A friend of mine introduced me to the idea of a "stay-cation." It's a vacation in your home town. That way you are not spending money on plane tickets or gas (which is pretty smart considering how high gas prices are right now). Also, Houston is a great hometown to have a vacation in. So much to do! Us locals should really take advantage of what the city has to offer more often. All last week Andrew and I were tossing around the idea of getting a room on Saturday night but we weren't sure 1) where we wanted to stay and 2) how much we wanted to spend. After searching endlessly online I found a great deal for a suite at Hotel ZaZa. The price of the suite on Hotels.com was half the price of the suite on the hotel website! It was the same price as the smallest room! We had also heard that they have a great pool and restaurant so we thought it was the perfect place for a one-night retreat. My mother had volunteered to keep the little guy so we were set. I had heard many different things about Hotel ZaZa so I didn't really know what to expect but I was looking forward to trying out something different.
Review: Great experience! Will definitely be back.
The room: Our room was incredible. Other than our honeymoon, it was the nicest room we had ever stayed in. It was over 700 square feet and had a dining table for 6, a huge sectional sofa in the living room and a separate bedroom and bathroom with flat screens everywhere (which made Andrew happy). It made us feel like we were at a house (not a hotel room). It was so comfortable (Andrew did think the art work was kind of creepy) and homey - we didn't want to leave. The best part was the price. We paid the same amount a regular tiny room would have cost because we booked the day before. Note: this is a great way to get an awesome room for cheap at a hotel.
The pool: We had a great time at the pool. The pool was fabulous and the pool wait staff was really friendly and helpful. It was crowded when we first arrived so there were no open chairs but we ran into an old friend of mine and shared their chairs for a while until some opened up (which they did within the hour). In the future, I will definitely try to arrive early so as to secure prime seating. The crowd at the pool was really fun and eclectic - kind of like the hotel itself. There were different groups of people: a wedding party (the wedding was that night....I would love to have known how that turned out); a group of girls for a bachelorette weekend; other weekend couples and general party folks. Andrew had some friends join us and we had a great time soaking up some sun (with my spf 45 of course), drinking cocktails (I had some sort of heavenly strawberry mimosa thing) and munching on snacks (their guacamole was great). My friend had also secured a cabana in which she allowed us to come and go if we wanted to get out of the sun. Nice. Felt very V.I.P. Overall, pretty great afternoon.
The food: After our day at the pool we decided to have dinner at Monarch (the restaurant at the hotel). We had not planned on eating there because we heard it was expensive but we also were too tired from our day at the pool to drive anywhere. We sacrificed our wallets for convenience (which seems to be a reoccuring theme in my life:)) Although it was pricey, it was worth it as the food was really good. We had fried green tomatoes to start which were delicious. For our entrees, we each ordered a steak (rib eye for Andrew and a filet for myself) and some sort of fancy mac and cheese as a side. Yummy! We were too full to order dessert but I did make a late-night snack out of some Milano cookies from the mini bar :) We actually ate dinner pretty early so late into the night we were hungry again so we ordered a grilled cheese from room service to share. It came with tomato soup and was awesome! We also had breakfast brought to our room the next morning. I had a bagel with cream cheese and Andrew made a great order: banana pancakes. They were delicious! It was fun to be able to eat at our dining table and in our living room (as opposed to having to sit on your bed and each - which is how it happens in most hotel rooms). We kind of felt important :)
Cons: the only con out of the weekend was that when we first checked in the girl at the counter informed us that a water main had broken in downtown so all of the water and air conditioning was out at the hotel. She just said it matter-of-factly. There was no "I'm sorry" or "would you like to cancel, etc." It was just like here's whats going on and here's the key to your non-air-conditioned room where the water doesn't work. Have a nice stay. We were headed straight to the pool anyways and the air and water were back on by the time we got back up from the pool so it really didn't inconvenience us at all but we just thought she should work on her personal service skills. It wasn't a good first impression. Also, when we were leaving, the valet guy told us that we needed to pay for valet because it was not charged to our room. For whatever reason, I had actually taken our itemized bill with me (I never take those with me b/c I'd rather not be reminded of what I spent:)) and I had already noticed that we had been charged for valet. I showed the guy our bill and he was nice and apologized for trying to make us pay twice. It made me wonder, however, how many times a day he does this to lesser-prepared guests. Had I not just looked at our bill I would have assumed he was correct and paid the $20. Hmmm.
In the end, we had a great time and will definitely be returning to Hotel ZaZa. We also plan to hit up their pool again really soon!
For those of you wanting to do something different for a weekend, definitely consider a "stay-cation!" It's a great way to enjoy Houston!
Overall, here's why a "stay-cation" is a great idea:
1. You can book last minute and save a bundle on hotel prices (and get a better room than you usually would get)
2. You can save a ton because you don't have to drive or fly anywhere
3. It doesn't require any passports or travel documents
4. It allows you to stay and enjoy your hometown city in a different way (Houston has so much to offer and I rarely experience only half of it)
5. It only takes you 10-15 minutes to get to your vacation and 10-15 minutes to get home!
