Originally Posted by
EmailKid
Um, about that ....
Used to stay at Hilton a few times back when work took me all over, and NEVER saw a Hilton where smoking is permitted. In fact I did a Google search because I was under the impression that Hilton went all smoke free, at least in N. America.
And you will find that the museum district is quite impressive, one of Houston's (few IMHO) hidden gems ^
OK, there is some good dining as well. And shopping I'm told (not a shopper).
BTW, I've taken the public bus from the airport one time (I am a budget traveler), and it's not a pleasant experience. I do Supershuttle often in Dallas, and while not great, it's OK. Going to a downtown hotel is probably better than residence, as places will be closer together, but you could easily spend and extra half hour if you are last to be dropped off. Or 20 minutes waiting for other pax to load.
And I agree with the poster who said Houston is pretty easy to drive around in - but I would check how much parking costs.
Unlike Marriott and others - Hilton is still not 100% non-smoking in north America. It pretty much varies property by property - so you have to check each property individually.
The museum district looks ^^^. It also has a website with lots of useful visitor information:
http://houstonmuseumdistrict.org/
I really like the Houston Museum District Map on the website. It - for some reason - refused to print out on my printer. So I called the office - and a gentlemen there sent me a "hard copy". He seemed friendly (hope that is typical
).
In light of the prices quoted - the shuttle doesn't seem to make much sense to me for a party of 2 or more people unless travelers are on a pretty strict budget and want to avoid public transportation.
Car rentals are expensive today. Parking too. Also - we don't like to drink (at dinner) and drive after - especially in a strange city. So we'll use a combination of cabs - public transportation - and our feet to get around. Will probably wind up costing about the same as a rental car (or perhaps somewhat less) - but we won't have to worry about things like navigating/parking/drinking and driving/etc. Robyn