Silly title, but it somewhat explains what we encountered with this Embassy Suites. I normally advocate for Embassy Suites where ever we go because generally I can trust them to be clean and safe. In this case it was essentially true, it is a clean hotel and relatively new (2009 was the build I believe).
We arrived just a little after 2 after driving from Dallas to Houston. Family (my wife and son, along with my parents) stayed in the car while I went to check in. While I was in no rush, there was a little bit of a wait. The front desk staff was very friendly and apologized for the wait. They even brought a very cold bottle of water to those that were waiting (handy for a hot Texas day). I had reserved two rooms and they were ready. While I had asked for a high floor, I received the floor closest to the ground, facing the highway and overlooking the rooftop. We were here for 4 nights, so this was home. My parents in their own room had a similar view.
The hotel is nice and different from other Embassy Suites. It's not the usual boxy layout that surrounds an atrium.
Parking is in a garage in the back of the hotel and is free unless you valet. Be careful and park only in the hotel area. The parking garage is shared by the wonderful building next door and they do tow. Also note that the spaces are tight and the lower level fills up quickly. There is a second level, but you have take an outside elevator down (filled with smoke from cigarette's) and then enter the hotel.
Also note that you have to walk through the smoking area to get in to the hotel from the garage.
What a wonderful smell as we came in each night.
The hotel itself is non-smoking.
Do not get the odd number rooms that overlook the highway. While the hotel is back from the highway, you do get road noise. I do not believe we heard from our neighbors above or next to us, so that was nice.
The first order of business was asking for some extra pillows. Five to be precise. I have to sleep elevated and we needed some for the sofa sleeper for my son. So we called down within about ten minutes of accessing the room. Two hours later, no pillows. Normally they are brought up within an hour, so we called down again. We went to dinner and when we came back after 6:30 pm, we had two. Ok, so we called down again. Front Desk apologizes and said they would bring them up. Five minutes later they called back up and apologized for what they were about to tell us. Apparently they (housekeeping) are only allowed to give two per room. Needless to say, we informed them of our needs as politely as possible and the Front Desk said they would check with Housekeeping again. 20 minutes later, we had three more pillows.
If we had known, we would have brought our own, but the car was already somewhat packed and we needed the space thinking it would not be a problem (first time in all of our travels for it to be a problem).
Each morning, the breakfast that was served was hearty and large. While the items did not change from day to day, we were filled when we left. They had made to order eggs and omelets, sausage and bacon, french toast, potatoes, cereal, a variety of breads, oatmeal, fruit and assorted beverages.
The manager's reception generally consisted of store bought chips and hot sauce. In addition there was one other item, but that was it. It was mini-churros one day, the following day was a skewer of cheese, maybe pepper or tomato and something else. Not much on variety. Bartender tended to bring drinks out to those she knew, for the rest you had to go up to the bar.
One day there were two large groups down in the area that handled the manager's reception (the lobby area basically). It was after five and my son had already gone over to what he assumed was food for the manager's reception and my wife had followed. My wife was promptly told that this was a private event in a very rude and nasty tone by one of the company representatives. (fyi, the company was in the building next door, not a good way to entice customers). There was not a single sign anywhere saying that a private event was happening. So we sat down in the lobby area next this "private event". Five minutes later a lady came over and sat her empty wine glass down in our area, as if she was marking her territory as she looked at each of us. We received glares from the company officials the entire time. Apparently this company did not like us even sitting down there. It's the lobby area and we are paying guests.
The following day, we talked to the front desk about the event. Again, they apologized and would look in to it. Hmmm....detecting a pattern. We never heard back from anyone about it.
At this point, it was Friday, we were leaving the following day to go back home, so we dropped it. We knew nothing was going to happen at that point.
On a side note: While the hotel was in a good location to get to items that were in the downtown and museum district (traffic permitting). It was a good distance from the Space Center. It was generally about a 15 to 20 minute trip to get to the museum district. I would highly advise a GPS unit that has traffic. On two days I-10 was closed due to trucks overturned on the highway.
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