Fairfield Inn and Suites Fort Worth at Cityview

This is my first post regarding accessibility in the travel industry.  I hope to be adding restaurants and other businesses as I go. I may come up with a rating system down the road sometime, but not yet.   

The first hotel I am reviewing is the Fairfield Inn and Suites Fort Worth at Cityview.  I will be reviewing 2 different experiences at this hotel.  Our first experience occurred the first week of October.  We initially had reservations at another hotel, but because of some confusion in the reservation process, we had reserved a hearing impaired room rather than a wheelchair-accessible room with a roll-in shower.  The hotel called its franchise sister hotel and changed our reservations to this hotel.

Parking: There are a total of 4 accessible parking spots, 2 in the front of the hotel and 2 at the side.  This is a small hotel.  We never had problems with parking.  Being in a wheelchair and having a van with a side ramp, accessible parking is important for me, not just for close proximity, but so I have room for my ramp.  The striped area next to the spots was nice and roomy too.

Bathroom: It was a nice bathroom.  There was plenty of room for my chair to maneuver around.  There were bars around the toilet and it was an elevated toilet.  The shower was a very large roll-in shower.  It had a built-in bench at the end closest to the door with the shower controls easy to reach right next to the bench.  The shower head was on a hose and was removable.  The other end of the shower had a regular shower head with room for a person to stand.  There was a knob close to the shower controls that enabled the water flow to be switched so it went to one end or the other or both.  It was awesome.  I have a basic roll-in shower at home.  Now I want one like this.  The hair dryer was stored on a shelf under the sink so it was easy to reach.  The shelf was a very convenient place to put my make-up and skincare so it wasn't all over the bathroom counter when I wasn't using it.

The room: The room was a bit more of an issue.  It was tiny.  There was only a walking path around the king-sized bed.  My wheelchair fit on the left side (when in the bed) and at the end, but not on the right.  When I say fit, I mean just barely fit.  There was very little room between the wall and the bed on the side, or the bed and the desk at the end.  Since my chair only fit on that one side, this presented a big problem for my husband.  My husband requires CPAP at night, but there was not a plug on his side of the bed for some reason, only on my side.    He had to stretch his CPAP machine across the side of the room so he could plug it in at the end of the bed.  He also couldn't plug his phone in next to him.  He had to plug it in at the end of the bed.  There was a minifridge that was low enough, but it was difficult for me to get into because it opened towards the head of the bed and I could only get to it from the other side (I hope that made sense).  My husband had to get things out of it for me.  The hangers in the closet were down low so I could reach them.  I didn't need the iron, but if I had needed it, it was out of my reach.  The bed was much higher than the seat of my wheelchair.  I could stand at that time, so it wasn't an issue for me, but I can't always stand, so that is a potential problem.  The door was extremely heavy and I couldn't open it by myself (I have upper body weakness).  I know hotel doors have to be heavy for fire safety, but accessible rooms should have a button to open them or something.  This room would have been difficult for me to manage had I been alone.

Amenities: This hotel offered a breakfast buffet.  The things I wanted I could easily reach.  If someone in a wheelchair wanted bagels or muffins, that would have been a problem though.  They were in a stacked holder (I don't know what to call it) that might have been out of reach for someone in a chair.  I didn't go into the gym, but all I saw in there was a treadmill and an exercise bike.  They had a pool along with a lift.  We inquired about how to work the lift and the staff said they just needed to charge it.  The next day, we got the lift battery from the staff and attempted to use it.  The lift still didn't work.  

Staff:  The staff was very kind and tried to be helpful

Our next visit to this hotel was on Black Friday.  We had a fairly good experience at this hotel, despite the room being a bit small and it was close to where we needed to be.  We made reservations for the proper type of room this time and double-checked them several times.  The reservations were made several weeks in advance.  They were for an accessible room with a roll-in shower.  When we arrived, the clerk gave my husband the key cards.  He verified with her that it was a room with a roll-in shower before we went up to the room.  This time I cannot stand, so a roll-in shower is vital.  She told us it wasn't, then checked her computer and told us there wasn't a roll-in shower room available.  This hotel only has 2 and one was being used long-term and the other just checked in 3 days ago but they wouldn't check out until the next day.  We asked why our room wasn't saved for us if we had a reservation.  She said someone made a mistake.  She offered us a room with an accessible bathroom, but it was a tub with a removable shower chair.  She also upgraded our room.  That was an acceptable option for us.  However, when we got up to the room, it wasn't accessible, and there wasn't a tub either.  The bathroom was small.  There was a half wall between the sink and the toilet.  My wheelchair didn't fit past the wall.  It was a glassed-in shower stall with the door opposite the toilet, so I couldn't get to the shower either.  I wouldn't have been able to maneuver my chair in such a way that I could have transferred to a shower bench even if I could.  We went back downstairs and told her that it was not an accessible room.  She told us it was mismarked, then said she didn't have any other rooms for us.  We are 3 hours from home on Thanksgiving weekend.  She called 1 hotel to see if they had an available room but they were booked.  She said that was all she was allowed to do.  We asked her "What do you expect us to do?  We had reservations.  We are 3 hours from home with no place to stay".  She just kept saying there was nothing else she could do.  My husband was able to call around and get another hotel reservation about 20 minutes away.  It also costs us $30 more.  The manager was not available.  I have tried to call her a few times but have had to leave a message.  She has not called me back.  I will be emailing the cooperate office also.