Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Washington, DC/New York Avenue — Hotel in Washington

My stay at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Washington, DC/New York Avenue has been the worst experience that my family and I had ever had in Washington DC. We have always stayed in this same brand of hotels and we had never been discriminated against for being gay, or for being Latino immigrants. We were a group of 8 people, of which 5 stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Washington, DC/New York Avenue, and the other 3 stayed at another hotel 8 minutes away. We were only staying for one night and since we are a large group, we decided to meet in the morning in our hotel room to organize our itinerary for the day before checking out of the hotel. When we were entering the room, a woman by the name of Veronica saw us. She was in charge of housekeeping for those rooms. She told us very aggressively that we could not sleep 8 people in the same room. We kindly explained that we only wanted to meet to talk and that obviously we had not all slept there. She began to argue in a low voice, telling me that I was a repressed gay, she even told us that we were not from this country. I felt that we were discriminated by an employee for being gay and being Latino like her. Obviously I told her that she shouldn't have said those things to me, that she shouldn't have humiliated us that way. After that, wanting to take advantage of the situation and which obviously bothered me, she took out her cell phone. She began to record me and my entire family without just cause, she even dared to record my nephew, who is only 10 years old. It is illegal to record a minor without the parents’ written consent. This is all very offensive what my family and I experienced. We were accused for no reason, discriminated against, and poorly treated in a hotel where we just wanted to rest and spend the night. We never offended her, we never used vulgar words and she on the contrary verbally attacked us in a very unfair way. This can't keep happening anymore. We went downstairs and explained everything to the manager but he defended the employee saying that she had that right because of the fire marshall mandate. We explained that those people were not sleeping in there, that part of the family stayed at another hotel close by. If the employee was concerned about a fire code, she should’ve explained that nicely without offending anyone. Due to this awful experience we will not be staying anymore on this property. I hope and pray that other guests at that hotel do not experience what my family and I went through on October 3rd. note: the photos below were taken after she recorded us without our authorization, violating our privacy rights within the hotel. We publish these photos to denounce the discrimination we experience for being gay and for being immigrants. by this woman named Verónica and who has caused us a very bad time on our vacation...

First of all this hotel should not reflect the quality of a Marriott hotel, as this hotel is operated and managed by SharCon Management which upon reviewing their website coincidentally also operates the Holiday Inn next door. Any expressed objections should be directed towards SharCon Management. I would start off by saying that the location of this hotel is terrible, because it's about 2.5miles away from the center of DC. Given its location it is very difficult to find transportation anywhere (no where near a subway station and 2 buses are needed to get to downtown). The hotel does offer a shuttle service to and from Union Station that runs every hour, but this is more of a nuisance rather than a convenience. The reason is that their service only operates from 6:30a-11a, 5pm-10pm. Not knowing this information prior to arriving to DC Union Station made for an uncomfortable situation while having to wait until operating time or pay the $14 cab fee to the hotel. As mentioned before bus is an option, but you still would have to walk at least a mile between all transfer point (completely out of the question for someone traveling with a lot of luggage). The shuttle's inefficient scheduling requires guests to sign-up for a time which they want to ride the shuttle. I waited once in the lobby 10 minutes before my scheduled time, and was not picked up. The area is also not appealing, and would recommend staying in at night, there are no restaurants within walking distance either only fast-food. Checking-In to the hotel was handled professionally as should with any guest staying there. Upon entering the room the TV didn't work, and was told that it wouldn't be fixed until the next day, it never was. The Wi-Fi is poor in the rooms. The business center computers are efficient but doesn't have a printer. As mentioned in a prior comment that the business center is located in the lobby and does not offer privacy; the front desk staff should be aware of this and keep all personal (vulgar) conversations to themselves or share personal opinions about certain (guests) people in the backroom where no one can hear you. Walking down the hall towards my room I could smell the strong odor of marijuana, and could hear a room full of people as if they were having a party. On one particular night the staff kicked out 15 high-school students that were in one room, and then proceeded to pile into the free shuttle not knowing where it was going.

Room Tip: - Hourly Shuttle Service 6:30a-11a, 5pm-10pm - $15 Parking (But the front desk will insist to waive the fee if you signup for a Marriott Rewards Card) - Bad Area (Lack of transportation or food services) - Self-Service Breakfast is open 5am-9am See...

I feel very disappointed with the way they handled things. I booked a hotel room for $197 for the wrong date (only by 1 day, wanted to book it for today but accidentally pressed for tomorrow’s date. Also, I booked it only about 2 hours before arriving at the hotel. It was an honest mistake), and requested for a date change to today. According to them, they ran out of rooms and so we can’t change the date of our stay to today, but they were offering a walk-in fee for a room which costs an additional $300 on top of the non-refundable $197. How does it make sense that there’s no room for us to change the date of our hotel booking, but there would be a room if we paid more? It was clearly a choice to not want to accommodate to customers unless more money is paid. Very disappointed by the way they handled the situation.

Because it was non-refundable, we just decided to rest at the lobby overnight since we paid $197. In the end, we got asked to leave the premises too before 11pm. Very disappointed in their customer service and their lack of empathy and understanding to human error. I believe that they could have handled the situation better. Please do better.

To add on (update on 1/21) -I reserved this hotel through Expedia. Staffs on Expedia were very helpful and tried to reach out to the hotel to negotiate for a one time courtesy for full refund, and the staff even helped me speak to the manager. However, there was still no refund on the hotel end. I’m disappointed by the way the hotel staffs managed the situation. As a tourist on 1/19 in Washington DC, one day before the inauguration, the fact that we paid $197, not only we could not change our date of stay, we were also not allowed to stay in the lobby of the hotel. So we basically payed $197 for nothing. I’m a student and hence I have a budget. I was homeless that night because of this hotel’s unwillingness to accommodate a date change or refund. Ended up spending time waiting in the cold for my transport back to NY.

I HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS HOTEL. HORRIBLE...