Marriott Marquis Houston Lazy River Review

Did you know that there is a Texas shaped lazy river tucked away in a Marriott hotel in Houston?! When I stumbled across this information I wanted to go immediately! Houston has been on our list of places in Texas we wanted to explore since we moved to Austin. But the right time just didn’t show up… until our plans to go to Mexico fell through at the last minute. Instead of mourning over our Mexico trip, we turned our sights onto floating in the Marriott Houston lazy river! It turned out to be the perfect little getaway for 24 hours.

Booking

I hopped on Marriott’s Marquis Houston site to look up the price. Since we were going at the last minute, like the very next day, prices were on the high side. I used some Marriott points plus cash (I know, not the best use of points but it lowered my out of pocket so it still suited my needs). With parking it came out to about $200 for one night. Taxes, they get you! For some context, a search for a week from now, Thur-Fri is showing for $264 before taxes. At least they gave me a $25 dollar food/beverage credit. Yew!

Road Trip!

It took us no time at all to get from Austin to Houston on a Thursday morning. We did one fun stop along the way to see the Blue Bell Creamery facility in Brenham, but you can read more about that in an upcoming post. Overall with the stop it took us less than 3 hours.

Parking and Arriving at the Hotel

At the bottom of the hotel website they list the parking options. Valet was $60 a day but self-parking offsite at Avenida North Garage was $35 plus tax, so I opted for that option. This is paid when you check-out so it is part of your hotel bill (good to note if you’re tracking credit card points). You cross an enclosed pedestrian bridge from the garage, clip the side of the convention center across into another enclosed pedestrian bridge then into the hotel. It’s easy to navigate. The most pleasant surprise of the parking – it is all connected by overhead walkways! So your entire walk is above ground and air-conditioned! Hurrah! 

Entering the hotel immediately gave me Las Vegas vibes. The walkway is on the second floor where the convention rooms are. You take an escalator downstairs then are in the large main lobby of the hotel. The lovely floral scent is subtle and not overwhelming. You always know you are in a nice hotel when they have a scent! The front desk receptionist checked us in quickly, gave us our pool wristbands and was able to give us early check-in.

Rooms

We got a king room with a request for a higher floor. The room was clean and big. There was nothing super fancy about it or the theming but it was nice and comfortable. There was a large bathroom with a shower/tub combo, a king bed, a small lounge sofa and coffee machine and mini-fridge. Our view was of the top of the convention center. If you pressed against the window and looked left, you could see the Minute Maid Park. 

We were very happy with the low noise levels. During the day we did hear some people through the walls, but muffled. However, we did not notice it at night, so the rooms are pretty quiet.

Lazy River and Pool

At last, the moment we have been waiting for! The Texas shaped lazy river! Was it everything I hoped for and more? Yes and yes! The lazy river, the pool, the drinks… everything was superb. 

After a quick bag search from security, we were in (or out). We scouted where we wanted to settle. There is kind of the outer portion of the lazy river, an inner portion (inside Texas), then a big area of chairs in the back. Since it was a little later in the afternoon, some of the nice spots with shade were already taken. We headed to the back where they had rows of chairs and set up there. Matt, my boyfriend, was able to open one of the umbrellas so we had shade. 

It took us longer than it should have to figure out where the bar was. Since we were all the way in the back and the pool had a decent amount of people, flagging down a server was taking too long. Turns out the bar, High Dive, was by the entrance. We each got a frozen drink with a rum floater and quickly used up the $25 beverage credit. I got the pina colada which I highly recommend. But I also recommend getting the extra floater or else it would have been too sweet. 

With our drinks in hand, we were ready to float. The nice part about the lazy river is that you don’t have to rent the intertubes. You can just grab a free one to claim as your own. You could also walk the river if you wanted. The river gently pushes the water in one direction but there is not a lot of pressure at all so it doesn’t move very quickly. Different parts of the river have different water features, such as extra jets, overhead waterfalls, and an infinity style lookout over the park next door to the hotel. 

If you get tired of floating, there is also a side pool with an infinity style overlook of the park next to the hotel. There are some lounge chairs in the shallow area of the pool. It is located conveniently next to the bar.

TL;DR

Overall, the Marriott Marquis Houston hotel and lazy river was a great experience. The hotel was clean, smelled nice, the rooms were large and the pool was super fun. The lazy river is well worth the hype. The hotel is located downtown in a convenient, safe location, really close to the Minute Maid park and across from the convention center. Highly recommend a stay and a float the next time you are visiting Houston!