Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Wilmington New Castle — Hotel in Wilmington

I had all intents and purposes to stay both days that I had reserved for. First off this review is based solely on the hotel the service I received from front desk employees and not housekeeping. The 2-3 interactions I had with housekeeping were fantastic her name is Shavon. If you need towels or more soap she's on it and amazingly awesome and I left her a $20 tip and note stating as such

So we drove in from Chicago for my baby brother who met his bride and Saturday at 3pm was their wedding. Great we left Friday around 1030pm Chicago time and arrived at around 1pm east coast time. Find out it's a $50 early check in fee even though our room was ready and all they had to just give us our keys but somehow charged my credit card (not debit card) $90. Strike 1. While checking in I noticed I was disrupting front desks lunch and telephone call. Told we need to make reservations for pool in 1 hour blocks A we haven't slept in 2 days and B had a wedding to attend in about 90 min so weren't going swimming tonight. After shower I came down to ask if they had a lint roller for sale in their store. No but she told me if I wanted to bring down my clothes like 4 garments I can use their personal 1. I'd prefer to buy my own and I'm not from area luckily on way to room I ran into Shavon and she told me there was a Walgreens about 1/4 mile up street so I hopped in car. After wedding wife stops to reserve the pool at 10am and confirmed it. Whole reason we booked a hotel with a pool is because my girls 14/3 are fish around water they both love swimming. Eating terrible breakfast in room (wheat everything with me having celiacs I couldn't eat much) wheat bread wheat uncrustable eggs rubber sausage slimy. Strike 2! Around 915 am I get a call stating the pool is closed on Sundays. Apparently no other employee knows this because they took my wife's appointment and booked her. STRIKE 3

So no pool now I gotta find something for my kids to do and spent $370 taking them to Philadelphia zoo and happily checked out of this hotel. Forgot to mention earlier the room had a smell to it like chemicals or maybe the chlorine from the pool traveling thru ductwork. Also the beds were like slabs of granite. Don't get me wrong I like a firm mattress as much as the next person but this is ridiculous. Nowhere on chase travel did they inform us that the pool was closed on Sundays and that was like the final straw of it all. I spent 22000 points on top of $208 plus $50early checkin hoping the other $40 gonna come off my card. If not it'll be my last stay in any...

I encountered a rude, incompetent, obnoxious desk clerk at this Fairfield Inn denying me my guaranteed benefits. I have at least three more events in Wilmington over the next 3 months and I will not be returning. Here’s why: When I left the hotel for an event in the morning, I requested a late checkout as guaranteed by my Platinum benefits. The front desk clerk was too busy scribbling on a scrap piece of paper to even look up as I repeated, room 411 late checkout. She obnoxiously said she was busy and put up a hand to shut me down. I was running late so I left to put my sons equipment in the car. I even drove around to the front and went into the lobby again to repeat room 411, 4pm checkout needed. I was in Wilmington because my son was playing in a lacrosse tournament at Chase Fieldhouse yesterday. He is 16 and competed all day from 8am to 2:30pm. We left the competition and raced back to the hotel for a shower. Stephanie greeted us and said she checked us out. I am a lifetime Platinum Level customer and count on the guaranteed late check out when traveling. She then told me that I don’t know the rules and late checkout is 3pm so if the room hasn’t been cleaned, we had 5 minutes left. Then said “oops, times up”. She then said it wasn’t a guarantee but up to the hotel whether or not they wanted to grant any late checkout request. I then brought up the Marriot App on my phone to show her that the guarantee was indeed 4pm, but she again put up her hand and said she was done speaking to me. At this point I realized this was her power play. I’m not proud, but I got very upset. There was an ugly back and forth at elevated volume by both of us after that comment.

The manager came out of his office to address the situation. Ultimately, he told me that due to understaffing, the room had been cleaned and there was nothing he could do. I asked about another room for a quick shower for my son, he said he was sorry but they were full on 8/20 and due to understaffing he could do nothing.

We left and had to stop at a Wawa so my son could wash his face. He then sat in his dirty sweaty uniform for our 3 hour drive home.

BTW, when I got home last night I started to make a reservation for 3 rooms at the same hotel to see if they were in fact full. According to the Bonvoy app, I could have had all 3 rooms. The next level was 4-9 rooms. It too was available as long as I booked the initial 3 first, so the manager...

Unrelaxing. Stressful. I clearly requested a 2 night stay. I asked what my 2 night stay total would be. I repeated the dates and my total back to the desk person making sure that he repeated the same thing back to me. He did. I went to my room and watched TV all night. I placed the "DND" sign on the door. The next morning housekeeping is knocking on my door waking me up!! Why is anyone knocking when the sign is clearly hanging on the doorknob??? I kindly told her "No Thank You ". 30 minutes later the telephone is ringing reminding me that check out is at 11AM. Again, I kindly reminded the staff that I requested a 2 night stay. Her reply "Oh, it only says one night." I told her|| " No, I requested a 2 night stay and why am I constantly being disturbed? " She apologized and told me to come to the desk "at my leisure". 2 hours later, I went to the desk to "run my card again". I went back up to my room and guess what? My room key doesn't work! Back down to the desk I went. Then back upstairs to get in my room that I PAID FOR!! RIDICULOUS !!!! || They bothered me so much I slept in my car. They don't allow you to rest. Everything is on their working schedule. Why do they knock & call so much? If you leave your room for breakfast your key won't work when you return. You have to go back down to the desk for them to reprogram your key. After you've paid for 2 entire nights, it seems as if you're working for them. You're constantly telling them your terms and they're constantly knocking, calling, whoops! Sorry maaming you the entire stay. They bothered me so much, I felt like I was at work! Very unrelaxing and nerve wrecking. And then I remembered..............they did this before back in December 2023! So this is there MO. This is there PATTERN ! Their ROUTINE! They don't trust their patrons they only want your money. I've been a nurse for 30 yrs. I've never been arrested, or dealt/done drugs, or engaged in any type of that activity. Yet I was being treated as if I was under surveillance in order to be believed that I wasnt doing anything illegal in my room. Don't stay there to relax. They won't let you. Keep driving to another comfortable place where...