Fairmont Newport Beach

For one expensive parking. Next. They have the most uncomfortable bed in the world. Talking about pillows they suck. I called them at 1:30am and ask if they had regular pillows and they stated no. I had to result in using a bath towel as a pillow to get some sort of sleep. I don’t recommend this place at all. I have a better nights sleep at a best western or a days inn then this place. If there was a grade below F I would give it that.

Nice hotel for business travelers. Convenient to airport, friendly staff, nice restaurant, and good gym. Shuttle drivers (Luis, Pedro, and William) are courteous and very helpful.

This place is a ripoff approaching fraud. Be prepared to pay $ 32 per day parking fees. Absolute scam. You’ve been warned.
Service also sucked.

Easy checkin, clean room, nice gym, food & drinks at the pool were good but we parked at the hotel the other night and they failed to tell us it was a $ 32 charge for valet. I let the front desk know about the situation when the receipt came under my door and they said you should have paid attention when you booked your room on Priceline. It wasnt on there. Than it says on the receipt please contact the GM with any questions. I did and he didn’t bother to respond. It’s not about the money but its just how it was handled
Nice hotel but last time we stay here

Stayed here for a work event. The hotel itself was nice, the staff was friendly and the location was great. I really like the courtyard with the gazebo, it would be a nice wedding location for an intimate ceremony. I also liked that the hotel makes their own honey, and it’s delicious! They provided jars of it in your room and coffee stations. The only negative was that there was no free wi-​fi ($ 11 per day).

I booked 3 nights at $ 90 via Priceline and really enjoyed my time here. This was a Friday-​Monday Memorial Day weekend stay, so I was pleased with my bid result.
Yes, the $ 32/​day valet fee is excessive and kinda sucks. But they were pretty prompt with the car for us, as opposed to what some reviewers have said. And I nicely asked the front desk upon checkout if I could be comped 1 of the 3 daily valet charges and they kindly agreed.
Also, join the Presidents Club for free online prior to check-​in, so that wifi will be free each night. Who wants to pay $ 10 a night for wifi at a 4 star hotel? Contrary to what some other reviewers experienced, this membership did not reduce the valet fee to $ 15 per day for me (I asked two different staff members).
Thanks Fairmont and Priceline!

I Love this Hotel and its location. But was quite bugged this morning 6÷4÷16
when Valet brought me my car it was Covered in tree SAP

Very nice hotel. Stayed here one night prior to continuing our trip to Catalina. Staff was fantastic. William the shuttle driver gave us great dinner recommendation and was super friendly. They even gave us a ride and picked us up from Wild Fish restaurant. Julia– thank you so much for going the extra step and when hearing we were going to eat to celebrate my wife’s 40^th birthday, it was a wonderfully pleasant surprise to have a dessert prepared by the hotel restaurant with a Happy Birthday message delivered to our room later that evening. Highly recommend and will definitely stay again.

A Solid 3 Star hotel with a taste of Luxury… just a taste.
:BACKSTORY:
So, needed a place to stay in the area for the night. Came to see Alvin Ailey at the Sergestrom and was going to do dinner at Mastros. I, being the deal-​hunting maven I am went to Hotwire. Low and behold, a 4 star hotel in the Fashion Island area!!! SCORE. I booked it. Then I Google mapped it. Da Hell, this ain’t the Fashion Island area, this is the Airport. I felt ROBBED. Not as robbed as the Fairmont would feel if they knew I paid $ 97…but still, robbed nonetheless.
:HOTEL:
The hotel is nice. Not over the top and not bummy. A nice hotel airport honestly. The staff were very friendly and welcoming. There is a bar that gets packed, then again they may have been having an event.
Odd, you need your key card to get ice.
:ROOM:
The room was nice. Nothing major. The bed was super comfy. There is a Chaise with a lovely view of the parking lot lol. The bathroom was sparkling with marble (or what looks like marble)
I’d stay here again. With the knowledge it’s by the airport.

I had high hopes for this hotel when Priceline chose this hotel for me using their Express deal. Fairmount failed BIG time in so many ways!!! It looks nice on paper, but that Mandatory Parking for $ 32 bucks is excessive and over priced!!! There is simply no reason to charge that amount, and no mention of the price upon check in. I learned of the price on check out, they hide that from you from the beginning!
Also, no free Wi-​Fi in the room! They Charge you $ 10-​$ 20 bucks depends on speed, if you want Internet access in your room! That is just plain stupid in this day of age. Many hotels now offer free Wi-​Fi. You can get free wi-​fi if you go to the main lobby.
They charge $ 7 bucks for bottle of water? Not that I would do that, but that is the ridiculous. They had a Loud Bar Mitzah booked on the night I stayed here, they had a DJ pumped LOUD Thump Thump Music until 11:00pm that could be heard throughout the whole hotel!!! I’m sorry, a hotel is a place to get a good night’s rest, as I had to get up 4:30am the next morning. I got NO sleep at this hotel!
The AC unit was noisy, I could not sleep. when I turned it off, the room quickly got hot and stuffy. Also, there was a strange motor noise in the room, possible from other rooms, it was too noisy, distracting from me getting a good night’s rest. I have stayed at lesser star level hotels, and got excellent sleep. Not at this flea bag place!
I would NEVER stay at this hotel again and I have filed a complaint with Priceline about not disclosing their excessive forced $ 32 parking fee, which is deceiving. Avoid this hotel at all cost!!!

I recently stayed at this location and was pleasantly surprised. Not only was our room clean but the staff was very friendly. The hotel is close to the airport which was great for an early morning flight.
I called ahead of time to ask questions about the property so that I could plan accordingly regarding transportation, car rentals, parking, et cetera.
I will definitely stay at The Fairmont again!

I booked a 1-​night business stay at the Fairmont through Priceline’s «Express Deals» feature, where you get a great hotel price, but don’t find out the location until after you commit to buy. Ordinarily this works out great. However, nothing in my booking indicated that the hotel I ended up with had MANDATORY valet parking, at $ 35/​night additional to the room cost.
Ordinarily, I don’t like valet anyway, as I don’t like having to worry about wanton or reckless damage to my car or its’ contents, or waiting around when I have somewhere to be. True to form, at 8am on Sunday, there was a large number of people waiting around out front of the hotel, while the valet staff, and the cars, were nowhere to be seen. If you have the audacity to give me no choice in using your valet service, and charge me $ 35/​day for the privilege, you can be sure that I would expect no more than a 5min wait for my vehicle.
After complaining to the front desk, they did reduce the valet charge by 50%, but that did little to comfort me. I won’t be back to this hotel, certainly not at the very least until they have a self-​park option. At bare minimum, the valet cost should be included in the room cost, as there is no other parking option available. I feel I was duped, as I would never have expected to pay San Francisco parking rates in Orange County.
Otherwise, it was generally a very nice hotel, but so are plenty of others in this area.

4 and 5 star hotel properties maintain unyielding attention to detail and to customer service.
The Fairmont Newport Beach is VERY uneven in its attention to detail and customer service and as a result I would HIGHLY advise business travelers to avoid this property and stay in the host of other true 4 or 5 star properties in the Newport — Huntington Beach area.
My review covers only one aspect of my stay. the Valet service. other recent reviewers have commented in detail on other issues with this property.
To business travelers, time is important. The valet and front desk staff do not care about guests time or appointments. On a busy weekday at 8:00 am I had to wait 28 minutes for my car to be brought around by the Valet team. (Lets not even discuss the ridiculous 35 dollar VALET ONLY parking fee. even for base level or Platinum Presidents Club members. or the fact that guests have no other option than valet parking unlike the paid self park options that other 4 or 5 star properties in the area offer)
After having to ask a surly lady at the Valet counter twice to have my car brought around the Valet employee who finally delivered my vehicle had the audacity to make a condescending remark towards me after I asked him why they were taking so long to bring around guest cars.
The truly galling aspect of this interaction with the Valet employee is that he had the arrogance AND courage to make the condescending remark while I was placing a tip into his hand for taking 28 minutes to deliver my car.
Now I am sure that Ms Newcomer; the Fairmont Newport Beach PR manager, (who I give immense credit to for already replying to my initial email to her with my concerns with the Valet service) will comment that during busy times there is no guarantee as to how long it will take to receive a car from Valet parking or that the under staffing in the Valet area was a one time event and that I should try the property on a future business stay.
I will decline in advance as for one, I only stayed at the Fairmont Newport Beach one night this trip due to the regular properties I stay at in the Fashion Island or the Huntington Beach area being booked and secondly to business travelers time is of utmost importance and I refuse to take a chance on missing additional client meetings due to poor staffing decisions and poor customer service.
To sum up. at 4 or 5 star properties one expects a certain base level of customer service. that’s why guests pay a premium for these properties. But even with something as basic as having a Valet deliver a car in a timely manner the Newport Beach Fairmont fails miserably and if you as a business traveler do not want to have your time (nor your clients money) wasted. stay elsewhere when in the area.

Not too bad, not too amazing. Got a great deal for this place off of Trivago, $ 120 for a Saturday day night ($ 150 with fees). It’s very beautiful, updated, and has nice staff.
Checkin was the same as anywhere; you get a key (haha).
Rooms are clean, nice, and have comfy beds (very important). We switched rooms since there was a baby crying and a child screaming bloody murder; when we attempted to call downstairs we could not figure out how the phone works (they are cordless and never have a dial tone or any clue that they are working). We called the front desk from our cell phones and they took care of us (and told us if a baby is crying they call security, eek). Second room was still nice as well, totally worth it.
Stay was perfect, would stay here again.

Perhaps it says something about me to start my review of a hotel by mentioning its bar: Excellent excellent excellent bar: cocktails made perfectly. The bartender displayed a diverse mastery of both classic and contemporary cocktails without reaching for a book. The pours were even, not cheated, but not «frat house» pours either. The subtle details were noticed: zest not peel, peel not whole fruit, the correct fruit when appropriate. Quick service. A bit overpriced, but great.
The room was comfortable, cleaned well, bed and pillows were comfy. The water pressure was solid and the hot water was steaming.
The valet was prompt, though insanely overpriced. I paid more to park then for the rental car.
The pool is small, but the pool area is ample and comfortable.
The food service was surprisingly creative and very tasty.
All staff were 5-​stars.

* STAY THE HELL AWAY*
Just checked in and there’s a telephone in the bathroom, right next to the toilet. Sure, that’s normal, but this one is covered in feces. Are you serious?

What I liked: The hotel and rooms were very clean, nicely maintained and the staff I encountered were very pleasant. The cabanas around the pool and the swimming pool were open. (That’s why you come to southern California in January). A request for more bath towels was immediately addressed, they were literally at my door within 1 – 2 minutes.
What I didn’t like: Being presented a waiver form for having a service animal.

It was a pleasure to find a hotel of Fairmont quality within walking distance of John Wayne Airport. I come to this area every year with a fairly large group. We stay in a variety of hotels: the Island Hotel Newport Beach, the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa, maybe more. This Fairmont is A-​OK *at a minimum*. My room was large, comfortable and quiet. It had a nice view of the pool area, which could plausibly appeal to some.
Reading the Unilocal reviews, I see a lot of grumbling about the mandatory expensive valet parking. That’s annoying if you found a cheap room rate online and discover on arrival that the stay was a lot more pricey than you imagined. I never saw a parking charge because my group negotiated an all-​in rate that included discounted parking for those of us who arrived by car.
I joined the Fairmont President’s Club long ago and therefore got free WiFi in my room. The provider puts annoying frames around web pages:
24×7 Technical Support 1−888−240−3736 Remaining Time — 8:19:04
The information is obtrusive and not at all helpful. The whole system is tacky. It certainly interfered with my viewing of the New York Times page. (The Unilocal page survived unscathed.) I checked into another Fairmont (the Miramar, in Santa Monica) after leaving this one and did not encounter similar frames.
Some reviews referred to free lobby coffee in the morning. I didn’t see that, but there was a Keurig machine in my room.

Unilocal 100 review challenge ⁴⁄₁₀₀
Was looking for a local «stay-​cation» and Fairmont Hotel caught our eye. Not only cause we had the pleasure of staying at Fairmont Orchard in Kona Coast, Hawaii 11 years ago. So we wanted similar experience. Fairmont Newport Beach was was a «B+» experience compared to Hawaii tho.
So for starters there’s no big huge sign posted for the hotel, so it’s easy to pass by. Then once you find the place you’ll pull up to *surprise* valet parking only…$ 30 daily. But, sign up for the Presidents Club for free and it will be $ 15 a night parking. And more perks of being presidential the $ 10-​$ 12 wifi will be free as well. Your welcome ;)!
So, we were given a regular room on the 7^th floor. Once entered eyed the whole place took photos. But, that smell whatever it was something stinky was very disturbing. We mentioned it upfront. Right away we were moved to the 10^th floor. A non-​stinky room. Slightly upgraded. Honestly wasn’t nothing more than a view of pool area, and two love seats instead of one.
We went downstairs to the spa to find out more information about the Sanctuary Room which was listed under Spa services. Sadly, the girl upfront didn’t know much about it. And her presentation of the room totally downgraded what the hotel was advertising. It promised a relaxing tub with essentials oils and such. We were shown a Jacuzzi Tub and a shower! (Note: The women’s/men’s sanctuary rooms are seperate).
Instead went to lobby to inquire about room update with a better soaking tub for $ 80. So dude upfront made a mistake. And we finally landed in an executive suite on the house. Haha. Sweet. So totally didn’t mind all the moving. Thought of it as: Hotel room hopping. Plus I got to compare all the rooms. And we’re totally gonna stay at executive suites from now on. Haha.
Executive suite vs. Typical Room
Executive suite has the following perks:
1) two toliet areas
2) soaking tub separate
3) big showers
4) two TVs
5) livingroom
6) balcony with table and chairs
Plus everything in the typical room
Typical room was standard hotel bedroom, desk, closet, keurig, and basic restroom.
What else? Hmm… there’s restaurants and bar downstairs. Also a tiny gift shop. But, I Unilocaled and explored the south coast. There are brochures of things to do nearby which are helpful as well.
–Ice on each floor/​near vending machines. (Usually a given). On the 10^th floor they did run outta ice. So we hiked to the 9^th to grab some. Haha.
That’s pretty much about it. There are smoke free rooms which are great. Some of the rooms it does look like furniture eventually needs to be replaced quite worn out. So that would be great to see on our next visit.
Valet was very nice. Just call ahead and ask them to pull-​up your car so you don’t have to wait. They also offer bikes if you wanna ride around locally. That was a cool option. Totally passed on it though.
Cody was in charge of moving us around! He got the job done. Although he chuckled a bit when he found out we were locals. Lmao. It is quite funny. But stay-​cations are fun and much needed sometimes.
Will definitely be back!

It’s always nice going back to a hotel your familiar with. We drove into the OC at the last minute so we quickly found a hotel at a great price and lucky for us it was the Fairmont.
We had a late check-​in and our room was clean comfy and cozy. However, when I sat on the bed I soon discovered it was lopsided and quickly called to see if I could get another room. In an instant a room manager came up to provide a new room key and to apologize for any inconvenience.
Our new room faced the gorgeous swimming pool so we were happy to be swiftly accommodated.
I love the location of the hotel. Close to everything you need in Newport Beach. Valet only no self-​parking. Front desk very friendly and overall a wonderful stay.
Coffee maker in the rooms. Room service is pricey but there is a restaurant on the first floor. Not to mention there are so many restaurants/café’s/diners where you can go and grab a bite to eat so it’s really no inconvenience.
It’s our go-​to in Newport Beach.