Stay Report: Sheraton Suites Houston Near The Galleria (Houston, Texas - January 2015)

Stay Report: Sheraton Suites Houston Near the Galleria
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I frequently travel to Houston, specifically to the Galleria area, and am constantly on the search to find a decent hotel in the area.  There are lots of hotels in the area, and more keep coming.  This time I decided to try out the Sheraton Suites near The Galleria.  Overall, the Sheraton Suites is a nice hotel with comfortable rooms and good customer service, but this is not my definition of suites and access to the hotel can be difficult.  

The hotel is located within the Galleria area and is either a 2 minute drive or a 3 minute walk to the Galleria – so it is very convenient in that sense.  What is not convenient is the entrance – there is only one entrance to the hotel and that is in the middle of the highway service road so you have to make a very long u-turn and then wait into traffic to get to the entrance of the hotel while competing with the drivers that want to turn onto the main street to access the Galleria - not very relaxing.  Parking is available behind the hotel and it costs $19 for in/out privileges and there are plenty of spaces. I checked in and was given my key as well as a detailed explanation of the hotel and its services.  


I had requested a suite with 2 double beds and the layout of my room was as follows.   As you entered into the room, on your right was the bathroom which had a long sink and counter space.  On the other side of the sink was a double closet and next to the sink was the door to the bathroom which contained a toilet and a shower.  You could also access the bathroom directly from the bedroom.  The bedroom itself contained two double beds, which were both spacious and comfortable.  In addition to the beds, the room also contained a dresser with a  TV on top and drawers on the bottom.  In between the two beds was a nightstand with lamps and plugs.  The room was a decent size so even though there was a lot of stuff in the room, the room did not feel too claustrophobic and only felt a bit snug.

Across from the beds was a door that led to the sitting room and this room contained a couch that could double as a sofa bed, an armoire that contained the TV, as well as a chair and a table.  Right next to the couch was a desk that faced towards the couch and behind the desk was a nook that housed a fridge, a coffee maker, and a sink.  I had said earlier that this was not my definition of a suite, because usually a suite has a more defined kitchen area with a larger fridge and microwave as well as dining table; this hotel had none of that.  While overall it was a pleasant and comfortable room, it just was not my definition of what a suite looked like (there are other hotels within the Galleria area that bill themselves as 'suites' and those are proper suites; see Doubletree Suites Houston Galleria review here).

There are many amenities for the guests to enjoy including a restaurant/bar, a very nice and spacious fitness center, a business center (with computers and printers), shuttle service to transport guests around the neighborhood, as well as wifi.  Since I was only here for one night I only got to experience the wifi which was complimentary and decent enough to stream videos.  

In the end, the positives of the hotel are the close proximity to the Galleria, the hotel has good customer service, and the room is divided between the sitting area and the bedroom.  Negatives include the lack of a full suite, lack of complimentary parking, and odd entrance to the hotel.

Stay Report: Marriott Sydney Hyde Park, now Pullman Hyde Park (Sydney, Australia - April 2012)

Stay Report: Marriott Sydney Hyde Park
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

Photo courtesy of Pullman Sydney Hyde Park

In looking for a hotel in Sydney, I was looking for a comfortable room that had easy access to transportation and was not too far away from the city center.  In doing research, I came across the Marriott Sydney Hyde Park (which has become the Pullman Hyde Park).  This hotel overlooks Hyde Park and provides a nice, comfortable room in a location that is quiet but is connected to transportation and services. 

The hotel is located directly across from Hyde Park – there is an entrance to the underground (Museum Station) on one side of the park, and on the other side of the park is the entrance to the hotel.  It’s a 2-minute walk across the park as the park is not wide.  Depending on how high your room is located, you can see the entrance to the underground from your room.  The hotel entrance faces the park, and as you enter into the hotel you pass by two lounges to get to the check-in desk straight ahead of you.  On either side of the entrance, they have small lounges where you can sit and relax and enjoy the nice park views.  Further up the stairs, on one side is the bar/restaurant while on the other side is a larger relaxing area/lounge and in between is the check-in desk.  The lobby is large and open and feels relaxing.  Check-in was efficient and I proceeded to my room.  The elevators are located to the left of the check-in desk, behind the large relaxing area. 

photo courtesy of Pullman Sydney Hyde Park

The rooms of the hotel are very large and spacious, and the view of the park adds to the comfort of the room.  As you enter the room, on the right hand side is the bathroom while on the left is the closet and storage area.  As you enter into the room, on the right hand side is the TV with storage underneath and a fridge and next to that is a desk.  On the other side are the two double beds with a desk on either side of the bed.  The beds are very spacious and comfortable, and provide a nice sleep.  Across the wall is a large window which allows for nice views over Hyde Park.  The room is nicely sized and allows for decent movement, it’s not too big but you are not cramped in.  The bathroom is very spacious and allows for a lot of room.  The bathroom contained a nice jacuzzi tub, a toilet, a sink and a shower.  It was extremely spacious and felt more like an apartment bathroom versus a hotel bathroom.  Both the bathroom and the room were nicely decorated, but did not look updated.  While the rooms did not look old or worn out, they were not updated either so it was in the middle.  Overall, it was a comfortable room to stay in.

photo courtesy of Pullman Sydney Hyde Park

The hotel provides a couple of facilities that I was able to take advantage of.  On the second floor of the garage, they have laundry facilities available where you can do your own washing.  This was very convenient, especially for long-term travelers.  There was also free wifi – both in the room and better wifi in the lobby – which was decent speed as well as a decent fitness facility.  The hotel also provided a restaurant and a pool, but I was unable to try these.

Overall, it was a nice stay at the Marriott Sydney Hyde Park (now the Pullman Hyde Park).  The hotel provided a spacious room, with comfortable beds, a nice view of the park, and good customer service.  I liked the area because it was quieter and more relaxed but still had easy access to transportation services and was within walking distance to restaurants and services.  The only negative was that the hotel looked a bit older so could benefit from an upgrade (while the rooms looked older, the furniture and other items within the rooms had been updated).    

Stay Report: Renaissance Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia - March 2011)

Stay Report: Renaissance Hotel Kuala Lumpur
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

We were going to spend a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur, so I was looking for a nice hotel that was close to the sights and had easy access to transportation.  After some research, I found the Renaissance Marriott and decided to check it out since I have never stayed at a Renaissance property before.  Overall, it was a nice property that was very large and very accessible, but the rooms were average and so was the customer service. 

From the outside, the property looks very grand with a middle building and two towers on either side.  From the street, you walk up steps into the middle building into a very large lobby.  As you enter, on either side there are small sitting areas where guests can sit and relax.  You walk up additional stairs and into the main lobby and on the left are the many check-in desks, while on the right is the hotel’s restaurant and dining room.   In between the check-in desk and the restaurant is a hallway leading to the elevators to the guest room (for one tower).  Our reservation included complimentary breakfast, and this was served in the vast dining room on the first floor.  The breakfast was nice and had a large spread and provided a nice meal in the morning, but the staff seemed overwhelmed at times.

The average customer service started at check-in, which took longer than expected and was neither warm nor

Photo Courtesy of Renaissance Kuala Lumpur

friendly.  After we received our keys, we went up to our room located in the first tower.  Overall, the rooms were a decent size but did not feel updated; rather they looked and felt older and a bit used.  As you enter into the room, on the right was the bathroom and the left was the closet plus storage.  The bathroom was a decent size and contained a bathtub, sink, toilet, as well as bathroom toiletries but like the room it needed to be updated.  As you entered into the room, on the right were the two double beds while against the wall were the TV, some additional storage, and a desk.  Straight ahead was a window which looked out onto the pool and so provided nice views and good sunlight into the room.  The room size was decent, not grand but definitely not squished together.  The beds were decent, not too comfortable but not too uncomfortable, but did feel a bit older.  The overall décor of the room felt in need of an update. 

Photo courtesy of Renaissance Kuala Lumpur

I was traveling within the region so my stay at the hotel was broken into two short stays.  Because of this, I was not able to experience the other amenities of the hotel including the outdoor pool, fitness center, and spa.  Our room did face the outdoor pool and it looked nice, a bit small given the two towers, but it was definitely being utilized as we always saw people in or around the pool.  

The hotel did allow us to leave our luggage at the hotel, both while we were out of Kuala Lumpur as well as on our last day as our check-out was earlier than our scheduled flight.   The customer service on the check-out was also average, neither friendly nor warm.  One aspect of the customer service which was not good happened to us on our last day - we had left our checked out of our room and had spent the entire day walking around.  As we were heading back to our hotel, it started to rain really hard so we got soaking wet.  When we entered into hotel, we went to the check-in desk, indicated that we had been guests there and were picking up luggage, and asked for a towel to help us dry off.  The representative, at first, just looked at us and then after explaining the situation again, reluctantly gave us one small hand towel.  This hand towel was definitely not going to help as we were completely drenched so I asked for a bigger towel, to which I received the response of ‘we cannot provide anything bigger than this’ and walked away.  The service was not customer-friendly.

Photo Courtesy of Renaissance Kuala Lumpur

Overall, the location of the hotel is good as you are close to the sights and have easy access to transportation; however, the outdated rooms and the lack of customer service did not make this a pleasant stay.  What made the situation even more apparent is that the hotel we stayed in Singapore – also a Marriott property (see review here) – was updated, pleasant, and had amazing customer service even though we were only there for a short period of time.  The hotel where we had stayed longer – this hotel – did not provide the same level of service and thus made our stay not as pleasant.