I stayed at the Hyatt Houston on business in April 2009.

The hotel is right in the centre of the Houston downtown area - the main reason I chose it was because I was visiting Houston on business, and the offices I was working in were 4 blocks away. It is approx.45 mins away from the airport via taxi.

The hotel itself is a modern tower block building, which has a very well laid out and luxurious reception. It has an adjoining bar, a separate restaurant area and a Starbucks adjoining.

I used the automated check-in, which was fast with no problems - nice to see a computer system that was intuitive AND working!

The room was HUGE and clean, with a huge double bed. All bathroom fittings worked - plenty of towels and toiletries! TV was good quality, LCD, with an option to plug-in your own DVD or media player (as long as you remembered to bring your own leads!). Internet access was available BUT you had to pay for it! This is RIDICULOUS in this day and age - Hyatt, take note! If I had a couple of criticism of the rooms, it would be the lighting - not great, the room seemed dark and shadowy, especially in the bathroom area - and the air conditioning, which was REALLY noisy.

The hotel has an outdoors pool, which is a good size, and heated - however, there are NO CHANGING FACILITIES for the pool - you have to walk there in your swimming costume, go for a swim, grab a towel (from the shelves stacked with them near the entrance) then walk back through the hotel still dripping. Not great!

I ordered room service from the hotel menus a couple of times; service was excellent, and the food OK. However, watch out for the 19.5% gratutity charge they add on to your bill! Again, this is ridiculous - if I want to tip for good service I will do, but to add nearly 20% on without asking is a bit much. For this reason I didn't tip any of the room service staff.

I had breakfast in the restaurant several times, and service was excellent - food not exceptional, and prices very high for what was on offer. Just as well it was going on expenses!

This is a good hotel, with great service - but it is let by a number of minor issues:

- poor lighting in rooms
- noisy air conditioning
- poor pool facilities
- nearly 20% gratuity charge on room service
- ridiculous charge to use the internet
- food was expensive

Having said that, if I had to stay here again, it wouldn't be too much of a hardship ;)

The hotel is not bad, but the district is lousy. I won't be staying there again.

Very disappointed in this hotel for the price. Here on convention and chose this over the Hilton (convention hotel) because I stayed at the Hilton on another business trip and found service lacking. Well, the service at the Hyatt is great - no complaints. Unfortunately, my room - not so good. Air conditioner/heat only blows freezing cold air no matter what setting, overflowing toilet, crummy TV that lists the wrong stations, no hotel directory/room service menu in room. So, bad service at Hilton vs. bad room at Hyatt - guess next time I'll try the DoubleTree.

"If sleeping is important to you on your trip, don't stay at this Hyatt. With the big, open atrium in the middle, sound just carries throughout the whole hotel. There were teenagers running around the walkways yelling to each other on different floors until after midnight. When we complained to the management, nothing was done. If you were to stay on a lower floor, the noise from the bar would keep you awake until all hours. Also, the thermostat was broken and we couldn't adjust the temperature, so we were freezing all the time. And $25/day for valet parking? Seems a bit high."

Stayed mid February 2009 for a week for business trip in Hyatt downtown Houston since it's just a couple blocks away from Company's office. Booked through Hyatt website and chosen the Awaken package which includes free breakfast. Room was good, not too big but nice, and the bed was really comfortable. Bathroom amenities have very nice smell and very relaxing, especially after a shower before bed. The only restaurant, Shula's, was being renovated, so the current layout is not as big as expected. However in the first few days of my arrival there was this Valentine event and cheerleader competition, and during that weekend the place was really packed, with guests and incoming alike. Everything went crazy, and the hotel felt more like a busy market - very annoying. This hotel have a very good, friendly and courteous staff, but during that weekend they were clearly overwhelmed by the amount of people staying there, you have to wait for some time to get service. Afterwards, when the coast clears up during the week, the staff return to their old self which means quick and friendly service. The gym was very small, and have mostly treadmills and other cardio equipments. Only a cable machine and a set of dumbell was available. I may not be big or tall but these weights were just enough for me for a mediocre workout. The valet parking also costs you an arm and a leg, and even though it's on company's account I believe $25 per night is just pushing it too far. Or is it Hyatt's plan to make money out of the valet parking? Check out takes longer than expected since there was this computer glitch that kicked me out of the Awaken package after the weekend, making the front office girl have to redo it all again, fortunately I still have spare time to get to the airport. However due to this get the valet parking charges waived. Hey, even though it's not on my tab, but still that's great. Not that many hotel will do that for you. My company should be really happy.