Underwhelming
I booked this hotel as a Marriott Rewards member (Gold) after finding a good rate and flying into Houston in the evening with my wife. My wife's girlfriends picked her up at the airport and I checked into the hotel alone. The reservation was in my wife's name as the primary rewards account holder. The front desk clerk seemed agitated that my wife was not with me at the time of check in. I had a reservation printout, my last name is the same and I even paid with a Marriott Rewards Visa. She was basically scolding me for my wife not being there and then she said, "I'll just chage the reservation into your name" and started changing it in the computer. I didn't want her to do this because we would then lose credit for the nights stay since I'm not the primary account holder. I told her that I would be happy to produce my wife to the front desk when she arrived at the hotel around midnight. At this point, the desk agent said she would add me to the reservation with my wife since I was the one checking in. It was an annoying and unnecessary process to arrive at this seemingly simple solution. Needless to say, I didn't appreciate the check in process. Also, even though our request was for a king bed, she gave us two doubles in a less than full large hotel. Didn't want to chat with the desk agent again so accepted what was given.
After returning to the room after dinner, the TV did not work. Remote control was flashing light without turning the set on and there was no manual knob on the set itself. It was late so I didn't want to call someone up to the room. When I checked out in the morning and told the desk agent the TV didn't work (after all I couldn't check out on the TV) she did not make eye contact and casually said "oh no." I wasn't expecting anything for the inconvenience but her apathy was annoying. Someone really needs to train this front desk staff.
On a positive note, they had a free breakfast buffet as part of our rate that I wasn't expecting and it was very good. Simple, but of good quality. And, every single member of the staff in that area was incredibly cheerful and pleasant. Even staff who weren't waiting on us were cheerful and warm. Whoever trained this staff needs to work with the front desk staff because the attitude in the lounge/restaurant area could not have been more different.
The final thing to point out is that the specifc area of Houston while convenient to IAH, downtown and the northern suburbs, is NOT in a great area. I would leave the area to eat and definitely wouldn't shop in the adjacent mall as it has a terrible reputation locally I was told. So if you want to be close to the airport or businesses, and you're not expecting anything of the area itself beyond convenience and standard Marriott functionality, this location will do just fine. But with the issues I encountered with the front desk (which seem to be supported by other reviewers) and the uninviting area immediately outside of the property you can definitely do better.