Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Santa Maria — Hotel in Santa Maria

I'm not a fan of Santa Maria, but we needed a room and there wasn't anything available in the town we were staying in (30 miles away). So I was counting on the Marriott brand to make up for the town. It didn't fail me. Once you find your way to the front door (there is no entry from the main street--you have to take a poorly marked side street and then another side street to access the hotel from the "back" side--this is a very nice place to stay. The staff in all areas was excellent, the hotel and rooms are very clean, and it has all you could need. Rooms are not super large but certainly more than adequate with great beds, comfortable chairs, and a fridge. Efficient A/C and heating, and the windows open if you like fresh air (we do). Some of the room decor needs updating, but big deal. Everything clean and functional. Large bathrooms, great water temp and pressure, excellent towels, linens and pillows, good breakfast, late checkout available. Bring your own hair supplies--the bottles are very small and the conditioner might as well be hand lotion. Great soap, though :) There is a pool but I didn't see it so can't comment. Lobby is beautiful and inviting, the parking lot has benches and planted areas for sitting in. Lot is well-lit and parking is free. The elevator is rather slow, and the in-room coffee amenities are lacking, as they are everywhere (powdered creamer just doesn't work anymore, guys). The doors slam loudly and that is problematic, but we didn't hear "people" noise from our room. We are night owls and woke up 30 minutes past the end time for the breakfast; even so, the breakfast lady made fruit and yogurt available to me along with the lobby coffee. She even offered to pull out some cereal for me--definitely way above and beyond, and this was true of all the staff we encountered, no matter what area. My only complaint: we had late checkout and the do not disturb sign hung out, and we still had our door knocked on at 11:30 (very politely, and the housekeeper was very sorry it wasn't noted on her chart). So if you are late risers, make sure to ask desk staff not to have housekeeping check your room without confirming with the desk that you have checked out first. But I think that's true anywhere and not a poor reflection on the...

Every staff member we came in contact with upon checking in was extremely welcoming and incredibly hospitable and accommodating!! Even the young tall gentleman who brought us extra foam pillows (6 more!) after we had already made several requests before that :) A special thank you to Holly and Ricardo for accommodating our request first to check in early by having a room ready for us, and then to move us from a King bed to 2 Queens even though we were booked for a 2 night stay using free certificates. They were both so gracious to allow the switch. It meant so much to us because we were visiting our daughter for parents' weekend and she was extremely ill and just wanted to rest in our hotel room for the weekend, so the change to 2 beds allowed her the break from the dorms. We appreciated it so much and they did the switch with such a great attitude that we didn't feel bad for asking. We will definitely stay here again over the next 4 years that she is in college!! In addition, kuddos to Marriott for allowing "point rooms" to be available during a peak time of parents' weekend at Cal Poly as we tried to book a stay closer to campus at a smaller hotel chain who handled our reservation so unethically because they refused to honor our originally confirmed reservation so that they could "restock" the room and attempt to resell it for a higher price once they realized it was a high demand weekend. That's what we got the one time we tried to venture out of the Marriott family. So, thank you for remaining ethical and allowing loyal Marriott guests to book rooms using reward points and certificates even on high demand weekends. And, thank you to the entire wonderful staff at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in...

Let me begin my saying my husband is a Marriott rewards member. Every time we travel, we stay at Marriott so I've stayed at many over the years. I am used to interacting with a courteous and friendly staff. We arrived and my husband went to check us is. He came back to the car and told me I needed to go in to show my state ID so we could receive the state employee rate (no problem). I went in to show my ID. The woman at the front desk was not impressed because it was a digital card. She asked if I had a physical card. I explained that due to the pandemic and me working remote for the last year, I didn't have a physical card but my digital one had my name on it and I could show her my driver's license to verify my identity. She made a face, told me it was fine. I had never had anyone question my ID at any Marriott so I asked her if this was a new policy (questioning digital identification). She said no but that the hotel was trying to crack down on people using fake IDs. She then added she could have rejected it if she wanted to but she would let me use it this time 🙄 Makes me wonder why she was questioning me. I should have taken this as a sign of not staying at this hotel but after traveling for hours with our kids, we just wanted to sleep. I couldn't sleep because our room was facing the street and it's so loud. It sounded lik cars were racing. I tossed and turned all night and I was up at 6. Breakfast was minimal (hard boiled eggs, cereal, bread, juice). The friendliest staff I encountered was a man in maintenance (when I was doing laundry), the housekeeping staff using the elevator, and the man stocking the breakfast area. I will never stay at this...