This hotel has been here, I think, longer than I've been alive. I remember seeing it when I was a little kid, so I wasn't expecting a 5-Star quality resort. I had middle of the road expectations, and when I got to the property, at first, my expectations were met.
I was originally placed on the 9th floor (known as the quiet floor... I have no idea what that means).. but priority rewards member.. free upgrade to club level. Aw, the club floor perks dont run on Friday. Oh well.
Was in room 200. It's a nice, large room. The bed was very firm and comfortable, the linens fresh and clean.
This particular room had been upgraded to a more modern television, but I soon learned this made no difference because the signal to the television was analog, so it took a 4:3 image and just stretched it to 16:9, all in glorious 480i resolution. There was an HBO guide in my room, but I couldn't find HBO on my TV, and unlike ANY other hotel I've stayed in, there was no TV Channel guide in the room. I was on my own blindly looking for channels.
The internet is slow as you can see by my screenshot. I'd guess they have just one 1.5mbps T1 based on the bandwidth I was seeing. They really need to upgrade their circuit.
There were some minor cleanliness issues with the room (see photos). There was black mold growing on the caulking in the tub. That was kinda gross.
I ordered room service. They forgot the bacon on my hickory burger. I was hungry and just ate it anyway because I didn't want to wait any longer. Sadly, after I ate the burger I learned from click2houston.com that the crown plaza has had an amazing 33 health code violations from the city of houston health department for 2012 so far. Eeek. That's the 5th worst report in the entire city according to their list. Really, you can go there and read all the violations.
The staff at the hotel, is amazingly friendly and helpful. They really make the property.
You absolutely want to stay in the tower, and not the "courtyard rooms". The courtyard rooms look like it'd be like staying in a motel, with the rooms opening up to the exterior instead of the interior hallways.
My room had a fairly nice Timex alarm clock with AUX input (for mp3 player) and had built in wave/rain/white noise sounds you could listen to.
There was a giant spider living above room 218. (See pic).
But the thing that made my visit the absolute worst visit of any visit to any hotel ever: when I first got to the hotel, it was very quiet. But then suddenly, a ton of people show up for an event in the ballroom, based on what I saw, I assume it was a Quinceañera. And they had a DJ. And the event went on. And on. And on. And you could hear it pretty much all over the hotel. And there were people out in the pool and hottub even after it was supposed to have been closed. And they were making noise. Front desk called security, but he apparently did nothing. They were in the pool for at least an hour after that. At nearly 1:00AM I can STILL hear the music blaring from the event. I go to the front desk, and they offer to move me to room 910. I go up to 910, and there are ants crawling around everywhere. I go back to the front desk, and they offer to move me another, but smaller room on the 9th floor. Whatever... its late, and I'm tired. I go back down to the 2nd floor to get my stuff, and its now 1:45AM. Thankfully, the music has stopped. I tell the front desk I'm just going to stay in 200, put the do not disturb on the door, and finally go to sleep. At 8:30AM-ish, housekeeping knocks on the door and tries to get in, waking me up.
The bathroom is VERY tiny.
The air conditioner barely was able to keep the room adequately cool. It was no louder than any other hotel a/c unit I've encountered.
The faucet sink dripped all night, and I could not get it to shut off.
Had the event not kept me up all evening, I would have put up with the few dirty things I saw and just dealt with it. I would have felt entirely ripped off if I had paid full price. Thankfully, I got a cheap deal on hotwire.com.
After last nights experience, I probably would not stay at this property again. I agree, this property needs an upgrade. But again, the hotel staff is very, very nice.
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