My company booked a room for me when I travelled to Houston from Chicago on business. Upon arrival, the staff would not check me in because I do not have a credit card, even though my company had already paid in full for two nights stay. The manager was totally unsympathetic and would not accept any alternative, like accepting my company's countless offers to use their credit card in case of incidental charges, my offers to pay in cash for any incidentals, etc.. I was not allowed to check into my room which was paid for and put out at night without anywhere to stay. I am disgusted with service I received when dealing with the staff at this hotel. They were unbelievably rude. I have never had such a terrible customer service nightmare as I did at the Magnolia Hotel. I booked my room on Expedia, where there is no mention that this hotel does not accept third party credit cards. Business travellers be warned!

Stayed at the Magnolia for the fourth or fifth time and really liked it.

I'll bullet point the important points :-

- The bar. Good food, chatty staff. If you're travelling on your own, its a nice place to be.

- Downtown. Good location. The hotel has a deal with surrounding restaurants so you can eat of site. Unlike Houstonians, i like to walk sometimes. Downtown is a little rougher since Katrina but not bad by any means.

- Rooms - Good size. Boutique like. Bed covers could do with being replaced. Oversized baths which are nice let down by poor shower pressure. (Please fix this Magnolia).

Wifi / Internet - Wifi in the lobby / bar and cable in the rooms. Free too.

- The people - couldn't be more helpful. From the valet guys to checkin to the bar. All good.

- Price - very good value.

My daughter and I decided to 'do Houston' for a couple of days following our cruise and after much deliberating opted for the Magnolia, which we were not disappointed with (can't say the same for Houston). Room well proportioned and very comfortable. Staff very friendly and helpful, Bar was bustling on Friday and Saturday nights and the Jazz music very good with the milk and cookies an execellent touch. Complimentary 'continental' breakfast not very continental, there being no breads, croisssants or cheese and meats
Location for restaurants and nightlife was spot on, concierge recommend Bossa, great food, drinks (don't miss the Mojitos!)and staff, though had to travel for some decent shopping areas, didn't discover the nearby Maceys 'til Sunday, when it was closed!!! Did have a problem with room-rate overcharge on bill but this was immediately corrected. All in all would recommend the Magnolia to anyone thinking of staying in Houston.

This is a beautiful hotel with a great deal of potential. However, the staff appears rather incompetent or needs a lesson in ethics, for starters. We booked a room based on the Hotel reservationist's representation that the area was hopping with nightlife, lots of restaurants and shops. The evenings are a ghost town, and it is not much better during the day. We were also told that we didn't need to book New Year's Eve dinner reservations, as there supposedly were lots of activities right on the "pedestrian street" on New Year's Eve. As an alternative, the staff said people also order room service and have it sent upstairs on the Magnolia rooftop where we could enjoy the fireworks on New Year's Eve. These were outright misrepresentations, to put it kindly. There was no activity on nearby streets; the rooftop was locked up; no fireworks could be seen or heard. Upon discovering that the rooftop was locked up at 11:50 PM, I approached the bar staff on the 2nd floor bar and told her what I'd been told. She just shrugged and said that the rooftop is always locked up after 11 PM, and that no fireworks can be seen from that part of town. The concierge appeared to only send us to restaurants where his friends worked. The cabdriver on the way to the airport told us that the Hotel was famous for making guests wait for a cab ride while the staff tried to make a deal with a towncar driven by their friends, rather than hail or call a cab. That cabdriver told me that he had passed in front of the Hotel twice during the 20 minutes I had been told to wait in the lobby for a cab. The real kicker was the defective deadbolt to our room. On the wee hours before our departure (2 AM), my son happened to check our door to make sure we had the right room key. We discovered that the deadbolt was stuck. We called the front desk who sent a Housekeeping staff, who was unable to unlock our door from the outside either. The front desk had a hard time tracking down the property manager (who was not even on the premises) in order to get any authorization on how to get us out of the room if it could not be unlocked from within or without. It took ONE AND ONE-HALF HOURS for someone to finally find the "right" Master Key to get us out. Luckily, we were freed several hours before we had to leave for the airport, and no fire occurred during our ordeal. You would think that after all of this, the Hotel would have given us a discount, or at least been apologetic, but we got no apologies (just a warning not to use the deadbolt). Upon checkout, we found that they had charged us a total of $80 more for New Year's Eve than the rate quoted us. Upon checkout, I also told the cashier about the defective deadbolt and suggested that they fix it before they place another guest in the room. Clearly, the staff could care less. I definitely not stay here again.