This week, I have a hotel to report on! Back in March, I went to the Indian Wells tennis tournament, near Palm Springs, CA (PSP). I’ve flown to/from Palm Springs several times from San Francisco and from Phoenix, but the flights out of PSP don’t have lounges, and I never seem to get upgraded on the way to PSP, so I’ve never had enough content from one of the flights to make a post about the journey. This time, though, I can report on the hotel!
I decided this year to stay instead at the Fairfield Indio/Coachella Valley nearby. The main reason for selecting this hotel was price; it was about half the price of all the other options I saw nearby. Next year, I’ll add a review of the La Quinta Resort that is associated with the tournament!
Fairfield is one of Marriott’s more basic brands, and the primary reason to stay at Fairfield-branded hotels is the lower price point. I’m of the opinion that just because a hotel is primary targeted at a more budget audience doesn’t mean it’s not worth a review. There are often several similarly-priced budget hotels in an area, and you should still be trying to get the best hotel for your budget.
The amenities
The primary amenity I care about in a hotel like this is the fitness room. In this case, they had a handful of pieces of cardio equipment, including three treadmills and two ellipticals.
They also had a small weights area with dumbbells and benches. There weren’t any weight machines to speak of, but the benches and dumbbells would be sufficient for a small workout.
The room
I received a complimentary upgrade from a standard room to a suite, which was great. It’s interesting how much the definition of a suite can vary. I assume this was classified as a suite because of the extra living space, but I would by default have classified this room as a junior suite because there was no door between the “living room” (couch) area and the “bedroom” area.
Now, I do want to level set expectations on the difference between a suite and a regular room at this property, and that difference as far as I can tell is that the suite has a sofa (and can be as cheap as only $9 more than a regular room). If you’re like me and didn’t do much research ahead of time on the difference between a regular room and a suite, getting a suite upgrade sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is on further investigation. But either way, I’ll take the upgrade!
Upon entering the room, the bathroom is immediately to the left, and I think the bathroom is the same as in the regular rooms based on the pictures I’ve seen online.
The main room consists of two spaces: the bedroom and the living room, but there is no door separating them, so it’s more of a junior suite in my opinion. Often a lot of budget hotels like these only have a single room type, so even having something to upgrade into is good!
This room was located right beside the elevator, so I was initially worried that there would be some noise associated with people coming and going and the electronics, but I wasn’t bothered at all by it, which was good.
The food
The pictures I took of the breakfast did not turn out well for some reason, but I can confirm that the breakfast was the standard type of breakfast that you’d find in a budget hotel that offers free breakfast for everyone. Specifically, there was a generic water/juice machine, pre-packaged single servings of egg dishes, bagels and cream cheese, a waffle maker, and cereal. Nothing amazing, but everything was perfectly fine.
Elite benefits and recognition
Fairfield hotels are relatively light when it comes to elite benefits, and that’s by design as a budget hotel. As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium member, the elite benefits I’m supposed to receive at the hotel are (1) 75% bonus points; (2) space-available complimentary room upgrades; and (3) a welcome gift of points or a food/beverage amenity. There’s no breakfast benefit option because everyone gets free breakfast. I can confirm that I received all three of the above!
The room upgrade was confirmed in advance of check-in, and the bonus points and welcome points all posted automatically.
Score and summary
This hotel was exactly what I needed it to be: a perfectly comfortable place to sleep for a few nights. I spent very little time in the hotel awake. Overall, the room gets a 4/5, taking into account the free upgrade. The service was good (4/5), but I had very few interactions with the front desk staff, which is generally the preference at a limited-service property. The food offered was perfectly fine, but not impressive at all (3/5). The gym was a bit sad; I would’ve liked at least the option of an exercise bike or a pulley machine (2/5). On the elite recognition side, everything was provided! (5/5). Overall, the hotel gets a 18/25, which is pretty good!
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