Hotel review - accessibility

Hotel review
From the point of view of a guest in a wheelchair
Holiday Inn Express, Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas

On my last out of town overnight trip I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express at 7625 Katy Freeway in Houston. Despite being right next to one of Houston's major radial arteries, or perhaps because of that, this hotel was in a rather seedy looking neighborhood. I don't think it was dangerous, but it would not be a pleasant place to walk around. Also, the frontage road, which is the only road you can exit to from the hotel, is a one-way street. If you are familiar with how frontage roads work in Houston, I'm sure this is not a problem. For us it took some getting used to.

Inside, the hotel looks nice and the accessible room had all the features I needed. But it was a little strange. First they checked us in very professionally and gave us keys, and it turned out that the room I had been given was accessible enough for a paraplegic, but not for me. So we went back down, and it turned out their only suitable room was a suite. Now, they should have known they had to give me that room, because the reservation was made for me by Able to Travel, and they are very explicit and specific about my needs. I was mentally preparing this review, when they said that my nurse and caregiver could have the room next door, even though that was also a suite. As it turned out they preferred to use the sofa bed in my suite, so they would be close enough to hear me if I needed help. That was very nice of them and everything worked out fine after that. The hotel gave us absolutely no trouble about wanting a lot of extra towels, for instance.

In the end I have to give this Hotel four out of five stars, or maybe even five. It didn't look so good on the outside, and they were confused at first, but it turned out to be as nice as could be from then on.

David C. Kopaska-Merkel