We stayed at Hampton Inn in Fairbanks twice for a total of five nights in January 2026. We were on an Aurora viewing trip and saw some great activity. We spent three nights at Hampton, then decamped to Borealis Basecamp, came back for two more nights then went home. Services are typical of Hampton, which is why I usually chose this brand first when using Hilton app. Staff was uniformly friendly and helpful, within the limitations of what was broken.
Room: nice studios both times, rooms were spacious and clean, with fridge and microwave. TV remote didn't work, had to go to desk to swap it out. Once I got a functioning remote, the TV worked fine and had a nice selection of channels including HBO. Second time chose room on fourth floor facing north for a better view. Remote worked fine there, but both lotion and hand soap bottles at vanity were empty. Also, most of the USB jacks (both at desk, both on one side of bed) did not work. Fortunately, I travel with plenty of adapters so was able to power all my devices. Both rooms used an odd mattress pad cover that didn't have sides to speak of, so it just tried to grip the top of the mattress and kept popping loose.
Breakfast: usual Hampton quality, fine but nothing to get excited about- except the sliced smoked maple kielbasa-style sausage they had two days. Very good! I never saw milk out for drinking (just cereal). There was always enough seating for us.
Shuttle: their van was out for service, so they paid for our cab from airport for our first stay, and back to airport after second stay. We knew about van being out for service on arrival, so first tried Uber but learned that there are few drivers in Fairbanks so after waiting 20 minutes for pickup with no updates, I called Hampton desk and they said they would call a cab for us. Waited for a bit until a nice man offered to share his cab with us. I called back hotel and clerk said she hadn't been able to get through to anyone yet. It dropped him off then continued to hotel where desk clerk paid him and I tipped. Shuttle was supposed to be back in service for our return, but they ended up calling us a cab again. Lesson learned here is to plan your transportation ahead of time.
Amenities: Pool and hot tub (which were indoor) were closed for our entire stay. They said it was because the emergency exit door was frozen shut! Seems like something you should plan for in Fairbanks. Disappointing as I swim for exercise, and like a good hot tub soak. There was a fitness room that looked fine. Guest laundry had two washers (one out of order) and two dryers. Shop at front desk had a wide assortment of snacks and microwavable meals. The front desk stored an extra piece of luggage for us between our two stays, so we didn't have to wrestle with it at the Basecamp, so kudos for them on that.
Neighborhood: There are quite a few stores and restaurants nearby. In warmer weather a lot would be walking distance. In January in 20 below temps, walking distance becomes a little more subjective. There's a McDonalds next door, Panda Express a reasonable walk, and across the highway there's a Walmart and Sportsman's Warehouse to fill your gear needs. I walked over there to pick up a couple things our first night. I had to walk on the shoulder of the roads (sidewalks were under multiple feet of snow) and thankfully had Yaktraks for my boots. The right clothing and gear make it possible, and we had brought plenty.
Don't know if this was a problem with the app or front desk workflow, but for our second stay I pre-selected my room on top floor. We were dropped off from the Basecamp around 1:30PM and of course our room wasn't ready, so they stored our bags for us. We hiked across the highway (bit under a mile round trip) for late lunch. Was expecting a text when room was ready so we sat in Starbucks after lunch and had a coffee, waiting for text. Hadn't arrived by 3:30 (half hour after check-in time) so we just headed back. Room WAS ready, and we did get our text but an hour after we were settled into our room.