Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites St. Petersburg Clearwater — Hotel in Saint Petersburg

My check-in experience at the Fairfield Inn and Suites St. Petersburg Clearwater was absolutely wonderful. Ms. Aisha who was behind the front desk when I arrived in the evening was very cheerful and respectful. She thanked me for my loyalty as a Platinum Elite Member with Marriott. She upgraded my room to a King Suite. When she mentioned it was on an upper floor, I asked if there were any available on the 1st floor. Ms. Aisha took the time to look into the system and found there was a room that was open and was able to move me to a 1st floor King Bed suite. And since my stay was during the holiday season, she wished me a "Merry Christmas!" as well, which was very nice to hear and I greeted her back Merry Christmas in kind.

Upon checking into my room, it was absolutely clean and spotless. There was definitely a lot of care put into the room, especially with the complimentary coffee maker being included in the room (which were temporarily removed from most hotels and rooms last year at the start of the pandemic) and the amenity was definitely a welcoming surprise.

I then went back to the front desk after bringing in my luggage to my room because I forgot to request for 4pm late checkout. Ms. Aisha was able to grant me that request and I definitely do appreciate her patience and cheery attitude as it was just a few nights before Christmas/into the holiday season.

The free breakfast at the Fairfield Inn and Suites St. Petersburg Clearwater was excellent. It was a full hot breakfast that was offered and this hotel definitely went out of its way to show great hospitality to all the guests where other Marriott properties may have scaled down their food and beverage selections in light of the pandemic and supply chain issues. As for what was offered: everything from scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, ham, plain and blueberry bagels, muffins, milk/juice, a full coffee station with optional tea bags and hot chocolate packs. The breakfast attendant working the breakfast area was a wonderful young lady who always asked guests if they would like a milk or yogurt due to the mini-fridge being out of order. She was also very pleasant to interact with. I was wearing a Bowser face mask and she was able to recognize it from the Super Mario video games. She brought up Universal Studios Orlando working on creating the Nintento World portion to their park and how excited we both were about its future opening. Wonderful employee, I tipped her every morning I grabbed breakfast, she definitely deserves a lot of praise.

The fitness room was nice and quaint. Two treadmills, and elliptical, and a rack of dumbbells and an adjustable weight bench. I was able to get a decent workout in during my stay.

Overall, wonderful hotel. Location is a bit odd as you have to enter the road it's on by turning into what looks like a highway exit despite being on a local road. However, it's also conveniently very close to a Wendy's and I was able to grab a quick dinner one night.

The Fairfield Inn and Suites St. Petersburg Clearwater definitely does live up to the Marriott brand, and as a Platinum Elite Member, I would absolutely recommend staying here as the employees and management at this property put a lot of care into the service and rooms they provide for...

The manager is absolutely horrible. I'm a pregnant disabled woman and about a month ago I was walking by the hotel and had to use the restroom but i didnt think I could make it very far without going so i went into the hotel and asked the person at front desk to use the restroom and was told how to get to it. Apparently that upset the manager so much that after I came out and was heading to the front door to leave I was stopped and asked what my room number was. Then the lady told me that I needed to leave and get off the property and although very rude I naturally left. So yesterday I noticed the room prices were good and staying there before I knew the breakfast was pretty good so my fiance and I booked a room, checked in and stayed in the room. At breakfast my fiance and I discussed going to book the room again after breakfast and staying another day. He was ahead of me when we had left breakfast and as I walked up by the counter to go back to my room the guy at the front counter motioned for me to come over to him in which I did. Then he informed me that his manager didn't want me on the property and he gave me a whole 15 minutes to go pack up my room. So I went as fast as I could to find my man so that he wouldn't book the room again and informed him we had to leave and explained why. The front counter guy came up to my room after 15 mins and started threatening to call the police on me because although i was packing my bags to leave as he instructed he wasn't happy with the speed I am capable of doing this task as I have a knee without cartilage so I use crutches to walk, my left hand is crippled up and not very useful from my RA, and not to mention I am pregnant. My fiance asked politely if we could take a shower before leaving but apparently my asking to use the restroom that day was so offensive that i was rushed out of the hotel as if my presence was going to infect them with some sort of disease or as if I had committed some sort of crime. I have never in my life been treated so poorly for no good reason at all. I'm a business manager and I would never treat my customers or anyone in such a manner. In fact I'd be more inclined to help a customer or potential customer in hopes one day they'd bring their money to spend with me. I guess that's why I was so successful at growing my business bc I went the extra step to help others and gained a good reputation as a result. I didn't even know there was an issue from that day..I do think i should get a refund bc i paid for my room and got kicked out without being able to utilize it the way I needed for the full time. But I wouldn't ever want to think of putting another dollar toward anything that lady would profit from. My only wish is I hope one day she is given the same kindness and treatment that she has given...

TL;DR it's just fine, and it appears they're very slowly renovating, but there are too many better options at roughly the same price point.

Admittedly it's been awhile since I've stayed at a Fairfield-branded property, but my stays at Residence and Springhill properties within the past year really set my expectations much higher for anyone adhering to Marriott's standards. When first walking into the room I stepped on some food crumbs left on the floor, which really set the tone for our whole week there. Soon after that, we found hairs trapped between the sheets of our bedding and realized there's no active vent fan in the bathroom causing visible mildew (and unpleasant humidity throughout the entire room after showering. FWIW, there was some form of grate in the ceiling but it clearly was not doing anything and there was no separate switch to turn anything other than the light on). Water pressure always seems to be an issue in hotels, but usually you notice it in the shower whereas here I was surprised how slow the sink was. Halfway through our stay, one of the housekeepers tried to enter the room despite having our "ZZZ" placard on the hallway door handle, waking us up over an hour earlier than we desired. The breakfast quality, pool size, free WiFi, and general condition of the place were definitely sub-par, but my expectations were already pretty low for those so I wouldn't be complaining if they were the only problems.

It really was not a miserable stay. The staff was friendly. The bed held a good medium between comfort and support. It was fairly quiet / I only heard other people if they were in the hall. There was a waffle maker.. that I never got to use (breakfast ends at 9am). The minifridge worked well enough that it froze the juice I put in there. And I really like the location for being central to all of St Pete, Clearwater, and Tampa (plus it was a very easy walk to Wendy's). All my issues are fairly nit-picky things; I mean it's not like I contracted any diseases there... that I know about.

The problem I have is that all those little issues do add up to a less-than-enjoyable experience, and going forward it's probably going to be worth the extra $5 or $10 per night to stay somewhere else that I really...