Located in the heart of Houston amidst towering pines and majestic oaks, The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa is one of the finest resort hotels in Houston.  Combining first-class comfort with casual elegance and attentive, personalized service, The Houstonian presents an array of offerings and amenities designed to satisfy the most discerning traveler.  Its comfortable setting provides guests the chance to unwind in the majestic Great Room lobby with its 30-foot hand-carved stone fireplace, fine European fabrics, wood paneling and in-laid parquet floors, or rejuvenate at The Club, a 125,000-square-foot private health club with state-of the-art facilities and exercise equipment.  Trellis, the spa at The Houstonian, offers the finest services, therapies and products. 

The Houstonian is undergoing a complete renovation to its guest rooms and corridors on each guest floor, to be completed by Oct. 1, 2008.  The rooms will have a warm, residential feel and offer energy-efficient features and technological advancements, useful to both business and leisure travelers; the corridors will have new carpeting, wall coverings, sconces and artwork.

In the effort to conserve energy and provide special conveniences, The Houstonian is installing an energy management system for each room to regulate the temperature when unoccupied, and bring it to the guest’s preference for when it is.  The sensor will enable the hotel to know when a door has been opened or closed to eliminate disturbances from service staff.  A “Do Not Disturb” doorbell unit will be placed in all rooms to increase guest privacy.  In addition, each room will offer energy-efficient lighting, including three-way and standard compatible florescent light bulbs, and energy-efficient dimmable halogens. 

All rooms will include a new Energy-Star, 42-inch, LCD high-definition TV, and contain a multimedia connectivity panel that allows guests to connect to a wide variety of portable devices. A 360-degree rotating outlet will allow guests to plug in large adapters and multiple electrical products. 

Renovations to the rooms follow other projects recently completed, such as adding new rugs and upholstery to the main lobby’s Great Room, and a redo to The Bar, which now has a more relaxing, clubby feel with new sofas, furniture, rich leather chairs and a new LCD TV. 

In 2005, the facility opened a $3 million aquatic recreation center, including a Resort-style pool with water slide, waterfall features, a baby pool, a walk-in entry, a sunning shelf, geysers, and a large deep end for exercise classes.  A competition Sports pool offers a deck-level waterline to eliminate waves, removable starting blocks, pace clocks and a digital clock.  The Garden pool offers warmer water, a lap-swim lane and a quiet environment for reading, tanning and relaxing.

The Houstonian is taking an active role in saving the environment and reducing its carbon footprint throughout the campus, and a Green Council of representatives contributes ideas for their respective areas, as well as for the entire campus.

In addition to those steps mentioned, the hotel is using light-colored materials for roof repairs to minimize infrared heat transfer absorption, installing window insulation in renovated guestrooms, installing weather stripping on all renovated guestroom doors for more efficient climate control in the corridors, replacing bed sheets and towels only upon guest request, and using green seal-certified cleaning chemicals in Housekeeping and Laundry.

Changes at the Club include replacing older boilers with more energy-efficient ones, recycling folding tissue and folding products from Sports Shop vendors, and providing all employees a polycarbonate water bottle to help reduce the number of cups made of other materials.

Trellis the Spa is donating all used and damaged towels and linens; removing unnecessary florescent and recessed lights to directly affect ambience and indirectly, cost; replacing small, single-use bottles in showers with large, multi-use bottles; developing an organic facial, body treatment and day package to address awareness and demand; switching all massage creams to an organic product; confirming appointments with clients via e-mail; continuing and expanding available selection of green-friendly retail products and clothing; and distributing recyclable heart-shaped seedling packets in all gift bags or promotional giveaways.

On the 18-acre grounds, pests are treated only when their presence is deemed a nuisance or threat, a rain-sensing irrigation system that prohibits watering during periods of rain is used, run-off water from the loading dock and construction areas through hydrocarbon are filtered, and a fertility program is supplemented with eco-compatible products, such as discarded egg shells and coffee grounds from the kitchen.

All throughout the campus, the hotel is using low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, installing high-efficiency lighting, adding film to all exterior windows, recycling paper goods in nearly all departments, constructing a central laundry plant with water reclamation and lower energy consumption systems, replacing Styrofoam cups with Biodegradable corn-product cups, donating equipment to other organizations or to scrap metal locations to be melted down and reused, and consolidating purchasing to save on delivery costs.