Houston Texas, A Week in May The Crowne Plaza Experience.

We traveled, we experienced, we made it back. A look into our trip to Houston Texas from the 11th through the 17th.

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We flew into Bush International Airport after being delayed for about 45 minutes waiting for thunderstorms to pass. The trip to the hotel was free since we met up with a Track and Field group that was already headed in our direction. I've lived in Idaho, where the desert rains seem more like 5 gallon buckets of water being poured on your head, and I have lived in Oregon where it rains to the tune of 90+ inches a year over the winter months; I've even seen an unprecedented display of a rain storm in Alaska out on the tundra where a few minutes of rain resulted in 3-4 inches of water running down the highway and panicked drivers afraid they were going to be swept away. None of these experiences, though, could surpass what we experienced in Houston. The rain was not only pouring down, it was unrelenting and that's what set it apart from west coast storms. For over 50 minutes driving at between 35 and 45 mph, the rain poured down drowning streets and bothering even the long-time Houstonians.

We made it to the hotel, the Crowne Plaza Medical Center on Main Street. The entrance to the hotel was placed under the car garage that was at least 3 stories above head...so it was an easy transition from the vans to the entrance and check in areas.

Check in was easy as we had made reservations months in advance. Come to find out, they didn't have enough normal rooms so we were put on the 9th floor in the executive suites at no additional charge. The executive suites, despite being accessed only by those with a key to the 9th floor in the elevator, were no different than the suites below us. All in all the executive deal wasn't a big deal. We never did go to the 10th floor, though we did have access to it.

The first areas we checked out were the pool, it was out doors and under maintenance, the exercise room, it was decent with several tread mills, several TVs and several weight lifting machines scattered among the bicycle stations, but we didn't use it. Right across from the exercise room was the laundry room. The machines were functional but dirty and the room had the appearance of rotting wood. Paint was falling off of the ceiling and the walls were yellowed.

I give the facilities a C for effort...such a high mark mostly because of the exercise room.

From there we made it to the business center on the first floor. It was in a closet with 2 computers, a laser printer that didn't work, a fax machine that was higher than most people 5'9" and shorter couldn't reach and cables strung all over the floor. The LAN cables had broken clips, the wall connections had just one extra port that didn't work (3 total) and the desks were pretty much card tables. The computers were decent and the connection was fast, considering, and the main draw was that the business center was open to everyone in the hotel.

All-in-all I give the business center a D simply because we were able to buy a LAN card and connect our laptop to a working LAN line.

By this time we had traveled in the elevators quite a few times. One of the elevators took a full 20 seconds to open once it stopped on your desired floor. It was an eternity and I saw many new guests trying to pry the doors open. It was quite comical and I rode that elevator purposely just to get people's reactions, no one, but me it seemed, seemed to take it in stride.

I give the elevators a C. They were clunky, jolting, and all in all hard to imagine in a Hotel. But they did work and a couple of them were fast.

Our experience with the staff at the Crowne Plaze started out wonderfully. The doorman, and older gentleman, and extremely helpful. He saw us standing in the lobby deciding if we should call a cab and called a cab for us, under no obligation, with such timing that when we did decide where we were going the cab was waiting. He located the nearest computer store, which happened to be one of our affiliates, Best Buy, and got us a discount on the cab fare but that was the only cab fare that was discounted. Check-in went smoothly and the people were extremely friendly. We were pretty sure they were intent on listening to our "accent" that was clearly not Houstonian.

Then, three quarters of the way through our stay, the less professional staff came on board. Supposedly the hotel had a shuttle that ran on a schedule. The schedule was not posted anywhere and requests for the schedule were ignored. It was hard to explain...the simply didn't respond when we asked for one as if we were speaking a foreign language. Eventually we gave up and asked the new doorman. He was extremely happy to give us a ride and told us to meet him at 1:30. We were in the lobby at 1:25 and he told us that he couldn't give us a ride because he was busy. OK no problem. We walked to one of the many places to eat in the 2 block food court surrounding the hotel (including a Starbucks well within walking distance even on a rainy day).

We took a van with the Track Team to Jason's Deli for an experience I wasn't quite ready for. It was cafeteria style only you ordered what you want before you sit down and slide your tray down the row ordering side dishes and deserts. We especially recommend the strawberry shortcake. A+ for that one. By the time you reach the end of the row your main dish is mostly ready. We waited just 3 minutes before getting our sandwiches and heading to the beverage section. From Ice tea to hot tea and from sports drinks to a wide array of soda, it had just about everything.

The food was excellent, the speed was lighting quick and the place was packed at lunch. We ate there 4 more times on our trip averaging about $10 a person including desert.

I give the sit down fast food an A+ all up and down the Main Street Block and the University Center (about a $5.50 cab ride but quite a distance to walk from the Hotel).

Back to the employees of Crowne Plaza. Click here for the whole story

We never did make it on the shuttle in the 7 days were were there. Maybe it was our fault but you would think out of the 50 or so of us in our group one of us could have figured it out individually...we all didn't stay in one big group, breaking up into 4-5 per group.

The shuttle F-. The drivers are lazy and have no intention of driving you anywhere. I believe that the shuttle is only for the medical section, though we talked to some guests from Chile using the medical facilities next door and they couldn't get the staff to take them on the shuttle either. All in all they say they have a shuttle but do not have one.

The Hotel is within walking distance of a fantastic water park (about 10 blocks I guess) and about 3 blocks further is the entrance to the zoo. Just past that is the Museum district. I write about our adventure at these facilities in my next article.

As for the Hotel Location A+.
There is a service, which I think was Express Service, that ran a shuttle to the airport for $20 a person.

One the way back we didn't have the vans, but we ended up getting limo service for the price of the shuttle. It turns out that the service was picking up drivers to take them to the airport to start their shifts anyway so we tagged along. We received a lot of stares when we both got in the limo at the hotel and out of the limo at the airport. It was a great experience. We'll post the limo company's and the taxi driver's info that we used after we find it again.