Midcentury-modern vibe with city views

Thompson Houston offers a boutique feel in area crowded with convention-style rooms

Welcome, please step into Houston’s new “living room.”

That’s how Thompson Houston’s managing director, Ted Knighton, describes the 172guest-room hotel, which opened on Valentine’s Day. It’s true — views from the seventhfloor lobby, and many of the corner-hugging suites, are a love letter to the city’s best angles. With the downtown skyline and Buffalo Bayou Park on full, panoramic display, Thompson Houston offers a slice of what Houston has been missing: a boutique-ish hotel experience in a sea of convention-style accommodations.

The Allen Parkway destination is not exactly intimate, or entirely local, though it’s close enough. A stone’s throw from Autry Park and Regent Square, where the city’s big name restaurateurs are pulling out all the stops at Annabelle’s Brasserie and Pastore, the Thompson Houston has got the prime real estate thing down.

Its custom-tiled infinity pool and the surrounding cabanas will be in high demand. There’s no backdrop like it for miles.

The rooftop boasts 2,500 square feet of green space. This is Texas, so everything is a bit bigger than it ought to be, including some of Thompson Houston’s public spaces.

There are casual nods to a midcentury-modern aesthetic, with bits of marble here and flashes of brass there. The ballroom can hold up to 500 guests, and Knighton says some 30 weddings and charity galas are already on the books for 2024.

Architecture firm HOK is behind the building’s glass-andsteel facade. The exterior is futuristic and stark, with decidedly warmer interiors by Houston-based Abel Design Group. All of the Thompson calling cards are accounted for: plush textiles in shades of gray and jewel tones, warm walnut and collages of contemporary art.

Given the choice, check into one of the property’s 34 suites. They have floor-to-ceiling windows and jaw-dropping bathrooms. Each one comes with a private home sound system and use of an Honor Bar, too. They’re meant to “evoke the spirit of a Texas oil baron’s home,” according to a statement, though the vibe feels more like a hedge fund guy’s pied-à-terre. That’s not a necessarily a bad thing.

Some notable Houstonians have already moved into the

Thompson’s residential wing. Bedesign swathed its lobby in Fendi Casa to give a more European feel.

The hotel does achieve its “home away from home” goal. Pets are welcome. Heavy use of green effectively brings the park indoors. And as Knighton points out, “This is Houston’s first hotel with three perspectives: downtown, River Oaks

and Buffalo Bayou.”

Facing east, try not to peer down into the neighboring Fourth Ward townhouses.

With restaurants Sol 7, Chardon and Buck 40, there will be no rest — or shortage of Instagram fodder — for foodies. Maven Coffee Co., the dream child of Astros’ player Lance Mccullers Jr., Juan Carlos Martinez de Aldecoa and Blake Fertitta, has

its first brick-and-mortar outpost here, too.

The campus hopes to welcome Toca Madera and Meduza Mediterrania from restaurant group Noble33 by spring as well.

Yes, the influx of newness will probably induce traffic jams. That’s what the full-service Thompson Spa is for. No hotel reservation required.

Photos by Meridith Kohut/contributor A corner suite on the 17th floor comes with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Bayou Park and downtown, as well as a private sound system.

The gym also provides stunning views. Other amenities include three restaurants and a coffee shop that will be followed by more dining options this spring.

Luxury overflows in the spacious bathrooms found in the suites. The hotel has 34 suites.