Stay Report: Doubletree by Hilton Hotel & Suites Houston by the Galleria (Houston, Texas - July 2020)

Stay Report: Doubletree Hotel & Suites Houston Galleria
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

Travel around the world has been seriously diminished due to COVID-19.  Even when traveling, hotels and airlines are putting in special measures to ensure a safe and healthy travel experience.  I have been limiting my travels due to the pandemic, but recently I had to travel to Houston.  I have been to Houston many times and stayed at various hotels throughout the city, mostly in the Galleria area.  When I was looking this time, I found a good deal at the Doubletree in the Galleria area.  I have stayed here twice (see reviews here) and the experience was mixed - the rooms were nice but the service bad - but I decided to give it another try.

The hotel has gone through some renovations on the inside (and this was evident in my previous stay in 2017) and since then the only additions have been due to COVID, which included partitions around the check-in desk, markers on the floor for social distancing, wipes next to the elevator, and signs stating masks were required.  Other than that, everything was the same including how small the hotel entrance is; the layout of the hotel is such that you have the hotel building, the parking garage, and a small connector between the two.   As you enter the connector, the parking garage is to your right, the connector in the middle, and the hotel on the left; the entrance is small generally and gets more crowded once there is a rush. Both valet and self-parking are available.

The lobby itself is wide and spacious. The waiting area is right in front, while the check-in desks are to the

left and the elevators and meeting rooms are to the right.  As both the meeting rooms and elevators are in the same direction, it can become a bit crowded when there events taking place.  I have stayed at other hotels during the pandemic (see review here) and their restrictions were far more strict than what was done here.  There was no restriction on limiting the hotel to only guests so anyone could enter and exit as they please.  Also, even though the state had mandated a mask-wearing policy and the hotel had signs requesting masks be worn, there was no enforcement or verbal reminders regarding mask wearing.  In terms of social distancing, the only stickers on the floor were the ones in front of the check-in counters and they were not adhered to by most guests (nor enforced by the hotel staff).  Check-in was okay but there was no customer service aspect - no greeting, no welcoming a Hilton Honors member, and not checking the reservation before asking questions, in fact it was the bare minimum of service expected and required; even the cookies, which are normally handed out at the beginning had to be requested.  I received the key and proceeded to my room.  

The waiting area for the elevators can become crowded very quickly as there are 4 elevators all converging onto the same waiting area.  They did have wipes for guests to use to wipe down the surface, but this was at your personal preference.  Also, other hotels had enforced either a minimum number of guests in the elevators or only same-household groups in the elevators; none of that was mentioned nor enforced here and it was basically to each their own how they wanted to proceed.  Previously, given my status, I have been upgraded to a junior suite and those rooms, while outdated, are quite spacious; this time I was not upgraded so I was given a standard Doubletree room.  

As you enter the room, on the left was the bathroom which contained a toilet, a shower/tub, a sink with lots of counter space.  The bathroom was standard with standard amenities and toiletries needed to be requested from the front desk.  Further inside the room, on the left were two double beds with a nightstand in the middle.  The beds were generally comfortable, decent in size and overall good in sleep comfort.  Across from the beds, against the wall, was a console that had a TV on top, an open shelf with the coffee/tea as well as ice bucket, drawers on the bottom, a fridge on the bottom, and a small table next to it.  There was a large window across one wall and in between the window and the bed was a chaise lounge chair.  There was a lot of furniture in the room and given the amount of things in the room, the standard size of the room, and then add people to that, the room felt small and cramped and some of the furniture needed to be removed to make the room feel more open.

The hotel is full-service so there are many amenities for the guests to enjoy including a pool, a gym, meeting rooms, business center, restaurant, parking garage, and wifi.  As I said earlier, parking was a nightmare both times I stayed here; you have to pay for parking so considering it requires payment, you think they would come up with a better solution.  The gym also needs to be remodeled as its small and is located on the 3rd floor, right next to other rooms (it looks like they converted two rooms into a gym).  The business center was 3 computers in the open lobby on the other side of the check-in desks.  There was complimentary printing, but there was also a lot of noise; the wifi was complimentary and provided decent speeds.  

Overall, its an average hotel in the Galleria area.   Plus points are the location, the hotel's signature cookies, and the spacious rooms and full-size fridge in the suites.  Negatives include inconsistent and poor customer service and horrible (paid) parking situation, and particularly to covid no enforcement or adherence to public health-related guidelines.  Given the horrible parking situation, the lack of adherence to public health guidelines and overall the general lack of service provided this was my last time staying at this hotel. 

Stay Report: Doubletree by Hilton Hotel & Suites Houston by the Galleria (Houston, Texas - September 2014, 2017)

Stay Report: Doubletree Hotel & Suites Houston Galleria

comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

Photo courtesy of Hilton.com

As I travel often to Houston, I am always looking for a good hotel in the Galleria area. I have a special affinity to Doubletree thanks to the complimentary warm chocolate chip cookies they provide. There is a Doubletree hotel in the Galleria area and I have stayed here twice, each with different results. Overall, the rooms are mini-suites so they are large and spacious but the parking is always a nightmare.

photo courtesy of Hilton.com

The hotel is set aback from the main street but as the hotel is large, you can see it from the main street; one side of the hotel faces the main street but the entrance of the hotel is on a side street. Given how big the hotel is, the entrance to the hotel is very small. The layout of the hotel is such that you have the hotel building, the parking garage, and a small connector between the two. As you enter the connector, the parking garage is to your right, the connector in the middle, and the hotel on the left; the entrance is small generally and gets more crowded once there is a rush. Both valet and self-parking are available.

The lobby itself is wide and spacious. The waiting area is right in front, while the check-in desks are to the left and the elevators and meeting rooms are to the right. As both the meeting rooms and elevators are in the same direction, it can become a bit crowded when there events taking place. As I said, I have been here multiple times and each time the check-in was different. When I first arrived in 2014, it was extreme chaos when we checked in as the hotel could not handle a crowd. The lines were long and the check-in process was very cumbersome. When we finally got to the front, there was no greeting, no apologies for the wait, nothing - and no smile on any of their faces (there were 3 people working in the lobby checking in guests, and none of them were smiling). The check-in was taking a really long time, and no explanation was given, so I asked 'is everything ok'. The attendant replied 'I am looking for a room' and went back to staring at the screen. No customer service at this hotel. When we finally finished, no cookies were given; I had to ask for the cookies even though they are supposed to be given upon check-in. In 2017, it was a different story as the check-in process went smoother, they were more customer-friendly, and overall it was a more pleasant experience (in fact, the mood of the hotel felt lighter as well - they had recently gone through an upgrade and it improved the feel of the hotel).

Photo courtesy of Hilton.com

I received my key and took the elevators to the room. Even though there are 4 elevators, they can get busy really quickly and become very slow (I don't think the hotel was designed for the large rush of crowds they now receive). All the rooms at this DoubleTree are Suites so the room was very spacious and clean, and the beds were very comfortable. As you enter, on the left hand side is a galley kitchen, which is a bit outdated but provides a very large fridge.  The kitchen also contains a sink, lots of counter space, dishes, a microwave, and a stove.  There is also a round dining table with 4 chairs in the sitting room just right outside the kitchen.  The sitting room also contains a sofa-bed/couch with a coffee table, and in front of the sofa is an chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV on top.  The sitting room is very spacious, has lots of features for guests to enjoy, and can become private by closing the door between the sitting room and the bedroom.

The bedroom itself is also quite large.  You enter into a long corridor, which will

Photo courtesy of TripAdvisor.com

eventually lead to the bathroom.  As you head down the corridor, the beds are on the left side In between the two beds was a night stand and in front of the beds was another chest with drawers on the bottom and TV on top.  The beds were spacious and comfortable, and provided a good night's sleep.  The bedroom area was quite spacious and easily allowed access to each item.  Continuing down the corridor leads to the open closet and the bathroom.  The closet is on the right and contains a place to hang items and a shelf to store items.  Next to the open closet is the bathroom which contains a shower, a toilet, and a double sink.  Considering how big the rooms area, the bathroom area is relatively smaller but overall its a comfortable room.

The hotel is full-service so there are many amenities for the guests to enjoy including a pool, a gym, meeting rooms, business center, restaurant, parking garage, and wifi.  As I said earlier, parking was a nightmare both times I stayed here; you have to pay for parking so considering it requires payment, you think they would come up with a better solution.  The gym also needs to be remodeled as its small and is located on the 3rd floor, right next to other rooms (it looks like they converted two rooms into a gym).  The business center was 3 computers in the open lobby on the other side of the check-in desks.  There was complimentary printing, but there was also a lot of noise.  The wifi was complimentary and provided decent speeds. 

Overall, its an average hotel in the Galleria area.   Plus points are the location, the spacious rooms, and the full-size fridge and kitchen available in the suites (as well as the cookies).  Negatives include inconsistent customer service and horrible (paid) parking situation.

Stay Report: Doubletree Hotel & Residences Dubai - Al Barsha (April 2017)

Stay Report: Doubletree Hotel & Residences
Dubai - Al Barsha
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

We had a day layover in Dubai and wanted to stay at a hotel that was next to a Mall as well as next to the metro station so that we could move around.  I decided to try the DoubleTree Hotel & Residences, Dubai Al Barsha as its located near the Mall of the Emirates. The Mall of the Emirates is a very large mall (where Ski Dubai is located) so there is access to food, clothes, services, and a grocery store.  The mall is also a stop on the metro thus providing easy access to the train.  The hotel has very good customer service as they responded quickly and were willing to work with me when I emailed them questions regarding my stay.  That was a positive sign of the hotel.  Overall, the hotel provides a nice comfortable stay in Dubai with nice amenities.

The hotel located in a building by itself, and is advertised as both a Hotel and Residences.

 As you enter into the hotel, you enter into an open atrium.  Immediately in front of you are chairs to sit and lounge, while to the right is a coffee bar and restaurant.  To the left is the check-in desk and in front are the glass elevators which take you to the room.  The lobby itself is somewhat narrow, the atrium makes it feel bigger but overall the hotel looks a bit older that some of the other hotels I have seen in Dubai.  Check-in was smooth and we received our key to our room (plus directions to the Mall).  There are two sets of elevators, but they were both in the middle and both led to the same direction.  We were on the 4th floor, and on the 4th floor the elevators were separated by a glass door so in the end it did not matter which set of elevators you took. 

The first thing you notice when you enter the room is the long entrance-way.  The entrance way from the door to the actual bedroom is very long and very wide.  The room is shaped like an L, with a long entrance way that leads to the bedroom. For us, everything was on the right side of the entrance way as on the left was a wall and a door leading to the next room.  On the right side was the entrance to the bathroom, followed by two sets of big closets, and then a nook area that had shelves on top as well as a coffee maker and fridge on the bottom.  The closets were very big and housed a safe, an iron plus ironing board, slippers, as well as plenty of space to hang clothes.  

The bathroom was very spacious and had all the basic amenities including a sink, a toilet,

and a shower.  There was not a lot of counter space on the sink, but there was some space above the toilet (be careful nothing splashes down or up).  The shower was bit tricky to work out as the same handle operated both the shower as well as the hand-held.  It took a few (wet) tries to figure out which direction went for which mode.  The was also not covered, as there was only a glass partition for half of the shower.  I am not sure why hotels do this as it causes a lot of water to spill out, thus creating a mess for the guest and the housekeeping.  

Considering the size of the entrance-way, the room itself was a bit narrow.  As you entered into the room area, there was a L-shaped couch with a table in front of it.  Had the couch been a bit bigger it could have fit a sofa-bed - the couch itself was decent but the table was a bit out of place as it was very big so you could not sit at the table and pass around the table at the same time.  On the wall opposite the couch was a ledge that led to the TV stand, and this was also connected to the desk.  The ledge provided a lot of space to put your things, but the TV was oddly placed as you could not move it so you couldn't see the TV from the couch, only from the bed.  

The beds were two twin beds with nightstand in the middle.  Since the room was narrow, there was no room to move on the other side of the bed, so both persons had to move in the same direction which made the room feel even more cramped.  The beds themselves were comfortable and provided a decent night sleep.  The AC in the room also faced the beds, so if you were sitting on the bed you felt the breeze but if you were sitting on the couch you could not.  Next to the bed were switches to control the lights, but you could either turn off all the lights or keep them all on.  There was no option to turn off just the bedroom lights and keep the hallway lights on.  There were plugs available next to the bed and near the desk, but that was about it - no USB ports available.      

The hotel itself is located behind the Mall of the Emirates.  There is no connection between the hotel and the Mall, and there is a lot of construction between the hotel and the Mall which cuts off a direct route.  To get to the Mall from the hotel you have to exit the hotel and go around the construction and enter the hotel through the parking garage near the grocery store.  Overall it's about a 5-7 minute walk and there are many people walking as you pass through a residential neighborhood.  There is also a shuttle to the Mall as well as to the Beach which runs every 2 hours.  

The hotel is a full-service hotel with lots of amenities including meeting rooms, a business center, a fitness center, a pool, steam and sauna rooms, as well as coffee bar and restaurant.  We were only there for one-day so I was not able to try out the facilities, but they looked really nice and well-maintained.  The business center was near the meeting areas and provided a nice and quiet place to conduct business and any potential meetings.  The fitness center was also nice and well-maintained and had enough equipment for a good workout.  The pool was outside on the 1st floor and was surrounded by the views from the room, but the pool was decent given the hotel.   There is also free wifi, with an access code, and the speed was decent. 

Overall, it was a pleasant stay at the DoubleTree Al Barsha.  While it looked liked an older hotel, the rooms had been properly updated and maintained so it provided a nice rest.  The layout and narrowness of the room, in my mind, made it good for one night but not sure if I would spend more here.  The hotel does provide good customer service, lots of amenities, and of course the DoubleTree cookie :)  

Stay Report: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Suites Houston by the Galleria (July 2017)

Stay Report: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel & Suites Houston by the Galleria (updated)
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I have been to the Galleria area in Houston many times and have tried many hotels in the area (see previous blog post) - some good, while others not so much.  I like to try new hotels, but also sometimes try and revisit hotels I have previously stayed at that I enjoyed.  One such hotel was the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Galleria.  I had previously stayed here in September 2014 and at that time we were upgraded to a suite which was extremely spacious and very comfortable.  I found a really good deal so decided to try the hotel again.  Below are my reviews from 2014 and the updates from July 2017

It was extreme chaos when we checked in. This hotel is located near the Galleria so one would expect they should be able to handle crowds - no! The lines were long and the check-in process was very cumbersome. When we finally got to the front, there was no greeting, no apologies for the wait, nothing - and no smile on any of their faces (there were 3 people working in the lobby checking in guests, and none of them were smiling). The check-in was taking a really long time, and no explanation was given, so I asked 'is everything ok'. The attendant replied 'I am looking for a room' and went back to staring at the screen. No customer service at this hotel. When we finally finished, no cookies were given; I had to ask for the cookies even though they are supposed to be given upon check-in

Update: the hotel has undergone renovations so the lobby looks and feels brighter and bigger now.  The lobby contained the business center (two computers with free printing), a bar, and plenty of lounge spaces.  There were still only 3 check-in desks, which seemed a bit small, but check-in went smoothly.  We were greeted as Hilton Honors members, given complimentary cookies, and given the keys to our room.  The attendant did not provide any additional information about the hotel, which was a bit surprising.

All the rooms at this DoubleTree are Suites so the room was very spacious and clean, and the beds were very comfortable.   As you enter, on the left hand side is a galley kitchen, which is a bit outdated but provides a very large fridge.  There is a counter that is connected from the kitchen to the main sitting area, which also has a round table with 4 chairs.  Next to that a sofa-bed/couch with a coffee table in front of a chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV stand on top. Next to the TV stand in the door to the bedroom.  As you enter in the bedroom, you face one of the 2 beds.  If you turn to your right, you go through the open closet (with a safe and iron and ironing board) to go into the bathroom.  In between the two beds was a night stand and in front of the beds was another chest with drawers on the bottom and TV on top.  There was also a desk in the room.  Overall, the furniture was outdated and so was the carpeting, but the beds were spacious and comfortable.

Update: as with other parts of the hotel, the rooms have received an upgrade.  The basic

layout of the suite remains the same, but the furnishings and decor have been updated.  As you entered this suite, on left was the kitchen with a full-size fridge, stove, microwave, sink, and counter space which held the coffee maker.  The kitchen was enclosed and on the other side of the wall was the sitting room.  This room contained a dining table (with 4 chairs), a chest with drawers on the bottom and a TV on top, a desk, and a sofa with a table in front.  The sofa turned into a sofabed.  In the next room were the two beds (which were large and comfortable), a nightstand in the middle (which contained lamps that had plugs on them) and again a chest with drawers on the bottom and TV on top.  Behind the bedroom was an open area which contained the closet (with iron and ironing board), the safe, and storage space.  There was also a decent size bathroom with a sink, toilet, tub, and amenities including shampoo, and hairdryer.  Each of the chest with TVs had a side panel on them to connect other devices to the TV.   

Parking - there are two parking options, self park or valet - there is a charge for both. We choose the self-park because we have a big car, but given the location (near the Galleria in Houston) you would assume there would be ample parking; nope. There is only a 3-level car garage with the first-level reserved for valet, leaving only 2-levels for self-park and these two levels were ALWAYS full. Parking here was a pain, inconvenient, and definitely not worth the money. 


Update: this is an area where there were no changes and it was still a pain. The hotel still charges for parking, and on the weekend - where there are many meetings and parties - the parking lot gets very full very quickly.  It is fine on other nights, but they really need to figure this out to make the hotel really great.

The gym here is small and needs to be remodeled. The gym is located on the 3rd floor, right next to other rooms; it looks as if they took out one room and replaced it with the gym. The gym had 4 treadmills, bikes, weights, and exercise balls so that was good; but the location and layout was extremely tight and uncomfortable.

Update: again an area where there seems to be no change.  The gym still has decent equipment but the location is not good.  There is also an outdoor pool which was very popular with guests.

you have to pay for wi-fi. In today's time, this is just unacceptable to have your guest pay for wi-fi. Its complimentary at Hampton Inn and other Hilton properties, so why not here!

Update: Hilton provides complimentary wifi to its members.  The free wifi was good and provided fast speeds for checking email and for watching videos (on youtube, did not try other streaming sites).

Overall, the location of the hotel, the comfortable beds, and spaciousness of the suites were the only positive.  The inefficient staff, the lack of parking availability (especially when its paid parking and when there are large groups) and no wifi were the negatives.

Update: there have definitely been some improvements to the hotel.  The hotel has been renovated and now the hotel looks more modern and fresh.  The service at the hotel has also gotten better.  The spacious rooms remained the same, but the interiors and the bedding have been updated to provide a nice and relaxing room.  The parking and the gym situation both need to be updated - and the elevators need to be faster.  We spent a lot of time waiting, with other guests, for the elevator.  The improvements the hotel has made turned the decent hotel into a good hotel, but there are still other improvements that need to be made to go from a good to a great hotel.