Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Helena North Hotel

The remodel was nice, with new, clean walls, floors, and shower, but the air in the room made me feel sick for two days after sleeping there. Something is seriously wrong with the HVAC. The third floor was bad, the rooms smelled moldy, and the windows were visibly wet and seemed to have been that way for a while. I had to crack the window and run the heater to air it out. This needs to be addressed ASAP.

The pool was freezing and the hot tub was more like a warm tub. In our first suite the toilet wouldn't flush, but they changed our room right away. One TV had a remote that didn't work, and the main TV wouldn't let us use our own device through HDMI, even though it showed directions for doing that. Staff didn't know how to operate the TV when I asked. There were also several minor cosmetic issues in the room. Even with those problems, it was a good place to stay overall.

They were polite whenever I spoke with them, and when I discovered after checkout that I'd left my glasses, the receptionist confirmed they had them, took my address and phone number, and said they'd mail them with no problem. I never got them. When I called a couple of months later, they said they only keep items for 30 days, so I was too late to follow up. They didn't offer more help or ask anything about it. Don't promise a customer something if you won't follow through. I guess I'm used to different service. I stayed at the end of January for work. My first room was nothing special and chilly because the heat wasn't working. The next day they moved me to a room with working heat, though my coworker also had heat and AC issues. The new room had a broken shower handle. The pool and hot tub were out of service, despite what I'd been told on the phone, but they offered to let me drive to their other one across town to use its hot tub. Nice of them, I guess, but not practical. With all the room changes, inconsistent breakfast, and broken things, stay somewhere else if you can.

I loved the tea setup in the lobby, and the gym was casual but clean and nice. The rooms were clean apart from handprints on the doors and windows. The pool was freezing, and the hot tub was only warm, not hot.