I stayed at the Fairfield Inn near Bradley Airport because I had an early flight out. The hotel looks like it was converted from an old motel. You enter the rooms from doors that face the outside and you are overlooking the parking lots when you exit the rooms. The traffic noise is a problem for the rooms that face the road, and all night long people were hanging out in their cars in the parking lot listening to their car radios. The windows also face the parking lots, so you have no privacy if you want sunlight.

I used the hotel's shuttle service to get to the hotel from Bradley: they told me to look for a purple and green (really) van from one of the off-site parking sites. I was not confident, but it worked fine. The parking lot is across from the hotel. A number of hotels use this service, so I was the third dropped off, but it was not a problem and it worked. See below, however, for problems going back to the airport.

The bathroom and bed were fine. The bed was confortable and clean, and the bathroom was very nice, with good water pressure. The sink is on the outside of the bathroom and has a lot of counter space.

The staff was pleasant when I checked in; I was asked if I needed directions or a dinner recommendation, and invited to call and ask for the woman by name if I needed anything: a nice touch.

Check out was not a great experience. The hotel's system was down, so they were unable to provide me with a copy of my bill. The airport shuttle service was not answering their calls! To the overwhelmed desk clerk's credit, he'd called a number of cabs and was paying drivers to take people to the airport. I did not have to ask or insist: he'd dealt with the problem. But because he was dealing with the two problems, he may have been unable to pay attention to the breakfast and a lot of the options (including coffee) were empty. Still, the hotel's breakdown did not cause me any real problems and I did not have to compel them to come up with a shuttle alternative.

I would say that I was promised a copy of the bill in the mail and it has not come, but Marriott does send a e-mail with the bill in it and I have received that.

Overall, I was surprised by the motel-like feeling of the Fairfield Inn at Bradley and am not really confortable with doors that face the outside instead of a hallway. The service was good and the room was clean and comfortable; I just did not feel safe. It was a good value and it is kept up well, so some of my concerns are based on my personal preferences.