Athens Hotel & Suites — Hotel in Houston

My girlfriend treated me to an early birthday present with tickets to a show at the House of Blues this evening. She booked a room at Athens Hotel Suites for the location in proximity to the venue, as well as the price (about half of what other hotels in the area are charging). I commend her for there thoughtfulness, but this "hotel" is awful. First, we parked next door to check in and unload our car, which was fine enough. I made a phone call and then walked into the "lobby". The clerk was eating cereal and watching tv. After he stumbled (I use this term as a compliment) through the unintelligable check-in speech, he asked her to sign and click ok 4 (or 5, or 6) times acknowledging the terms of our stay. She clicked ok on one prompt that stated a "$20 fee" for lost room keys, despite the fact that all computer typed "notices" stated a $25 fee.....RED FLAG! When asked about parking, the clerk informed us of a $15 parking lot with spots reserved for guests of the hotel. After a 5 minute explanation (and hand drawn "map") of the route needed to reach the lot, we paid the fee. The clerk stated that other lots were "ridiculously overpriced" and this would be a safe spot to park. When we FINALLY arrived at the lot, which was at least twice as far from the hotel as a lot that was CHEAPER (and closer to the venue and hotel), there were rose of trash bags in front of each and every spot "reserved" for customers. We promptly drove back to the hotel and stated that we would not park in that lot. Not that price or make/model of car is important, but nobody wants to leave a nice cadillac in a lot straight out of a B-rated movie. The staff promptly stated that we could park behind their gated. This would be fine, but the mirrors had to be folded in, and the "gated parking" was nothing more that an alley straight out of a B-rated horror movie, not to mention the fact that the hotel "shuttle" had to be moved to street, meter-timed parking. This act of generosity was the only thing this place got right. This act also made me realize that we may actually be the only people staying in the hotel, even though they are "fully booked" the next weekend. With a Garth Brooks tour in town, I find it hard to believe that nobody else booked here, or complained about the parking. Now for the room....

First, the A/C was OFF when we walked in, thus making the room hotter and more humid that the July climate of Houston. Second, despite other claims on this site, the room was not clean. I admit to being slightly OCD, but when a "hotel" room is not as clean as my own bathroom, we have a problem. This is not a big deal, but appearances are everything. It also took 12 minutes (from when I started timing, so naturally add 3-5 minutes for sheer perplexity) for the water in the shower to get lukewarm. The alarm clock was not plugged into the wall at all. When a hotel expects you to check-out at a certain time, it would be nice if you didn't have to plug in your computer, so you could plug in your phone, in order to set an alarm that could wake you up to check out in time. Etc., etc., etc....

This is hands down the worst establishment I have ever stayed in. I urge you, for your sake, and the sake of the hotel business as a whole, to steer clear of this "hotel". I am currently writing this review from my room. If I had a place to go, and I thought that I might be able to get my car, I would leave RIGHT NOW. However, I have nowhere else to go, and no way to get my car. I would rather pay for the night here, and then pay full price for a room at another hotel so I could get out of here. My alarm is now set for 7 am so we can leave and get back to civilization. It would be 6am, but I'm afraid that nobody will be available to help us leave this hell. All positive review must have been written by the "staff". And for learnings sake, I hope people can spell better than any and all labels/notices/warnings in this hotel. I am not the smartest person alive, but at least I can spell basic words of the...

Booked a king room with a bed and a sofa which was supposed to accommodate three people. (This info was in the booking) We ended up in a room with one bed which is. Called the executive room. The guy at the desk said that room is only for 2 people and this isn't going to work. I said that in the reservation I booked a 3 person room. He proceeded to argue that its not there fault that the system pushed it to the room that I have now. Which is odd I've never been told that before. He told me he would have to charge me extra which agian I originally booked a king room with a 3 person capacity so why am I being charged extra and being put in a room with a 2 person capacity. That just doesn't make sense. The guy was very unprofessional and told me your lucky you even have that room and your allowed to be here and told me if I smoke or drink and turn my room into a "party" that I will be banned from ever coming here again. (Since when is it ok to assume and tell your paying guest that they are going to drink and party.) Unacceptable! I was charged $60 for having a downgraded room ridiculous! One of the guy's in my group ended up having to sleep on the floor. Tip: pay more money and stay at a better hotel. You won't regret it.

Edit response to Hotel onwer: (i called and the guy calls me stupid and hangs up. why in the world would we take 6 towels ? That is insane. You guys had one small mat towel in the room and zero other towels. It was 3 of us with 3 small backpacks since it was a weekend trip it would be impossible to fit 6 towels in our already full backpacks and actually yes there was plenty of other hotels i booked this trip well in advance and I had plenty of hotel options and no you guys did not reach out. I have zero emails and zero voice-mails

Edit:5/26/21 Stating that I was in my room is irrelevant. That proves nothing. I NEVER was asked if everything was okay. When I passed across the lobby I simply nodded my head to the guy at the front desk as a gesture of kindness even though he was very inappropriate in our previous conversation. (Telling a paying guest he was going to kick us out saying we were going to smoke and drink) if you guys pride yourselfs as highly as you do. Why was I called stupid and wasn't allowed to talk when I called and the middle eastern guy hangs up and doesn't listen to a thing I had to say. I was nothing but nice and respectful and I certainly was not treated the same way. We were there for 1 night only. We left the hotel for a UFC event and didn't return till around 1am and we actually checked out around 6am. The 2 guys in my room didn't even bother to shower as we were eager to leave the hotel to be on our way back home in Austin. Only one person showered (me) and I realized there was only a mat towel. Didn't bother to tell the front desk since we were leaving anyways. Again 3 guys with 3 small backpacks and a camera bag with my camera gear would not be able to fit 6 towels in our already full small backpacks. WE DID NOT TAKE 6 TOWELS!!! " I'll say this again (During my entire stay I didn't report towels beacuse I only realized it at 5:30 am in the morning before leaving at around 6 am) didn't bother to report as we just wanted to leave the hotel since it has been a horrible experience from the beginning.

To whoever is replying to this review. You have lied on three separate occasions.

Saying I took 6 towels (which is a ridiculous claim)

Saying you tried to contact me regarding the towel charge (but I have never received a call or email. In fact I called you guys and I was treated rudely.

Saying you asked me if everything was ok. ( I never...

Guest Collin Thompson posting here as I do not have a google account:

Spend the extra $100 on a name brand hotel around the corner from here. Booking.com and Expedia have deceiving pictures although you would think a hotel nearby the Toyota Center would be nice. Arrived at 2 pm for a 3 pm check-in and was “greeted” with a rude ‘your check-in is at 3 pm and your room isn’t ready’. Never in my life have i written a poor google review but this place deserves it. Typically you can get in a hotel an hour or so prior to check in but i understand current labor shortages, so okay no problem we were willing to wait in the small lobby. Was not given any type of time frame on if the room would be ready by 3 pm or not and was not given the option to put my phone number down to be called when it was ready.

Ended up being able to begin the “check-in”process to get a card on file and figure out the parking situation, but still wouldn’t be able to go to our room. Was told we would be charged an automatic $10 fee for clean-up and sanitation after the entire booking was already paid for through booking.com. Sure okay. No receipt was given for this transaction. Received our parking pass and was told the parking lot was not connected to the hotel or really not even nearby(1/4 mile+ away). The parking pass has an address and instructions on parking but the front desk clerk (I’m assuming the owner) writes down an entirely different address for you. Parking lot was super confusing to locate due to tucked away location and barricades. Parking lot does not look secure whatsoever. We had 4 adult guests so we had 2 vehicles, one which we had to pay $15 extra for another parking pass(no receipt for this transaction either). We drove into the parking lot, booked a different hotel, and drove off. Tucked back area where we were told the gates would be locked in the evening but that looked highly unlikely.

Got to our new hotel and once checked in I took the room key back to Athens. By the way when you are in the process of trying to check-in to your room there’s a $20 charge for replacing a key….each key is specifically numbered(Not disposed of or sanitized between guests). This is the reason I paid for an Uber to ride back to the hotel about a mile away from the new one.

Went and put the key on the counter then told the new counter attendant we weren’t staying there any longer.

Not worth the disrespect from the front counter staff or the low fares to stay here. Hotel looks nice online but...