to another room (I was led to believe that they were fully booked for the night). I did ask if they had a fan that I could use and that didn't get me anywhere either. I was not at all impressed. I would not have given them any stars, but was not able to write a review without giving at least one star. My suggestion: look elsewhere for lodging in St....

I would just like to say that the people who were in the front office were very friendly, but nice service can only get you so far. I booked this trip for myself as a little mid summer retreat with my dog. I decided to get the mini suite which was described on the website as “Our 1/2 suite is a oversized room with a king sized bed as well as a sleeper sofa. We also have a small Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom as well. The room is located right beside Sleeper River”. I was so excited, up until I walked in the room. The room smelt of stale cigarette smoke even though the property is suppose to be non smoking. As for being right beside the sleeper river, the room is across from an over grown fence next to the sleeper river. You are also provided with a rusty bench outside of the room that’s covered in spider webs to enjoy your “view”. The television in the room is an old Panasonic which is facing the wrong way from any sitting area in the room; I also had to fiddle with the cable line in order to get a clear picture. The bed is an old spring mattress that has seen better days, and when my dog jumped on the bed she continued to sniff at a spot on the duvet cover and refused to lie down. Once I pulled off the duvet she still refused to lay down on that side of the king sized bed, and it made me question how well the linens were cleaned before I got there. As for the Jacuzzi it’s on a timer and when you turn it on it sounded like it was going to go through the wall! The caulking around the tub has been taken over by mold, and the tub has been busted up for so long that it looks like it isn’t clean; you are also provided with a soap scum covered rubber mat for the bottom of the tub. The old carpet is covered with stains, here’s the deal I understand that I am traveling with my dog, however we deserve a well kept room especially when I am paying an extra $25 in pet fee which should be going to the up keep of the room. Trying to sleep in that room was also a joke, the ac / fan unit is so noisy I had no choice but to turn it off. The mini suite also connects to another room which you can hear everything going on next door. If you stay here be hopeful the people up stairs are not early risers, you will hear their shower and them walking around. There are people living at the inn which was sad to see (a family with two cute little boys who I let pet my dog), and there were some unsavory characters hanging around on the balcony of the second floor. All in all my two night stay dropped to one night, the accommodations were not what I believe the website made them out to be. I checked out yesterday morning, explained the problems I had and was offered another room but I declined. No sleep for me or my dog is not what I would define as a great vacation idea and I just wanted to come home. I will definitely be coming back to St Jay; however I will be seeking other dog friendly...