Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Twentynine Palms-Joshua Tree National Park

First of all I would like to say that in my 53 years, I have never written a bad review about a place. Typically people have a bad day so something is going to be off from time to time that is out of a staffers control. We rented a 2 queen bed room for my spouse, myself and our 12 year old son so that we could have a relaxing stay for a much needed getaway during our sons spring break especially after covid and family life events. It was a nice room, the people were friendly. We paid approximately 625.00 USD after tax and fees for the dates of Sunday April the 2nd staying three nights and leaving Wednesday the 6th of April 2023. So, we were just there. Even though the people were kind, as they all seemed to be in 29 palms and Joshua tree, they were ill prepared, understaffed and lacked essentials that justified the price of the room. Personally I have worked in the service industry managing a restaurant and opening a Marriott conference center with a restaurant attached hiring and training staff, so I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. It was chaotic there. In the following comments and photos, you can have a glimpse of what was going on there and make your own choice to give them a try. Upon checking in we were greeted by the host who told us, " you will have housekeeping on Tuesday, and the coffee and hot chocolate is available 24 hours". Great! After checking in my son went to go get some hot chocolate.......apparently they didn't have any. Additionally, none came during our 4 days and 3 nights with the exception of the front desk person who gave him one from her purse. Ok, no hot chocolate, no biggie, front desk person was accommodating. Monday was great, no problem on that day. Breakfast was great, everything looked good. Tuesday we go down for breakfast and it looked very harried. A note was posted on the wall informing people that they were sorry for the inconvenience, but there was a limited supply today and sorry. Hmmm. So clearly they did not order enough food for the amount of people registered for their respective stays. However, one step over the curb of the Fairmont Inn and you are at a grocery mart. Across the street was a full grocery store. So if you didn't order enough, go pick up some extra to get by. We went hiking on Tuesday and when we came back we expected the room to be cleaned as mentioned on check in....it was Tuesday. She did the bathrooms but left the beds. When my husband called down the housekeeper came up and said she had made the beds, I said, I don't think so, do they look made to you. She kept saying that she had made the beds and in the end admitted that it must have gotten missed and that she worked the front desk not housekeeping. She was very kind about taking care of it right away but heavens. Wednesday was our checkout day. We went down for breakfast at 8am...Breakfast was 6:30-9. There was nothing left. No cutlery to eat with, no oatmeal, no fruit, no yogurt, no eggs, no biscuits to go with the biscuits and gravy, two of the dried self serve cereal stations were empty. I asked if they were bringing out more, but there was at least 15 people standing around trying to descend upon the eggs and oatmeal when it came out. Also, they ran out of brown sugar and raisins for the oatmeal, and the regular sized take away coffee cups they ran out of. I got no breakfast. Now, mind you it would not be a problem, except we intentionally picked a place with breakfast, the room is priced for breakfast included and people should not be wondering why there is not any food. They did have waffles, but if you have even waited for the waffle maker in one of these places, you can be waiting a long time. We checked out and I asked to file a complaint about our stay...The front desk lady said that we should not have gotten any room service because it is every three days, well, then we should not have been told we would have room service on Tuesday. My husband and I both heard her say it. We know hotels are cutting back on staff and room cleaning and were looking forward to having the room cleaned. Then I mentioned the hot chocolate, she shrugged. Then I mentioned the breakfast and she told me there is oatmeal in there now, that I was welcome to check. I also told her there were no utensils to eat with, she told me there was now. There were only spoons. I told her it was chaotic, she told me that it is never this busy and it couldn't be helped and that they had ordered food and stuff and it was coming. That didn't mean much since it wasn't there during our stay. As an accommodation, she agreed to take off the 10 dollar a day parking fee that I actually had zero idea I was even being charged for as it was not mentioned on the AAA website when I booked. She pointed to a sign at the front desk that could not be read without reading glasses. And it was not brought up during check in. Pictures included. I would have taken more but did not want to include guests.

Staff was very friendly especially checking in. The morning breakfast was very good. The wi-fi was not so good. Myself and my family staying there, we could not text each other or call. We did get the hotels wi-fi password but even then we could not get messages to each other. The tile grout in my room bathroom needs to be cleaned.