JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa

Ok, so, went to run the stars at night half marathon. Excited to see resort. Because they also had a crap load of Christmas for kids stuff going on, paying resort guests couldn’t park for free, you were forced into valet parking. Hotel is nice, and rooms are big, but, having worked for Marriott, it sure needed a lot of work. Wallpaper coming off, wood all scratched, carpets are gross. The restaurant floors were disgusting. That being said, after a certain point in the morning, you were forced to buy the buffet which is 35 dollars. Most of the restaurant folks were overwhelmed, they had far too much going on and not able to staff enough and the attitudes were showing. Walls were paper thin and we heard all kinds of kids screaming and women being super loud. Everything was astronomical in price and there isn’t a need to do that. People are there, they will buy things, price them at least reasonably. We had to pay the resort fee even though we had zero intentions on using the resort and our “free drinks” were for just 2 drinks and we had 3 people in the room. I would never go to stay just to stay at this place…unless I’m going again for the race, I won’t be back, it just was not worth the money.

The amenities

I didnt like charged again for room like a hold on account, for the full amount, but had previously paid in full. I have never had a hold on card for the whole amount at any other resorts

One of the best Marriott properties in Texas that I have been too. Welcoming staff and great accommodations for any type of visit. Large gym and spa for use with plenty of weights and machines for use. Multiple store and restaurants on property to enjoy while here. Rooms are upgraded and large with a huge television. I always enjoy a room that has a tub, great to use after playing golf to relax the muscles.

Nothing

Management

Had a great one night stay over Thanksgiving weekend. Loved the Christmas displays and events too. Kudos to Chef's Matt and Brian for accomodating my girlfriends allergies/restricted diet. Was very impressed at the above and beyon personalized menu they provided. That really meant a lot!!

For a J.W. Marriott at this price, my wife and I both agreed this was a let down. This not really a “resort,” it’s more like an big amusement park if you have kids (especially in the summer when you can get your money’s worth out of the resort fee at the water park). So, perhaps a great hotel for people with kids in the summer; otherwise, as a couple we will not return. Parking: this was Thanksgiving day and good luck finding a self park parking spot. The valet said maybe the outer lots had a space. I would just factor in $45 a day valet parking when considering the cost. Room: kudos to Marriott for not allowing dogs to sleep on my bed this location! Has everyone just given up on this incredibly selfish trend? I’m allergic so I have to make sure, but who wants someone else’s dog sleeping on their bed? The room itself was comfy and quiet. Firm beds, big bathroom (including a shower and a tub), and TV that was actually too big for the room but sports fan will enjoy that (there is a sports bar downstairs FYI). However, no insulation could keep out the noise from an event on the back yard which had music thumping past 10pm. We had a balcony overseeing the back yard. I was toot tired to get up and investigate and my wife was asleep so I couldn’t call the front desk. Dining: the surf & turf restaurant is the way to go (make a reservation), it delivered over two nights. Standard corporate unimaginative wine list, as expected but the food and service were good. Breakfast on Black Friday was a disaster. The hotel clearly had no plan to feed this many people in the morning. The only restaurant open was Cibolo Moon and there were TWO sequential lines to get in. I asked some poor soul in the 2nd line was he was waiting for and he said he’d been waiting 45 minutes for table of 5. We gave up and tried to order room service (off a menu that is so sparse it looks like something out of the 80’s) - nothing on the breakfast menu was available at 10:30am. They apparently shut it down, unable to cope. I had not planned to drive anywhere since we were staying at a “resort” but I got the car called up and drove to nearby spot 15 min away. Coffee: there’s a starbucks on site (a perk, even though their coffee sucks). Forget about making coffee in your room, the set up is an after thought. Corporate Marriott needs to figure out their E Gift card program (for newcomers to the Bonvoy credit card). After I got an email recommending that I block the gift card until I wanted to use it there was no mention or email steering me to a different website to do that. So, check out was not a fun process since the front desk had ever seen a blocked gift certificate .

Thanksgiving brunch was disappointing. PROS: staff was attentive, pleasant without being intrusive. Food was creative and tasty....but hot food was tepid not hot. No lines or crowds. CONS: The venue was like a huge warehouse with industrial tables and chairs. Tables just had numbers, no holiday decor at all. Tablecloths were oversized and just bunched up on the floor so your feel got entangled. Food was so spaced out that you had to walk alot just to get a normal meal and the plates were small so you had to make multiple long trips to get just a normal amount. VALET PARKING WAS $48.00 WHICH WE HAD TO USE BECAUSE SELF PARKING WAS SO FAR AWAY. The beautiful and historic Menger Hotel compliments valet parking for holiday brunch.

Here for a conference. Arrived at midnight after 13 hours of flying. Was told room I booked - King wasn't available. Too tired to care. Trekked - 10 minutes with luggage and door wouldn't open. Walked back to front desk. Much fretting and popping into a back room (manager?). Profuse apologies. Given another room. This time door worked. You pay $3 for upgraded wifi (necessary for zoom). Signal drops 1-5x per hr. Other hotel guests at the conference noticed this. Also even if Bonvoy, the second day when logging on, it wanted to charge me $17.95; for the same internet. Therefor held off and hotspotted off 1 bar. Eventually when I checked with the front desk later, they said "Oh we should have told you, just ignore it." Conference center is okay. Large ballrooms subdivide but really astoundingly poor signage to figure out which room was "Grand Oak N-P" or which was Grand Oak C-D, etc... It was not linear as you would expect and hard to find signs for many of them. AV staff (not sure if they were hotel or outside company) vaguely helpful but could also be a bit surly. However hotel waitstaff cleaning things up and setting things up were consistently very nice and polite. Room service staff was also very nice and polite. Whoever runs that division should possibly get a promotion. Room service food was okay. Burger actually quite decent except the bun which was cheap and crumbly. Club Sandwich okay but with thick Texas bread; as it is three slices of bread that you can't separate, your bite of food was full of bread. Fruit not ripe but it is November. No real vegetarian options other than salad - I realize this is Texas but this is a national/international conference and a decent number of attendees are veg; And there are 4-5 restuarants but apparently very few veg options, so they got uber eats after getting sick of pizza. Water park is well designed for kids. Saw some people locked in at night climbing over the fence to get out - apparently they had walked in and were in the hot tub and had to build a ladder with chairs to get over the gate. So night swimmers beware.... The whole thing is sort of corporate/soul-less but maybe if you live locally, it possibly feels more fabulous. Would maybe be a good stopover for a family, or you were keen on golf, but would definitely not come to a conference here again unless at gunpoint. Other rooms might be better, but don't depend on wifi for zoom or other work that needs a consistent signal. No single event was catastrophic. Staff were fine or (food related staff) quite good. But one thing after another was tedious. And the experience overall did not spark joy.