I've probably stayed here over 10 times, mostly for return visit checkups, but also when I was discharged from the hospital. The advantages are:
1) You're connected by skywalks to the MD Anderson buildings so it's very convenient for keeping your appointments. This also provides a certain feeling of safety for people in fragile health: you know the hospital is just over the skywalks.
2) You can get a suite with kitchenette. Many patients/guests aren't feeling well and one can warm up some sort of favorite comfort food like soup and crackers in your suite and not deal with a restaurant. There's room service too of course.
3) There are many facilities and amenities outside your room not seen in standard hotels:
(i) need a wheelchair? call the front desk and one will be brought up
(ii) there's a little convenience store on site with various food items, including canned soups, fresh fruit etc.
(iii) in addition to the usual bar/restaurant there's a Starbucks, a sandwich bar, and another sort of lunch place.
(iii) in addition to the normal hotel lobby there are three other rooms guests can use, which is ideal if you're staying there a while and don't want to be cooped up in your hotel room. There is a sort of atrium room filled with wicker chairs and couches and potted plants. There is a sort of large living room with plenty of couches and easy chairs and a wide screen TV (usually set at low volume to news). There is a "quiet room", also with couches and chairs, some books, and an aquarium -- people at MD Anderson have a lot on their minds and this is a place to escape and think. There is a patio with some lawn furniture and a fountain off the atrium room, that faces a small park. It's a rather small linear park paralleling busy Holcombe Ave but it's heavily vegetated with green grass, shrubs and ornamental plants and can be a welcome respite.
4) The staff are incredible.
5) There's an office of hospital/guest relations and people there can help you navigate through MD Anderson. It's a large place and first-timers might like a little assistance in figuring it all out.
6) There's an onsite blood-work lab: you can spend 15 mins in the evening getting your blood-work done and then skip the wait and the packed waiting rooms the next day in the clinic buildings.
7) Lastly, no one is there unless they, or a loved one, has cancer. So cancer isn't avoided in casual conversations that you may have with other guests, say if you're hanging out in the "living room". But it's not like everything is a huge downer, most people you meet there have an incredible positive attitude and it can be very helpful to maybe discuss cancer a bit with another guest but then have the conversation move on to other normal topics.
8) The two downsides: (a) unless the place has been refurbished recently some of the guest rooms can seem a bit worn (the public spaces however are bright and clean and comfortable). (b) I thought the restaurant food was pretty bad but obviously that's a very subjective option.
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