OK, I lived in Houston for 10 years and pretty much know the hotels around town, even watched this one come up. I’ve stayed at the Doubletree Suites, the St. Regis and the Houstonian before. I shopped around Expedia for hotel prices. This one was priced at $156 a night, the Houstonian being just $30 more (trust me, if you plan to pay anywhere near $150 a night for this hotel, pay the little extra and go to the Houstonian).

Fortunately I didn’t have to pay this rate. A previous reviewer on this site noted that they obtain a card called ‘The Entertainment Card’ and this gave them a 50% discount. So I did just that. Go to [--] and for just $9.99 you can get this card. Then simply call the hotel or go online directly to the hotel and book. There, under ‘Rate Preference’ select Entertainment Card and you’ll get this heavily discounted rate.

The hotel itself is in the Galleria area, so if you’re in town to shop and enjoy the restaurants it’s a great place to start out. The hotel from the outside looks impressive even though it’s right on 610. The staff here are helpful and efficient. And for me, that’s probably where I stop complimenting the hotel. The rest of this review is on the bad parts:
• Parking at this hotel is expensive, whether you valet or self park. $14 a day to park my own car is stupid.
• The rooms are SMALL by US standards and probably even European standards! There’s nothing like a new hotel that tries to cram in as many rooms as they can, this is one of those sardine can hotels. The room ceilings are low; probably less than 8’ and for a room that is already small, having short ceilings only makes it feel even smaller.
• Our room was located right next to the elevators. I am not sure if that’s because I paid $70 or what, but the entire stay all you here are the elevators going up and down.
• The bathroom was SMALL. The water from the faucets barely came out.
• The door to the room itself was loose and when closed you could still move it back and forth.
• Did I mention the rooms are SMALL??
• Had breakfast once downstairs…utter waste of time. Service was slow, very slow in fact, it only took 45 minutes for them to make an omelet, even though it was 10:30am and restaurant was nearly empty. And even after taking 45 minutes, they’d made the wrong omelet! As for the buffet breakfast selection very limited and dull.
• Oh yes one last thing, the rooms are SMALL!

So to save money and pay $70 maybe worthwhile, but I think next time, I think I’ll pass on sacrificing my comfort for the sake of saving money because at this hotel, I don’t think it’s much of saving. If they’re charging more than $70 a night for such rooms then they’re ripping people off!

Booked a room from Priceline for $65 + taxes/fees for a weekend. I called the hotel to ask for a room with a king size bed. They said they could put a note in the reservation, but couldn't guarantee it. Fine. We get to the hotel on a Saturday afternoon and I ask for a room with a king size bed. I was told none were available. Yet, a person checking in next to us was offered a choice of a king size bed or doubles, and chooses the bed with two doubles. Not a good start for this hotel. Essentially I was just lied to at check-in. This hotel won't get my business travel in the future. We got a room on the 9th floor away from the elevators, but facing the highway. Thankfully, the windows are double paned, so it was a quiet sleep. The beds were okay.. the room was fine, nothing special. I didn't partake in the in-room mini bar, nor the fitness center, nor the pool/jacuzzi. We essentially used the hotel as a place to sleep so we wouldn't impose on friends of ours in Houston.

$14/day for self parking is a little high. It's not like you're parking in Downtown Houston. However, a little tip to save a few $. On Sunday, we parked our car in a parking garage next door to the hotel for free (when facing the front of the hotel, this garage is on the right). This is when we needed to go back to the hotel for a few hours during the afternoon. This parking garage had 3 cars in it, so it was being underutilized.

With the money spent on parking (in addition to the priceline price), we could have booked a lower star hotel directly, had free parking, free wi-fi internet, and been closer to where we were visiting.

I booked the InterContinental on priceline for $75 + tax/fees. So I feel I got a really sweet deal, and can't complain about anything at that price.

The InterContinental is very nice and elegant. Check-in was fast and efficient and they didn't make me feel "small" for using priceline, which was nice. However, my room key didn't work, and I had to trudge back to the desk and wait in line to have that fixed.

I wound up not having dinner since I looked at the menu of the restaurant and didn't see anything that looked appetizing. I was looking for typical fare, rather than cutting edge "fancy" cuisine. But this is just my preference.

The room was very nice, although I was put into a double, with two full-sized beds. This made the room seem smaller, and the bed wasn't very comfortable, due to size and mattress quality. The bathroom is fairly small, but nicely appointed.

Room service in the morning was very good. The food was excellent quality.

Overall, a very nice stay, particularly at the price I paid.

This hotel is about 3 blocks from the Galleria. It's not an easy walk though. Lots and lots of heavy traffic. Rooms and bathrooms are small, but pretty nice. Check in is not too easy as not many people are working the front desk, and they messed up my bill and lost my check, but they found it a little later. Elevators are pretty quick. The meeting rooms are nice and big with plenty of chairs. The restaurant is expensive. It's a pretty nice place to stay--not my favorite.