Located within 10 mins walk of Houston Center, anyone looking into the reception area, with its straight lines, muted furnishings and lighting mutters "cool". Bedrooms are contemporary modern in style, with the usual mod cons, minus tea/coffee-making facilities. The only downside to these is the size. Smaller than the Houston standard, these are more comparable to European standard hotel room sizes, although they are certainly big enough to accommodate the single business traveller. With clever desk designs and only including furniture that's really necessary, good use of space is achieved. And even better, one of the big hotel bug-bears I have was crushed: wi-fi was free 24-hrs, so make sure you factor-in the usual charges when comparing per night accommodation prices with other hotels.

I first encountered 17 when it was recommended as a place to dine by another hotel nearby. It's a gem and people quite rightly come here to treat themselves to top quality food and service. Do not come here expecting major portion sizes and the menu is a reflection of the chef choosing exactly what he wants to offer and executing his dishes very well indeed. The wine list focuses upon Napa Valley offerings, but does extend its international footprint to include some of the major champagne labels. Overall, the food and wine menu is supplemented with the 5-course tasting menu, priced at a very reasonable $75 per head ($115 including wines). If you aren't looking for a full meal, the bar "a+" across the corridor offers a snack menu, many of the items for which you'll recognise from the room service menu. This is one of the bonuses of staying in a hotel with a decent restaurant: you aren't subjected to mediocre food by default.

Staff are impeccably helpful, with a fast turnaround on any kind of request, whether it's room service, housekeeping, or something a little more unusual, like "can you please arrange for my boots to be repaired?". This is made easier by the fact that the hotel is relatively small compared to corporate hotel standards so service levels can remain personal and of a high standard throughout.

People often think hotels are just a matter of having a bed to crash onto during business trips and I couldn't disagree more. If I applied the same logic to my home, I'd be living in a shack and eating tins of beans for breaksfast, lunch and dinner. It matters when you're housed in a staid, dull bedroom and fed limp lettuce in the caeser salad you'll be charged $15 for and why should your company be ripped off in that way, if they're paying the bill and you end up miserable and underperforming during your stay?