Hotel Reviews: Marriott Fairfield Inn San Jose, Courtyard San Ramon, and Residence Inn Sacramento Airport Natomas

Last week, I traveled through the California Bay area for business, and I stayed at different Marriott hotels each night: the Fairfield Inn San Jose, Courtyard San Ramon, and Residence Inn Sacramento Airport Natomas. I flew in to the San Jose airport from Burbank, and the flight took about an hour. The San Jose airport was rather small, so I was out of there quickly. At the airport's exit, I asked the attendant where the shuttle for the Marriott Fairfield Inn was, and he couldn't identify it as a Marriott, so I went with just "Fairfield Inn" and walked to the shuttle waiting area. Luckily, I knew the phone number of the hotel, so I called them and asked for a shuttle. It arrived promptly, and the driver was helpful and pointed out that the airport was currently building a new extension, which would enable international airlines like Philippine Airlines to land and fly out of the airport. That, I thought, was exciting news for people who live in San Jose and currently have to go to San Francisco for international flights.

My coworker and I arrived at the Fairfield Inn San Jose in about 10 minutes, and we checked in at the front desk. The lady was very friendly and gave us welcome bags with water and trail mix, because we were Marriott rewards members. I thought that was great, because otherwise I would have to purchase overpriced water. My hotel room was small, but the king size bed was a comfy pillow-top with memory foam pillows. The room had a plasma television, which looked great, but unfortunately the channel selection was really limited. There was no wireless internet, so I sat at the desk and plugged the internet cable to get free internet access. The bathroom was a decent size, and it had Palmolive shampoo and conditioner, Crabtree & Evelyn hand lotion, and generic facial and bath soap. I was dissappointed that there was no toothpaste and sewing kit. Luckily, I had brought my own. I suppose I could have asked the front desk if I really needed some.

My coworker and I had lunch at Chipotle, a Mexican restuarant, which was conveniently located across the hotel. There were other restaurants too, like a Hawaiian BBQ place and a Vietnamese restaurant.
Since we had some time to kill, we asked the front desk for information on things to do. She handed us a guide to San Jose, and we decided to take the train around to explore, because none of the events in the guide were appealing at the time (a children's museum, buttefly farm, and theatre). The fare cost us $5 each for an unlimited number of rides on the train. We stopped at Japan Town, which didn't look at all like a Japan Town, then we got back on the train and rode until we found downtown San Pedro, which had a movie theatre and lots of restaurants. I was surprised to find a "Quickly" store there -- it is a Korean restaurant that sells pearl shakes, or what others call "boba" or tapioca slushes. We stopped by there for a drink and then watched Kingdom of Heaven at the movie theatre, which cost about $7 per ticket. The theatre was nice but pretty empty, since it was a weekday.

We headed back to the hotel and craved pizza, but we didn't have a car and didn't want to spend on a cab, so we asked the front desk for advice. She suggested a pizza place that was near one of the train stops. She even printed out the address for us, but she wasn't very good at giving specific directions. In the end, we went to a Chinese restaurant near the "Gish" stop instead. It was called "Cathay Chinese," and the food was good!

The next day, we ate at the Fairfield Inn's free breakfast buffet. There was a lot of food to choose from: donuts, pastries, bagels, scrambled eggs, muffins, sausages, etc. There was also coffee and juice handy. Then we were off to work...

We ended our day at the Courtyard San Ramon, which had bigger rooms. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my internet working with my Mac that night. They only had directions for connecting to a PC. I eventually figured it out by myself based on the directions I had learned from the Fairfield Inn (i.e. plug the cable while the computer is off, start the computer and go to your browser to log onto free internet.). The Courtyard did not have any amenities aside from the basics like the Fairfield. For dinner, I went to Arby's, which is a lot like Friday's restaurant. It was also conveniently nearby the hotel. For breakfast the next day, there was no free buffet, so I spent $13 for breakfast at the hotel. The attendant was very helpful though, as he got tea for me. Still, I would have preferred free food!

On my third travel day, I stayed at the Sacramento Airport Natomas Residence Inn. Now that hotel is nice! I got my own guest suite, which was only slightly more expensive than my smaller room at the Courtyard. There was a kitchen and sofa, and unlike the usual hotel building, there were many smaller apartment-type buildings, which made it feel homey. Breakfast was on the house. I didn't have dinner in the area, but I heard from a friend that there is a good Japanese restaurant nearby that hotel. I needed to print my boarding pass for the flight home, and there was a computer in the common area with free printing. The hotel also had a shuttle to take us to the Sacramento airport (which, by the way, has awfully long security lines on Fridays!).

If I had to choose between the three hotels, I would definitely go to a Residence Inn next time. I hope this review was helpful to you! Feel free to message me if you have any questions.