Roadtrip Roundup: Favorite hotel overall
We stayed at a lot of cool hotels on this roadtrip:
Best local recommendations on where to go: Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin (Austin, TX)
Best design: Wigwam Motel (Holbrook, AZ)
Most stylish: Renaissance Pere Marquette (New Orleans, LA)
But my favorite overall was not the most expensive, nor the cheapest, nor particularly remarkable in its design, inside or out. It was just the most comfortable, with the best value overall: Homewood Suites in Houston, TX.
It was so refreshing to arrive after the full day drive from New Orleans, to a true 2-room suite where my sister and I could spread out, and both rooms had windows (surprisingly not common in a lot of suites). The hotel had the best breakfast overall, and was conveniently located across the street from the Houston Galleria. We got to do laundry here, and wifi, computer use, and printing are all free here too (note to other Houston tourists: if you print out your Space Center tickets online before you go, you get the "Solar Savings" of $3 per adult ticket (15% off)!).
And the staff here was great too, especially the operations manager we had in the evenings: a great recommendation to try out Bellaire Blvd. for good Asian food (we were half expecting a recommendation to go to P.F. Changs). She also practiced great service recovery: after I found several hairs on my linens (my big pet peeve in hotels), the manager came up and apologized, changed the linens herself, and the next day presented us with a gift bag with a variety of snacks. Totally unexpected, and perfect for the rest of the road trip! Other hotels where I've had this problem before (ahem, Westin Toronto and Westin Chicago) could learn a thing or two from this.
View of the hotel from the Galleria:
The kitchen... wish we could have stayed here longer!
Living room - really clean and new - where I could spread my stuff out.
