JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa

This resort is beautiful on the surface, but it simply cannot handle being full of ~3,000 leisure guests. The infrastructure, staffing, and dining options are nowhere near what’s required for the rates being charged or the amount of rooms (~1,000) on property. We absolutely wanted to love this place, but it just didn’t happen which is unfortunate given it’s not a terrible drive from Dallas/Fort Worth. Front Desk & Service: Check-in was cold and unwelcoming, with no activities schedule or welcome coupons provided (welcome drink coupons and some other discounts are included as part of the high daily resort fee). Staff across the board seemed overwhelmed and disengaged. Overpriced & Few Food Options: A $9 Uncrustable was delivered soggy since it was packaged with hot French fries which my son certainly didn’t like. At the sports bar, both the burger and Cobb salad were awful. The main restaurant, Cibolo Moon, had a 1-hour wait just to be seated—with lines forming simply to get on the waitlist. For a resort of this size, three full-service restaurants aren’t nearly enough. By comparison, the Gaylord Texan (also a Marriott property) offers considerably more dining venues to handle its convention/leisure mix. Here, the result is many lines, long waits, and disappointing food. Pools & Crowds: By 9:30 a.m. every pool chair was already “saved.” Staff make no attempt to enforce the resort’s own no-saving policy. There are ways to fix this. For example, on many major cruise lines, seats get time-stamped or stickered; if left empty too long, belongings are removed and taken to guest services. Why can’t this property do the same? Instead, chairs sit empty for hours while paying guests wander around with no place to sit. The lazy river and slides are just as frustrating—guests hoard tubes despite clear signage, and staff look the other way. Over Labor Day, the pool was wall-to-wall people—chaotic and anything but relaxing. Bright Spots: The kids’ buffet was thoughtful and well done. Alexis at the sports bar was genuinely fantastic—warm and friendly. Christian at Cibolo Moon also stood out with excellent, attentive service in an otherwise overwhelming dining setup. The kids camp (I think only offered on busier weekends) was also great for our two littles — we enjoyed a quieter evening and they had a great time with the activities offered and their new friends. Bottom Line: This property cannot support a full leisure crowd. It might work if you’re here for a convention and only half the resort is occupied by families, but as a destination resort it collapses under its own weight. A gorgeous setting is ruined by long lines, overcrowding, and underwhelming food. Despite being longtime Marriott loyalist, I’ll be trying the Hyatt Regency Hill Country or Hyatt Lost Pines next time—everything I’ve heard suggests they do what this JW is trying to do, only much better.

We are a family of four (kids age 9 and 12) from the UK who stayed for 2 weeks to explore San Antonio, New Braunfels and the Hill Country area and enjoy the hotel. The hotel is in a good location just outside the busy hustle and bustle of the city, but close enough that it's easy to drive downtown for dinner. We stayed in a 2-queen room (sharing beds) which was clean, spacious and comfortable. We found the hotel to be very good quality and all the staff to be very friendly. We loved the water park and spent several days there just relaxing. The water temperature is perfect. The hotel is certainly not cheap and you need to understand that you will be charged parking fees and resort fees during your stay and you should consider these upfront as part of the overall cost of the hotel. The prices for food and drink at the hotel and pool bar areas are also rather high ($11 for a small pot of ice cream). The breakfast buffet at Cibolo Moon is tasty but expensive, so you may want to plan on Starbucks or breakfast somewhere else if you have a long stay. Parking is not a big deal unless you have mobility problems. On a busy day you will have to park in levels 5 or 6, then you can use the escalators in the conference centre to get back to the main hotel in less than 5 minutes. If you're closer you can walk up the hill in the same amount of time. All in all we loved our stay at this hotel and would definitely recommend it for families looking to holiday in the area.

Amazing hotel! But very pricey. Self-parking is limited and requires a walk. Food service is slow and not that good. Drinks are fine. The bed is comfortable, and the pillows are nice. The shower is relxaing with good water pressure. Avoid weekends. The Lazy river and water park are super. The ground gets hot, so water shoes help. Also, inner tubes are limited as they let people keep their tube as they leave the lazy river!?!?!? Be sure to keep your room card to get out of the parking area without paying.

Our family was threatened by another family at this resort. Management did not interview everyone who witnessed the attack on our family and did not review any camera footage. Instead they judged us for what we can assume is because we are a transracial family and decided to just believe the people who threatened us. Our 11 year old son and his friend were completely traumatized as the hotel forced us to drive home 5 hours in the middle of the night with no real explanation other than they just decided to believe the people who threatened us. This hotel allowed people who were very clearly violent towards our child to stay at the resort and forced our family to leave. In addition, our room was dirty, the pool area trash was overflowing, and the food is very overpriced and low quality. Stay far away from here if you value your money and safety.

We had another amazing experience during our fifth visit to the JW Marriott Hill Country. Each time has been wonderful. The lazy river and the overall pool experience are both fun and relaxing. I want to give a shout-out to the servers at Cibolo Moon. Evan is fantastic—my daughter remembers him from our last trip and specifically mentioned that he was a great server. Sure enough, on this visit, he was our server again. Ms. Rosa is also amazing and incredibly kind. We enjoyed dinner at 18 Oaks, where Oscar, our server, was excellent as well. Overall, the team at the JW Marriott Hill Country is outstanding. We will definitely be coming back!