Stay elsewhere for luxury and business
My company travel agent booked us here as it was closest to the conference we were attending down the road at the Westin. My co-worker and I were looking forward to the luxury this place would offer, but were woefully dissappointed. I will cut it some slack for the hotel being brand new, and not all the kinks have been worked out, but it was a bit much for me. I arrived to have the valet tell me that I could self park, only to go inside and be told by the front desk staff that parking was by valet only and it cost $25 extra a day. The parking is not sheltered, so with the storms that passed through my first night there, I was brought my soaking wet car in the morning. The valets do not offer to squeegee off your windows or wipe down your mirrors, which is what I am accustomed to when I stay at luxury hotels. They stand there helpless, watching you do it yourself, after you've handed them a hefty tip. I about died when I watched one of the valets bring the keys back to a couple and advise them that he could not bring them their car, because he did not know how to drive a stick shift! You are given a card with an extension to call when you want your car retrieved, and 50% of the time a call to the extension went unanswered and to someone's voicemail, forcing you to call the front desk for assistance. My room was extremely small with a fine view of the roof outside my window. Needless to say I was unimpressed. The plush towels and Keurig coffee makers are about the only thing worth mentioning about the rooms. The bed linens are fake luxury - alternative down comforters much too heavy for Texas - not even comparable to what you might find at a Marriot or an Omni. My TV had no signal, so I ended up waiting an hour for the staff to get the cable hooked up. I got thirsty, so I thought I'd run down to the ice machine, only to be unable to locate it on the hotel info. card. Then I noticed that the ice bucket in my room was still filled with water leftover from the previous guests' ice run, so I just gave up on getting myself a cold drink. Coming and going to our conference and dinner proved to be a pain, as my co-worker and I both had to go down and have our room keys reactivated several times - it got to the point you didn't want to leave your room for fear of being locked out. I left the hotel by 8 am my first day there only to come back at 4 pm and find housekeeping had not been to my room yet, so rather unluxuriously, I stood in the hall and traded off dirty towels with the housekeeper forgetting to ask for coffee and an express breakfast card for the second morning. The express breakfast options aren't bad, and the coffee delivered is spectacular, but don't get your expectations up that you will be served something from the chef.. I ordered the breakfast bread basket which included a decent biscuit the size of a silver dollar, a so-so blueberry muffin, and an extremely greasy croissant. By my last night here, I was too fatigued to fight the rigamoreaux staying here entails, and extremely happy I'd be checking out the next day. I'd advise all business travellers to steer clear of this place, unless you just enjoy feeling like your in a live episode of the Keystone Cops.