I had the opportunity to take another business trip to Houston, Texas. If you read my previous review for the Courtyard Marriott at Brookhollow, located a few miles outside Houston, from a few weeks ago you will have found that I gave the hotel a fair review. However, I decided not to stay at the same hotel again because the ending of my stay wasn't so great plus the location is fairly far outside the area of Houston that I was working in. So this time around I decided to stay in a totally opposite area of Houston on the other side of the city near the Houston Medical Campus. This is brand new hotel and has only been open for just about a year, so its perfect timing for a fresh review on it. My thinking about booking this hotel was that it had to be better then the Brookhollow experience from a few weeks ago.
Location: 7 of 10
The Courtyard Marriott is located just a few miles (2.3 miles) from the massive Texas Medical Campus in Houston. The hotel is located right off Main Street and is a straight shot right into the downtown of Houston. The location of this hotel is much better then the Brookhollow hotel by a long shot and has a lot more restaurants, shopping and general stores around the location. Right across from the Courtyard is a Marriott Residence Inn, and from the looks of it, the way the Courtyard is wedged into the property would make one assume that this location was probably the former parking lot for the Residence Inn. The Courtyard has an underground parking garage and extra parking in the back and I saw quite a few people walking from the parking garage to the Residence Inn. Overall, the location is adequate and easy to get to downtown Houston along with Texas Children's Hospital and surrounding medical facilities. However, one word of caution, I do not recommend trying to make a left hand turn out of the parking lot in the morning hours, its nearly impossible. Make a right turn and proceed down Kirby Avenue and go around the circle to get to the stop light on the other side if you have to go down main street. I knocked a full point off the rating because entering/exiting the hotel facilities for BOTH the Residence Inn and the Courtyard is brutal and horribly designed. In the architects/engineers favor, it doesn't seem they had many options to design it any differently.
Service: 4 of 10
Most Marriott Hotels have fairly good service, even the previous stay at Brookhollow had a good service front desk. However, I am not sure what is going on with this Marriott. The front desk staff were a bunch of impolite, moody, unfriendly (insert any other remark!) people that I have dealt with at a Marriott in recent memory. I understand that you may not like your job, but please don't take it out on the guests at the hotel, its unacceptable and extremely unprofessional.
The check-in process was acceptable, although as I mentioned above the the lady checking me in didn't even say good afternoon. When I asked if if I was going to be near the elevators or ice machine I got an attitude back and a response of "Well I put you a door or two down I think, I don't remember, if you are unhappy just call the front desk" and she proceeded to walk away like my question was unacceptable to her.
The check-out process was even worse. First, every hotel should know by know that business people usually check out of their room early, and usually all at the same time. If you only have a single person working the front desk, PLEASE tell them to BE AT THE FRONT DESK! Its very frustrating to have to wait in line for a simple check out and even worse, have to walk around the corner of the front desk and walk into the back room and interrupt a casual conversation between two employees (that had NOTHING to do with work) and ask if you can be checked out!! Unacceptable! This Marriott failed on the "checkout scale" for me for this stay.
Facilities: 7 of 10 for quality - 2 of 10 for Noise Suppression!
This Courtyard had all of the typical Marriott specials and guest services including a gym, computer/office area, available printers, internet cafe (free) and cafe/breakfast bar/dinner bar. The lobby area was very spacious and open along with being inviting. There was a very large meeting area setup and casual area for sitting around and meeting with friends and family and holding small meetings. The hotel itself is designed with the new Marriott style "hip" or "contemporary" themed areas, I am not a huge fan of it but it is inviting and open.
The BIG issue I have with this hotel is the lack of noise suppression in-between the rooms. I have NEVER been in a hotel where you can hear the person in the room next door crystal clear. At first I thought it was because of the pass through connecting doors between the rooms letting sound escape, but I was wrong. I could hear everything the person was saying in the room on my other side too, including his credit card number when he was on the phone ordering/confirming something. Not cool at all!! I don't know if they simply skipped on the sound suppression material between rooms or they used something cheap, but I was absolutely shocked how much I could hear.
Final Rating: 6 of 10
Ok, final rating time, if you can deal with the noise between rooms then this hotel is nice and very acceptable. The rooms are beautiful inside with very comfortable beds and clean new bathrooms with a lot of room and functional layout. I have included some pictures of the room below and as you can see everything is new and designed well. However, I always am able to find something, in my room the carpeting was starting buckle and roll in locations. Basically it happens when the carpet wasn't pulled tight enough during installation, also using a cheap carpet can cause this. Eventually this will become a safety hazard to the elderly and even younger children as the carpet becomes even more uneven and can cause a trip or fall.
Overall, I would stay here again. However I would ask for an end room or a room with no one next to me. Obviously I am sure I will get some "attitude" when asking for this, but the noise was just unacceptable for me, especially considering you can hear every single conversation that occurs between rooms and in the hallway.
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