Let me start by saying we read the recent reviews the day before we left for the Alden, and it scared us. We were very wary and prepared to ask for all issues encountered to be resolved, or leave.

The Hotel Alden was a comfortable stay! We had read the reviews before we came, and were ready to smell "the smell," to be bothered by the noise with the air conditioning, be on-guard with the area, etc. All of this is overinflated if you ask me.

On first arriving, we almost paid the $25 valet fee, but lucked out and managed to find a meter 10 feet past the entrance of the hotel. We opted to pay $3, seeing it was 4:00 pm Friday and weekend rates were soon to start (meters are free Friday to Sunday, usually). This was a nice re-pocket of money we had expected to spend. The hotel is small, but appears very nice when you walk in. It's dark/dimly lit throughout, which we later questioned if this was to hide some of the flaws we found once we had been there a few hours. Regardless, it's a small, renovated hotel, and they have done a good job translating the ambience they were going for.

As the previous reviews instructed, we asked for the highest floor available and were given one of the best rooms in the place. It was the corner on the 10th floor, great view of the city and the bathroom looked identical to the picture. The rooms however, I guess the best way to put it is, they had a certain "Ikea quality.". Very modern, attempting to look sleek, but on closer inspection, the furniture was shabby or cheap and the room appeared to have some wear and tear. The nice part though was the things that mattered. The beds were very comfortable, felt like a substantial thread count on the sheets, pillows were softer than I usually go for, but fine, the bathroom had Aveda products, the views were great, and while the lack of ice bucket was a first, it wasn't an issue, they even brought us a bigger one so that we wouldn't need to continue to call down there. Staff responsiveness matters in a hotel. We found 2 of our lights needed lightbulbs replaced and they were at the room in under 5 minutes of calling.

Now, there was a smell in the hallway. It was faint, but it was there. It was a very musty, urban, damp type of smell, but it certainly wasn't unbearable. Being that it was only in the hallway, not the rooms, we commented on it, but thought nothing more. (it seems like a smell that an old hotel would retain, there are exposed pipes in the halls, and we figured this could contribute to it as well.)

as a side note, we were in town for a concert--Verizon Theater--when we left the theater after the concert, there was an overwhelmingly awful sewer smell just outside, downtown. It was bad enough to make me gag a couple times!!!

To address some of the recent reviews we read before going. There is a bail bonds place on about every corner in downtown Houston. It's HOUSTON. A very large, very urban city that recently saw a revitalization. Downtown Houston looks great compared to what it was in the past. There was no danger outside of the ordinary danger any traveler faces when traveling to a large city. You are on the outskirts of most of the larger, more expensive hotels, but the Alden makes up for a lot of this in little ways.

We did have turn down service. They did change the glasses, it seemed. There was only one robe, but I get the feeling had this been an issue, we could have requested another. The staff was more than helpful and professional.

After reading some of these review, the decor, while, like stated before had an "Ikea Quality to it" all could have easily been a taste preference. The previous review that stated there were only blinds, not curtains for blackout purposes, must have missed the retractable blackout shade that pulled down from behind the blinds? We had no issue making the room pitch black to sleep in a little.

Also, while the room was humid when we first arrived, it cooled off easily and the A/C seemed to work fine. Houston is a very humid city, A/C is almost always needed, and running an A/C lower than you would normally will usually clear some of that out of the air. This is not a hotel issue, humidity in Houston is a Houston issue. if you don't like heat and extreme humidity, don't travel to Houston between April and September! It's unbreable for residents of the city!

We utilized the car service twice, once to get to the concert and back and again in the morning to make a quick trip to the CVS. The drivers, both times, were extremely helpful and professional, and it was SO nice to be able to leave our car in one spot until we left.

What wasn't good at the hotel was the room service. Given, it was the "late night" menu, it was still so bad we sent back everything we ordered. I am not typically one to send back food, as long as it is edible, but the burned burger, the stale chips, the flavorless chewy pasta were just not acceptable. Staff was great though, we called and the staff removed the total bill.

Best part about the hotel? The bar. The bartender was friendly, helpful and very nice. We ended up skipping other venues after the concert to return to the Alden. Major thumbs up to the bartender!!! He was a lot of fun and told us some great stories, made great recommendations, and served good drinks. We also found the bar to be a very reasonable price compared to many of the locations in the area.

Overall, I wouldn't stay in the Alden for more than 2 nights, but we got the room at a good price, were located 1/2 mile from where we needed to go, and really had a good time being there. At times, we felt like we had the whole hotel to ourselves. I would tell friends to stay there, but would liken it to a fancier Holiday Inn, with a modern/urban decor (albeit, a cheap one). I liked the Alden and would definitely consider it if I was going back to Houston. However, I also feel Houston in general is a city best left to visit rarely.