Hilton Anatole

We stayed in the renovated tower that is farthest from the water park. The hallways were very warm during the day as it was August in Texas. However, the room was very cool and comfortable. Our first day the shampoo bottle was empty. We told the staff face-to-face as she was next door. No shampoo but everything else in the room was ship-shape after service. So, we called housekeeping. No one would answer the phone. Eventually someone called texted to verify we were 'happy' with our stay. We texted back a bad rating. They attempted to call us but we have our cell phones setup to only allow a ring through for contacts. They did not leave a message and did not text again. We told the front desk and finally found a bottle of shampoo left in our room on top of our refrigerator about 6 hours after we started our requests. We ate breakfast and lunch at the hotel several times. The coffee was excellent, the grab and go sandwiches were poor, the grab and go pizza was okay. Prices were very high for the quality. Front desk stop were efficient but not friendly. Numerous conferences were occurring while we were there. Plenty of room for everyone but the older attendees were not able to process their payments at the grab and go store and were not able to get out of the Hilton parking lot without assistance from other attendees. We were not annoyed by this but felt bad for both the employees and the attendees. The best part of our stay was enjoying the art around the hotel as we walked back and forth to the water park with family. It is beautiful.

First, let me start by saying that the Hilton Anatole is a beautiful hotel! From the grounds to the interior, it is absolutely stunning. Our room was exceptionally clean, the bed was incredibly comfortable, and the AC worked amazingly well—which is always appreciated during a Texas summer! There are also so many on-site activities that a two-night stay isn’t even close to being long enough to enjoy everything this hotel has to offer. The food options throughout the property are plentiful, although they are definitely pricey, which is somewhat expected at a resort-style hotel. We spent most of our days at the on-site water park with kids ages 3, 10, and 13, and every single one of them had a great time! The water park itself was clean and well maintained. The only exception was some trash left behind by departing guests, which obviously isn’t the hotel’s fault. There are plenty of trash receptacles throughout the area, so it’s frustrating to see people leave their trash behind rather than walk a few feet to throw it away. I also want to specifically recognize Diego at the water park. He was incredibly welcoming, friendly, and professional and really stood out during our stay. He represented the hotel extremely well! Unfortunately, the biggest negative for me involved two separate encounters regarding tipping. The first was with the bellhop who brought our luggage to our room. Once we arrived, he told us he was supposed to inform guests that this was a “tipping service.” Of course I understand that bell service is traditionally tipped—I actually already had his tip in my hand while we were walking to the room. But being directly told that it was a tipping service felt unnecessary and honestly a little classless. A tip should be given for good service, not something a guest should feel pressured into giving. The second incident happened at the water park snack bar and bothered me even more. The chips are sitting on shelves directly in front of the cashier window. We picked up two individual bags of chips ourselves and brought them to the window to pay. The team member told me that an automatic 20% gratuity would be added to the purchase. I asked, “20% for you to ring them up?” There was no food preparation, table service, delivery, or really any service involved beyond ringing up two pre-packaged bags of chips that we picked up ourselves. I told him I would prefer to add my own tip, and he said that wasn’t possible because the 20% gratuity was automatically added. What made this even more confusing was that I had made two other purchases at the same location the day before, was allowed to add my own tip, and an automatic 20% gratuity was never mentioned. Nearly $11 for one single-serving bag of Funyuns and one single-serving bag of Cheetos is already a premium price. Adding a mandatory 20% gratuity for simply ringing up two bags of chips feels excessive. I am absolutely someone who believes in tipping well for good service. What I don’t appreciate is feeling pressured or told that I am required to tip, especially in situations where there is little to no actual service being provided. Both encounters left a bad taste and felt out of place for a hotel of this caliber. Overall, though, we really enjoyed the Hilton Anatole. It is a gorgeous property, our room was wonderful, the kids loved the water park, and there is truly so much to do. With a little more consistency and transparency regarding the hotel’s gratuity policies, our experience would have been even better.

Top Golf was SO MUCH FUN! Eliseo was just the BEST and showed us all the games. The kids had such a blast playing all the games and eating all the chicken nuggets. Definitely don’t miss booking this experience!

First the staff at this hotel are amazing. We only had one bad experience but everyone else was fantastic. Shout out to Delores at the Media Restaurant. She took care of us so well for several of our meals. But here are the issues we had with our stay. Room The room was nice but outdated. We had a suite - room 1141 in the tower and room 623 in the tower. They were spacious but things were broken. The door handle to the bathroom in 1141 was broken. The furniture was just worn. The biggest issue was the coffee or lack of coffee in the room. There was expresso, which meant for a regular cup of coffee we had to go downstairs and buy a $5.00 cup from Starbucks. Not a nice way to start the day. We also wanted two rooms on the same floor and were told they were not available, yet when we checked in online it showed several we could have reserved on the same floor. Our daughter is an attorney for the state of Texas so we got a government rate which was nice. But the rooms with all the amenities, parking, coffee every day, and resort fee were over $300. That is a lot for a so so room in my book. Check-in The lines were terribly long but luckily, we had checked in online. One key would not come up on the phone app, so we waited in line to get real keys. Our line was shorter so it was not as long of a wait. The other issues were not telling us about the resort fee to get our armbands for the waterpark area. Delores was the one who told us about this when we went for breakfast the next morning. She also saved us money for the kids buffet by telling us about our armbands. The people at the front desk were all amazing and very helpful and attentive. It is also a shame that my husband could not use the cart to take our luggage to our room. Pool area/water park The basketballs were falling apart. The chairs had stains. There was trash all over the place from the day before. The swim up bar is the place we encountered the rude person. We had a party of 5 and waited and waited. She kept waiting on men who came up after us. She did not even acknowledge we were there. We finally left without drinks. The best thing about the pool was the foam party and train. These were awesome and free. The grandkids had a blast and the guys were amazing. Food What can I say? It was all subpar. The prices were outrageous and the food tasted so so. We spent over $1000 on food for the 3 days we were there and none of the food was over the top. The buffet was the same food we get for free at La Quinta when we stay at that hotel. Also, I asked for eggs over hard every day and always got over easy. My husband even stood there and asked her not to turn the eggs, but she still served eggs over easy. I could not eat them. Even though this would be a great option to meet half way to see our grandkids. We will not be back.

During our Top Golf experience, Dylan was the kindest individual! Two of our kids were tired and fussy and he was understanding, nonjudgmental, and overall made our experience top notch!! He entertained toddler conversation and helped our oldest too. 10/10 employee!!