Stay Report: The Westin Oaks Houston at the Galleria
I originally stayed at this property in November 2013. I revisited the property in March 2015 and here is a combination of my experiences at the property.
I travel to Houston a lot and usually I like to stay in and around The Galleria area as it has access to the interstate and lots of restaurants and shops. There are two hotels directly connected to the Galleria and both are Westin; the one facing Westheimer is the Westin Oak Galleria while the one facing W. Alabama is the Westin Galleria. When the Westin was part of SPG I found some really good rates to stay at this hotel, but since Marriott took over it is very hard to find those special rates. The reason I enjoyed the hotel is because 1) it is connected to the Galleria so you can go enjoy the mall and then walk back to your hotel room; 2) the service and the rooms were great; and 3) there is complimentary parking in the Galleria garages.
Even though the hotel is part of the Galleria complex there is a separate entrance to the hotel. The main entrance is on the street level and there is also an access to the mall from the basement level. As you enter into the lobby, the first thing you notice is how tall and open the lobby is but also how dark the lobby is. The valet stand is outside the lobby and inside there is a waiting area while straight ahead are the check-in desks. The elevators are to the rights of the check-in desks and if you continue towards the right you access the business center (computers and printers in the lobby), the bar, and the elevators which can take you up to the meeting area. The lobby is very spacious and there are plenty of chairs and spaces for you to relax, but as I said before there is not a lot of natural light so the lobby can feel quite dark. After check-in, I received my key and went to the elevator - the guest floors can only be accessed by key and its one of those elevators where you put in your key, press your floor and then you are told which elevator to proceed to. It takes some getting used to at first and sometimes there can be a lot of people in one elevator.
When I got the room, the first thing I noticed was how spacious they were and how easily and comfortably 4 guests could fit in the room. As you open the door, on the right is the bathroom and on the left is the closet. The bathroom was standard with a toilet, a tub, a sink and toiletries but the main differences were that the bathroom was also a good size and the sink had a long counter to provide lots of storage. The closet was standard with a shelf on top and places to hang your clothes on the bottom but the closet also contained the safe, an iron, and ironing board. In the main part of the room, on the right-hand side, were the 2 large double-beds which were very spacious and very comfortable (they provided an excellent nights sleep). In between the beds was a nightstand and in front of the beds was a chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV on top. There was a coffee stand next to the TV and there was a mini-fridge hidden as part of the chest. Next to the chest was a large desk and chair in which you could do more work to add more storage space. The room also contained a chair and lamp next to the bed that faced out to the windows – the windows faced onto Westheimer street and provided great views of the city down below. As I said, the room was very spacious and the beds were comfortable so it provided for a great nights rest.
Even though the hotel is part of the Galleria complex there is a separate entrance to the hotel. The main entrance is on the street level and there is also an access to the mall from the basement level. As you enter into the lobby, the first thing you notice is how tall and open the lobby is but also how dark the lobby is. The valet stand is outside the lobby and inside there is a waiting area while straight ahead are the check-in desks. The elevators are to the rights of the check-in desks and if you continue towards the right you access the business center (computers and printers in the lobby), the bar, and the elevators which can take you up to the meeting area. The lobby is very spacious and there are plenty of chairs and spaces for you to relax, but as I said before there is not a lot of natural light so the lobby can feel quite dark. After check-in, I received my key and went to the elevator - the guest floors can only be accessed by key and its one of those elevators where you put in your key, press your floor and then you are told which elevator to proceed to. It takes some getting used to at first and sometimes there can be a lot of people in one elevator.
When I got the room, the first thing I noticed was how spacious they were and how easily and comfortably 4 guests could fit in the room. As you open the door, on the right is the bathroom and on the left is the closet. The bathroom was standard with a toilet, a tub, a sink and toiletries but the main differences were that the bathroom was also a good size and the sink had a long counter to provide lots of storage. The closet was standard with a shelf on top and places to hang your clothes on the bottom but the closet also contained the safe, an iron, and ironing board. In the main part of the room, on the right-hand side, were the 2 large double-beds which were very spacious and very comfortable (they provided an excellent nights sleep). In between the beds was a nightstand and in front of the beds was a chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV on top. There was a coffee stand next to the TV and there was a mini-fridge hidden as part of the chest. Next to the chest was a large desk and chair in which you could do more work to add more storage space. The room also contained a chair and lamp next to the bed that faced out to the windows – the windows faced onto Westheimer street and provided great views of the city down below. As I said, the room was very spacious and the beds were comfortable so it provided for a great nights rest.
The Westin is a full-service hotel so there are many facilities for the guests to enjoy including a gym, restaurant, business center, meeting rooms, pool, wifi, and parking. There are two parking options available, either valet or self-parking. The self-parking is free, which is quite unusual in the Galleria area, and space was always available - even on the Thanksgiving holiday (the garage is the regulars shopping garage shared by all shoppers and there is an entrance to the mall and through this entrance there are elevators to take up to the hotel). The wifi was complimentary for SPG members and it was relatively fast enough to check email and watch videos. The business center was a bit odd as it was just some computers and a printer near the escalators in the lobby; given the size of the hotel I expected a dedicated business center. The fitness center was nice but it was in an odd location; to access the fitness center you took the elevator the basement in which there was the mall access as well as garage access but this was the access to both for guests of the hotel as well as guests of the mall. To access the fitness center, you had to cross this pathway to get to the other side of the hallway to access the fitness center. The fitness center itself was very nice with updated equipment and enough of them to get a decent workout. (Since this gym is smaller, guests of the Westin Oaks are able to use the bigger gym of the Westin Galleria which is located on the other side of the Galleria Mall).  |
| photo courtesy of TripAdvisor |
Overall, it was a nice and comfortable stay in a hotel that is very conveniently connected to the Galleria. The hotel provides comfortable and spacious rooms, complimentary self-parking, and easy and convenient access to the Galleria. There are not many negatives to the hotel so that is why the Westin Oaks Houston at the Galleria is at the top of my list of hotels to stay at in Houston in the Galleria area.
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