The Fairfield Inn is one of several accommodations which hug the West Gate Mall on Naglee Road in Tracy. It was a few days before Christmas, and when we arrived, the staff was busy hanging decorations on their tree. As always, check-in was speedy and courteous; we had a room on the third floor.

For some reason, I always have problems with the wireless service and need to resort to calling the provider. This time, one of the gadgets which hooked up to the computer had to be replaced... oh, well.

Though I had my bathing suit, I never did make it to the heated indoor pool; curiously, I didn't see anyone in it, no matter what time of day it was. I was thrilled to find oatmeal as one of the choices at breakfast, since I was and still am on a diet! They do go heavy on the sweet stuff: doughnuts, danishes in three varieties, bread, bread, and more bread, bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter. But also, for folks like me, there is yogurt, apples and bananas, and occasionally, I would find an Earl Grey teabag. There were some families in the hotel, but it was mostly businesspeople.

From the window of our room, I could see all the activity, or lack of it, at the mall; in the morning, one needs to wait until the cloudiness dissipates. Which is exactly what I did when I ventured outside. The room was always cleaned by the time I returned.

There's a hair dryer, an iron, plenty of drawers, and a spacious desk area, plus two phones. Be sure to request non-smoking if that is what you wish, as we were given a smoking room that had to be changed.