I am a big fan of the W Hotel chain, so I was excited to try out their Aloft brand on a recent trip to Houston. The Aloft Galleria Houston, Texas, was in the exact location I needed, which was close to the Greece Consulate. Houston traffic is known for being very bad, and I didn’t want to get on the highway. This Aloft had reasonable prices and decent reviews, so I decided to give it a try.

Check-In

I drove to Houston from Dallas, so I needed to be able to park. When you arrive, you can park in a check-in space, so you don’t have to pay for parking with your credit card. It also meant that I could just go in with my wallet and not all my luggage. I was greeted right away, and check-in was fast. The keycard for my room also granted me access to the parking garage.

The Room

My room was on the 6th floor, which is only the second floor of rooms in the hotel as the parking garage is the first four levels. The room is smaller than some American sized hotel rooms, but it didn’t feel too small. Part of the reason for this is the layout of the hotel. You enter and are right away into the closet/bathroom area. Behind the closet wall is the sleeping area. While this is fine for a hotel, if you are staying longer, you might not want to see this every time you walk-in.

The bathroom is a good size, and the shower stall is also large. They provide shampoo/conditioner and body wash in refillable pumps, which I appreciate for the environment’s sake. Aloft uses Bliss products in their hotels, which is one of my favorites and fits with many W Hotels having a Bliss spa located in the hotel. A few reviewers mentioned the rooms were not clean. There was some soap scum on the shower floor. I can see how it might bother some, but the hotel isn’t new, so I wasn’t too bothered. I think it was just due to age.

In the sleeping area are a bed, a desk, and a bench. The bed was comfortable, and there were four pillows, which I prefer as I like to double up. The desk faced a decent view of the area, and the two windows provided ample natural light. The only drawback was the design of the desk and area above the air conditioner as it created a gap between the window and the shade. This caused sunlight to peek in from under the shade, which ended up being right at my eye level while I was in bed. Again, not a huge deal, but if you want to sleep in, you might need an eye mask.

I got lots of use of the desk, and the chair was really comfortable when I sat in it all day the last day I was in the hotel. The bench in the room was really only suitable for holding my luggage as there was no cushion. This was fine because the tv only faced the bed.

The biggest complaint was that the walls were really thin and I could hear conversations happening in the other rooms. This never happened at night, but I spent an entire day in my room working, and this made it hard to concentrate. I was just glad I had earplugs.

The Amenities

Down in the lobby was where breakfast was served. It was not included in the cost of the room. The price varied on what you ordered. The food was good, considering most of it was pre-made. I was able to make coffee in my room as well, so I ended up buying some yogurt to keep in the fridge for the next two days.

There was also a bar area in the lobby. It was a full-service bar and had a nice vibe. One night I went down, and there was live music for a few hours. The bar is supposed to serve food, but the one night I wanted to eat there was no chef. There is an outdoor patio for the bar area, but it was way too hot to sit outside.

The Aloft also had a small indoor pool and gym. I didn’t use the pool, but the gym was well equipped, and all the machines were working! Trust me, I have been in many hotels with gyms that only one machine worked! They have towels, yoga mats, and earphones for you to use. I was the only person in the gym as well.

Overall, if I needed to, I would stay here again. It wasn’t pristine clean, but the bed was clean, and I liked the location. If you do visit the Aloft Hotel Galleria Houston, Texas, bring earplugs!

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