papertraveller
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2009
I havent noticed too many reviews of the Fairfield Inn & Suites at the Marriott Village on Vineland Road, so here goes.
We stayed here at the end of August, 2013. It was supposed to be a girls-only start to the trip (my daughter and I), but my husband was able to join us so there were three.
First, I need to declare that we are Marriott people. Love the chain, own the vacation points. In the Orlando area we have stayed at the airport location, as well as the JW on John Young many times, and twice at the Grande Vista vacation club property on I-Drive. We are also DVC members.
We were staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites because we were adding a few days onto the front end of a DVC vacation. We wanted somewhere close, and we were using Marriott Rewards points for the stay.
Location
The resort is located in a cluster of three Marriott hotels on Vineland Road. There is a gated entrance and as you pull in the Courtyard is on your left, the Springhill Suites is on your right, and the Fairfield is straight ahead. Parking is $5.
Traffic in this area can be nuts. The outlet mall is just up the road, and the intersection of 535 and Vineland is just a block the other way. At this time of year it wasnt difficult to get in and out for left and right turns from the property. At Christmas Id suggest it would be a whole different situation.
Service
Our room was not ready when we checked in at around 3 p.m. on the Thursday we arrived. Sam checked us in, and true to other reviews, we discovered that the customer service at this hotel is second to none. Sam was amazing, gave us all our information, gave us pool keys, showed us where we could get changed. We left our luggage in the car and enjoyed the pool for an hour on our own before we thought to go check and see if our room was ready. It was.
The Room
The room was nicely appointed, but did feel a bit old. It was clean, plenty large for the three of us and our luggage, as well as the supplies we added to the room during our five day stay. We were preparing for a vacation with 11 people, and started buying water etc.
We looked out over the parking lot, with the I-4 just beyond. We didnt notice the noise from the traffic at all.
Our only issue the entire stay was when the girls soccer team checked in down the hall. Fairfield cant be blamed for that. After the novelty of being in a hotel wore off, the girls settled down and all was good.
The Pool
We loved the pool. We usually hit it towards the end of the day and frequently had it all to ourselves. It is a large rectangle with some water jets to one side that produced an arc of water. The temperature was very warm but so is Florida in August!
The pool towels are of thin quality, but I felt that the staff was doing the absolute best they could with meagre supplies. Each morning we would see that they had taken the trouble to roll up towels and place them on the lounges. It was a nice touch that is more reminiscent of higher end resorts.
There is also a spa/hot tub, although we didnt venture over there.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included in the room rate, which makes the Fairfield very appealing. The offerings would vary, but generally you could get toast, English muffins, regular muffins, cereal, yogurt. Some days there were bananas, on other days oranges. There were usually sausage patties available, sometimes with scrambled eggs and other days with biscuits and gravy. A couple days there were hard boiled eggs available too.
There is a lot of seating, but this place gets very crowded, depending on the groups. The aforementioned soccer teams were up and out early; the teams that moved in after them were not. We ended up eating outside by the pool a couple times, which gave us a beautiful view and a luxurious start to the day.
Breakfast was from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Monday to Friday. Weekends it was 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Food Court
One night after the rain we just didnt feel like going out for dinner and so wandered to the food court that lies on the main floor of the hotel, just off the walkway that separates the Fairfield from the Courtyard. Big mistake. DD had a hot dog, I had a Philly cheese and DH had a chicken Caesar salad. Only his was truly edible.
Proximity to other hotels
We did wander over to the Courtyard, thinking we could order something from the bar menu there. Only problem is that after receiving a very friendly greeting from the staff at the door, there was no one around to take our order in the bar area.
Whats nearby
If you wander further down the area between these two hotels and through the parking lot, you are in the parking lot shared by the Golden Corral and Bahama Breeze. We tried them both, and they were each perfectly fine. I thought Bahama Breeze was a bit expensive, but the service and food quality were good. Golden Corral is what it is, as they say. We enjoyed the Asian offerings, DH said his steak was surprisingly good, and DD loved the chocolate fountain.
There is also a Carrabas just across the street.
The outlet mall is a few blocks away, but we noted that the hotel does run a shuttle to the mall at 11:30 and 2:30. They ask that you reserve for this service in advance.
If you carry on just a bit further, Publix is on the left.
Shuttle to Disney
We didnt use it, but there is a bus shuttle for all three hotels to take guests to WDW. It runs at 8 a.m., 9:30, 10:15 and 11:15
Trips back from the TTC were at 6:15 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:15 p.m. and 10:45 p.m.
We did enjoy this hotel a lot and thought it offered good value. We need to add an extra night to our Christmas vacation, but couldnt get in. Instead, well be at the Springhill Suites just across the lot. Well let you know how it goes!
We stayed here at the end of August, 2013. It was supposed to be a girls-only start to the trip (my daughter and I), but my husband was able to join us so there were three.
First, I need to declare that we are Marriott people. Love the chain, own the vacation points. In the Orlando area we have stayed at the airport location, as well as the JW on John Young many times, and twice at the Grande Vista vacation club property on I-Drive. We are also DVC members.
We were staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites because we were adding a few days onto the front end of a DVC vacation. We wanted somewhere close, and we were using Marriott Rewards points for the stay.
Location
The resort is located in a cluster of three Marriott hotels on Vineland Road. There is a gated entrance and as you pull in the Courtyard is on your left, the Springhill Suites is on your right, and the Fairfield is straight ahead. Parking is $5.
Traffic in this area can be nuts. The outlet mall is just up the road, and the intersection of 535 and Vineland is just a block the other way. At this time of year it wasnt difficult to get in and out for left and right turns from the property. At Christmas Id suggest it would be a whole different situation.
Service
Our room was not ready when we checked in at around 3 p.m. on the Thursday we arrived. Sam checked us in, and true to other reviews, we discovered that the customer service at this hotel is second to none. Sam was amazing, gave us all our information, gave us pool keys, showed us where we could get changed. We left our luggage in the car and enjoyed the pool for an hour on our own before we thought to go check and see if our room was ready. It was.
The Room
The room was nicely appointed, but did feel a bit old. It was clean, plenty large for the three of us and our luggage, as well as the supplies we added to the room during our five day stay. We were preparing for a vacation with 11 people, and started buying water etc.
We looked out over the parking lot, with the I-4 just beyond. We didnt notice the noise from the traffic at all.
Our only issue the entire stay was when the girls soccer team checked in down the hall. Fairfield cant be blamed for that. After the novelty of being in a hotel wore off, the girls settled down and all was good.
The Pool
We loved the pool. We usually hit it towards the end of the day and frequently had it all to ourselves. It is a large rectangle with some water jets to one side that produced an arc of water. The temperature was very warm but so is Florida in August!
The pool towels are of thin quality, but I felt that the staff was doing the absolute best they could with meagre supplies. Each morning we would see that they had taken the trouble to roll up towels and place them on the lounges. It was a nice touch that is more reminiscent of higher end resorts.
There is also a spa/hot tub, although we didnt venture over there.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included in the room rate, which makes the Fairfield very appealing. The offerings would vary, but generally you could get toast, English muffins, regular muffins, cereal, yogurt. Some days there were bananas, on other days oranges. There were usually sausage patties available, sometimes with scrambled eggs and other days with biscuits and gravy. A couple days there were hard boiled eggs available too.
There is a lot of seating, but this place gets very crowded, depending on the groups. The aforementioned soccer teams were up and out early; the teams that moved in after them were not. We ended up eating outside by the pool a couple times, which gave us a beautiful view and a luxurious start to the day.
Breakfast was from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Monday to Friday. Weekends it was 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Food Court
One night after the rain we just didnt feel like going out for dinner and so wandered to the food court that lies on the main floor of the hotel, just off the walkway that separates the Fairfield from the Courtyard. Big mistake. DD had a hot dog, I had a Philly cheese and DH had a chicken Caesar salad. Only his was truly edible.
Proximity to other hotels
We did wander over to the Courtyard, thinking we could order something from the bar menu there. Only problem is that after receiving a very friendly greeting from the staff at the door, there was no one around to take our order in the bar area.
Whats nearby
If you wander further down the area between these two hotels and through the parking lot, you are in the parking lot shared by the Golden Corral and Bahama Breeze. We tried them both, and they were each perfectly fine. I thought Bahama Breeze was a bit expensive, but the service and food quality were good. Golden Corral is what it is, as they say. We enjoyed the Asian offerings, DH said his steak was surprisingly good, and DD loved the chocolate fountain.
There is also a Carrabas just across the street.
The outlet mall is a few blocks away, but we noted that the hotel does run a shuttle to the mall at 11:30 and 2:30. They ask that you reserve for this service in advance.
If you carry on just a bit further, Publix is on the left.
Shuttle to Disney
We didnt use it, but there is a bus shuttle for all three hotels to take guests to WDW. It runs at 8 a.m., 9:30, 10:15 and 11:15
Trips back from the TTC were at 6:15 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:15 p.m. and 10:45 p.m.
We did enjoy this hotel a lot and thought it offered good value. We need to add an extra night to our Christmas vacation, but couldnt get in. Instead, well be at the Springhill Suites just across the lot. Well let you know how it goes!
