Sonesta ES Suites Fairfax Fair Lakes

The noise has been a recurring problem here. The walls are so thin that you can hear the next-door neighbor snore, doors slam every couple of minutes at 1:30 a.m., and road noise comes from being right next to Fairfax county parkway. They also test the smoke alarms literally every month, which can disrupt a stay. The basketball court gets loud groups playing all day and late into the night, and daytime housekeeping sounds like bombs going off if you’re trying to sleep. See video. We had noisy neighbors below us for a couple of weeks. Their kid and adults stomped around, sometimes past 1 a.m., and on their last night there were loud slamming sounds. At 2 a.m. the room would shake and vibrate. That isn’t just being sensitive to noise. When I first complained, I was told I was sensitive, and one front desk worker, Ahmed, sounded annoyed and dismissed me when I reported noise from a nearby room. He said one guest “could not possibly be noisy,” and made me feel I was imagining it. I checked and it was that room. Maybe believe guests instead of assuming they’re wrong. Terribly rude. In the more recent situation, guests below us made very loud vibrating and thumping sounds for hours, at night and during the day. I contacted the front desk and management several times. They said they’d spoken to the guests, who only got louder, and management downplayed the problem and dismissed our concerns. The manager was out while the stepping and stomping was happening. No remedy was offered. We were only offered another room after the guests had already left, which was unacceptable. The manager defended them, refused a fair solution, and said she wouldn’t ask the loud neighbors to move. A kid was allowed to run around all day and night, past midnight, and they basically said it was acceptable even if it woke us. They don’t enforce quiet hours equally. They had no trouble telling us to move or leave over a short daytime argument outside quiet hours, despite hours and nights of stomping from the other guests. That was completely unfair. The original review also mentioned the hotel’s noise. We had inconsiderate neighbors below us for a couple of weeks, with their kid and the adults stomping loudly until 1 a.m. most nights. The adults made loud slamming noises on their last night. When I raised the issue, the first response was that I was sensitive, even though the room shook and vibrated at 2 a.m. There was also a separate issue with people playing basketball all day and late into the night. They need to enforce rules or limits for the court because the noise disturbs residents trying to sleep or enjoy a peaceful stay. And if you want to sleep during daytime housekeeping, forget it, the cleaning gets very loud. The extra star for service is because of Nicholas, the only front desk staff member who went above and beyond to help and provide good customer service. Ahmed was rude and dismissive about a nearby room’s noise, saying one guest “could not possibly be noisy.” I checked and it was that room. Some night staff also didn’t seem to care about noise that disrupted people’s health and sleep. For your mental health and peace, avoid this place.