Fairfield Inn by Marriott Charlotte Gastonia

The pool area and hot tub were clean and functioned well. The beds and bathroom appeared clean.

The hotel showed signs of wear and dis-repair. On arrival I noticed that the smoke detector in our room was hanging off the wall by the wire. We were too tired to deal with it on our late arrival. Not a good decision. I went in to take a shower the next morning. Apparently the vibration from shutting the bathroom door set off the smoke detector. I went down the hall to make sure it was the only one activated. I could hear only that smoke detector 100 feet away.I called the front desk. I had to tell them the room number. I am not sure if they even knew a smoke detector had alarmed. They sent somebody up a few minutes later. He worked on it a few minutes and then the shrieking stopped. Then he put it back on the wall properly. Not a good way to start a morning. There were other issues as well. The blackout curtains had holes in them and we had a security light blasting into the room during the night. The rings on the grab bar in the tub were not connected etc. My problem with the staff came on check out day. I left my pillow at the hotel. I figured this out a couple of hours later while driving. I had my son call the hotel. It was about 2 in the afternoon. The phone rang for over a minute before anybody answered. (That explained why the front desk appeared vacant a few times when we went in and out.) He asked if they found the pillow. The front desk took our number and said they would check with housekeeping then call us back. We did not get a call back. I called the hotel back after we got home at 5. It rang at least 25 times for me as well. The front desk said they had checked with housekeeping and there was no extra pillow in the room. There was no comparison with the one I lost and the hotel pillows. (They were small and flimsy.) It was even in a beige pillow case. It was sitting on the room table when we left it. Either they didn't really look or they didn't care. I would look for a different hotel if I visit Gastonia again.