Jw Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa

“Hidden Construction Beware!”

We stayed at the resort over the 4th of July. It took 40 minutes to check in, at the resort provided only one front desk clerk on a holiday weekend. Upon checking in we were told our room would have daily noise the entire weekend as there was noise due to construction. We had no notice of construc… more

We stayed at the resort over the 4th of July. It took 40 minutes to check in, at the resort provided only one front desk clerk on a holiday weekend. Upon checking in we were told our room would have daily noise the entire weekend as there was noise due to construction. We had no notice of construction either on the website nor the multiple communications from the hotel prior to our stay. I called Marriott to see if I missed any references to construction on the website. The reservation team there could not find it either. I called the front desk to review options to see if we could move, and there said we could not. The front desk clerk told be that the construction was mentioned in a hidden location on the website. She didn’t know where, but that is what they were told to say. Very disappointed, good thing I am a Lifetime Titanium with Marriott…or I would have been treated even worse .. the remainder of the staff was good, housekeeping excellent and food great too. If we had known about construction we would have requested a quiet room in other area of the resort, or booked somewhere else.

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“Not What We Expected from JW”

We have stayed at this JW numerous times with our family and never had any issues. On this trip we arrived just prior to 4:00 pm and entered the JW to see a massive line for check-in. We waited an hour in line just to be told our room was not ready with no estimate of how long it would take. It a… more

We have stayed at this JW numerous times with our family and never had any issues. On this trip we arrived just prior to 4:00 pm and entered the JW to see a massive line for check-in. We waited an hour in line just to be told our room was not ready with no estimate of how long it would take. It appeared every guest was being told the same thing and the check-in line was even longer by the time we left the lobby. I’m not sure what happened to cause this, but when you’re paying their rates, you expect it to be ready at check-in time. We went through our luggage in the lobby to find everyone their swim suit and changed in the lobby restrooms. We had items we did not feel comfortable checking or leaving in our car, so we were stuck staying close to our chairs instead of going on slides and in the lazy river. When we got to the pool, we were disappointed. Food and trash could be found in many places along the pool chairs. The pool itself also had many areas where we would not get in because of floating sludge (hair,debris,who knows what else stuck together and floating). When found a place to swim, but after pulling multiple hairs out of the pool that got stuck between our fingers, we decided we were done. We waited until 6:30 to finally get a text that our room was ready. We went to get our bags that we checked and they could not find them. We were told they would bring them up when they were found. Now we are in the room wet and cold with three kids and no clothes to change them into. After another half hour, our bags arrived. At the end of the night, I went down to the front counter to get physical key cards only to get back to the room to find they didn’t work. Each of the issues that I encountered were not deal breakers on their own. We understand it’s a busy time of year, but at the same time, we are paying for a stay at a luxury resort and expected better. Our next day was much better, but all the issues the first night were upsetting. What we did enjoy: 1. Staff was very friendly and helpful 2. Rooms were clean and cool 3. The pool areas were much cleaner in the morning. They just need to do better keeping it clean throughout the day 4. Every meal we had on property was great (breakfast at Cibolo Moon, dinner at the pizza place, lunch by the pool) 5. They had a great area for kids to run and play and there always seemed to be a great breeze that kept it from feeling like a typical June day in Texas 6. S’mores in the evening by the fire pit was fun for our kids What we did not enjoy: 1. Check-in wait time was ridiculous and the room was not ready for 2.5 hours after our check-in time. This really messed up our plans for the first night. 2. The pool area is not kept as clean as it should be by late afternoon/evening. 3. The first two rows of pool chairs are now reservation only. This was not a thing during our prior trips and seems ridiculous given the room rates. We had to search for available chairs when there were dozens of reservation only chairs empty. Would we stay again? Yes, but we hope the issues we encountered were just a rare occurrence and will not happen again. If we have a similar experience during our next stay, it will likely be our last. It’s not cheap to take a family of five on a vacation like this, and we have stayed at many comparable properties without ever having issues like we encountered during this trip.

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