Element Houston Katy — Hotel in Katy

If I could give zero stars, I would. My experience at the Element by Westin in Katy, TX was absolutely unacceptable from the moment I walked through the door.

I arrived after a 4.5-hour drive with my 13-year-old son, exhausted and ready to rest. I wasn’t greeted or acknowledged I stood at the front desk for several minutes before someone finally came out of the back. No smile, no welcome, no professionalism. Just a cold, “I need your ID and card.”

When I handed over my Chime debit card, the front desk associate looked at me and said, “Oh, we don’t take Chime. It’s not a real bank.” Excuse me? That is offensive, incorrect, and completely unprofessional. I explained that Chime is my actual bank my paycheck is directly deposited there, it’s a Visa debit card tied to a checking account but she continued to talk down to me like I was trying to use a gift card from a gas station. She said it was “prepaid” and even had the nerve to say I probably wouldn’t get my deposit back.

That interaction alone had me feeling humiliated and disrespected. I’ve had family members use the same card at other Marriott properties without issue. I’ve personally stayed at a SpringHill Suites in the same area and had no problem. But here? I was made to feel like I didn’t belong.

I ended up transferring money to my Venmo debit card just so I could check in and she admitted that was also a “nontraditional” card but accepted it anyway. At that point, I was too tired to argue. But the whole thing was ridiculous and unnecessary.

Unfortunately, it didn’t end there.

The elevators at this property went out repeatedly. One of my peers had their 90-year-old parents with them and they had to walk up four flights of stairs. That is beyond inexcusable and dangerous. Another friend got locked out of their room, and even maintenance couldn’t get the door open their child’s entire basketball gear is stuck inside, and there has been NO urgency from staff to fix the problem.

The breakfast? Cold, stale, and limited options. Definitely not what you’d expect from a Marriott-branded property. The overall customer service? Dismissive, rude, and flat-out lazy. No one on staff made any effort to offer apologies or solutions. It felt like we were an inconvenience to them not paying guests.

To top it off, we had multiple families from our basketball organization staying here. This wasn’t just my experience multiple people were affected by the poor service and lack of professionalism at this hotel.

I’m a longtime Marriott Bonvoy member, and I chose this hotel because of the brand’s usual quality. But this location? It failed on every level. I will never stay here again, and I will warn others to do the same. This hotel needs serious management and staff retraining or a...

Our experience at the Element Houston Katy was not good. At check in, I was told that my room was given to someone else and they had no more of the rooms that I reserved available. We were told that we could have 2 separate rooms to make up for it. I was not happy about this because we have 2 children and I did not want us split up but we accepted because it was late and we were tired from driving all day. The rooms were nice except for stained towels and hair in the shower. We attempted to go to sleep but the person next to us was talking loudly, screaming at times, and cussing every other word. I was in the room with my 7 year old daughter and I did not appreciate this. After listening to this for over an hour and trying to play music to sleep to on my phone to drown out the sound, I finally had enough and tried to call the front desk. I called at least 5 times on the room phone and no one answered. I tried calling the hotel using my cell phone to call and after a very long time ringing, someone finally picked up. I was told they were fully booked after requesting another room but once she realized that I already had a room and explained the shouting and cussing she told me that she would check availability to switch our room and call me back. I waited over 30 minutes and she finally called me back to say there were no rooms and that was all, she did not contact the neighbor to try and get him to stop. I listened to shouting, loud laughing and cussing for over 2 hours before we finally fell asleep from exhaustion after 1 am, not because the talking stopped. All night you hear loud cars from the freeway, the doors shutting is so extremely loud, there is no way to shut the door quietly, and the AC sounds like it is screaming. Bright and early our neighbor had loud uncensored rap music playing. This experience was the worst hotel experience that I have ever had. We will never stay here again and warn...

This was my first time staying at an Element hotel and I was thoroughly impressed. We stayed Memorial Day weekend with the kids and it was a really great experience. I put in recommendations before arrival and all of them were met, which was fantastic. I requested a room on a high floor at the end of the hallway (due to the possible noise level of the kids), and a room with a view. We were in a Queen suite that had a beautiful view of water across the street.

I loved everything about this hotel from the comfort and space of the room to the amenities of the hotel. We are very much into living healthy, active lives so I loved that there were bikes available to ride, an exercise room, a heated pool, and a full-sized kitchen for us to buy groceries and cook! The free breakfast downstairs was fulfilling as well because they had healthy options like fresh fruit, granola and yogurt.

There were some hiccups along the way, like issues with our phone and AC, but the engineering supervisor took care of them in a reasonable amount of time and we were good. I will say, one thing that disturbed me a bit - only because I used to work at a hotel and am familiar with certain policies - when I was going to check out a day early, the front desk rep Jessica M. was assisting another guest before me who needed a room key. She informed the guest that she still needed her credit card and the guest told her it was her husband's card and that he was in the hospital in Dallas. It didn't sound like there was a credit card authorization on file and she didn't ask for her ID either when she gave her the room key. I just thought of someone using my card and not getting my approval, but the woman did seem elderly if that matters at all.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the kids did as well. I am planning a trip back to the area in a few months and would love to...