I booked this for one night as we were flying into IAH late and being picked up by friends the next afternoon. How bad could it be for one night?? Quite bad! Although the receptionist on the evening and morning shift were helpful and friendly, we were given late check out which helped and free soft drinks and cookies but this did not make up for the lack of sleep after a 18 journey. All I wanted was to check in, have a soak in a bath and go to bed. We checked in, went to our room which smelt musty and noticed that the toilet cistern was running constantly, we tried to pull the flush again as this can sometimes stop the water running but this did not work (the handle was hanging loose). I went to reception and told the lady about the problem, she said that she could not move us as they were fully booked that night and that she would have to wait for the driver to return to see if they could fix it. She asked if it would bother us if it wasn't fixed! I said it would as I was a light sleeper. I had asked for a quiet room as I am a light sleeper when booking the room but this was obviously ignored as I booked the room using my points. When I went back to the room my husband had just finished repairing the toilet so I went back to report this, I was then offered free soft drinks and snacks, I took some water but refused snacks as we just wanted to sleep.
I did have a bath before going to bed, however the room was one with accessible facilities, one of which was a bath seat which was attached to the wall and overhanging the bath, so having a comfortable soak with a bench above my head did not really work; additionally when I filled the bath, fluff appeared on the surface of the water, presumably from the overflow, not sure, but not pleasant.
The bed was comfortable, I think because there was a mattress topper. Apart from that there was little chance of a decent nights sleep. Our room was on the ground floor, I could hear people upstairs walking on the creaking floor and slamming doors (it did not appear to be possible to close the bedroom doors without slamming them, we could not easily close ours). We could not put the air conditioner on in our room because it was so noisy, that obviously did not stop other people from putting theirs on as I could hear units running all night. The windows do not open so it is not possible to let any air into the rooms. Traffic noise went on for most of the night from the busy road outside the hotel, I think it quietened down for around 2 hours and then started up again. Our room overlooked the car park so we also got noise from late arrivals and early departures.
Apart from this, as stated by other reviewers this place needs a full revamp, decor is really tired(just as I was when I left this hotel), the furniture and fixings all need replacing/updating. The rooms are all suites with kitchens which is probably a waste for the majority of clients as I would imagine they are mostly overnight stays pre or post flight so would have no need of this. Fridge though was great to have, to store cold drinks in.
Breakfast was OK we managed to find something to eat from amongst the American food. Tasty but cold omelettes, they looked awful, preformed possibly frozen, don't know, but flavour good. Bread available for toasting but other food either really sweet or not standard European breakfast fare so didn't attempt it. Coffee good for hotel coffee and juice out of machine good as well.
Guest laundry rooms are handy (well for us as we had late check out probab;y not if you have to check out by 11).
Glad we didn't pre book for our return journey next month, I will look for another hotel close to the airport.
- Holiday Inn Humble
- Humble Holiday Inn
