I was prepared to be disappointed, and I was
I travel to NW Houston quite regularly on business and invariably stay for 2 weeks. I normally stay at the Staybridge Willowbrook but this time it was full and I couldn't get a room. However, for exactly the same price as Staybridge I booked ten nights at the relatively new, and quite close by, Holiday Inn Express at Beltway and West Road. Maybe I have been spolied by Staybridge but bearing in mind I paid the same room rate the Holiday Inn just doesn't compare. The room was clean but the facilities were a let down. I'm not sure of the point of having a fridge and a microwave when there isn't even a spoon provided, let alone a cup or a plate. 
Breakfast was the biggest disappointment. Apart from the horrid styro-foam plates and plastic utensils the food quality and choice was well below average. Coffee was like dish water.
Nice to have a guest laundry, especially when staying close on 2 weeks, but having to feed the washer and dryer (only one of each for a hotel of close on 100 rooms!) with coins was a pain.
Cleanliness - the room was serviced perfectly but in the 10 nights I stayed the carpets on the stair well were never touched (and it was messy when I arrived!) 
And finally, whoever designed the hotel obviously doesn't realise that putting a pool directly against the north side of a large building means it will be in the shade all day.
Am I being too harsh? Under different circumstances this hotel might stand up, but with such tough competition, and from a fellow member of the IHG group, it represents poor value and has a very long way to go.