August 25th, 2005 at 8:26 pm
When the Houston Marriott Westchase filled up, I stayed at the Holiday Inn Southwest. As I’ve mentioned before, Holiday Inns can be quite inconsistent, but this was a good break.
For $64 a night, I got a nice king-size bed with pillows that were pretty soft. There were about 15 TV channels, with Showtime instead of the normal HBO, and Disney and Nickelodeon but no Cartoon Network. What gives? 
Air conditioning was handled with a wall unit which performed capably. The room has enough outlets for my chargers, but they are spread all over the room. The desk chair was well padded and featured rollers, a nice touch. Housekeeping kept the room very clean.
The room had no refrigerator or microwave. The wired Internet worked perfectly, never cutting out, never requiring me to dial-in. When my laptop died on Wednesday, there was no business center for me to access the net on Wednesday.
The shower functioned with high water pressure, and the shower head itself was high enough for me to stand up. The toilet was weak, requiring one to hold down the handle for it to work.
The hotel had an indoor and outdoor pool, both fairly small. There’s no Holidome, but there was also a sauna and a hot tub. The fitness room, air conditioned with two wall units, had two treadmills, two exercise bikes, a mat for sit-ups, and a TV. The treadmills felt like they sloped a little bit; I had to kick the incline to 2% to feel leveled out.
Room service pizzas came in 9″ and 12″, and they were well cooked. The restaurant offers a breakfast buffet, with an able omelet chef. Priority Club members get the buffet free, but beverages are extra. The staff remembered who I was and had the orange juice coming right away.
Parking was adequate, but a large island of grass cuts off the direct walk to the doors. The hotel sits on a feeder road going south, so people wishing to go north on Beltway 8 or Highway 59 need to take a “Texas U-turn” under 59 to go north.
This Holiday Inn is a tower, with doors inside and protected from the elements. It’s a nice backup to the corporate-mandated Marriott.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
