Courtyard by Marriott Houston Kemah — Hotel in Kemah

I along with a couple of co-workers stayed at this property a couple of years ago and had a good experience. The location is fantastic with plenty of excellent restaurants within walking distance. Unfortunately my most recent visit during early March was much different. Yes the hotel is doing some updates so the fitness center and business center are in a hallway off to the side. Both were still easily accessible / useable and had really no bearing on my overall experience. The hotel restaurant is what you would typically expect from a hotel restaurant and the bartenders and servers were quite pleasant. Issues with my stay began on the fourth night when I noticed small bites on my right arm. After checking the bed and pillows I found a bed bug (see attached photo). I brought this to the attention of Rodney who was working the front desk and he quickly moved me to a new room. I was obviously not thrilled about the situation but also understand that when you travel as much as I do something like this is bound to happen at some point. When speaking with the Front Desk Rep I asked him to have the manager (Donna Fuller) contact me so I could have a 5 or 10 minute conversation with her. At that time I even stated I wasn't seeking any points, discounts or free nights for the incident with the bed bug, and only wanted a simple conversation. After two days Ms Fuller still had not contacted me. Again I spoke with Rodney to confirm that he had passed my request on to the manager Mrs Fuller and he assured me he had. Two more additional days passed and still no contact from the manager. At this point I checked out (3 nights early) as well as had my co-workers check out. I truly find it sad that a IHG manager can not find 5 or 10 minutes to talk to a guest (I've been a Reward member 12 years and Spire Elite for a majority of them) in a span of 4 or 5 days. Mrs Fuller did not even make an attempt. I had no emails from her and no missed calls. Two days after checking out I contacted IHG Coporate and explained my issue (at this point I'm more upset by the lack of effort from the Hotel Manager than I am the bed bug). Corporate informed me that someone from the hotel would be in contact within the next 72 hours. I waited and waited and again no attempt by the Hotel Manager was made. A week after the original call to corporate i called them again for any update on my case number. The IHG Corporate Rep informed me that the hotel responded to them and stated I had made a false claim. That response is completely unacceptable and a slap in the face. This response raises the concern of whether or not that room was properly cleaned after i moved out of it and before the next guest checked into it. Also, why would i make a false claim such as this, then go through the trouble of trying to contact the manager Donna Fuller twice while I was still at the property, then call corporate and then call corporate again a week later all while at the same time not asking for points, discounts or anything else except for a simple conversation. I truly believe this goes to show how unappreciated and undervalued loyal Spire members are to both Donna Fuller and this particular IHG property. I personally will never stay at this property again and if you find yourself in the Kemah / Galveston TX area I strongly suggest you look at one of the other IHG properties in the area that would love to provide you with a great...

RUN!! YOU DO NOT WANT TO STAY HERE!!! Horrible customer service! Not worth spitting on!! My parents drove 3 hrs on their 27th anniversary. Walked in with reservations and got turned away due to leaving a credit card at home. However they had cash in had to cover all cost and some! The night manager refused to work with them in any form. I even called and offered my card and info to be sent so my parents could simply get in their room for their anniversary. Tony at the front desk was so rude and keep saying He can see the comments and what he can and can’t do. There was no Initiative from anybody behind the desk to try and solve or find a solution ( Where is the hospitality from the hospitality location) So finally, I asked Tony to contact the GM so I could speak with them. Hoping maybe, being the GM was in the position they were in. They would have enough sense and enough customers service (being they do work in the hospitality industry and made it to a GM) to try and figure out a way to help out the situation at hand. Being I have ran a hotel in the past I knew for fact there are options. For example when a company sends an employee on a business trip NOT all employees carry the company card the room is put on. There are credit card authorization forms for issues of this nature. That could of been emailed and filled out. However Tony called the GM and told the GM a quick version of the issue and quickly received a no. The so called GM didn’t even acknowledge the request to speak to me!! This is the most unprofessional and some of the worst customer service I have ever seen from a hotel. Again HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY please don’t forget! Someone with a higher pay needs to google hospitality and teach it to the staff!! The lack of concern for their customers will only cost this location money! I don’t know yet if this is a corporate owned or private owned location but I bet if they look into it. They will see a decline in profits and it will be due to the trashy attitudes they have working here! I wouldn’t send my dog here! Thankfully I found Hilton NASA that was very easily able to help! Hilton also upgraded my parents for free to a suit and provided multiple courtesy gifts to them! Just for the inconvenience that they received from this disgusting location that had nothing to do with them! GO TO HILTON AS FAST...

I booked this hotel through a 3rd party app, called Hotels.com. I saw that it was within walking distance to Kemah boardwalk, had a pool and restaurant. Sounds perfect right? Especially for a family with two little kids? Yeah, we drove 4 hours to the hotel only to find out that they closed the restaurant and pool. I contacted Hotels.com to discuss this with them, because they advertised this hotel these amenities. However, they were not notified by Holiday Inn to take it off. So on top of false advertising and we didn't get what we were paying for, we got woken up the first night by kids running down the hallway knocking on peoples doors laughing at 2:30am. As for the front desk. The first man I encountered had no personality for the front desk. When he dropped the bomb on me about things because closed down at their location, there really was no empathy. The lady who took over his shift when he left had terrible BO. It made the lobby really hard to walk through. I didnt notice where it was coming from, but my husband did. The lady the following morning was just playing on her cell phone, not really looking up at guests passing by. I read the reviews before booking here and I didn't really see any of that. Hotels.com did contact the property manager and the manager basically said well its listed on our website. On their website it says some select locations have closed things down....however, when your booking on a 3rd party app that's selling your rooms for you ... you dont see any of that. Had I known, I wouldn't have booked there. I would have just booked us a resort stay on the island and driven out to Kemah with the kids. Would I book here again? Absolutely not. The manager acted like it was my fault for not leaving the hotel com app and looking at the holiday inn website that I didnt book through. If you plan on booking here, call ahead to see whats open and closed since their not notifying the companies who are selling their rooms with them. Second, take the other reviews with a grain of salt. I didnt get the family friendly vibe here.

UPDATE: Hotels.com asked Holiday Inn to refund the second day since checked out early in the AM. Holiday Inn told them no. I do not recommend...