Having already spent about five weeks in Kansas on our 50 state road trip, our final stop was the city of Hutchinson.
Hutchinson is only an hour or so away from Wichita where we’d already stayed 10 nights the previous month, but we came back to central Kansas to take part in the Underground Salt Mine 5k at Strataca which is in Hutchinson.
When planning our time in Kansas, I’d seen that there was a category 1 Fairfield Inn property in Hutchinson. I’m all about saving money on our accommodation and maximizing our points, so staying in a category 1 property fulfills both those desires. We’d also never stayed in a Fairfield Inn before, so I was interested in finding out what it was like.
An added benefit of Fairfield Inn is that it’s one of Marriott’s brands. That means you get the 5th night free on award stays, so our five nights there only cost us the points required for four nights.
Here’s a review of our stay at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hutchinson, Kansas.
Check-In
The check-in process began the morning before our arrival in Hutchinson. I have Platinum status with Marriott and so initiated a chat through their app to see if we could be upgraded to one of the hotel’s larger suites. There was no reply for several hours, but eventually they confirmed that we’d be upgraded from a standard 1 King Guest Room to a 1 King Studio Room.
We’d stopped off in Wamego on our way from Topeka to Hutchinson, so it was about 6:30pm by the time we arrived at the hotel. Unloading our car was even less fun than usual as the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hutchinson doesn’t have regular luggage carts. Instead, they have the small kind of luggage carts you find at airports. That meant having to balance all our stuff precariously on two carts.
The check-in process itself didn’t take too long and the person working on the front desk ensured that we knew there was a pet fee. She gave us our keys to room 220 and we headed up in the elevator.
The hotel felt fairly new and the hallways were bright and clean.
Bedroom
When entering the room, the bathroom was immediately on the left. The bedroom was straight in front while the living room area was at the end.
Our room had a king bed that was comfortable, as were the pillows. The bedside lamps each had a couple of power outlets built in which we appreciated for charging our phones overnight.
Opposite the bed was a dresser with a smart TV on top, along with a small storage space beneath.
Back towards the room’s entrance, between the bedroom and bathroom, was a microwave, coffee maker and mini fridge. While it was nice having a fridge, it didn’t have a temperature dial and was way too cold, so everything we put in there got completely frozen.
To the side of that unit was the room’s narrow closet. On the left of that was a solitary coat hook which seemed like a bit of a waste of space. It would’ve been more helpful for that left half to also be part of the closet.
Inside the closet was an iron, ironing board and additional bedding for the sofa bed. The closet also had a luggage rack inside, but we’d removed it by the time I remembered to take this photo inside.
Living Room
Beyond the bedroom was a spacious living room area. This was the reason I’d asked for the upgrade as it meant we had far more living space during our stay.
The only slight complaint I have is that while having the room be open-plan was nice in some respects, I would’ve much preferred having a door through to the living room from the bedroom that could be closed. Having this open plan layout meant the bedroom area stayed fairly bright at night when Shae had gone to bed and I was still up working.
On the right side of the living room was a long, curved couch which can double up as a sofa bed if you have additional people staying in the room. There were also a couple of side tables whose bases slid nicely under the couch. That meant they were good for using as a small laptop desk when working on the couch.
The couch itself was more comfortable than expected given it’s a sofa bed. It was also a decent length for stretching out and having a nap.
On the opposite side of the living room was a desk, office chair and TV. The desk was on wheels, so it could be moved elsewhere in the room easily if needed. Beneath the TV was a round ottoman that was also on wheels.
Bathroom
When entering the bathroom, the sink and long countertop were on the left hand side. Beyond that was a short wall divider, with the toilet on the other side.
It didn’t seem like housekeeping had done a very good job preparing the bathroom. They’d left two rolls of toilet paper but one was almost empty and the other only had about 1/4 of the roll left. There was also hair from the previous guest on the bathroom floor.
The toiletries provided at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hutchinson were Paul Mitchell which is the same brand you’ll find at some other Marriott brands.
The bathroom had a walk-in shower that delivered good water pressure.
Overall, I liked the room we had at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hutchinson. It was a spacious studio suite and the bed and couch were comfortable.
There were several ways it could’ve been better though. A fridge that wasn’t in fact a freezer, a larger closet, a closed-off living room, etc. would all have been improvements.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included in your room rate and there was a fairly good selection each day. There were cheesy omelets and scrambled eggs; the scrambled eggs were better than your average mass-produced hotel breakfast eggs.
They also had turkey sausage and pork sausage patties. The turkey sausage patties were always extremely dried out from being on the warmer, while the pork sausage was very oily and didn’t have much flavor.
Here are the other breakfast options:
There was also a coffee and tea station between the lobby and breakfast area that was available 24/7.
Speaking of the breakfast area, it was a decent size with lots of tables and chairs, so there was never any issue finding somewhere to sit.
Amenities
The hotel has an indoor swimming pool. Although we didn’t make use of it, I checked the temperature and it was nice and warm. There was a whirlpool in the back corner, but it was out of service during our stay.
They also had a fitness room with a few pieces of equipment and some weights.
If you need to do any laundry during your stay, there’s a guest laundry area with one washing machine and one dryer. Both cost $1.25 per load which is reasonable.
Down in the lobby area is a business center with one computer. There wasn’t a printer, so if you need something printed off you have to email it to the front desk and have them print it off.
There’s a pantry area stocked with a variety of snacks and drinks if you need something during your stay.
Pet-Friendliness
Before staying at the one in Hutchinson KS, Shae and I had never stayed at a Fairfield Inn before. The main reason why is because most of them aren’t pet-friendly, although the one in Hutchinson is.
The pet fee is $75 per stay which is better than most other pet-friendly Marriott brands as they usually charge $100+ per stay. There’s a maximum of two pets per room and they can’t be more than 50 lbs.
The hotel has a few grassy areas around the property for your dog to do their thing.
There’s also a nice dog park about five minutes south of the hotel. The photo below is the small dog area – there was an even bigger area to the left for larger dogs.
Service
Service at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hutchinson was fair. It wasn’t bad, but the front desk staff weren’t overly warm and didn’t say hi or goodbye as we came and went, something that you’ll get when staying at a Hyatt Place.
The housekeeping staff also didn’t seem particularly thorough either. I mentioned earlier in the review that they hardly left any toilet paper and there was hair on the floor of the bathroom when we arrived. We left the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on most days, but the day we visited Cosmosphere we left our room at 9:15 am and took off the sign. We returned late afternoon and they’d not cleaned our room, so it seemed like they’d seen the sign on our door before 9:15 am and didn’t bother to come back by later that morning to check if the room needed cleaning.
Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi connection and speed at the hotel was good. There was one slightly annoying aspect as we had to reconnect our phones to the internet whenever we arrived back at the hotel. It seemed to be caused by the hotel’s Wi-Fi setup as that’s not something that usually happens at other hotels we stay at.
Location
The Fairfield Inn & Suites Hutchinson is in a great location for visiting anywhere within the city. Cosmosphere is only a mile away, Strataca is 3.5 miles southeast of the airport, Hutchinson Zoo is 3.5 miles south and Sandhills Brewing is 2.5 miles southwest just off Main St. We’d recommend visiting all those places, so check out this post where we explain why.
Hutchinson is also in a good location for exploring central Kansas, so check out the mini road trip we took if you’re interested in finding a castle, an interesting museum, mushroom rocks, Dala horses and more.
Parking
Parking at the hotel is free. There aren’t many spaces immediately out the front of the hotel, although there are plenty of other spots around the side.
Cost
I mentioned at the start of the review that the Fairfield Inn & Suites Hutchinson is a category 1 property in the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty scheme which means that it costs 7,500 points per night. You get the 5th night free on award stays, so we paid a total of 30,000 points for our five night stay, or an average of 6,000 points per night.
When booking our stay a couple of months beforehand, the cheapest paid rate was $135.10 per night. That means we got 2.25cpp (cents per point) of value from our points. 2.25cpp is about three times the value you’d normally expect to get from Marriott Bonvoy, so staying on points was excellent value.
Final Thoughts
We had a comfortable stay at this hotel, especially seeing as we were upgraded to a more spacious room. That said, there were several features in the room that could be improved upon.
There was a fairly good spread at breakfast, although both the sausage options could be better, while it would’ve been nice if the housekeeping staff was more thorough.
Overall though, the Fairfield Inn & Suites is a decent place to stay if you’re visiting Hutchinson.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives the hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! She sadly didn’t get much attention from the front desk staff as that’s something she craves, but she did love how large our room was as it gave her plenty of space to run after her ball.
The hotel was also only five minutes away from a lovely dog park, so she enjoyed visited that a couple of times during our stay.
Our Rating
Room = 4.2 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.2 / 5
Food = 4.2 / 5
Location = 4.5 / 5
Service = 3.6 / 5
Overall Value = 4.8 / 5Â (n.b. this rating is based on the fact that we used points)
Total = 4.25 / 5
Address
1111 N Lorraine St, Hutchinson, KS 67501
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