If you're not used to staying at convention hotels you'll find the experience off-putting. The hotel is massive -- 20-odd floors, five digit room numbers, hallways longer than most par 5's on the PGA. It's not that anyone was rude, but you just got the feeling the staff was moving you through as fast as possible.

The rooms are clean, new, and well-furnished. High quality coffee (free), and the usual $6 liter of water begging for you to crack the seal. Minibar available on request.

The pool and hot tub are on the top floor of one wing of the hotel. Our room was high on the other side. It took 2 elevators and about a quarter-mile walk to get there. It is indoors, nice stone floors (though a tad slippery), and connected to a rooftop deck with a great view.

The hotel is obviously geared towards conventioneers with fat expense accounts. I avoided the $25 a day parking (and got a ticket and smashed window as a result). Also did not spring for the $14 room service burger, which was hard, because there's very limited off-site dining in the vicinity. And you have to pick up pizza deliveries at the concierge desk.

I would stay there again, but hopefully on someone else's nickel.

I stayed at the Hilton Americas for three nights as part of a conference. The hotel is connected directly to the Houston Convention Center via a sky bridge, and is directly adjacent to the Toyota Center and walking distance to Minute Maid Park. As others have noted, there isn't much else around the hotel, though you can walk to the main part of town with numerous restaurants and bars in about 10-15 minutes. I hopped on the light-rail system there to explore other parts of Houston.

Got a very good government rate on an Executive Floor room that was fairly spacious and included a very comfortable king size bed, clock radio with MP3 input, functional desk area and a large flat-screen TV.

I had access to the Executive Lounge, which is quite large and includes several televisions and a nice view of the Houston skyline. They offer appetizers each evening -- fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers and two hot appetizers that change daily, as well as a continental breakfast in the morning and fresh-baked cookies, water and sodas throughout the day. Also had a turndown service each evening when I received bottled water and a chocolate. Not sure if this is just done on the Executive Floor.

Room service was prompt and the food was tasty, the indoor pool looked nice, and the outdoor deck adjacent to the pool is a great place to watch the sunset or view the city lights. They provide kiosks to print out your airline boarding passes, which is always a nice touch. Gym was smaller than I expected and not really worth the fee -- it should really be free for hotel guests... though it did have a nice view.

My only complaint was that there was an anime convention going on during my stay and the hotel was flooded with people in all sorts of strange costumes who sat in the hall talking loudly until 3 a.m. Reminded me of a college dorm, and all the drunken shouting made it kind of hard to sleep.

I booked a block of rooms at the Hilton for my friends and family coming into town for my wedding. Everyone loved it, they described as classy and elegant, great brunch and rooms were filled with luxery amenities(flat panel TVs). It augmented to a wonderful weekend.

Excellent service, excellent room, excellent views of Houston. Lobby bar, and sky bar were fun. Many of my friends closed them out. The gym you had to pay for, but it was decked out.

I can't say enough. My wife's parents live in Houston, but we are thinking of booking a room here for time to time when we visit.

I travelled with my 13 year old daughter for the weekend of Nov 9-12.

The basics: the hotel is a typical business hotel. Nice swimming pool area, expensive restaurant, bell service, concierge, etc. All the things you would usually expect.

The room was nice enough -- again, nothing special -- just very typical of business hotels. I paid $775 total for the three nights, plus another $200 or so in meals and incidentals.

The problem: I booked two months in advance and requested a room with two beds. We arrived on time, around 11:00 pm. The airline had misplaced my suitcase, which meant I only had the clothes I was wearing. When we checked in, they told us they could only give us a room with a single king-sized bed. I pointed out why this was potentially more than a minor problem (i.e., a father with no clothes, a 13 year old daughter, and one bed). The desk clerk didn't seem particularly sympathetic and offered no solutions. Had I booked at the last minute or arrived much later than planned, I might have just considered it bad luck. But I would have expected more from this class of hotel.

I made two beds by separating the mattress from the box spring and ordering a couple sets of extra bedding. It worked out fine, but it shouldn't have got to that. They did move us into another room for our last two nights.

Things that went well - bell desk (great service), concierge (got me a rental car, fast, with pick-up, at a very reasonable price), restaurant staff (at "Spencers" -- very professional and high class/fancy -- if you like that kind of thing), the person who took my telephone request for extra bedding was great (she called back later to make sure I got it and sent for more when I indicated that it wasn't as much as I needed). Security was great when our door managed to latch itself shut from the inside when we were out (although I now know how to break into a room with a toilet plunger and a blank card-key!)

The hotel is in a bit of an odd part of downtown. It is surrounded mainly by parking lots and Toyota Center. Although it is "downtown", it isn't particularly near anything. If you want to get something to eat, it is hard to find anything, even fast food nearby. I bet it was an 8-block walk to find the nearest place to get something quick to eat. As the hotel is in a part of downtown that is almost deserted at night, I'm sure many people wouldn't feel comfortable walking around at night and would just stay in and pay a lot for their meals.

Nits - the pool is very cold (it is advertised as a "lap pool" so I guess they're not selling it as somewhere for kids to splash around. The hot tub/spa is nice, large and hot. I also hate being charged for internet access when I'm paying a regular business price for the room.

We stayed here because of the Hilton's convenient location next to Toyota Center. I expected more from the Hilton "brand" and would probably choose to stay somewhere else next time -- unless proximity to Toyota Center was important again.