Houston Marathon 2027 Hotels: Start Line or Finish Line, Pick One
By Matt Spaulding · October 28, 2026
Photo: Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
On 28 October, six downtown hotels would not sell Saturday 16 January 2027, the night before the marathon, as a single night: Hilton Americas, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, the Sam Houston, Hyatt Place and Club Quarters. All six sold it inside a Friday 15 to Sunday 17 January stay. Three sit by the start line and three by the finish. The other 17 hotels we read sold that Saturday on its own.
By single night we mean checking in Saturday 16 January and out Sunday 17 January. We read each hotel's own booking screen for two adults in one room. Four of the six are Hilton hotels (Hilton Americas, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn and the Sam Houston), and each answered "Sorry, we don't have any rooms available for those dates." Hyatt Place said "Unfortunately, this hotel is not available during those dates," and Club Quarters said "YOUR CHECK-IN/CHECK-OUT COMBINATION IS NOT AVAILABLE ON JANUARY 16, 2027."
Friday to Sunday, the Sam Houston showed "8 rooms found," Embassy Suites 10, Hampton Inn 5 and Hilton Americas 3. Hyatt Place showed "ROOMS (6)" and Club Quarters listed 4 room types. At Hilton Americas and Hyatt Place we also tried Saturday 23 January alone, a week later, and both sold it ("14 rooms found" and "ROOMS (9)"). Availability changes daily, and this is what the screens showed on 28 October.
The other two Hilton hotels in this guide, C. Baldwin and Home2 Suites, sold the single night. None of the refusals names a minimum stay, so we can't tell whether it's a rule or just what's left. ABC13 reported on 4 August that about 40,000 participants were expected for the weekend and that general registration for the marathon and half had sold out.
Start on Congress, finish by the convention center
Both races start on Congress Avenue at Fannin Street. The finish is at Lamar Street and Crawford Street, one block up from the George R. Brown Convention Center. A hotel close to one end is usually far from the other. Hotel ICON is 136 meters from the start, a 2-minute walk, and 20 minutes from the finish. Hilton Americas is the reverse: 3 minutes from the finish and 21 from the start.
Ten of the twelve Theater District hotels below sit nearer the start, and nine of the ten Downtown Houston hotels sit nearer the finish. Sleep by the start and the long walk comes after you finish. Sleep by the finish and it comes before the start, against a clock: the 2027 schedule closes the convention center's entry doors at 6:45 a.m., and the open field goes at 6:55.
Walk times are routed on foot on a normal day, from the hotel to Congress at Fannin and from Lamar at Crawford back to the hotel. They know nothing about corrals or closures, and those will change the morning walk. Below, "out" is the walk to the start and "back" is the walk from the finish.
Eighteen of the 23 hotels showed no fee on the booking screen. Nineteen of them list valet parking and no self-parking. Three others point you to parking off the property, and the Marriott Marquis publishes a self-park rate. Where a figure below isn't marked "plus tax", the hotel didn't say whether tax is extra.
By the start: 2 to 9 minutes out, 12 to 20 back
Nothing here is closer to the start than Hotel ICON. Valet is $58 a day, and the garage clearance is 10 feet. Accessible parking goes through the valet too.
The Sam Houston, one of the six that refused Saturday alone, is 3 minutes out and 15 back. Valet comes with in and out privileges, at $56 a night.
Moxy Houston Downtown parks cars from a valet stand on Prairie Street for $55 a day, and off-site parking is $35 a day. It's 4 minutes to the start and 17 back from the finish.
Magnolia Hotel Houston is a minute farther from the start and four closer to the finish, at 5 and 13. Its valet is $54 a day. Oversized vehicles cost more, and the hotel doesn't say how much.
Hyatt Place is at 1114 Texas Avenue and the Magnolia at 1100, and both are 5 minutes out and 13 back. The Magnolia sold Saturday alone and Hyatt Place did not. Hyatt Place's valet is $52 overnight or $20 daily. If you'd rather park yourself, the hotel points to unaffiliated garages nearby and to side streets, at a cost.
Across the street from Club Quarters is the public 803 Fannin Garage, at a price the hotel doesn't give. The hotel's own valet is $45 a day. You're 7 minutes from the start and 12 from the finish, and the booking screen split the 17 percent tax into three lines.
Two Main Street hotels, the AC Hotel Houston Downtown and the JW Marriott Houston Downtown, are 8 and 9 minutes from the start and 12 from the finish. The AC charges $60 a night for valet and $10 more for oversized. It won't take a truck, Jeep or SUV that's been lifted or modified, or one that runs on diesel. At the JW, valet is $62 a day, or $72 plus tax oversized. Parking at one of its EV stations costs the same $62.
The Lancaster Hotel is 9 minutes out but 19 back, nearly as far a walk home as the ICON's. Saturday listed 11 room types, and the night came up as the room price plus 17 percent tax, with no fee. Overnight valet is a daily fee the hotel doesn't publish. There's also hourly valet for restaurant and Theater District visits.
Two hotels in the middle, 9 or 10 minutes either way
Le Méridien Houston Downtown is the only hotel here where the two walks match, 9 minutes each. Valet is $59 a day.
Aloft Houston Downtown doesn't accommodate oversized vehicles. Valet at the Aloft is $58 a day, and the walks are 9 minutes out and 10 back.
Nine hotels within 11 minutes of the finish
Embassy Suites is the closest to the finish, 2 minutes back, and 17 from the start. Its valet takes vehicles up to 18 ft long and 6 ft 3 in high, at $60 a night.
At Hilton Americas, 3 minutes back and 21 out, overnight valet is $70, or $80 oversized. A daily visit is $50 and event valet $30.
Hampton Inn's valet has a 6 ft height limit and costs $59 a night. From there it's 6 minutes back from the finish and 13 out to the start.
The Westin Houston Downtown is 12 minutes out and 7 back, and The Laura Hotel is 13 and 9. Valet at the Westin is $65 a day, or $70 for full-size trucks and oversized vehicles. It doesn't accept dual rear wheels or trailers. The Laura charges a $25 per night Destination Fee, included in the rate Marriott's booking screen shows. Its valet is $66 a day plus tax, and oversized trucks don't fit the garage.
Four Seasons Hotel Houston charges a State Cost Recovery Fee of $4.25 a night plus tax, and every nightly price on its booking screen already includes it. It's 15 minutes out and 4 back, and Saturday's search listed 14 rates. We couldn't find its valet rate on any page we could read.
Marriott's booking screen folds a $25 per night Destination Fee into the rate at Marriott Marquis Houston too, 17 minutes out and 6 back. Self-parking is $50 a day or $15 an hour, and valet is $70 a day.
The Courtyard sets a 6 ft 8 in height limit and charges $65 plus tax for vehicles 19 ft or longer. For anything shorter, valet is $55 plus tax overnight and $30 plus tax for day use. It's 15 minutes out and 11 back.
Home2 Suites has the longest walk to the start of any hotel by the finish, 24 minutes, against 8 back. Hilton's Saturday screen read "6 rooms found," and its price included a $2.53 per night Texas Recovery Fee, with tax added. Parking is valet, $59 a night.
Three that are 15 minutes or more from both
Saturday at Hyatt Regency Houston Downtown showed "ROOMS (10)" and "SUITES (3)," and it's 19 minutes out and 15 back. Hyatt's parking page prices valet by the hour, plus tax: $35 up to 3 hours or $40 for 3 to 10. Overnight, or 10 to 24 hours, is $65 plus tax, and oversized is $70, not marked plus tax.
C. Baldwin carries a $22.65 a night mandatory charge, plus tax, already inside the price on Hilton's screen. It's 22 minutes out and 19 back. Hilton's page puts valet at $72. The hotel's own site lists $62 to $72 plus tax overnight and $32 or $36 plus tax daily.
Midtown's The Whitehall Houston has the longest walks of all, 27 minutes out and 23 back. The booking screen broke the 17 percent hotel tax into its four parts: 6 percent state, 7 city, 2 county and 2 for the Sports Authority. Overnight valet is $59, and it's $30 per event visit if you're not staying.
Check-out on race day
Last year's marathon allowed six hours on the chip. Start at 6:55 and that runs to nearly 1 p.m., and later if your corral goes after the first. That's later than every check-out time we found, so ask about luggage before you book. Check-out is noon at the ICON, the JW, the Aloft, the Westin, the Laura, the Four Seasons, the Courtyard, the Hyatt Regency, C. Baldwin and the Whitehall. The Whitehall will let you stay to 2 p.m. if it can, and after 2 it charges one night's room and tax. The other ten that list a time say 11 a.m. We found no check-out time for Hyatt Place or Club Quarters, and none for the Lancaster.
Packet pickup is Friday or Saturday
You have to collect your marathon or half packet in person, or one other runner's with a signed release and a copy of their photo ID. Nothing is mailed, and nobody can pick up for a group. The expo is in Hall A3 on the third floor of the George R. Brown Convention Center, and you go through packet pickup in Hall B3 first. It runs Friday 15 January from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 16 January from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring government-issued photo ID and your confirmation email, printed or on a phone. If you arrive Saturday, the expo closes at 5 p.m., and there's no pickup on race morning.
Saturday has a 5K
The We Are Houston 5K is Saturday 16 January and starts at McKinney and Crawford. Wheelchairs and handcycles go at 7:50 a.m. and the 5K at 8. Unlike the marathon and half, it has race-day packet pickup, from 6:30 a.m. RunFest is on Jones Lawn at Discovery Green from 7 to 10:30 a.m. The expo opens at 8:30, half an hour after the 5K goes. We didn't route any walks to McKinney and Crawford.
Sunday morning
The 2027 schedule sends the wheelchair and handcycle division off at 6:35 a.m. and the half's elite field at 6:45. The marathon's elite field and the open field go at 6:55. Last year there were six corrals, the first at 6:55, with C through F following A and B by pulsed start, so your own start may be later. Corral assignments are emailed in December. Entry to the corrals is a few blocks from the convention center, and the organizer doesn't print the entrance streets as text. Its start-line map is still named 2026, and no 2027 version is posted.
The convention center opens at 5 a.m. Sunday through the north doors on Rusk Street and the lobby doors on Avenida de las Americas. Entry doors close at 6:45. Gear Check is in Halls C and D and takes only the clear gear check bag. At 7 it shuts, and Halls C, D and E and part of Hall B close to the public. The halls reopen to finishers at 8 through the lobby doors, and the building closes at 2:30 p.m. RunFest and the Charity Village are at Discovery Green from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The closure list on the organizer's parking page comes with maps named 2026, though the files were uploaded in September 2026 and the page's parking map link says 2027. We can't tell which year it is, so treat it as last year's. On it, the streets that make up the start line closed at 5:30 a.m. and course streets from 6 a.m. It lists two ramp closures: the 610 West Loop southbound exit to Hidalgo/Richmond and the I-69 southbound exit to Newcastle. The page tells runners to arrive before 5:30 a.m. to allow for traffic and parking, and says the race doesn't control parking hours or prices. Spectators arriving after 8 a.m. are told to park north of Rusk. We haven't mapped any of these closures against the hotels, so ask yours how race morning works for a valet car.
The same page says METRORail's Green and Purple lines run continuously from about 4:45 a.m., and we're treating that as last year's too. METRO's own METRORail page had nothing on the 2027 race on 28 October, neither race-day service nor a free ride with your bib. The latest City of Houston closure notice we found is from January 2023, and it says closures affect METRO bus and rail.
The organizer's hotel portal
The organizer's travel page sends you to a Passkey booking portal for the weekend. It names no host hotel. Before you start a reservation, the portal shows no hotel names, dates, rates, minimum stay or cutoff, so we can't tell you which hotels are in its block or whether the block requires more than one night. Reservation changes go to kbhousing@keybookings.org.
If you're running Dallas about a month earlier, the Dallas Marathon hotel guide counts the walk to its City Hall start the same way.
