As I wished I would've read many of these reviews prior to my trip to Houston last month, I wouldn't have been as shocked and utterly disgusted by what awaited me at the Holiday Inn near the Galleria.

I admitt that I have a high expectation when it comes to hotels and customer service - - I have an extensive background in hospitality, and with that being said, I don't need a beautiful place - you can make an OK hotel great with customer service, cleanliness and security...all which were lacking.

After reviewing several hotels in the area, I decided to go with Holiday Inn since it was "recently renovated" according to the website. Completely misleading. I was sent to a room on the far end/back side of the hotel which was a motel style room. Outdoor halls, no security, gate to parking lot open at all times, door felt like it was just barely holding onto the hinges, dark and dimly lit room, dirty, etc, etc... the list goes on and on. I called the front desk to complain about the room/location and my safety. Showing no care, she simply said the rest of the hotel was sold out.

Since I was traveling for work, I needed to be plugged into my email and was frustrated that I kept getting kicked off the internet. I actually left the hotel to use the Starbucks since it was clean and the connection didn't fail.

I tried using the business center later, but there was nothing business-like about this place. Another completely disappointing experience - business center chairs were broken, internet slow, computer not hooked up to the printer, WORD didn't work...

It keeps getting better.... I needed a water and followed the sign to the vending machine only to find it was out of order/broken. So I went to the main lobby to find water and the front desk agent didn't apologize for the vending machine maintenance issue - he actually gave me a dirty look and said "well, that's why we have water here!" Seriously? I wanted to leave at that very moment but I was in a strange city, late at night, no where to go so was just looking forward to my departure the next day.

As I was purchasing the water, I overheard another guest speaking with the front desk manager about how he saw a man trying to break into a car in the hotel's parking lot. GREAT - my room was directly off the parking lot with no security to protect me and no dead bolt on the door. I moved the desk infront of the door to feel safe and cried myself to sleep.

Ok, may be the crying party is exaggerated, but please just don't stay here. You can go other places for the money that are going to be safer.

By the way, this is my first ever review on a hotel and on Trip Advisor. I actually signed up just to complain about this hotel!

This hotel is in desperate need of a refurbish. Looks as if they recently did major renovations to the lobby area and did absolutely nothing to the rooms.
At check in we noticed a few unsavory characters hanging around, loitering, whether they were guest of the hotel or not, I don’t really know.
Parking at this hotel can be very dangerous. The parking garage is not well lit and signs warn of not being responsible for personal damages to vehicles.
If you are a singe lady and traveling alone, please do not stay here, I live in Houston and can tell you this would not be a good idea.
Despite the advertised location,its quite a distance to the Galleria.
The rooms seemed dirty and the bed had a sink hole in the middle.
The noise from the freeway in front of the hotel will not let you sleep even if you are lucky enough climb out of the sink hole in the bed. This hotel reminds me of those flea bag hotels in Vegas for 25.00 a night...Oh yes, at this hotel you will see first hand Houston’s culture, Pimps, prostitutes, drug pushers and strung out users, and if you’re lucky your car will be there in the morning.

Thought I got a deal from expedia for flight+lodging+car - was checked into a dirty room behind the hotel building - THE TOILET BOWL WAS UNFLUSHED and it was disgusting!!! It was almost 5:00 am when I reported it to the front desk staff after almost 20-hour flight; was told that the hotel was sold out and he was unable to do anything and was very rude too. I was asked to follow-up with the Manager in the morning....what kind of service is that?! I can't even touch the bed and not to mention take a shower. The Housekeeper ought to be fired for not checking the rooms thoroughly. This hotel is by far the WORST I've stayed at - unhelpful front desk staff. Corridor, wallpaper and carpet looks dirty. Several elevators and in-house phone were out of order; only one computer with NO Microsoft Office installed is available in the unmanned business center and the printer was out of the order. The only positive comment is that the hotel is ideally located in the Galleria area and the restaurant staff is friendly.

We stayed here on a weekend, while attending a nearby conference. The pictures on the website are very misleading. The front of the hotel looks great, the lobby is decent, the front desk staff is very friendly. The problem comes when you check in and they send you off to BFE. See, the nice part of the hotel is a front, they added it on to the original hotel from the 50's. We're talking outdoor corridors, enormous windows with bad curtains and dark, scary alleyways behind the hotel (Now there is a big scary wrought iron gate separating you from the alley, but the gate wasn't closed!) The room was fairly clean, not too much mold in the shower and they are making an effort. The sheets looked clean, but the pillowcases were all stained and stinky. We asked for more pillows, and they looked better. On Friday night the fire alarm went off 3 separate times, we called the front desk and they said it was "kids messing around". I don't care what it is, can you make it stop? There was a lot of noise and doors slamming. Lots of partying. On the upside, I was already awake when it came time to leave the hotel at 4am to catch my flight, and I didn't worry too much about waking up my neighbors. ;-) Be careful! It was part of a flight/car/hotel package, and it is certainly a matter of "You get what you pay for" !!!!!