Marriott Fairfax at Fair Oaks

The TV never worked, the heat was very weak and stayed at 67 deg for three days, and the shower pressure was poor because of a faulty plunger in the faucet. The maintenance man said he’d tell the manager and grab a new TV box from another room, but neither happened, and nobody from management contacted me. I put up with it and mentioned everything politely at checkout. The manager blamed me for not moving rooms and made me feel awful. The gym is cool, but the ellipticals are broken and clunky. There are lots of other options nearby. I wouldn’t stay here unless I had to or it was dirt cheap. Honestly, a Hampton inn would’ve been better.

The gym is one of the best hotel gyms I’ve used, and the concierge lounge was nice, with plenty of snacks and drinks. Breakfast there was decent, with bacon, potatoes, fruit, yogurt, and sweet breads. The scrambled eggs were almost like they were fake, though, so thank goodness for salt, pepper, and hot sauce. The location is convenient, with a short walk to the mall and other restaurants. I met my kids for dinner at Cheesecake Factory one night. It’s a busy area, and the mall road has fast cars and poor lighting, so don’t dawdle, as my mother used to say. Rooms are adequate but a bit dated. Despite the signs asking guests to hang towels to save the environment, they still replaced mine every day.

They accommodated our group well and were ready for us. After 15k steps walking around DC, the beds felt great, and the bar and atmosphere were decent. The TV shut off in the middle of the night, and it was hard to turn it back on, which I really didn’t like. Breakfast was just okay: the sausage needed longer on the grill, and the powdered eggs weren’t great.

The room had problems with the TV apps, refrigerator, thermostat, and phone. We repeatedly asked the front desk and housekeeping not to enter, and put up the do not disturb sign, but they still came in several times. They also took the pillowcase from one of our own pillows and never returned it. Why take someone else’s pillowcase? On Thanksgiving, a desk staff member was rude and said we’d overstayed, even though we’d extended our booking two days earlier and confirmed it twice with the front desk. She later came back to tell us to come sign an incidental form, something they should have handled two days before, not on Thanksgiving. The food was awful too. We ordered a medium rare steak and got one hard as a rock. The waitress was nice and gave us a discount, but everything else we ordered was bad and tasteless. The cleaning staff and servers were very nice, but management wasn’t, and so many of the interruptions during our stay could’ve been avoided. I never usually write reviews, but this was bad enough that I had to.