Hotel was easy to find, however signage for parking not very clear. Check in was smooth, however when we got to room it smelled horribly of cigarette smoke. Went back to desk and got room change. When we got to new room, the door was open, and it was still dirty. Talked to front desk and housekeeping, nad we left our bags in the room, and went out to explore Galveston. When we got back a couple of hours later the room was clean, however it is just an average room. Door to balcony is big steel door, and balcony overlooked parking lot with a slight ocean view when leaning out.
I booked this as a 1 night pre cruise hotel, and was told they had parking for 15.00 for week and a free shuttle to pier. The next morning when we went to put the car where it was supposed to go, it was in an unsecured back lot behind the LaQuinta next door. There were no fences and I was not comfortable leaving my car there, so we made a reservation at EZ Cruise Parking that was 2 blocks from pier and they were great!
We went to lobby breakfast before checking out, and there was a busload of people, and their group lkeader was yelling at the buffet stocker, who was also the baggage handler that they were on a time schedule, and he had to go right then and collect everyone's bags...that left the buffet unmanned and empty. After finding an empty coffee urn, cold biscuits, and an empty pancake making machine, we just left and went to starbucks before getting on the cruise.

All in all, it was ok, but for the difference in actual money saved, I think next time I will stay closer to Houston, and just pay to park. Convenience was just not worth it!

If you are looking for a customer friendly oriented hotel, DO NOT stay at this place. The manager was very rude and not accommodating at all with our problem. Especially stressful when all area hotels were booked. We cancelled our reservations and thankfully for hotels who are customer friendly driven, we found an alternate place to stay with a great last minute rate during a busy event and friendly hotel staff. Please do not spend your money here especially if you book a state govt rate. You must have official work orders AND they will have to call to verify that you did not forge the document, according to the manager. Making a call to state goverment agencies on the weekend are impossible especially on a weekend when everyone at personnel division are off. if you run into a problem, they are not going to be helpful. They will just ask you to cancel your reservations in hopes of charging a Saturday rate of $324 a night to someone else instead of a cheaper rate when booked online.

We stayed here Friday October 19, 2012 in room #210. We checked out of another "on the beach" hotel that wasn't, and after finding the weekend rates at all the Island hotels too high, we took a gamble on Priceline for the first time and blindly chose a 2.5 star hotel at $100 a night. It turned out to be a good gamble. I've always been a fan of HI Express, but this one was exceptionally good. Caveat: when booking on Priceline, you get the room they assign you. We wanted a king room, we got a double queen. No worries, it was still a great stay. By the way, if you want a balcony that fully faces the Gulf, they are all king suites. It's not a problem, the view from our balcony was really good. Breakfast was awesome, with their cinnamon rolls, cheese omelets, waffles, and good coffee. The staff kept up very well with the demand that a tour bus of seniors put on breakfast. I will definitely make this my Island hotel from now on. Okay, one thing to keep in mind if you or a travel mate are short or must sit in the shower. The shower has two heads, one fixed up high, and one lower that can be handheld. The problem is, to turn on the lower shower head, you must reach to the top of the fixed head 6 1/2 feet high and pull up on a knob. Good luck if you are wheelchair bound.......

Very pleasant & professional front desk personnel, with the routine breakfast offerings, so no big problems. However, the carpeting in the public areas look like they have never been cleaned since the day the hotel opened. Dirty, dingy & stained, especially in front of the elevators. And be sure that you do not get rooms near the elevators, or you will certainly hear the music that is BLASTING through the ceiling speakers. Who thinks music should be this loud in a hotel?
Room numbers ending in 01-05 are at the front of the hotel with balconies directly overlooking the beach on the other side of the highway, so you would think they would be the best rooms. Be careful what you ask for however. The highway noise makes it unpleasant to sit on the balconies, & the spotlights on each corner of the front parking lot, which illuminate the hotel "all night long", shine DIRECTLY at & into these rooms, so you cannot sit on the balconies without sunshades -- who approved this design? Makes the front balconies basically useless. You are better off to take rooms on the side & towards the middle of the hotel, so you can partially avoid the spotlights, which makes the front room balconies as pleasant as sitting in a Walmart parking lot.