Hotel Review: Fairfield Inn and Suites Marriott – La Crosse, Wisconsin

Fairfield Inn by Marriott in LaCrosse Wisconsin is a mid-priced hotel in downtown La Crosse and is within walking distance to downtown ‘attractions’ (if you could call it that – this is La Crosse, Wisconsin, mind you. It’s not a tourist mecca!). In this hotel review, you’ll find room photos, info about amenities, and my overall opinion on what it’s like to stay at this hotel.

Overall, this is a decent hotel and I wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again. But like everything, there’s always improvements to be made, so in this hotel review of the Fairfield Inn and Suites in La Crosse Wisconsin, I’ll give you an honest opinion. Let’s get going!

Why did we stay here, at the Fairfield Inn in La Crosse, Wisconsin?

I know what you’re thinking — “What the fuck is in La Crosse??” — right?!

I get it. But we were desperate. My sister and I did a quick, sort-of staycation to use up two free night certificates that were expiring at the end of the month – we couldn’t figure out a place to go that:

1.) Had free nights actually available (our first choice was the ol’ staple of Minnesota getaways – Duluth – but the Marriott properties did not have points stays available on this weekend)

2.) Wasn’t too far to drive. We only had two nights!

When you live in Minnesota, there just isn’t that many places to go for a decent weekend, 2 night getaway that isn’t a 12 hour drive away, let alone have Marriott properties available. So we settled on La Crosse, Wisconsin, just for the hell of it. And we actually had a decent weekend!

Related: Interested in more Wisconsin stuff? Check out all my Wisconsin travel posts!

Check In at the Fairfield Inn in LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Check in was easy and painless. I was given two free waters out of the “24/7 Market” refrigerator for being Ambassador status, plus was given an upgrade. Typically, if I’m staying with my sister at a property like a Fairfield Inn, I don’t want the upgrade because the upgrade usually has only one king bed. And I ain’t sharing a bed with my sister. We requested a two-queen room, so when we got to our upgraded suite, we backed the hell out when we saw it was only one bed and asked for our original room type. No biggie – we were given the two queen room.

An upgrade at a Fairfield Inn type Marriott property isn’t much. It’s not like they have a presidential suite here. It’s just a regular room with a sitting area – which would’ve been nice, but we’d rather have the two beds.

Location of the Fairfield Inn in LaCrosse Wisconsin

This hotel is located in Downtown La Crosse, right across the street from a Christian thrift store and an adult toy store. I suppose for some people, this is ideal.

But really, you can walk to lots of bars and restaurants downtown, so it’s a decent location. Just don’t expect any views of the river or the city – it’s a very industrial area, and depending on your room, you might have a view of the adult store or a view of a plant.

Rooms

Rooms here aren’t anything noteworthy. These are styled in the older Fairfield Inn style, with the funky blue carpet – there are newer Fairfield designs that are a bit more modern. The beds were comfy, the room was clean and the bathroom was large.

However, there were a few issues –

First, there were spiders in the room. Yeah….

On our first night there, I was relaxing in bed, trying to fall asleep while playing on my phone when I saw a bug crawl across my phone screen.

ICK!!!!

I was half-awake so I didn’t do anything about it right away – it was more like I couldn’t believe with my eyes what was actually happening and when I became more alert, I was like, “AH!!!!!” I flipped the light on and was tossing around the bed sheets looking for this goddamn spider. I woke my sister up and we both started looking for it. We found it crawling up the wall and I whacked it with my shoe.

The next morning, my sister saw two more spiders in the shower. YUCK. We killed them off and didn’t see any more spiders during our stay but it appears to be a ‘thing’ if you read some of the Trip Advisor and Google reviews.

One other thing – the shower water temperature was off-the-charts wonky. You’d put it on hot and it would stay hot for a few minutes, then turn scalding hot or ice cold. Rinse and repeat throughout your whole shower. This only happened one day – the other morning, I got up much earlier and didn’t have the issue, so I’m thinking that it might have to do with how many other guests are showering at the same time. Again, this issue also pops up in Google and Trip Advisor reviews, so it’s a thing here.

Amenities

The Fairfield Inn in La Crosse, Wisconsin has free parking – we never had an issue finding a spot, and I thought it was safe, even though the area is pretty industrial.

They have a small swimming pool and a suitable fitness center – the fitness center has 3 Life Fitness treadmills and one Life Fitness elliptical, plus some free weights.

Breakfast is free and was mediocre. They were constantly running out of hot food, even though there weren’t that many people in the breakfast area. Hot food included bacon, scrambled eggs floating in water (ew), cheese omelettes, make-your-own waffles, and turkey sausages (which were really good, compared to the nasty dog food Holiday Inn Express tries to pass off as a turkey sausage!)

One thing to note – and it’s minor but it pisses me off so I’ll say it. The bread. The fuck is up with the bread? This hotel is still (in June 2022) putting individual slices of bread in ziplock bags FOR YOUR SAFETY.

Like, WHY? This doesn’t do anything except create more waste. Plus, some poor staff member has to take the time to put each piece of bread into the ziplocks, basically manhandling the bread before it ever reaches the guest. You call this safe??? What’s wrong with that plastic case and tongs the bread was in? Either way, some staff member has to manhandle it.

Housekeeping is suspended right now – apparently for your “safety”. Which is total bullshit. Like, it’s okay for the front desk person to be in contact with a ton of people, putting their life on the line, but a housekeeper can’t enter an empty room? And it’s okay for the breakfast attendant has to clean off tables RIGHT NEAR A BUNCH OF PEOPLE, but a housekeeper can’t make a bed in an empty room?

Bullshit.

Just admit you don’t have the staff or better yet (and probably more truthful) you don’t want to HIRE the staff for it. Enough of the COVID excuses bullshit!

Or better yet, use that budget for the staff member who is bagging up the bread in ziplocks and start cleaning rooms!

To Marriott Management: This advice is free – I’m available for an additional consulting fee if you need more ideas 😉

Okay, end of my rant.

Fairfield Inn La Crosse – Final Thoughts

Overall, this was a decent stay. The staff was great and the room was decent, despite the few spiders and the wonky shower. I wish they had a hot tub. I don’t appreciate COVID-excuses in 2022, so the lack of housekeeping is annoying (just be honest with us about staffing, we are not dumb!). But in general, I would stay here again if I found myself in the La Crosse area.