JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country resort & Spa

Family of 5 that just got back from a 3 night stay. we wanted to try this place out as we normally stay at the hyatt regency hill country resort, but decided to try out another property. I’m going to sort of compare the 2 properties in the below sections. Check in: Here the hyatt wins in my perspective as it was a zoo when we checked in Thursday at 5 pm. long line to the front desk. took probably 20-30 minutes to make it to the front desk. the 3-4 times we have been to the Hyatt this year I have never waited more than 5 minutes to get to the front desk to check in. I will say that the JW did have people helping direct the flow and they did have roughly 6-7 people checking people in so they were doing the best they could, it was just really busy. I also appreciate the front desk lady upgrading our room from a juliette balcony to a full balcony room. The room: The JW room was very nice. only 2 small issues. the first is that the shower had some mildew on the caulk lining the shower floor / wall in some parts. Not a big deal but for the price of this property would be nice to not have to see that. Secondly and this is more for families, in our room the sink is in the same area as the tub/shower and toilet. The hyatt has the sink separate from the toilet / shower area. I enjoy that setup better. Other than that I would say the rooms are comparable and nice. Food: The food here at the JW I feel was better than the hyatt. Both are good but the JW food just felt better. We had room service, flame pizza, high velocity sports bar, 18 oaks and the rivertop grill. Everything was great 0 complaints here. The steaks and 18 oaks were awesome. The sports bar was great too and is a place that would be great to have some drinks and some appetizers. Pool: I’d say JW is a pretty clear winner here. 5 slides compared to 1 at the hyatt. More pools as well. Pool area was well maintained. one thing I like about the hyatt though vs the JW is that you can float the lazy river at the hyatt and get a beer / drink at a bar that’s right next to the lazy river where you don’t have to get out of your float. Not a huge deal breaker just a nice to have. One thing to note though is the pool/river here is a bit rougher instead of a smooth finish. got a few scratches / missing skin from falling off the water slides at the end. The kids play area is very nice as well. super great spot you can just pull up with your younger kids and let them play / slide on the smaller 3 slides they have there. Checkout: Same as check in here. super busy. took 40 minutes to get a bellhop to the room. took 40 minutes to get the car from valet. Overall we did enjoy ourselves here and it’s nice to know we have another option for a nice resort style place in san antonio Read less

Another Family vacation, another JW resort! This time we went with my wife’s parents + young cousin staying at the JW Marriott SA, so 4 adults and 4 kids, and thankfully this resort is setup for families. This was our first, US based JW stay, and despite some unexpected issues, overall, we had a wonderful time. I used points + cash combo to book this 3 night stay (plus 1 free night award). The resort is massive, clean, picturesque, and distinctly Texan, all things we immensely enjoyed. Some others have pointed out the parking lot/ drop off situation is less than ideal. Suggest to pull up, unload in the front area, then circle back to park. It is a bit of a small hill to walk up back to the lobby so travelling light is key. Both times I managed to get a ride from a golf kart so no issues there. Room was spacious, and clean. Being platinum members we did get an upgrade to full balcony overlooking the back of the property and it was superb. The couch folded out to a full size bed so kiddos were set, and the king size main bed was plenty big for us (plush too!) We received two local honey bee beers and chips and salsa as a welcome gift which was an awesome local touch! The breakfast situation is one of the lowlights of our stay sadly. First off, there didn’t seem to be enough space for the amount of people in the hotel. We luckily dodged the giant que that would form after 8 AM. It’s a bit strange the resort is so massive, yet the breakfast buffet space is somewhat small. The other, bigger issue in my opinion is the 2-tiered breakfast system they have, for our platinum membership, the “continental” breakfast was included which is “only the cold items”. If you want to upgrade to “hot items” then you are charged $13 a person. This was pretty ridiculous, either include the breakfast as a perk, or don’t. The fact that if I take 1 piece of bacon all the sudden, I’m charged $13 for the “upgrade” is nonsensical. Also, to be honest, even with the “upgrade” the breakfast buffet is good but not super amazing, there were the basic breakfast options with some pastries, but it doesn’t hold a candle to other JW properties we’ve visited overseas, and those were all included in our platinum membership, hence the disappointment. Also, for some reason 3+ yr. old kids breakfast is $17…? Why is this more than the member upgrade of $13? Back to the positive, the water park on this resort is outstanding, they have 6 or 7 pools, 4-5 water slides, even a sandy beach area connected to one of the pools which was an absolute hit with the kids. They don’t have QR codes from some reason, so service mileage could vary depending on what area you are in and who is coming around, fortunately we had an excellent server who was constantly checking in with us. Be aware though, there doesn’t seem to be an actual bar out in the pool area, so any mixed drink you order will be coming from a slushy machine. Sorry, but for $19 a pop, I’m expecting more than your New Orleans Bourbon street pre-mixed slushy special. On the other hand, the buckets of beer were around $40 for 6 which was a decent deal, with a good selection to pick from. Lastly, the food options onsite are somewhat limited. The sports bar is good bar food, and the steakhouse was very delicious (also pricey $$+) but between those two options, there wasn’t really a lot for families. The other restaurant “Cibolo Moon” is billed as Mexican, but had some odd entrees (are lots of families ordering the bison meatloaf?) The room service menu was downright tiny. There was maybe 5-6 choices and 2-3 appetizers. Unless a burger or turkey sandwich is what you are looking for on vacay, you’re going to be out of luck. Out of all the resorts we have stayed, we have never seen such a small room-service menu and it wasn’t even close. Strangely, there was also no pizza option anywhere offered. We saw they were opening a new wood-oven pizza place soon, but you’d think they would have some other option in the meantime, being a 5-star resort and the huge number of families staying here. Athough not perfect, we would for sure return to this property, and would recommend it to other families looking for some Texas size fun, just be prepared that also includes the bill. Read less

I can't actually remember the month for sure. My husband and I visited for a few days...just a quick get away. LOVED this hotel. I love lazy rivers and this is one of my favorite hotels with one (the Atole in Dallas is my all time favorite, followed by one in Las Vegas). But this one is my favorite in Central TX. Bed is comfy, hotel staff was great. Food was ok..not amazing but ok. Drinks were good and smooth. I highly recommend staying here. Read less