Fairfield Inn & Suites South Bend at Notre Dame

Nice place. Good location.

We went for the weekend to stay at the Fairfield inn 1220 East Angela Blvd South Bend, IN. The hotel was clean. Breakfast mediocre. The biscuits (for biscuits and gravy were hard. Couldn’t eat them). They were in a crockpot with no lid, which attributed to their being hard. The breakfast staff said that the lid to the crockpot shattered a week ago so there was no lid available. ( a hotel, a chain hotel, could not afford a new crockpot?). The lady at the front desk overnight was very nice, polite. We talked for quite a while. However……. Sunday morning we were heading down to breakfast. ( the same exact breakfast as the day before. Same crockpot with no lid. I didn’t even attempt the biscuits this time. Got a coffee.) — our room door would not unlock! It was seriously stuck! My husband was trying & trying and was getting upset because I was having a huge anxiety attack. I am severely claustrophobic. I was crying & shaking. I was trying to open the window because I ended up in such an anxiety attack that I was gonna jump out of the window ( thankfully we were on the first floor because by that point my anxiety was so high I probably would have jumped out no matter how high up we were) My blood pressure shot up. I was lightheaded. The window only opens about 2 inches, which is understandable for safety, but in no way helped my anxiety of feeling trapped. My husband was trying to calm me, worried because I was getting worse with my anxiety and he still could not open the door!!! He was calm. He is not claustrophobic. Does not have anxiety issues….. the door was stuck. It had been a half hour. A HALF HOUR! Absolutely redicilious. Unacceptable. FIRE HAZARD. What if there had been a fire? My situation at this point could have, very easily, very quickly, turned in to a medical situation! A half hour. I called my daughter, who was highly concerned about me due to the severity of my anxiety & my husband still not being able to get the door to unlock and open. She said “call the front desk” which I would have thought of if I wasn’t in a sheer panic attack. My husband just kept trying & trying the door hoping it would release so I could calm down before ending up hospitalized. I called the front desk in sheer panic. I was crying hysterically, trying to breathe, blood pressure high, I just kept saying my room won’t unlock I’m trapped, my room won’t unlock I’m trapped…. I couldn’t think of my room #. Finally someone came& had to unlock it from outside of door, from hallway. And can you believe…. When the door opened I was crying, pacing, trying to breathe, pure full blown anxiety & the lady did NOT SAY ONE WORD. SHE WALKED AWAY ANNOYED! Ummmm, Annoyed?! Excuse me, what if I had a heart attack? What if there was a fire? Would you have had the rude audacity to be annoyed then? That’s your best hospitality?? She opened door, and literally walked away without saying one word. Didn’t even bother to see if I was

Clean, friendly staff, convenient location. Breakfast was average. The location is very walkable with restaurants, Trader Joe’s and Notre Dame just a short walk from the hotel. The lobby was large and a good place to meet up with your group.

We have stayed at this property a few times for Notre Dame football games and visits with our ND children. We have been horribly disappointed each time. The lobby and elevator are always so dirty, leaving a bad impression immediately (elevator photos below). And this last stay for the USC game, our bathroom hadn't been cleaned when we entered the room at 11 pm after a long day of travel. There were visible signs of use in the toilet that I won't describe here. If it hadn't been so late, we would have asked to move rooms but were too tired. It is absolutely crazy that this hotel charges $1,000-$2,000 per night for these accommodations on football weekends/ND events. I have always assumed this would be an upgraded Marriott property for the prices charged and it is the exact opposite. It should be immaculately cleaned for these prices. We are Titanium Elite Marriott members, and I can honestly say this is the worst Marriott property I have ever stayed at and again at the prices they charge it is unfathomable. Please take the necessary steps to upgrade the cleanliness/housekeeping of your hotel so that Notre Dame guests can have a viable Marriott property close to campus.

We spent the day in New Buffalo and decided to spend the night in South Bend. We checked in later in the evening. Ryan was working the front desk. He did a great job checking us in and even suggested a different room due to some other wedding guests in the building that may be up later. We got into our room and discovered our bathroom sink was leaking pretty badly. We informed Ryan and he promptly confirmed the issue and took us to another room, which was very much appreciated! The room was nice and quiet and we had no other issues. After a good night’s sleep, we were ready to check out the free breakfast. Martin was a one man show! He was attentive and polite to guests and very efficient at refilling any items as they got low. Ryan and Martin turned what could have been a pretty average experience into an extraordinary customer experience! We would be happy to stay at this location again!

Terrible experience all around! Had a male guest walk into my room while I was getting out of the shower. We were both assigned and given keys to the same room upon check in. The room was next to the stairwell and I could hear the door opening and slamming shut all night long. Any time I needed to get into my room I had to get a new set of keys bc they wouldn’t work. I was told it was a new box of key cards and everyone was having trouble. I was also charged for parking …. I did not have a car so check your bill. I have made several attempts to reach the manager to discuss my experience, in person (was told by the staff “he was probably 5 beers deep”), left 3 voicemails and sent an email. No response! My husband is a long standing corporate traveler with Marriott and is appalled by this experience. $700/night for commencement weekend warrants better service. I should’ve read the reviews here before booking. It explains why they were sold out for such a big ND event.

Great location. But be aware: you cannot set your room's HVAC fan to always on. I like doing that to drown out noise while sleeping. You typically can do this in virtually all hotels, except this one for some reason. (And this is a relatively new hotel, built in 2010 and still in excellent condition. ) All the controls will allow you to do is to set the fan speed to Hi or Low, when the thermostat activates the unit. So, when the heat or AC cycles on, WHOOOSH!, it makes a loud sound, enough to wake everyone in the room. Your only alternative to get a decent night's rest is to shut off the HVAC unit and use your iPhone to play some YouTube background noise for 8 hours. Secondly, the non-continental options for breakfast are microwave turkey sausage or bacon with egg/cheese sandwiches. I have to say, they're heavily processed and so full of chemicals they have a weird dull flavor and aftertaste. Marriott needs to do better. *****Last thing: they charge you $11 per night for parking.