A quality, old world spot in the big city. Best of all worlds.
Written: Oct 04 '06 (Updated Oct 04 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Location, Location, Location. Friendly staff. Cozy/Charming Rooms.
Cons: Very small "business center". Small elevators.
The Bottom Line: Location, Charm, Cozy, Friendly, relaxing, Location. I was most impressed with almost everything about the Lancaster. Compared to the Sorrento, Vintage and Marqueen in Seattle.
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| imaginetr's Full Review: The Lancaster Hotel |
Location = A+, Style = A, Room = A, Lobby = B, Business Center = D, Bathroom = B-, Restaurant = B-, Staff = A, Price = B
Ideally located in the best part of Downtown Houston is this cozy and charming full service hotel. Walk to dozens of nice restaurants including The Hard Rock Cafe. In the heart of the theatre district for live performances as well as a movie theater all within one block from the Hotel. The entire surrounding area is full of restaurants and lounges. What was also impressive what how clean this area was.
See their site at: (http://www.thelancasterhouston.com/index.php)
I stayed at the Lancaster on Sept 21 & 22, 2006 on a Wednesday & Thursday. I arrived around 5:30 p.m. and was greeted well finding my reservations in order. I was given room 1205, the top floor. The top is probably better to removed from any downtown traffic noise. Noise was not a problem for me here.
Price: I booked online and received a 20% discount for an average of $167/night down from the $189 initial quote. I was misbilled upon checkout but showed them my online statement and they corrected it quickly without questions. Average, I think for a 4 star boutique hotel during midweek, off-season.
Lobby: Enter the hotel through double brass/glass doors attended by doormen during core hours and pass through a short hall with waiting benches. Enter the modest lobby. Directly ahead are two Elevators. Immediately to the right is the check-in/out desk, a sitting area and concierge desk. The concierge desk doubles as the "business center" with a PC and printer. Very modest and out in the open. Next to the elevators is a staircase that lead to the mezzarnine that overlooks the sitting area and lobby. There is a smaller sitting area here as well. The mezzanine also has 3 private meeting rooms that hold from 6-150 people according to the website. There are fresh cut flowers in the lobby daily and a bowl of fresh fruit (apples on my stay).
Elevators: two, modest in size. Holds four adults comfortably. Anymore gets cozy. They also travel at medium speed, not annoying though. Each floor has a decent size landing/lobby and a table with a large flower arrangment. Each morning a few copies of the Houston newspaper are located on this table. The Elevator buttons have "no smoking" tags affixed next to each floor except the 10th and 12th. It looks like those tags came off. I thought I smelled some tobacco smoke one time in the 12th floor waiting area but it was faint if at all.
Room: I booked a single with a King size bed. The keys for the rooms are just that...real keys on a bulky brass plate. Too bulky to carry around in your pocket. I checked mine at the desk whenever I went out.
Immediately inside the room door was the closet, about 6' wide, with a small chest of drawers, a suit case stand, assorted hangers and ironing board/iron. The closet doors open outward allowing full access to the closet. Continue past the closet and enter the main room. Modern vinyl windows for noise control. two in the room with sheers and room darkening full-length drapes.
First is a sitting area with an easy chair, sofa and coffee table. Floor lamp behind the easy chair. Additional lamp back corner of the sofa. A desk just past the sofa with desk lamp. I did sit on the sofa and chair and found them to be comfortable. Lighting was good in the room. Opposite the desk was an armoire with a TV and CD player. The TV was small and while it was on a pull-out shelf, it did not pull out far enough so the TV could rotate fully towards the bed. Far enough that I could just lay sideways on the bed though. But, you would really be able to sit up against the head board and watch it easily. Still, not an issue for me.
The bed was on the end wall and very comfortable. Nice linens, four pillows, solid frame with headboard. Just an excellent bed for a tired traveller. A night stand on either side, one with an alarm clock and one with a brass, swing arm reading lamp. Also a wall switch that control the sitting area lights. Turn down service each night left two small chocolates for me.
Bathroom: The bathroom is near the bed. It's not large, but it's not tiny. Plenty of countertop space for your products. Traditional tub with shower nozzle. Hot water seemed plentiful and water pressure was fine. Oversized, soft and absorbent, very nice. The only poor thing about the bath was that there was no exhaust fan so the mirror steamed up. That's sort of a pet-peeve of mine. I don't even take hot showers but still, it's not a real problem.
The room also has a very responsive and efficient thermostat. I was able to control my room temp almost instantly. It was already set to a cool 70 degrees when I arrived and it was perfect. During my stay outdoor temps were 85-90 degrees with high humidity and windy. It was great to return to my room each evening.
Restaurant: The "Bistro Lancaster" is clean and charming. I only ate Breakfast there and thought it was fine. Nothing special but the service was friendly and efficient. The atmosphere is formal. It's small also and the "bar" is a sit-up bar incorporated into the restaurant, not really separate.
The hotel is comfortable and quaint with old world charm with the crown moldings, raised panels, dark woods, white moldings, dark green, cherry wood, burgundy and the like.
Location: 9 blocks from Minute Maid Park where the Astros play. at least one, often two restaurants on every block. Theatres, lounges, at least three outdoor parks and clean streets and sidewalks make it a terrific place to stay in Downtown Houston.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
imaginetr
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Location: Pacific Northwest, Washington
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Husband and father, born in Washington 1961, military brat and college grad.
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