Fairfield Inn & Suites Santa Cruz - Capitola

The staff were warm and quick to respond, and the rooms were very spacious and comfortable. The hotel's underground parking adds extra security for your car, though the area also seemed extremely safe. It's conveniently just off Highway 1, and there's a shopping mall right next door if you forgot to bring something essential. Santa Cruz and Capitola are both within 15 minutes.

A quiet, clean place to sleep for a fair price, with comfortable beds. There isn't a view or anything special about it, and the cable channel selection is very small. They also had no hot water for the shower, and I have no idea what happened there. That's why I gave it four stars.

Room 128 had a bunch of small things that were off, and felt dated, though it was fine overall. The clock was four hours wrong and locked so it couldn't be fixed. The bathroom door wouldn't close properly, and the tub still had an old shower curtain. The desk phone was cordless, but its replace-battery light was on. There was also an old iPod dock sound system in the sitting room. We spent a night here at the end of October. The outside and lobby both look really nice, but there was no hot water, tea, or coffee available in the lobby, just at breakfast. Breakfast was underwhelming, pretty typical for Fairfield. Usually I can manage scrambled eggs with a bland sausage patty, but that weekend the sausage looked worse than usual and the eggs looked terrible. Thankfully, there was quiche, which was edible, and enough toppings to make some oatmeal bearable. I tried to wash it down with chocolate milk. The date was still okay, but it had turned rancid.

We stay here often because we love how close it is to the beach. The place is always clean and well kept, and the staff are consistently friendly. Derek has been working here for years and is always helpful and so nice.