SureStay Hotel By Best Western Brownsville Review

Booking & Stay Details

I was visiting Starbase to take some pictures of Starship before its maiden flight. It was already late in the day and I wanted to stay overnight. Since I was working on a few bonuses after already staying the night before at the Best Western in Houston. On my way back from Starbase to Brownsville, I pulled into a parking lot of a store to make a hotel reservation. I used the American Airlines eShopping Portal again so I can get that bonus as well as a few others. 

These would be the bonuses I would complete with this stay:

• Credit Card miles
• American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping Portal
• American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping Portal Mystery Bonus by spending $200 in total within the promotion period
• Best Western Points for being part of the Loyalty Program
• Best Western Bonus Points for staying two nights at any Best Western to get 8.000 bonus points

This would be the second night for the Best Western promotion, and I needed another stay at Best Western which would be over $100. The rate that night was at all Best Western in Brownsville under $100 for a regular room, that’s why I decided to book a Suite with 2 King Beds. The night would cost me around $130 for the suite. This put me over the $200 spent requirement of the American Airlines shopping portal.

I arrived a few minutes later at the hotel and checked in.

Location

The hotel is located next to I-69E. There is no issue with freeway noise at all. It is only a short drive away from Downtown Brownsville and the Mexican border. There are a few other hotels nearby, but the Best Western is the only chain hotel in the vicinity. It’s a great spot for a stop overnight but not really a destination location. 

Parking

The SureStay Hotel By Best Western Brownsville has a big parking lot with lots of spaces. Parking here is complimentary for overnight guests.

Shuttle Service

No shuttle service

Check-In

The check-in process started very normally. I then got asked how many people would be staying in the room and I told her just me. She was confused because I booked the two King Bed Suite. I told her that is exactly what I booked. I had to fill out the usual paperwork you have to fill out at Best Western with initials for non-smoking and that you get charged if you do and such. I got my room key and went to the elevator, which is opposite the front desk at the beginning of the hallway.

Check-In: 3 p.m.
Check-Out: 11 a.m.

Suite-2 King Beds (Room 200)

The entrance to the suite was straight across from the elevator. This could be an issue if lots of people use the elevator. Especially at night. 

As you open the door you walk into the first bedroom. This is the largest room. It has a King bed and a nightstand on either side. Opposite the bed is a TV on a dresser. The TV is relatively small compared to the distance from the bed. This room is exceptionally large and has a lot of unused space. Even though the room description states that the room comes with two sitting chairs, there were three in my room. The dresser also holds a medium-sized refrigerator and a microwave. Next to it is a desk with an office chair and coffee maker on top of the desk. There are no lights on either of the nightstands but there is a dimmer on either side to dim the lights above the bed. They are hard to reach from the bed. 

There are two doors in the room. One of them leads to the second bedroom. This bedroom has also a King bed. This second bedroom is much smaller and doesn’t even have a TV. It has, however, a spot in the room which hangers and a “100-year” old ironing board. This is the only room in the suite with a window. It overlooks the parking lot of the neighboring property. This room also comes with the hotel telephone. 

The second door, in the far corner of the main bedroom, leads into the bathroom. The bathroom is actually very spacious. The vanity is large and comes with a single sink and a wall-mounted mirror. Next to it is the toilet and across the back wall is the shower/bathtub combo unit. When I tried to turn on the TV, I was wondering why the remote is so light and my suspicion of having no battery was true when I lifted the remote and the battery compartment cover fell off. It was no problem to get a new set of batteries for the remote from the front desk. 

Be aware that the main room door of the suite doesn’t close and lock by itself. You must pull the door closed. The main “door” to access the AC unit was locked, but around the corner was another but smaller side door and it was unlocked and easy to open. Not that there was anything interesting in there besides a box for mice control.

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

The lobby is very small and holds only the front desk. From the lobby, you can access the breakfast room, which is unlocked only during breakfast hours. There is also no automatic door anywhere in the hotel, which makes it harder to get in and out with suitcases.

Business Center

No business center.

Fitness Center

No fitness center.

Pool

The pool is outside next to the parking lot, in front of the lobby area of the building. The pool door was locked with chains and the pool itself had a tarp over it. It looked like the pool had been closed for an awfully long time already. Chairs were kicked over by the wind and just lying in the pool area. 

Outside the pool area was a BBQ grill but it also had seen better times and looked like it is ready to fall apart if used again.

Guest Laundry

A small guest laundry facility is available for guests to use. It comes with one washer and one dryer. I haven’t used them, but I know that the posted price in the laundry room and the prices on the website don’t match. Same as with the pool.

Dining

Breakfast

Well, breakfast is not particularly good. There is no hot option here besides the waffle maker. Everything else is cold. The selection of the food items is not very good either. The only good part about breakfast was the granola bars.

Conclusion

The SureStay Hotel By Best Western Brownsville is definitely older and hasn’t seen a renovation in a long time. However, they actually have the new room keys where you have to only touch the door lock rather than swiping your card to read the magnetic strip. The top layer of the bedspread had a burn mark on it, probably from a cigarette.

Overall, my stay at the hotel here was good. I slept well. Breakfast was not particularly good, as mentioned before. Besides that and the missing batteries in the TV remote, there was no other issue. I was unsure about the safety and security of my vehicle and unloaded all my bags and stored them in the second bedroom overnight. Better safe than sorry.