Four Seasons Houston Hotel Review

From about 1997-2010 I used the Four Seasons Hotel Houston with some frequency. It was always the low point of my hotel stays in those days. As those of you who experienced it recall, the rooms were dreary and the service left much to be desired.

I am glad to be able to report that while the physical plant is the same, the rooms and service are very improved over what they were. We had a very quick one-night, meeting-packed stay there last week.

Check In

They have done a better job of clearing out the formerly totally congested small entrance parking area. We were able to pull right up without a a wait at about 7 PM. The doormen were quick and efficient and directed us accurately to check in, which is now on the third floor of the hotel and was very fast and efficient. We asked for and received late check in. The elevators are faster than they used to be and have an improved algorithm. I remember long waits in the past for elevators.

Room

We got our Amex program room upgrade without asking for it. We had called ahead and asked for some items to be placed in the room and they were there waiting for us, exactly as we had requested. We were in a corner king room, which is the last room on the end of a corridor and therefore extremely quiet. There was still construction going on in the hotel on the lower floors, and it was very loud there, but we heard absolutely nothing in our room. The hotel has free slow Wi-Fi and paid fast Wi-Fi. The fast comes with the Amex program; how to obtain it was clearly explained at check in. The speed was fine for our needs, without any issues.

The room is a very light-fillled single room with no dividers, but is quite spacious, with a large console for the TV, DVD player and minibar. You can request removal of the minibar and they will replace it at no charge with a small refrigerator if you wish. The room also has a somewhat small, but adequate desk with a surprisingly dim desk lamp. There are adequate outlets around the desk. There is an armchair with an ottoman and a floor lamp. The bedside tables have lamps and charging stations on them. The lamps on the bedside tables were very powerful. I just wish they had a smaller footprint on the tables so guests can put more things on the table. Between the lamp and the charging station, there was not a lot of space left.

The bed was extremely comfortable, with a duvet and plenty of pillows.

The AC allows you to adjust the temperature and fan speed yourself, which is very welcome during a Houston summer.

The room had good blackout curtains, though they were rather hard to pull closed.

There is a large coat closet in the small entry hall with ample hangers, a suitcase stand, an ironing board and starch, an umbrella and a plastic bag for laundry.

The bathroom is much larger than I remember their bathrooms as being, but has a standard tub, though with nice glass doors and plenty of towels. The sink has a makeup mirror. The lighting around the sink is very bright, but has a strong blue tint and isn't very even. I wish they would install hooks in the bathroom: there was hardly any place to hang a toiletry bag other than on the shower or on the door handle. The only storage surface in the large room was a small table already full of FS amenities, tissue etc. A large table spanning the back of the bathroom would be a much better solution to guests' storage needs. As it was, we had to put some things on the floor. The hot water is good, as is the water pressure. The toiletries are Salvatore Ferragamo Tuscan collection.

The room was very clean - no complaints at all on that score.

We asked for more hand towels and housekeeping came very promptly and offered us ice and more pillows without being asked.

Dining / Service

We ordered room service, which came 10 minutes later than the promised time [not a problem for us]. Room service asked if we wanted our dessert delivered some period after the main meal, in order to keep it cold. The waiter was very courteous and pleasant, set up a table and served the food very nicely, asking us how we wanted everything as he did it.

The food was excellent: superb chicken soup; a very fresh build-your-own salad; steak with a delicious mushroom sauce and French fries; pizza; wine; bread; butter and house-made sorbet for dessert. Next time I am going to have more of the chicken soup and the sorbet - both so tasty! We got exactly what we asked for, no issues at all.

The do not disturb sign was honored [we didn't want evening turn down service].

They offer a choice of newspapers, through a tag you hang out on your door at night.

We needed very early breakfast, which came very quickly and courteously, just as dinner had, and was again exactly what we ordered. They have a huge breakfast menu running the gamut from cholesterol-clogging to new age healthy.

Car

We asked how long ahead to order our car for our morning meetings and they were correct about allowing 15 minutes. We used to dread the interminable waits for our car there, sometimes a half hour or more. Both times we ordered our car, it was brought within 10-15 minutes and they offered us bottled water each time. When we checked out, with late checkout, they drove the car around for us because we wanted to go to our room, get our luggage, checkout and leave, without having the car parked again. The doorman on duty when we left went out of his way to be helpful, kind and pleasant.

Checkout

When we checked out, there was a lot of construction noise near the desk, but the personnel were cheerful, efficient and very pleasant to deal with despite the horrible conditions. There were no mistakes on our bill and check out was quick.

Location

There is light rail available very close to the hotel. The hotel provides free transportation to certain locations in Houston on request. Downtown is a great location for our needs. I imagine it might be less pleasant on weekends where there is less open. The hotel gives good traffic tips and directions on how to reach places easily.

Overall

It was a very pleasant stay, despite the very fast pace of our visit. We would stay at this FS again in Houston. We were particularly impressed by the courteous, efficient service, which we rarely encountered in past years at this FS. They seemed to go out of their way for guests and other guests I talked to had the same impression. We were very surprised by how improved this hotel was compared to its dreary past. I can recommend it for business travel.