Recently stayed at the Hilton Americas Houston - very beautiful property, but very expensive.
Positives:
*Beautiful property, nice meeting rooms, very nice hotel rooms, huge bathrooms - everything cleaned to perfection.
*Very nice front desk staff. I was too late to receive the convention price, however, on the morning I checked out, the staff located a lower price and adjusted the bill - not the convention rate, but something is better than nothing.
* Great gift shop (good variety) and nice staff.
* Very nice staff at both the coffee bar and the cafe. Food was hot and good at the cafe - for a hotel, the pulled pork bbq was quite good.
Negatives:
* The biggest problem that I had is I felt "locked" there. By that I mean that there are quite a few Katrina refugees wandering (and living) on the street corners and I was advised not to walk anywhere by myself. Apparently the crime rate has risen significantly in the Houston area, inclusive of the downtown. The hotel does provide van service within a 2-3 mile radius for dining and shopping, however, I was there on a Sunday evening when some of the restaurants in the downtown were closed.
* I think that rates are way overpriced. I was initially charged $259.00/night - not worth it for a standard room without free wireless or other perks provided by some chains.
* I found the concierge staff very unhelpful. I was advised of a "fantastic" Mexican restaurant which the hotel van took me to. As a solo woman traveler, I did not want to get out of the van in this particular neighborhood as the restaurant was surrounded by a swarthy crowd and the building itself - low, flat - looked like a dilapidated Dairy Queen, had bars on the windows. I'm very street wise, but not that much!! Although the food was probably terrific and genuine, I don't think they should have recommended it to me. I additionally asked several other questions (shopping, gas stations, etc.) and only received shrugs. Thankfully, the Houston Convention and Visitor's Bureau was on site at our convention and provided terrific information.
I would probably stay at this hotel again if I had business in the downtown area, however, only if I could find a decent rate online.

Absolutely gorgeous hotel!!! Rooms were clean and comfy.

My only issue was when I asked for a late check out and the front desk clerk was hesitating to extend my check out time. After a few minutes of going back and fourth she finally agreed??? That was a 1st. I guess my late check out info was not passed on to the housekeeping staff as they tried entering my room that morning and then called an hour later to ask if I was going to check out that day.

Small issue but overall great stay and would definitely go back again.

My fiancée and I stayed at the Hilton Americas to celebrate my birthday weekend at the end of October. We reserved both our room and restaurant (Skyline Bar and Grill) reservation almost a month in advance. At that time, we requested two things - a city view room on a high floor and a table by the window. The reservations clerk informed us that our room wouldn't be assigned until we arrived at the hotel for check-in and the restaurant told us they would do everything possible to accommodate our request. We arrived at the hotel shortly after check-in and were told that rooms were "pre-assigned" which goes against what the reservations clerk told us. We informed the front desk clerk of this and he reworked our room assignment so that we managed to get a mid-level floor. We arrived at the restaurant before our reservation and informed the hostess that we would like to sit at the bar for a few minutes to have a drink. During this time my fiancée also reminded the hostess about our table request. We were at the bar for 5 minutes (the bartender had yet to take our drink order) when the waitress pulled us away and told us our table was ready. We were a bit confused but went along with it. Our table was not directly in front of the windows as we had requested. What made it even more annoying was 1 table directly in front of the windows remained empty for at least an hour. The following morning I woke up with a terrible headache. The mini-bar did not contain aspirin and my fiancée went down to the front desk in search of some. The front desk clerk informed him that the store did not open for another 45 minutes but a driver could take him to a drug store. He declined this option and we checked out of the hotel by 8am that morning.

In terms of appearance this hotel is impeccable. Maintenance and housekeeping obviously do a great job of making sure the lobby, rooms and pool areas are clean and luxurious. BUT, for the amount of money guests pay to stay at this hotel, the face-to-face service is NOT acceptable. My fiancée and I consider ourselves relatively easy to please and undemanding but the simple requests we made were not honored and this gave us a bad impression of the hotel. In addition, we believe that every effort should be made by the front desk staff to accommodate guests in their time of need. Instead of sending my fiancée to the drugstore with a driver, what not offer to find the aspirin themselves and send it up to our room? Because of the failure to honor simple requests I give this 4-star hotel a 2-star rating.

This is a Texas-sized hotel. Big, tall, eleganza. It's about what you'd expect in a viable convention hotel. I didn't see a single guest in the hotel who was not wearing a convention badge. Food was below average. Room service was inconsistent. Man, they got $8 for a tiny half a wrap sandwich at the walk-up cafe in the lobby. (They got it because it's the cheapest food in the hotel.) Ask for a map, and then leave a trail of breadcrumbs when you get off the elevator. It's that big.