Fairfield Inn & Suites Ruston

I was nervous after reading reviews of Ruston hotels, so I’m glad we gave this one a chance. We were comfortable and happy here. The hotel was clean, the staff friendly, and the pool and hot tub were nice. The location worked well while we were driving back and forth to Choudrant. Breakfast was great, and the military discount was a nice perk.

We had a really nice first floor room, a comfortable bed, and a lovely breakfast bar. The dark navy wallpaper in the bathroom was gorgeous, and the water pressure was great. The shower, though, was extremely narrow, maybe two feet across. My 6'2" 220 lb husband kept hitting the wall and shower door.

The lobby was neat and clean, and getting around the parking lot was easy. Some inconsiderate drivers took two spaces and blocked the main drive, though that’s on them, not the hotel. There wasn’t much of a view unless you like roofs and awnings; for a second tier suite, I’d hoped for something better, even though I wasn’t expecting much from Ruston. In the room, the bed looked slept in, with several short and long hairs and dirt under the covers. The fridge had a lot of buildup and seemed more like an ice box, as if it hadn’t been cleaned or checked in ages. Pop music played for hours from somewhere, maybe another room or a speaker near the entrance. The AC worked, but the wall thermostat’s diagram had been wiped off, so I had to fiddle with switches until it did what I wanted. There were no controls on the unit to get around that. I don’t like judging a place on one visit, and I may try it again since I travel through here pretty regularly. I’m also waiting on Marriott directly for a refund related to a booking issue. I’ll see how the brand handles that and these room problems, then update my review accordingly.

The desk staff, I think Jamesha and Brandy, were so kind and helpful. During an ice storm I was trying to reach my team in Vicksburg, MS. One member had lost everything in a fire the night before, and I wanted to get to him and his family. I left Bossier City at 7am, but speeding semis kept causing delays. I was stuck on the interstate for hours, pulling over for the third time near mile marker 69. It took 11 hours to go 73 miles. With darkness coming and roads starting to freeze, I decided I couldn’t push on. I called every hotel in Ruston from the interstate, and everything was booked. I was ready to sleep in my car and wasn’t going to drive past Ruston. I pulled off at Fairfield and told the desk team I knew they were full. I asked if I could just work on my computer in the lobby, since I needed to get off the road, and even offered to pay the full nightly rate to sit there. I was exhausted. Somehow they found a way to help me. I’d barely slept all weekend because so many people on my team had lost power, and I’d been trying to make sure their families had somewhere warm. I’d gotten little to no sleep before setting out that morning, then spent 11 hours stuck with no food and no way to even get off the interstate for a restroom. You never know what someone’s dealing with. It would’ve been easy to say no, but these ladies found a way to say yes. Thank you for making sure I had somewhere to rest that night.