The Retreat on the Hill — Hotel in Cottonwood Shores

A Beautiful Location with a Disappointing Experience

The Retreat on the Hill in Austin, Texas, is undoubtedly a stunning property with incredible scenery and a peaceful atmosphere. My partner and I stayed in “The Twins” for his birthday weekend, and we were excited to make this a regular getaway spot. Unfortunately, while the location was gorgeous and offered some fun activities like pickleball, the experience was soured by significant issues with heating and the behavior of the property manager, I believe his name is Gregg.

The Good The retreat is a beautiful and serene place, perfect for quality time with a loved one. During the day, we truly enjoyed the nature-filled setting, the views, and the amenities available. It felt like a private escape, and we had planned to try all the different rooms in the future.

The Bad The main issue arose with the lack of heat in the master room we stayed in. While Gregg was initially warm and welcoming—giving us a tour and showing us other rooms—things quickly went downhill when we brought up concerns about the heating. The unit in our room was not functioning properly, and the portable heaters provided caused the electricity to trip. Even after limiting ourselves to one heater, it stopped working overnight, leaving us freezing both nights of our stay.

When we brought up these concerns, Gregg was initially responsive, explaining that the units struggle because the rooms were not fully enclosed. However, the adjacent room—of the same style—was completely warm, indicating the issue was specific to our unit. Despite texting him about this, the problem was never resolved. Instead, we were left to endure two cold nights in what was advertised as a “glamping” experience, with no adequate alternatives provided.

The Ugly Upon checkout, when I brought up the unresolved heating issues, Gregg became dismissive and rude. The goal of me letting him know was to avoid other upcoming guests from freezing so they could fix it and have them stay in the other unit instead of the master. He claimed he had offered multiple heaters, extra blankets, and another room, which was untrue. As I tried to explain the situation, he cut me off and, mid-conversation, abruptly stated he would give us half of our money back. Without explaining how the refund would work or addressing my concerns, he immediately walked away with an attitude, leaving me standing there, frustrated and unheard.

While he returned later to apologize, citing a lack of caffeine and a cigarette as the reason for his behavior, the apology felt insincere and more like an attempt to avoid a bad review. This interaction left a bitter taste in what should have been a positive experience.

Final Thoughts The Retreat on the Hill has so much potential, and we genuinely loved the location and daytime experiences. However, the misleading advertising regarding heaters, the unresolved freezing conditions, and the poor customer service made this a frustrating and disappointing stay. What could have been a magical weekend turned into a cold and uncomfortable one, capped off with an unnecessarily rude interaction with the property manager.

I believe their glowing reviews are heavily influenced by their follow-up messaging. After our stay, we received a text that said, “If we earned a 5-star review, would you please take a moment to leave a Google Review? If we did not earn a 5-star review, please message us directly to let us know what we could do better.” While I understand the intent behind this, it feels like they prioritize managing their image over genuinely addressing customer concerns.

Instead of messaging them privately, I’ve chosen to share my honest experience here. While the property is undeniably beautiful, great customer service is equally important, and our experience fell short. We will not be returning, but I hope this review helps others make an informed decision.

Customer service is just as important as the scenery, and the lack of respect and resolution we received has made us hesitant to ever give this property...

We stayed in the Wings and the first 2 nights were awesome. The 3rd night I thought we were going to fly off to OZ! It got so windy and this is not where you want to be in the wind! We aren’t in Texas anymore!

Let me back up. We arrived and loved the place. We went on Spring Break, mid March and the weather was perfect when we arrived. We checked in, checked everything out…noticed the telescope was broken….(which now that I’ve read every single review, this is a complaint that has not been fixed) we had a glass of wine and opened all the wings! Which we had to figure out because we couldn’t find instructions. But it wasn’t exactly rocket science, however, instructions for a lot of things were missing…another complaint by many that isn’t fixed. The view was nice but not spectacular because you are also looking at industrial plants. Then we went and ate at the Bay House in walking distance. We really enjoyed this place. The food was great. (Sidebar…By the way…it is advertised there is a park with food trucks. These food trucks are only open for several hours on certain days of the week so don’t let them fool you. There is also only live music on the weekends I guess. I was actually excited about the Fresh AF park but it was lame Monday-Thursday. We did play pickleball in the wind).

Sidebar over….We took a bath in the whirlpool tub which was also awesome. The bed was comfy. Until, the sun starts to rise, and if you’re a light sleeper like I am, I am wide awake because there’s not covering on all of the plastic windows. The sun is beaming in at the break of dawn and when you’ve been up having a great time with your spouse all night, the last thing I want to do is wake up at dawn. Even with this, I would have still given the place 5 stars….the bathroom was very unique. I don’t know how anyone could stand it in the middle of summer. No AC in the bathroom. But it was Spring Break so not an issue yet. There was also no hair dryer so I had to ask for one. I had to get it from the office but when I went to get it, no one was there. Greg delivered a brand new one in the box. I took it out of the box and the switch was broken. It stayed on low and I dried my hair very slowly. The 2nd night,the firepit was nice. I finally got Alexa to work after 30 minutes. Another complaint by many reviewers, not fixed. We danced as the sunset and it was awesome. The wind got stronger. It was impossible to sleep. Coyotes howled and sounded like they were attacking some poor soul.

Fast forward, the 3rd night, the wind really picked up. It got so strong there was no way we were opening the wings. The place was not airtight and the actual wings were being lifted up the wind was so strong. The back doors by the whirlpool tub would not latch and there was a gap in the doors and the curtains were flying everywhere and the wind was getting cold! My husband as in the bathroom trying to fix the damn lights and the moon mirror was glitching and nothing was working properly. We should not have to fix stuff when we are paying $395 a night!!! We definitely did not enjoy our last night! We couldn’t do anything! And it was not comfortable and it was actually scary wondering if the place was engineered correctly to withstand the wind and hoping we would wake up the next morning in Texas!

It is ridiculous to pay $395 a night with no refunds when weather can seriously alter the plans and seriously alter the reviews. They send you a text after you check out…if you have a 5 star review, please review us on Google. If you don’t, then send us a text to let us know how to improve…they aren’t improving anything even based off the negative reviews because I’ve seen negative reviews previous to this and we had the same experience. There was even dirt in the ice machine. Things are not being fixed and it’s overpriced. Pay attention to the negative reviews. I usually think there’s always going to be someone you can’t make happy….don’t pay the money. I would not ever stay here again or...

I recently had a unique experience staying at 3 rooms at this retreat due to a plumbing issue. We booked the Tipis for 3 nights. On our first day the toilet tank wouldn't refill when flushed and the plumbing was faulty. Flushing the toilet caused the power in the bathroom Tipi to go out. After that, the toilet was down the rest of our trip, so we couldn't even use the bathroom right next to our Tipi.

The Owner, Greg, did attempt to remedy the situation by upgrading us to various rooms throughout the stay, but despite some of the nice things about this place, we were very disappointed. While this may seem like a perk, it ended up being highly inconvenient as we had to shuffle our stuff around between multiple rooms and bathrooms. As a result we didnt have a single day where we could sleep in or stay in as we had to be out of each room by 12pm.

On the 1st night we let the owner know the toilet wasnt working, he said he would contact maintainanence to fix it and in the meantime he upgraded us to the Bayview room.

The Bayview was definitely roomier, the view of the stars is nice, and the LEDs were nice. However the mattress was horrendous and I couldn't sleep on it at all. It was very lumpy and soft, I tossed and turned all night. If you prefer a firm mattress, this is not the room for you.

When we entered the room there were dead bugs (little fruit fly like insects) all over the bed and bathtub. We didnt feel comfortable taking a bath because it was clear the bathtub hadn't been cleaned or washed to remove the bugs. We had to clear the dead bugs off the mattress ourselves. The amount of deadbugs in this unit was unacceptable.

On the 2nd day we were told that maintainence would try to fix the toilet, but another room was provided to us as it did not get fixed that day either. We got the Curves room, and this was by far the best of the 3 we saw.

Curves feels more like a traditional hotel room and the mattress was quite comfortable. I dont have many complaints about this room, except that I wasnt a fan of the bathroom layout (European style) as the shower is just in the main bathroom with no curtains. You shower right in front of the toilet, and then the entire bathroom gets wet. Very poor design.

On the last night the toilet still wasnt fixed. We were told the shower and sink still worked. We were assigned a spare bathroom but it was a bit of a walk from the tipis. It was very inconvenient having to walk through the property in the middle of the night. It disrupted my sleep and as a result again I got poor sleep that night. Additionally, the bathroom we were given didnt lock properly. The deadbolt doesn't lock fully and the locking mechanism can be easily unjammed by wiggling the door. I didnt feel I had any true privacy. We were given a key to the bathroom which was completely useless because you didn't need it.

Speaking of useless locks, the tipis also have no security. There is a lock on the gated area outside the tipis but you can just reach your hand in and unlock it. The tipis themselves also have no locking mechanism. I felt uncomfortable leaving valuables in our tent and again felt a lack of privacy just not even having a working lock.

The tipis doors to go in and out were a pain. The bedroom tipi door flap isn't big enough, we spent 10 minutes just untying and retying the door going in and out. The tipi itself is very crampt, barely enough room to move around. The bathtub has no curtain and poor plumbing so again water everywhere. The sink position you cant really wash your face due to the angle. The back of the mirror in the bathroom was all moldy. There was also mold in the tipi covered up by pillows. On the last day we had a bee infestation, we killed about 10 bees that flew in due to the gap in the tent that couldn't be fully covered. I definitely do not recommend the tipis to anyone. If you have to stay here, Curves is probably the only room worth staying in.

Overall a highly disappointing experience and we won't be returning as we were exhausted by the...