JW Marriott Houston Downtown Reviews
Reviews
4.9 out of 5 rating
4.9 out of 5 rating
18 Reviews
99% recommend it
Awards
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Ruben A. Sent on 08/07/2023Top Wedding Vendor
#1 Vendor for our wedding!!!
The entire team was professional, respected our time, busy schedules, and feedback.
Samantha D. and Ivory T. were superstars! The chefs and banquet team were also outstanding and were able to accommodate specific dietary restrictions and cultural requests including vegan, gluten-free cakes, special grasshopper tacos, roasted pig and numerous other requests we made in a list. They also easily adjusted when we streamlined our cocktail hour beverages.
Ivory and Daffney were also fabulous with our hotel block.
Samantha especially was incredibly helpful and patient even in the last moments of wedding week when we were struggling with late vendors and logistics. She always maintained the highest level of professionalism and remained solution oriented.
As busy professionals who were clear on what we wanted, we needed professional vendors who could set realistic expectations, be responsive and execute plans efficiently. Samantha was clear on what they could and could not do and we so respected this. No false promises, no fluff, just polite professionalism. We had one or two phone calls and fewer than a dozen e-mails for a 130-guest reception. Our two tastings were also just as efficient, and Samantha sent summary e-mails with next steps right away. Yes, Samantha was that efficient.
The reception in Picasso was beautiful, food and cakes phenomenal and service impeccable. They even facilitated our entrance from a horse-drawn carriage as well as our grand exit in busy downtown Houston. Amazing!
More than a year after our reception, we continue to receive kind comments about the beauty of our wedding day as well as requests for advice on vendors.
We cannot appreciate enough the perfect combination of professionalism, friendliness, and serious efficiency of the JW Marriott Downtown Houston whole team. Bravo to all! -
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Liz Sent on 03/29/2019
Event planning contact was great, reservations group was not.
JW MARRIOTT
THE GOOD:
My husband and I loved the aesthetic of the JW Marriott. It was perfect for the feel we wanted for our wedding reception - classy, modern, black tie, but cozy space in terms of size. We worked with Gary Baumann for all food and logistics details for the event itself. Gary was so kind do us and really seemed interested in us as individual people. I appreciated the effort he made to get to know us. This was especially important to us because I was working full-time and going to grad school in the evenings while wedding planning so money and time were tight. It helped us that he could understand what we had to work with while we worked together.
What we liked about the venue was that we could do food, drinks, and venue all together (like any hotel would offer) but also that we could use their furniture to create seating spaces, the size was small enough to make people feel like they were in a full room, and, most importantly, that we could earn points!!!
The food was excellent. We had stations that were all different: salad bar, beef tenderloin, chicken tenders, sliders and fries, and mac and cheese action station. As the bride and groom, we got huge plates of everything but the mac and cheese. We didn’t realize it until they had already closed down the station and were totally bummed out. It was a hit!!
The JW also helped us with takeaway gifts. I didn’t want to do something that people would throw away so we asked them to quote us something that people could eat on the way home. We ended up doing boxes of 4 macarons for everyone – also a hit.
THE BAD:
As the bride and groom, we had a suite included in our contract when we agreed to hold our reception at the JW. We were kicked over to a different team who would handle this for us. We opted to also book rooms for our immediate family members. Everything was fine until the week of the wedding. I had called and asked if the hotel would be full and to see if I could get an early check in on Saturday, the day of my wedding, so I could get settled and ready earlier. The person I spoke with on the phone wasn’t sure and said he would call back. He later called back and left me a voicemail to tell me that it would be possible because the room they were going to put us in was not going to be occupied on Friday night. This meant that they would not have to turn the room over and I would be able to get in sooner on Saturday. OR SO I THOUGHT.
It turns out this person notated that I wanted to check in a day early rather than a few hours early like I was asking to do. I never received a confirmation on this change because of the way the reservation was created with the venue contract. I realized on the day of the wedding as our out of town guests started arriving that I was receiving emails about the JW looking forward to their visit but I wasn’t getting one for my own room. I was the bride!
The morning of the wedding, I called to get the status of our room. They couldn’t find us. How could they not find us? I had the confirmation number in hand. Turns out, because they thought we were supposed to arrive the day before and we didn’t, we were cancelled as a no-show. It was horrible. By this time, the hotel was full and I was not going to have a room at the venue hosting my wedding. Somehow the girl I was on the phone with made it work, for which I was grateful, but it ruined everything for me in the afternoon. I broke every tradition and cried to my fiancé and wedding planner and off for the rest of the time spent getting ready. I ended up in someone else’s room and had an everlasting reminder of this because they couldn’t figure out how to get this person’s name off the welcoming message of the TV despite MULTIPLE calls to get this done.
There was never an acknowledgement or apology for this from the JW. I fully admit that I could have been on me for not being more thorough or having too high of expectations but I can’t help but to wonder where the final check for the room reservation for the bride and groom for the only wedding on property that night was. We were very disappointed in this and have not been able to go back despite our desire to give it a special place in our hearts for future celebrations of our marriage.
JW Marriott Houston Downtown's reply:
Dear Mrs. Liz N.
Thank you so much for allowing us to host your wedding reception. Your event and pictures are gorgeous! We value your feedback and apologize for your room reservation issue. We have taken immediate actions based on your comments. Gary would love to connect with you to help make this right. We hope to win back that special place in your heart.
Sincerely,
Courtney Glover
Digital Marketing Manager -
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