Had to stay in Houston overnight after a flight was cancelled. There are dozens of off property hotels near the airport, but since I had an early flight out, I chose the Airport Marriott. It was about 50%-75% more than the off-airport hotels, but I thought that it would be worth it for the convenience - NOT. To get to the hotel you have to go down an escalator from the baggage claim, get on a train for a quick ride (once the train gets there) to the hotel. Then it's up a floor to the lobby. I was placed in the old South Tower which is down a long hallway, down an escalator, then up an elevator to your room. I started to put my shirts in the closet and promptly smashed my toe on a door stop that was imbedded into the carpet. After the pain subsided, it was time to write a review.
The front desk area loooks like an afterthought - like they built the hotel and then said "shoot - we forgot to put in a registration desk. Let's throw up a counter over here!" My room was on the first floor, with a window view of the airport. That is, it would have a window view if someone would wash the windows. I'm not kidding. The sun was going down, and there was some glare, but I could not see out of the window because of the grime. If anyone from the hotel reads this, I was in the room over the road that all of the shuttles take from the airport. Take a look (if you can)!
OK - so I didn't get the best room. I only have to stay here one night. Just plug in my laptop and ....Wait a minute - 10 bucks a day for internet access???? How about jumping into the 90's? Paying for internet access is ridiculous. The hotel has to pay a few broadband access charges, put up a few security enabled routers, and spend a couple of grand to make thousands of guests happy. Paying for internet service is as bad as going into a hotel room and finding a 20 oz bottle of water with a big price tag on it. Hey - wait a minute. There's a bottle up on the TV. $5 for a bottle of water!!!! unbelieveable!
Back to the internet. I went down to the business center to get my email, and you have to swipe your credit card to do anything in there, including web browsing. Not me.
The hotel is undergoing some renovations. There are walls that have big patches on them and the hotel seems to be trying to get better. The renovated parts look nice. But if you ever want my business again, stop the price-plus mentality.










