The older gentleman who checked us in was really nice. He was very willing to help with anything about the city, I didn't really need because I lived there for years but he was great. He even let us check in really early, I think it was around 11am and it was a holiday weekend. It was much needed because we'd just driven for the past 12 hours! We had a studio which was roomy but the one-bedroom that a friend had at the other houston location, town & country, seemed a lot nicer.

Okay, back to the hotel. It is in a great location. For those of you unfamiliar with Houston, the area known as Westchase is pretty much the galleria area. It's just on the opposite end of the street Westheimer. But you can be to the galleria in under 10 minutes either by taking the backwards way on the toll road to 59N to 610 or by taking the less congested streets (like Richmond) straight up towards the Galleria Mall/Area. This particular property is pretty secluded since it's right off of the toll road. There's a small/nice apartment complex next door and that's about it. But just a couple lights away in any direction (less than 5 mins) there are gas stations, drug stores, fast food, grocery etc.

When we got off of the elevator there was a very strong food smell. My boyfriend wasn't too crazy about smelling somebody's attempt at whipping up a Mexican meal but I guess being in Texas they thought they'd give it a try, lol. The room was average. It was smaller than I thought it would be. Not small, it was regular hotel room size, I just expected more of a large suite since it had a full kitchen. Otherwise, it was clean and neat. It included a cd player and the freezer had an ice maker so there was no inconvenience of having to find the ice machine or dealing with filling up ice trays and waiting for them to freeze. There were some stains on the floor by the stove/sink but with a full kitchen in the room that's not a big surprise. The exhaust fan over the stove didn't seem to be doing much but the window in the room actually opened so that helped a lot. Now I know why we could smell other people's food when we came in.
Since these have kitchens, there's no continental breakfast but there is a small store on the main floor where you can buy snacks, microwavable food, canned food...pretty much everything. If you've never stayed at a Candlewood I'll let you know that the store (The Candlewood Cupboard) is based on the honor system....meaning there's no cashier. Just take what you want and either put the money in a drop box or write down your room number and put it in the box so they can bill your room. It's a pretty neat idea. The cupboard is in the same room as the laundry room - washing/drying is free, you just buy the detergent. There's also an exercise facility with more than enough equipment because nobody was ever in there.

To sum it up, it's definitely no frills or thrills but it's a VERY convienent place to stay - location, amenities, peaceful, highway access. And if you book a couple of weeks ahead through their website you can get a really good deal. Fair warning: The closer to the date you want to stay, the higher the price and less deals. Oh yeah, and if you're a member of priority club then you can earn points/miles here too.