Hotel Review: Hilton Post Oak Hotel in Houston Texas

When my husband realized that we had an opportunity to return to Houston to hear one of his favorite people speak at a business seminar, it didn't take us long to decide what hotel to stay at. Two years ago, we came and stayed at the Hilton Post Oak for the same seminar and LOVED the hotel. It was right after the hotel had been renovated, and we just loved all the new decorations. The trip two years ago also happens to be where and when we first fell in love. So, needless to say, we were really looking forward to a return trip. I wish I can say that this time was as as pleasant as last.

The seminar started a day after we had to work at our own office, in Alabama. Did I happen mention our heater had just gone out in our office? After FREEZING all day, and then driving 10 hours, we were really looking forward to some friendly faces, and Houston charm to lift our spirits.

VALET

When we pulled up to the valet, it took a good 5 minutes for someone to realize we were there. Granted it was about 2 a.m., but after our many trips to Disney in the middle of the night, and still seeing several greeters, it was kind of a shock.

LOBBY

After the Valet gentlemen finally did get our bags, we proceeded to enter the beautifully decorated lobby, and headed for check-in. The lobby had two bamboo shout trees, which were quite lovely, surrounded by a bed of decorative stones. There were also several plush chairs, an auto-playing piano, and several well-picked contemporary art nick-knacks to set the mood. My personal favorite though, is the swoop window, that goes up about 3 floors, giving the lobby a truly open feel.

CHECK-IN

Check-in was relatively painless. Well, besides the couple behind us that really wasn't a "couple," but very OBVIOUSLY a "hook-up." They kept trying way to hard to convince us that they had been married for 6 years, even though we hadn't asked them anything. Yeah... right.... and my mother is the Queen of England.

The first thing that kind of bothered us, was when we were about to get on the elevator to go up to our room, we noticed our bags were sitting unattended, right in the walkway after you come through the door. We both thought that was kind of strange, but instead of worrying about it, I just retrieved my laptop from the cart, and proceeded to the elevator.

THE ROOM

Our room was 931. Getting to our room was really very easy, and it seems like due to the design of the hotel, that no one would really need to walk too far to get to their room.

When we got to our room, we were both very impressed. The rooms were actually much bigger than what we had remembered. Our room was very spacious and probably a good 30% larger than a normal hotel room. In our room, there was a cute little chair with an end table and lamp, two queen sleigh beds that were covered in plenty of heavy sheets and pillows to keep you warm, a decent, basic armour with two drawers, and a T.V (no VCR or DVD player) , a minibar, (but no refrigerator) and last but not least, a desk that is perfect to sit with your laptop and write reviews like this one.

On first glance, the room really was breathtaking. The best things about the room were the unique artwork on all the walls, and the window/door that took up the back wall overlooking downtown Houston, with our own private balcony.

THE BATHROOM

The bathroom consisted of two rooms. The first being a spacious room with a large closet, and a granite top vanity with a sink, so that someone can be taking a shower, and another getting ready at the same time. It was equipped with one drawer on the left, and silver accented ice bucket with glasses on the right. They also had a lighted make-up mirror on the counter, which I thought was a nice touch. The other had the tub/shower, and toilet, and sand-slate colored tile on the floor.

THE SHOWER

One of the first things that my husband and I noticed that was out of place was the bathtub/shower. The shower curtain was a very nice cream shade and clean. However, when you pulled it back, you really noticed how outdated the tub was.

Personally I don't care too much if the tube is older, as long as it works properly and appears clean. However, when I stepped in the shower, I immediately noticed it had NO water pressure. Now, I'm all about going green. You can not wash my towels every day, and change my sheets every 3rd day, and I am completely fine with that. However, take away my water pressure and it really irks me! I don't think some people realize that when you have long thick hair like mine, you have to take 4 times as long of a shower, just to get the conditioner out, than you normally would with regular water pressure. Also, since I would assume that most people stay at the Post Oak for business reasons, it really is not the most opportune time to have sticky hair due to bad water-pressure.

MY NIGHTMARE

As a child I remember loving elevators. As an adult, I can say that I still love MOST elevators, but have become more aware of the noises etc, as I've gotten older.
On our second day at the hotel, I sat in our room, writing, waiting for my husband to call me to meet him for lunch. All of a sudden, the power flickered just for a second. Just a few seconds after that, my husband called, asking me to come meet him. Not thinking too much of it, I got ready and went to the elevator.

My daughter and I got into the elevator, pressed the button to the first floor, just like we always would. But this time, instead of the normal slight shaking of your average old elevator, it began to shake violently. And instead of just going down to the first floor, it started going up, and sopping at every single floor. As it would stop, it would take a solid 15 seconds for the doors to open, and no one would be on that floor. Feeling a little shaken up at this point, we decided to get off and try taking the stairs, but the stairway was absolutely filthy.

Knowing there was no other option but to take the elevator, we reluctantly got back on. This time it did go down, thank God. However, the panels, doors, and overhead light, shook so hard I thought the thing would start to fall apart.

Being quite terrified, we finally reached the lobby. Although it scared me, I never really thought we were in danger until the doors opened to two cops staring at the elevator I had just gotten out of.

Out of pure adrenaline, I managed a smirk and asked "So, you were waiting for me huh?" the cops then informed me that they were there to find out what was wrong with the elevators!! So it wasn't just my imagination? :)

Maybe I just hadn't noticed the elevators before that incidence, but they continued to shake, though not quite as bad, until we left. I'm also not sure why I never noticed anything with them two years ago either, but they are obviously in need of repair now.

I also found out later that there is really no way to "take the stairs." They told me that the stairs started on the second floor, and go up, and that they exited outside anyway. Somehow that just seems a bit strange to me..

THE GOOD

-- The Decor
-- The mattresses (They were okay, not great)
-- The design of the building
-- the staff
-- The spaciousness of the rooms
-- The use of glass (back-wall in room, lobby, and some over-sized windows throughout)
-- The location
-- The hair dryer and lighted mirror
-- The colors they chose to decorate with
-- The shuttle they provide to take you to the Galleria

THE BAD

-- The toilet paper was kind of scratchy
-- The towels were really really scruffy
-- The shampoo, soap, and shower gel were really drying, and seemed cheap
-- The lack of attention to our bags
-- REALLY bad coffee
-- There is no "calendar of events," probably because there is not much to actually do at the Hotel.

THE UGLY

-- The horrible, dreadful, outdated elevators
-- The showers and water pressure

The Hilton Post Oak is located in Houston, Texas at :

2001 Post Oak Blvd.,
Houston, Texas, 77056
Phone # 1-713-961-9300

The Hilton Post Oak used to be a Doubletree Hotel. It usually costs around $129.00 a night. Some amenities include an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness center,
several meeting and business rooms, and one restaurant and a bar. It is conveniently located near The Galleria Mall that has probably every shop you can think of.

Although I did have such a bad experience this time, I would still recommend this Hotel because the price is generally fair. I also feel like the people that work there really do care, and will hopefully fix the things that are in need of fixing.