I stayed here two nights with my husband for a conference. The hotel is ideally situated in the middle of the Texas Medical Center and is a great location for access to the hospitals and clinics and Rice University. Location-wise, I don't think you could do better than this if you needed access to most areas of the medical center. It's also in a good central location that is convenient to some of the nicer areas of central Houston, and the Houston MetroRail, for all it's worth, has a stop just across the street from the front door.

The self-parking situation was difficult to figure out and the garage is a bit distant from the hotel, though not inconvenient. Had we needed in and out privileges, however, we would have been disappointed to pay the garage fee with every exit. Consider alternatives to this parking garage if you need to leave and come back often during your stay.

The check-in process was smooth and we had no problems finding our room. On entering the room, we were greeted with stale, musty, mildew-y air that was not resolved with changing the room temperature. The thick, somewhat ugly carpet felt almost damp when walking on it in bare feet, and we occasionally heard dripping sounds from the air conditioning unit.

The room itself was reasonably well appointed but small, and I have stayed in far nicer rooms for less than these rates. The beds were soft and comfortable, and the lighting in the room was fine (though perhaps a bit on the low side for people who like a lot of light). The bathroom was adequate, though small and dated. The shower head - the large round rain-shower type - was a nice touch, however.

After my husband left early in the morning for his conference, I ate alone in one of the hotel's restaurants for breakfast. After scanning the menu I decided that the $15 buffet was the only thing approaching a reasonable value. I know overpriced food is ubiquitous among hotels, but come on! The service and food quality was average; having had a pretty good breakfast at a Marriott hotel in Atlanta I was not impressed with this one.

On the morning of our departure, I took a dip in the indoor pool, which was small and warm-ish but fine for the purpose. The pool area is adjacent to the fitness center, and as expected there were plenty of towels for the guests. There is also a hot tub that looked to have equipment to accommodate guests with mobility impairments, but I didn't check out the hot tub more closely.

Finally, check out! Check out was a little slow on a Sunday morning as there was one staff person helping guests who had some sort of issue with their bill. After waiting several minutes with no apparent acknowledgment, another staff person appeared and helped me with check out - she was very friendly!

All in all, this hotel was just OK when you factor location out of the equation. I'm glad someone else paid for our stay because the rates I saw online were outrageous relative to the very average level of comfort and room quality. Ours was not a bad experience, but I would NEVER pay more than, say, $150 a night to stay here, no matter how close I needed to be to the medical center. Even then, I'd look for something nicer and a bit more modern.