A last-minute business trip to Houston found me at the Magnolia Hotel, downtown near Minute Maid Park. It was a Saturday night right before a big international convention, so the place was packed.

But when I arrived at the hotel, the front desk attendants couldn't find my reservation. Even when I handed them a printout with my reservation confirmation code, they still shrugged their shoulders and said, "sorry."

Suffice it to say, despite what was a beautiful, modernly decorated lobby, I was none too impressed with the staff at the Magnolia right off the bat.

So I called up American Express Traveler Services. After a half an hour on hold, they told me to talk to the Magnolia's manager on duty, an Alex Trojanowski. And from this point on, my experience at the Magnolia improved dramatically.

Alex apologized profusely for the glitch (even though it very well could have been American Express' fault), comped me two extra drinks at the 2nd-floor hotel lounge (on top of the standard Happy Hour two drinks free) and gave me a double in-room breakfast the following morning for no charge.

Oh, and Alex also put me in a suite for the same price as my regular room.

My reservation crisis averted, I quickly found out that Ms. Trojanowski isn't the only reason to love the Magnolia. It boasts Houston's only rooftop pool and jacuzzi area, offering a dazzling view of the skyline.

My suite was spacious and modern, with two televisions, a kitchenette, a full dining table and living area in addition to a large bathroom and ample bedroom. The king bed was comfortable and clean, but the pillows were a bit lumpy and hard; so if you're someone who's particular about their pillows, I would either request softer pillows or bring your own.

The bar at the Magnolia is large and inviting, with a two-free-drink happy hour on Saturday (I haven't stayed there any other night, so I don't know if it's just on the weekend). The bar also offers a complimentary milk-and-cookie bar late at night and a free breakfast bar in the morning. Didn't try those, but the milk-and-cookie bar sounded novel.

The in-room breakfast, on the other hand, was above-average. I enjoyed the scrambled eggs with maple sausage, potatoes and wheat toast. (But they were out of rye, which was disappointing.)

The free shuttle at the Magnolia is a major reason to stay there. I never waited more than 5 minutes, and it took me anywhere I wanted to go (all my destinations happened to be downtown). The shuttle is a roomy, comfortable SUV along the lines of a Yukon or a Suburban--not a clunky bus-type thing. The drivers do expect tips.

It should be noted that the Magnolia is rather close to a nightclub or two (like, a block away or so), and on the weekend you can hear the cars and the music. I was faintly aware of the noise while awake, but it was never loud enough to disturb me in my sleep.

So despite a rocky start, the staff, or at least Alex Trojanowski, went out of their way to make my stay at the Magnolia a comfortable one, in what is an already posh hotel in a convenient downtown location.

The Magnolia is a nicely designed hotel. The historic building (a defunct Houston newspaper was here) is beautifully maintained, and we stayed here because a friend said it was a nice hotel with bigger than average rooms. He was right on all counts. We got a standard king room, and at 420 square feet, it was more than adequate. We ran into the manager in the elevator, and he seemed very interested in how our stay was going. We saw him again at the evening reception, when he came by to say hello.

THE LIBRARY: This room is open to relax/kick back, read a book, or check your email. Yes, this is where you'll find a couple of computers with internet access. It was my favorite room in the hotel. Lots of old books line the bookshelves, and the room is clearly available for conferences.

THE BILLIARD ROOM: I've never been to a hotel with a pool table. It's a separate room next to the bar, and it's a terrific touch. No cost to play.

MILK AND COOKIES BUFFET: This was actually a bit of a dsappointment. The build-up at the hotel's website made me think there'd be a cookie chef or something, and warm, freshly bakeed cookies (not that they made that claim... they did no such thing). No such luck. The cookies were good, but they were cool and sitting on the buffet with three kinds of milk. The "buffet" is next to the bar; it just looked like no big deal. If I owned the hotel, I'd try to make this feature a bit more interesting.

SERVICE: A little bit of good and a little bit of not so good. The manager, as I mentioned, was terrific and seemed genuinely interested in our comfort. The staff was hit or miss. We had a terrific waitress on Sunday night during the complimentary drinks hour. She recommended a good restaurant (Ninfa's... fantastic!), she called the hotel's car service on our behalf, and she was paying attention The next night, we had another waitress and she was completely indifferent -- almost seemed annoyed that we were getting free drinks. (Maybe she thought it would affect her tip.... it didn't, and that's no excuse anyway). Same problem with the valets. A couple were fantastic, while a couple of others seemed disinterested, annoyed.

PARKING: It's $24/day for valet. That's about average, and there is some effort required to avoid it. You may not want the hassle. The garage behind the hotel charges $6/day, but there are no in and out privileges. Even worse, the cost only buys you a parking space until 6AM the next morning. In otther words, you'd have to get out of bed at 6AM(!!), walk a block to the garage to pay $6 more, put the ticket on your car, and then go back to the hotel. You can park FREE across the street from 6PM - 7AM and all day on Sunday. My advice: park on the street at night, and move into the garage at 7AM. if you're leaving by 9AM, just feed the meter for 2 hours... it's $1.50/hour.

POOL/FITNESS CENTER: They have a pool on the roof, which is open 7AM-11AM. Although we didn't use it, the hotel says the fitness center is open 24/7.

INTERNET ACCESS: I love that the hotel doesn't charge for internet. Not only is free access available in the room, you can also use a public computer in the Library. Convenient!

RESTAURANT: None! They have room service, though, and the menu looks pretty good. We never tried it, though. There is a little coffee shop at the front of the hotel.

BREAKFAST: It's free, but it's small. You can get some breads, fruits, and cereal. They charge $9.95 for the bacon and eggs on the hot bar. The coffee is from Starbucks, both at breakfast and in the room.

FREE SHUTTLE: The hotel has an SUV to give people free rides around the downtown area. This was terrific -- efficient and fast. They gave us rides to Ninfa's and back (for a terrific dinner) and to the Toyota Center.

SUMMARY: The Magnolia Houston needs to make service a bit more consistently great! But overall, it's got a lot of amenties that other hotels don't. The rooms are big and comfortable (great beds!), and for downtown Houston, it's a good value. The location is pretty terrific, as well.

Just got back from a week stay there for work. I was very impressed with the hotel. It is modern and very attractive. Seems to be modeled after the modern look of W Hotels. The room was a king bed suite with a small kitchen and was a huge corner room away from the elevator. Had a very large walk in closet and seperate vanity and shower area. Room was spottless and quiet. Everything worked but the alarm clock, but I just used wake up calls. Didn't eat at the restaurant, but they have a complimentary happy hour and a cookies and milk thing late at night. Very nice workout facilities and rooftop pool and hot tub were very nice. I would highly recommend.

I was so unimpressed with this hotel, especially given the rates they charge. I travel to Houston almost weekly for work, and would never consider this hotel again.

Upon check in, I had to pay $24 for valet parking, and he was rude, spelled my name wrong, and told me that I could not call ahead for my car the next morning. I asked if there were other places to park, and he said no, yet I found out later that the lot behind the Magnolia is $6 or free (depending on when you park there) as were the multiple street spots (free 7-7 each day).

The room was nice, but the trays in the bathroom had been dropped, chipped and cracked, and they looked awful. At breakfast the next day, I had to ask multiple times for a spoon to eat my cerael, and finally gave up after 10 minutes since my breakfast had turned into mush and there were still no spoons. I just went out for breakfast after that. Also, they had not bussed any tables, and there was no place to sit - I had to finally move dirty dishes just to sit down.

Downstairs, I waited almost 25 minutes to get my car from valet (by comparision, the Courtyard down the street takes less than 5!), and the valet told me that I should have called ahead, which I had been told the night before I could not do. This time did not include the 3 times I tried to hand him my ticket, and he just ignored me, and finally said "yeah, its coming" (which it was not!). As a result, I was late for a client meeting, and the whole valet staff was just rude - I utilized the lot the next two nights, then had to argue with the staff at check out because the charged me for 3 nights instead of the 1 night I actually used them. For $24, I would have expected better service, especially since they just take them around the corner to the "free" lot.

The second night, I arrived into my room to find that the hotel had left me no washcloths at all in the bathroom, and the chipped bowls were still there. The same thing happened the third night as well - not sure what was up there. The room was not cleaned very well either.

The "express" check out was a joke, too. I waited in line for 10 minutes, and there were only 2 people in front of me, then had to aruge about the invalid charges.

I will never stay here again - I have paid far less for hotels in Houston, and had FAR BETTER SERVICE! This hotel has a long way to go. They tout free cocktails and milk/cookie bar, probably to hope you overlook their terrible service. They should focus on that, and also implement a frequent guest program. So, for the money, go to any number of other hotels within 2 blocks of this one, and skip the Magnolia entirely.