My family, along with some extended family stayed at this hotel for a funeral. Although the circumstances of our stay were very sad, we had a pleasant experience in terms of the accomodations here. Our rooms were on the first floor just off of the lobby, so we were close to the breakfast area and sitting area in the lobby. This was nice because it gave us convienient options for places to relax and talk. The rooms were surprisingly large. The photos I saw online did not do them justice. There was a separate sitting area in the room, with a pull out couch (so, more people coud have stayed in one room than I realized). Also, there was a very convienient, what I'd call "butler's pantry" area that included a microwave, mini fridge, sink, coffee maker and cabinets stocked with paper goods. I did not see a single stain in the entire room or lobby area. Everything was very clean. There were none of the typical annoyances like sinks that don't drain, bad water pressure or broken appliances. I am usually grossed out a bit by hotels, but was not at all by this one. The furniture was mostly modern and the carpeting and tile floors all seemed new. The bed linens were modern, bleach-white. The beds and pillows were comfortable.
Nearby on Westheimer there is an overwhelming number of restaurants to choose from in either direction. The surrounding area was clean. The complimentary hotel breakfast was the standard for Holiday Inn Express, which I have found to be a little better than most. They include eggs, yougurt and fruit instead of the usual carb. load you typically see. They do not have a pool. There is a small workout area and a computer in the lobby sitting area. My cousin was unable to get online for some reason though.
There was one glitch in our stay: the first night there was alot of ruckus above us all through the night that disturbed our sleep. We could hear it from both of our side-by-side rooms. It sounded like unsupervised children jumping from one end of the room to the next...very loud, constant banging. We complained to the manager and staff several times who were apologetic and promised to talk to them. The next morning we were offered a move to a new room. We were afraid talking to them would do no good because it hadn't helped during the night when we complained at 3 am. We liked our room location and didn't want to move. We felt that management should have considered asking the noisly people to move, not us. Fortunatly, the next night was very quiet. We could not hear any highway noise from the room either night, even though the hotel is right beside Beltway 8.
I would recommend this hotel for it's cleanliness, spacious rooms, friendly staff, convienient location with lots of dining options nearby, and it's very decent breakfast.