Review: Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott Sparks/Reno

I arrived at the Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites in Sparks/Reno at about 9:45pm after having picked up my 2013 Chevy Impala rental car from Alamo at the Reno airport.  There was a noticeable haze in the air from all of the wildfires in the area.

When I arrived at the hotel, I was able to find a spot near the entrance.  After retrieving my bag, I entered into the lobby to find the front desk agent, Connor, just leaving his post to go do something.  When he noticed me, he immediately went behind the desk to check me in.

Fairfield Inn and Suites Reno Sparks Review

Connor was very amiable and upgraded me to a King Suite in room 314, which was located on the top floor and above the portico at the entrance of the hotel, which faced opposite the highway, which made the room quiet from outside noise.  Connor remarked that I had reserved a "double points" stay, which was close to accurate.  I booked a Marriott Rewards promotion, where I would receive 2000 Marriott Reward points for each night of my stay.  In this case, I was staying two night, so I should receive an extra 4000 Marriott Rewards points.  Connor then confirmed with me that I would like the 200 MR points as my welcome gift.

When I entered my room, I noticed that the suite was similar to one that I had stayed at near the Newark airport.  The room was spacious with the large bathroom to my left as I entered the room.  I entered into a separate seating area with a couch and chair, plus a tv and work desk.  The walled off bedroom area, also had a television and a seat.  The room looked newly remodeled, except for the thermostat, which looked like it was original to when the hotel was built.  Nonetheless, the thermostat worked.

I was awoken at about 6am to the sound of the next room's television.  The rooms must be poorly situated, where the television is on the opposite side of the wall of the the next room's bed.  The walls seemed pretty thin that morning.

I went down to the complimentary breakfast at 7:45pm and found only two businessmen working at a table.  I poured myself a cup of coffee - definitely not Starbucks quality - and perused the offerings on the breakfast buffet.  Nothing new jumped out at me.  Warm items were waffles, oatmeal, scrambled eggs and turkey Canadian bacon. The other offerings were the same as you would find at any other Fairfield Inn.  I did notice that they only offered orange and apple juice.  I decided to try a bit of the scrambled eggs (actually pretty good) and Canadian bacon (very so so).  I am always a sucker for Belgian waffles, so I made myself a waffle and put lots of butter and syrup on it - yum!

I went down to the front desk before a conference call at 9am to see if they might have some hair gel, but he could not find any behind the desk.  He suggested looking in their market or heading over to Target, which was less than a mile away.

The noise from the neighboring room in the early morning occurred again on the second morning, but I was checking out anyway.  When I awoke, the night auditor had conveniently slid the bill under my door.  I brought my key card down to the front desk when I checked out, hopped in my rental car and headed to the airport.

Review: Courtyard by Marriott Edison Woodbridge near Metuchen, NJ

My daughter and I stayed at the Courtyard Edison Woodbridge for a fencing tournament taking place on Sunday, September 14 at the Metuchen Sportsplex.  We chose this hotel for it's proximity to the sports complex and the low price - a AAA rate of $89.  I could have used Marriott Rewards points or a free night certificate, but I like getting better value for my points and certificates, so I decided to just pay for it, since it was a very low cost.  To top it all off, it is the top rated hotel on TripAdvisor in the area.

Courtyard Edison Woodbridge Review

When we checked in, we were told that I would be receiving 400 points for my arrival gift and could choose a Market item - my daughter selected Baked Lays.  We were given the key to Room 209, which initially disappointed me, since I requested a high floor room, but was surprised to see a nice welcome spread in my room.  There was a water and chocolate on the bed, with an elephant constructed from 3 wash clothes to greet us.  Also, on the footstool was a fiber pillow, as I requested.

The room itself was like any other Courtyard, though there was a 50 inch flat screen tv in the room, which made viewing of Notre Dame's Shamrock Series defeat of Purdue that much sweeter.  The bathroom was of decent size and the separate vanity area was adequate.  Some of the walls and furnishings showed some wear, but it did not detract noticeably from the experience.  The tub had a large stain, but the shower had good pressure.

At halftime of the game I ran down to the Bistro to order to go some Thai chili wings and a diet Mountain Dew.  It took about 12 minutes to bring it out to me, but it was placed into a nice handled bag that I could easily transport to my room.  It was expensive at around $13 for 6 wings and a 20oz diet Dew.  It tasted good and was adequately filling.

I had a hard time sleeping that night between not trying to toss and turn, so that my daughter could sleep and the radio that was loud, though not quite blaring from the room next door.  I finally became enlightened at 4am and turned on the air conditioner fan, which drowned out the music.

The next morning, the receipt was conveniently placed under our door.  As I looked over the expenses, I noticed that the "free" Market item from checkin was not quite so free, as my bill showed a charge of $2.57 and tax.  I had some time and headed down to the front desk, where the front desk agent rectified the charge.

If the price (or points) were right, I would stay at the Courtyard Edison Woodbridge again.

Review: Courtyard Old Town San Diego

On the night of Thursday, September 11, 2014 I stayed in Room 428 at the Marriott Courtyard in Old Town San Diego.  I had stayed there many times before, since it is convenient to the 5 and 8 highways and usually has very competitive rates.  My rate for this night was the $134 AAA rate and I did not pay for parking, since I normally find easy parking on the street.

Courtyard Old Town San Diego Review

The outside of the hotel is different from any other Courtyard that I have seen.  It was constructed in the Mission style to match the architecture of Old Town San Diego.  The pool here is small, but the outdoor covered patio is very nice and relaxing.

Check in was easy, since they know me.  The front desk person informed me that I would be getting 400 points as a gift for my stay and a Market item for which I chose a diet mountain dew.  He also informed me that they would be having a wine hour from 4:30-5:30 that evening - an event that has taken the place of the free bistro item cards that they used to hand out to me when I arrived.  He said that they do the wine hour Monday through Thursday.  I have participated in one of their wine hours before and they usually have one choice of red and one choice of white.  I could not make the wine hour, since I had a happy hour appointment at Jimmy O's in Del Mar.

Since the hotel was busy, they could not give me an upgrade, but did put me on the 4th floor in a room that faced the courtyard, rather than the highway.  My room was much quieter because of it.  The room looks like any other Courtyard room, since it was recently renovated.  One nice feature was the Keurig machine in the room.  I do not remember that the last time that I stayed here.

The bathroom was large with the normal tub/shower combo.  The light took a few seconds to flicker on, while the same switch controlled the noisy overhead fan, so there was no way to turn the fan off without turning off the light, as well.  The vanity sink outside the bathroom was small, but adequate for my needs.

Unlike the Sheraton Mission Valley and even the Hotel Solamar, the air conditioning at the Courtyard Old Town was great.  I was able to get my room cooled down quickly and was very comfortable in the room.

My wake up call on Friday morning rang 4 minutes earlier than requested at 4:26am, so I got up, showered and packed up the rest of my belongings.  The receipt for my stay was conveniently delivered under my door and had the correct charges.

I will definitely be staying here again in the future, because of its convenient location and affordable price.

My First Time At the Sheraton Mission Valley

Since I am almost re-qualified for Marriott Platinum status, I decided to stay a couple of days at the Sheraton in Mission Valley on Monday, September 8 and Wednesday, September 10 at the AAA Parking nightly rate of $130, which included parking (parking is normally $16 per day). I wanted to get two stays on this trip in order to eventually qualify for Starwood Gold status.  With Gold status I will be able to get Starwood points when I fly on Delta and Delta Skymiles, when I stay at Starwood properties via their Crossover Rewards program.  After these two stays I have 4 total stays for the year due to having the Starwood American Express card.  I only need 6 more stays this year until I qualify for Gold.

I reserved a King size bed for my stay.  At check in on Monday, September 8 I received an upgrade to a King Deluxe room, which the front desk agent told me includes a pullout couch.  Though I booked the AAA rate, I did not have to show my card.  When I entered the room, Room 907, I was surprised by the size of the room.  It was definitely larger than most of the Marriott Mission Valley rooms that I have gotten through the years.  The room faced  the highway, US8 or "The Eight", so it was a bit noisy.

My Sheraton Mission Valley Stay Review

The bed was hard, but not uncomfortable.  The decor was modern and none of the furnishings showed wear.  The bathroom was adequate with a normal tub shower with the sink, which had great lighting, in a sizable, separate area.  The toilet, though, is ill situated in the bathroom.  You either need to have the door closed to sit straight on the "throne" or you need to sit angled to the left, so that you can fit your legs by the door.  Also, I am lucky that I am tall, since the toilet paper is some distance from the toilet.

The greatest attribute of this room, outside of it's size, is the balcony.  It is just plain huge.  The view is not anything special, but the balcony is big enough to hold over 15 people with some room to spare.

The parking at the hotel is adequate with one lot right in front and another to the left when facing the hotel from which one can use the side entrance to enter the hotel.  Parking is $16 per day, but my rate included the parking.  If parking was not included, I am not sure how competitive pricewise the hotel would be for me in the future.  I did have troubles on both days getting into the parking, since the machine would read the key card, but the gate would not go up for me to enter the parking.  Luckily, the side lot's exit gate was up, so I entered by that way.

I had a bit of trouble checking out on Tuesday, September 9, since the front desk clerk could not get the computer to cooperate.  Eventually, she was able to check me out and gave my my receipt.

When I returned to the Sheraton on Wednesday, September 10, they had assigned me to the same room, Room 907, and it was ready for my early check in at 2:15pm.  I was so glad to be able to get into the room early!  The room looked the same as before, as if no one else had used it in the interim.  I was so tired that I was not at all harmed by the noise from the highway.

When I checked out on Thursday, September 11, the front desk clerk asked if the room that I stayed in was okay and if the traffic noise bothered me.  I told him that the size of the room was more important to me than the noise that came from the highway.  I also told him about the problems parking and he told me that they were working on it, but were unsure of the cause.  He did tell me that the call button on the parking does go to the front desk and they can open it for anyone that cannot get into the parking areas.

Overall, I was happy with my stay at this full service Sheraton.  I do not think it was my best stay, nor my worst.  It was definitely adequate enough to get me to Gold status with Starwood this year.

Another Stay at the Kimpton Hotel Solamar in San Diego

Any time a Kimpton property in San Diego falls within my price range, I try to stay there.  Though I prefer the Hotel Palomar San Diego due to the nice suite upgrades, I settled on the Hotel Solamar for my stay on September 9, 2014. I was able to book a AAA rate of $172, which included half price valet parking.  Since Kimpton is running their secret word ("Summer of Karma") campaign right now, I hoped that I could get free valet parking.

I truly love the service that I receive at Kimpton properties and the upgraded experience I receive due to my Inner Circle status.  I had heard of Kimpton in 2013 and thought that my wife would really like them - at least, she would like them above the normal Marriott property.  I received a status match to Inner Circle from my Marriott Platinum status.  I was definitely right about my wife liking them!

Kimpton's Hotel Solamar in San Diego, CA

I drove to the Hotel Solamar and valeted it at the door.  They were very quick and efficient.  I went to the front desk at around 2:20pm, hoping that my room might be ready.  As luck would have it, my room was available and I had been upgraded to one of their corner King rooms.  She had some trouble making my key, but after a short time they were ready.  With my keys she gave me my Raid The Bar card.  I said the secret word and they added a drink coupon, plus a free movie.  Not the free valet that I had hoped for, but at least it was something good.

When I entered the room, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the room.  The room itself was huge and the bed was more like a California King than the normal sized king bed.  At the entrance of the room was a nice seat in front of a full length mirror.  The desk, though thin, had a power strip that gave me enough plugs to power my ipad, iphone and laptop.

Unlike my room at the Sheraton Mission Valley, my bathroom was huge!  There was a huge whirlpool tub and right next to it was a large, standalone shower.  The vanity and sink were equally large.

After getting settled into my room, I took my laptop down to the pool/LoungeSix to get some work done.  While there,  I used my free drink coupon I received for using the secret word.  The bartender made me a margarita from scratch without sour mix, which was quite delicious, especially since it was unseasonably warm in San Diego.  As payment, I gave him the the free drink coupon and a tip.

Wine Hour is from 5pm-6pm each night and the one at the Hotel Solamar was no different.  In their foyer area they served a plethora of alcoholic beverages.  They offered a beer on tap, Nut Brown, three wines - a red blend, pinot grigio and chardonnay, and then a rum, honey, bitters mixture that was quite tasty.  I met a nice couple from Virginia, who are originally from Texas, that were in town for a conference that ended that day.

When I returned to my room after the Wine Hour, I found that my "amenity" had been delivered.  The concierge had brought me two local brews, a bottle of water, a bowl of mini Reese's peanut butter cups and a bowl of cashews.  It was presented in a nice way with a great note from the concierge.

After having dinner at the San Diego Yacht Club, I returned to the Solamar and got a drink at the JSix restaurant.  The great bartender prepared me a wonderful Old Fashioned.  It was a great way to use my Raid the Bar credit.

In the morning I had run out of shaving cream, so I went down to the front desk and they gave me a trial size can of shaving cream - much better than the shaving cream in a packet that I have received at other hotels.

Check out was a breeze.  I had the $10 Raid The Bar coupon credited to my bill from JSix the night before and headed to the valet, who promptly got me my car and off to my luncheon appointment at the La Jolla Country Club.

The only thing missing from my stay was the Kimpton smell.  I did not get a whiff of the patented Kimpton fragrance anywhere in the hotel.  I hope they haven't done away with it - I love the smell!