I don't know if any Natter-ites posess this knowledge, but I'm researching hotels in Houston reasonably close to the downtown area. If a downtown area exists. Doing some research for my boss, and we don't know what's a good central location. She'll have a car.

Any thoughts?

Ohh. Lemme ask my friend. He lives downtown.

There's definitely a downtown. You want downtown, right, and not the Galleria area? Because those are not the same thing.

Isn't Dana in Houston?

Also, for very sprawly cities, I've often found it's better to work from the specific place the person is going to visit -- "downtown" might mean one thing, while "near the university/convention center/whatsis" could be someplace else entirely.

There's definitely a downtown. You want downtown, right, and not the Galleria area? Because those are not the same thing.

I don't think she knows what either of those are. Possibly near office buildings? She'll be driving and doing alum visits. And those vary. I think "centrally located" is the key. Also, probably near good restaurants and stuff.

Her exact request:

I don't really know Houston at all, so I'm open to suggestions. I don't mind Marriot b.c. I get miles. I'd like to be a reasonably close to the downtown area (whatever that means).

It didn't take me an hour to conquer the scanner. Damn it. I need to be less efficient.

I don't think she knows what either of those are. Possibly near office buildings?

Heh. Okay. We have office buildings, definitely.

I think "centrally located" is the key. Also, probably near good restaurants and stuff.

Luckily, there are several areas that are centrally located and near good restaurants. The Galleria area (where the giant shopping mall is located) will be better in terms of nighttime activity than downtown. Though downtown has undergone quite a bit of revitalization, and has a bunch of excellent restaurants, there are still parts of it that are dead after working hours.

Let me take a look at the various Marriott locations (I'm going to assume other Marriott properties apply, like Courtyard Inn).

This is where my friend lives [link] I just got a text message back, but I don't think he's understanding that I don't want the info for me.

Ah. He says Magnolia, Lancaster, Hilton.

(I'm going to assume other Marriott properties apply, like Courtyard Inn)

Yup!

She also likes boutique funky hotels too- I think she's requesting Marriott as a starting point 'cause she has no idea how else to start looking.