JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa

JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa is many, many things. For starters, it's the largest JW Marriott in the brand, at 1,002 rooms and 2,800 acres. Fifty-odd meeting and breakout rooms, banquet halls, and event lawns regularly fill the nine-story hotel with guests on-site for national conventions, sales summits, and annual meetings. (On the day of our visit, all 1,002 of the hotel's rooms were occupied by attendees for a three-day conference.) On the flip side, the hotel is sure to appeal the San Antonio travel market -- i.e. families -- with waterslides, arcade games, airbrush tattooing, s'mores, Microsoft tablet tables in the lobby, and big rooms with lots of amenities and space for cribs and rollaways. 

Such kid-friendly features and details have more than paid off: The hotel has been known to sell out a year in advance during spring and summer breaks. In that window of time, the businesspeople running around with laptops under their arms and laniards around their necks are replaced by families running around with pool towels under their arms and goggles around their necks. Note that leisure guests are required to pay a resort fee, which covers things like in-room Wi-Fi and water-park access.

Oh, and this is a golf hotel, too, with two PGA-certified, 18-hole, par-72 courses designed by Greg Norman and Pete Dye. The JW even manages to fit in a bit of local identity, with hand-blown glass sculptures of Texas wildflowers by San Antonio artist Gini Garcia hanging above the meeting-rooms rotunda, as well as on-site honey-producing beehives and a garden that grows kale, tomatoes, and berries used for house-made jams. Near the garden is a handsome stone Sunday house, a traditional Texas dwelling with an outdoor fireplace and patio. The resort is surrounded by federally owned land designated for protecting the golden-cheeked warbler, an endangered songbird native to the region. 

It's worth noting that the hotel, which opened in January 2010, is renovating its rooms at the end of 2018. The process should be complete by early 2019.

The JW Marriott is located on the far edge of northeast San Antonio, right off of Highway 281. The hotel is surrounded by its own golf courses and some flecks of residential development, but mostly rolling forested land that is a native habitat for the endangered Texas gold finch, and therefore protected by the federal government. Guests will need a car to get around (self-parking is free at the hotel), as there is nothing within walking distance. The hotel partners with a few nearby restaurants, such as Aldaco's Mexican Cuisine, who run shuttles to the property to pick up and return guests. Getting to Six Flags Fiesta Texas takes about 20 minutes by car, and the Alamo and River Walk an additional 10. San Antonio International Airport is a 13-minute drive to the south of the hotel.

The hotel's 1,002 rooms have a warm look and a bit of Texas flair, with marigold walls, heavy patterned crimson-and-beige carpeting and drapery, and leather and cowhide details. Room decor has not changed since the hotel opened at the beginning of 2010, but all rooms will undergo renovations at the end of 2018 through the beginning of 2019. Decor will change at the time, but the roominess and upscale amenities will stay the same. Accommodations start at a very respectable 450 square feet, and even entry-level rooms have the space for a sitting area, most with a couch, club chair, and ottoman.

All rooms and suites include 65-inch flat-screen LCD TVs with HBO, as well as coffeemakers, mini-fridges, and Serta pillow-top mattresses. Most rooms have step-out Juliet balconies, and higher-category rooms have full balconies. There are 85 suites, many with kitchens or kitchenettes, dining areas, wood-paneled offices, fireplaces, and living rooms. Rooms on higher floors have excellent views of the golf course and hill country -- these views will never be obstructed by future development, since much of the surrounding land is federally protected.

All rooms have marble bathrooms with separate tubs and showers (most of the rooms at competing La Cantera have only showers), as well as toiletries and robes. Two free waters are provided daily, and in-room Wi-Fi is part of the resort fee.

A 1,100-foot long lazy river winds through JW's nine-acre water park (covered by the resort fee), which also has a kids' pool, a 650-foot rapid-river ride, and several slides -- twisting slides, tube slides, and body slides. For adults, there is a dedicated infinity pool overlooking the golf course, and a zero-entry pool with a sandy "beach" is accessible to all ages. Cabanas with safes and fridges are available at a daily rate. Every morning, there is an extreme swim hour, when guests can try their hand (and arms, and legs) at swimming against the current. All JW pools are heated to 85 degrees year round, and towels are provided.

The hotel has seven restaurants and bars (plus room service is available until the early hours of the morning), including a bourbon/whiskey-focused lobby bar and the family-friendly Cibolo Moon (all of the restaurants are family-friendly, but Cibolo is the most popular for families of the bunch). Located off the lower lobby, Cibolo Moon offers Southern Hill Country cuisine, house-infused tequilas, and private dining. A breakfast buffet (for a fee) is set up each morning. On the opposite side of the lobby is High Velocity Sports Bar, a beer bar with large curving screens tuned in to three different sporting events (something like the Super Bowl would take over all three screens). The casual Rivertop Grill offers burgers and rum-based drinks, and there is a full Starbucks located between the upper lobby and the convention area. Down at the golf clubhouse is 18 Oaks, a traditional steakhouse where guests can see the 18th hole of both golf courses. JW's restaurants were renovated between late 2017 and early 2018.

JW has a noteworthy spa with lavish and extensive facilities, however, guests must pay a daily flat rate to use the facilities and its fitness center -- this is on top of the resort fee (and of course the treatments themselves cost separate). The spa's boutique sells products from Farmhouse Fresh (a Texas-based line), Naturopatica, and Kerstin Florian (a skin-care line used in many of the spa's facials). Hand soap, body butter, body mist, and other items made from local lavender are for sale and make popular gifts, and the shop also sells Beyond Yoga apparel and Soy Delicious candles. Replenish Spa Bistro, open for lunch, and the spa's fitness center are located on the same level as the boutique.

The spa itself features 32 treatment rooms and indoor wet areas for men and women. Each side has a eucalyptus steam room, a dry sauna, and an inhalation/relaxation room circling a hot tub. Outdoors, there is a co-ed, adults-only pool area with a hot tub and cabanas. While the cabanas by the main pool cost a daily rate, the ones by the spa pool are first-come, first-serve. Hydrating facials and Swedish and deep-tissue massages are some of the most popular treatments.

In the front and back of the hotel are several special-event lawns for weddings and family programming. The lawn directly behind the lobby is dedicated to kids’ activities, such as airbrush face-painting and s’mores-making (there are often charges associated). There are two free pool tables in the lower lobby, as well as Microsoft tablet tables for kids to play on. The hotel's lack of a kids’ club may seem surprising given its family-friendly nature, but the old kids' club was hardly used, so the resort used the space to expand their main fitness center when renovating the facility in 2017. New equipment -- treadmills, stair-climbers, weight machines, free weights, yoga mats -- was installed at this time, and the space also provides filtered water and chilled towels. The fitness center at the main resort is free, although another located at the spa incurs a fee. Ping-pong tables and coin-operated arcade games are located near the main fitness center. Tennis rackets and balls are free and there is a basketball court -- just note that balls are not provided, so guests must bring their own.

JW Marriott San Antonio has two 18-hole, par-72 golf courses: the 7,406-yard AT&T Canyons Course designed by Pete Dye, and the 7,522-yard AT&T Oaks Course designed by Greg Norman. Rentals and lessons are available.

A gift shop near the upper lobby sells Texas-made products and a small library off of the lower lobby has a fireplace, a flat-screen TV, and computers for guest use. Self-parking is free and Wi-Fi is part of the resort fee. 

The whole property lives up to the expression "everything is bigger in Texas," and that's certainly true when it comes to JW's business offerings. Nearly 270,000 square feet of the resort is dedicated to meeting and special-event space: three ballrooms (including the 40,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom), three outdoor venues, and a flexible meeting space that can break out to 52 rooms. Meeting-goers can either use an app or digital screens outside of each meeting room to do things like change the temperature or request bottled water. At the top of a large rotunda in the main meeting area hang glass sculptures of Texas wildflowers, such as bluebonnets, hand-blown by Gini Garcia, owner of Garcia Art Glass in San Antonio's arts district. There is also a 24-hour FedEx office adjacent to the meeting area.