Renaissance Hou Greenway Plaza - Houston, USA 

Like many accommodation choices in Houston, the Renaissance Greenway Plaza seems to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by roads, freeways etc. and little else! This is definitely a vehicel-oriented town, (and I've stayed in quite a few areas of the city...finding a sidewalk/pavement on which to walk is a hard task!) To say it is located in a 'shopping centre' is something of a mistruth..yes, there are a few shops/eating options across the road, but choice is very limited and the road in question is a busy, multipl-lane freeway which would necessitate transport to cross! I wonder quite why this place is where it is...I suppose there are quite a few offices etc. nearby but usually I find Renaissance hotels are more centrally-located, (I get the feeling it was built on the premise of other great things following on, much of which never materialised!) It's not a visually stunning place, darkened glass and slender and little else. Yes, it is a little tired, (especially in the public areas, e.g. lobby, lounge bar etc.), and could do with some TLC. The outdoor pool is reasonably-sized and a welcome addition when it gets hot and steamy down in Houston, but it's right beside yet another road so not exactly a haven of tranquility! My room, on the 8th floor, overlooked offices and more offices, (but you don't come to this area for a view!) It is in the accommodations where this place hits the mark. The room was spacious and well-kept, clean and neat and featured many pleasant little touches. As always, I'd have liked a mini-fridge as standard, (I believe you can call and request one, but my time here was short so didn't think it was worth the bother!), as it's nice to be able to have some cool drinks on hand without heading out to the ice machine! But apart from that, the separate walk-in closet with 'tall boy' was roomy, and the vanity/basin unit, (separate from the shower/bath and WC), again had plenty of space. There was a small vanity table, with adequate lighting, for you to be able to use as a hair/make-up 'station' without any danger of your products getting wet, (it's away from the sink), which is handy. All tiled floor is separared from the rest of the carpeted room, which had a lovely comfy king-sized bed, (pillows of dubious quality though - I had to use all three to get any kind of support, so if anyone else had been sharing the bed I'd have had to call for some more!) There were two armchairs and an adequate work desk with plenty of power sockets. I managed to access a free wireless network, but of course this could be down to chance so cannot comment on the reliability etc. of the hotel's 'wired for business' package, (standard to the Marriott chain at US$9.95 plus tax, noon to noon). Huge floor-to-ceiling windows let in a lot of light, which was welcome as you can often feel a little 'hemmed in' in places like these! I cannot comment on any food/beverage services as I didn't partake of either, but I did find the complementary shuttle van to be useful, (if not a necessity - with no car of your own, it's a lifeline to get anywhere!), and reliable. All in, a good option if your priority is a good nights' sleep in a comfortable room, (and even better if it happens to be close by something, or someone, you've made the trip to see!)

Stayed two nights on a business trip. Price was reasonable at $160ish plus tax, for this area of Houston. A bit dated - not up to the national Renaissance standard - food just ok - front desk very pleasant - the shuttle / entry staff is not friendly or helpful. I thought security was on the low side. Details.... Room is relatively small and older vintage at maybe 13x13 plus hallway and bathroom but you can tell they refreshed / updated the bed (soft, nice comforter, double sheets). For example the electric outlets are in the floor. The bath is older except for the toilet (high and newer) and the shower curtain (extended out in the half bend to keep it away from your body) - all else are undersized and tight quarters - I would not want to have to share this with another person. The bath amenities are very nice and on a par with Ritz - lemon grass soap and mint shampoo and travel packet of qtips / nail file - a nice touch. TV was just OK - smallish set maybe 25inches and not an LCD - HBO and HBO Family as the only movie channels - and the ppv in-room movies did not work for the two days I was there. I did not try wireless - but my Sprint card worked great. As noted, this is part of an office / hotel complex - which are all connected by a large underground area of shops (which only 70% or so were rented / in-use) and parking garage. The part that disturbed me on security is that you could walk right into the hotel business / meeting rooms area on the ground floor, and then hop into an elevator up to the rooms without anyone monitoring (I saw room attendants twice down there in two days - never saw a security guard once). Admittedly, this is a professional place, so unlikely to have problems anyway - but this is pretty pitiful control. The underground space had a print center, a couple of restaurants including a burrito place that was good, and a little dry goods store with decent prices for something so close to a hotel. Members of our group walked to Tony's (a high end fru-fru place) and Jack in the Box. We also cabbed it over to a great BBQ place called Lulu's (about $20 cab ride). The business space was adequate for our meetings, although the seating was not that comfy (your butt hurts after a full day of sitting on their chairs). Catered food was good but typical - the only high point was a great fruit salad (huge blueberries and blackberries). The business center is decent, although only two computers - but I never saw more than one person in there at a time. The hotel exercise facility is decent with relatively newer equipment, and the pool is outside (I did not use it) and is pretty big. We hosted a business dinner and it was decent tasty food - I have no idea on the pricing - but our hosts joked that they must have brought it in from outside the hotel. The outside plaza is beautifully landscaped and worth a short walk through with palm trees and a nice setup (lot of concrete though).