Sage Hill Inn & Spa — Hotel in Kyle

Destination spa & stay experience complete with luxurious accommodations and 2 meals/day included. The rooms, provisions and overall spacious layout make for a easy-paced, almost languid, get-away. We didn't make use of the spa services. Though the amount we played pickleball could hardly be called languid 😅

Pluses: Spacious cottages w large bathrooms (Live Oak & Red Oak for a party of 5 in mid-Oct), closet space, kitchen (1 stove top w pots & pans), big living rooms, robes & nice "software" (shampoo, body lotion, etc.) Thick towels & big pillows.

Quiet oasis of a library w 24x7 coffee & ice tea. A really nice escape if you want some alone time. No books though!

The verandah near the lodge offers an expansive view of the horizon and sunset. Chairs and a swing provide another shady place to hang to enjoy the breeze. Steps away is a fire pit where one can make use of the s'more kits the kitchen offers (we didn't get any but enjoyed a fireside chat).

The highlight of our stay was the great pickleball courts. Four new courts with good surface with not much demand meant we got to play for many hours every day, morning and night (24x7 access with fantastic lighting). Comfortable seats, shade sails and pavilions made the times between games very comfortable. Bathroom, towels and drink station showed the thoughtful way the resort provisioned all their spaces.

Only negative was the continual (strong) winds, often very gusty. It really changed how we needed to play the game.

The in-room mini frig was stocked with still & sparkling drinking water, espresso pods & ground coffee. The staff also brought a huge cooler with a lot of ice, which kept our drinks cool for 3 days!

The service from staff was endlessly accommodating and generous. Except for the lady on the morning shift at the front desk who tended to be argumentative and dismissive, everyone else, including the GM, was polite, friendly and helpful.

Areas in need of Improvement: Continental breakfasts were 85% starch. In this day of healthy eating, this truly flies in the face of what's good for the guests... unless this is calculated to get guests to pay up for the hot stuff.

At the time of the reservation, the resort asked us to share our food restrictions (dairy for us). Yet upon arrival, we were surprised that there was NO plant-based yogurt - the only item in the Continental breakfast that was protein. And no remedy - they order their provisions weekly and could not flex or improvise. The dairy yogurt made 2 of our party suffer for an entire day. The curious thing was that they had almond milk and lactose-free ice cream, so why not plant-based yogurt? 🤔 If you ask about food restrictions, you should provision accordingly.

Dinner was passable (B only). The entrees (2 selections nightly) had fresh ingredients and good sides. But pork, chicken and salmon were all just on the side of overdone. Cheese & broccoli soup was too gooey (like glue); the beet soup was too salty. The tomato soup was good. The very same choices for desserts every night for 4 days straight became boring! There needs to be more variety on the menu, especially since it's all-inclusive and extra people pay extra per person ($109 + tax) even for a four-person cottage where there were only 3 people in residence. I expect better food offerings more capably prepared. This is a main factor for me to be unwilling to consider a return.

Due to the severe drought and Sage Hill drawing its water from the aquifer, there is no laundry facility except at the Ranch House (one of the cottages). That forces all other guests to either bring extra clothes or wash their own clothes. This is not expressly pointed out on the website, so people can't prepare for this before arrival. Yet there was no provision for drying one's clothes. And too few hangers in the closet = awkward laundering.

Furnishings in the rooms feel a bit dated, and some of the bathroom fixtures didn't always work right, including flush lever (toilet) and...

We recently stayed 4 nites in a Casita, and while there was much to enjoy (the scenery, friendly staff, great spa), there were negatives. This included the food, lack of basic maintenance and fluctuating room rate. We're not foodies however we know when a meal is poorly prepared. Sage Hills website describes their food is devised by "a team of chefs," "vegetables from their own garden which enables them to deliver incredible quality from the hill country," and that they serve close to "100% farm to table ingredients." This is an exaggeration. ||Each nite, the restaurant offers roasted garden vegetables that are over cooked, soggy and at room temp--some of the broccoli had yellow spots. The lemon feta quinoa was clumped together and chilled---our server said the chef was trying it this way. Harissa chicken had a great flavor but was dry and braised beef on top of mashed potatoes with lots of broth---was really a soup. I make cheesecake and theirs had a crust that was so thick and hard that it required a serrated knife to cut it. The best thing on the menu was the sorbet. ||The breakfast "tray of house baked goods" consisted of small muffins (poss baked) and store bought bagels, slices of bread. As far as beginning your day "with a glass of fresh OJ, there was none. The OJ is purchased in a plastic, gallon jug. There were constant flies in dining room and on next to last day they were all over the breakfast food and fruit flies were enjoying the fresh fruit bowl. ||The ONLY reason we paid for an expensive Casita and not a suite was bc we wanted a private hot tub for my husband's back pain. The control panel was old, cracked, illegible and temp was set on Celsius, not Fahrenheit---water was scalding. I looked at 2 next door vacant Casitas and one's panel was broken worse than ours and another had a new panel. Management quickly ordered/installed new panel so our tub worked for 2 nites, then stopped again due to "possible problem with breaker." Out or 4 nites, we were only able to use tub for 2 nites---management gave us a small credit on our bill. They seem surprised that hot tub wasn't working which tells me this wasn't the truth/ maintenance is poor. ||On the deck, the umbrella was torn, broken, inoperable, white table was filthy, lounge chairs were stained all over. The yard game area was sad looking. Pickleball courts looked great and would have been nice, except we paid for other amenities, not pickle ball. ||When I booked the Casita, I was emailed a statement re: our total and I saw that we were charged a different rate for each nite---prices ranged from $486-669 plus fees. I could kick myself for naively assuming that the Inn must have been crowded, it was beginning of busy summer season and perhaps rooms were going for a premium. At check out my husband inquired about the different nicely rates and was told that the rates fluctuate. My husband has traveled extensively for work and has never had this happen except during holidays, special events. As far as being crowded, we practically had Inn to ourselves as there was hardly anyone there. ||We've always enjoyed Wimberley and we wanted to love the Inn, esp after reading their website, but there were too many downsides considering the price. There are many other places to stay in both...

There's lots to love about SH, beginning with the land itself. It is rugged beauty at its best. Kudos to the owners for making this a true Hill County ranch experience. Then there's the staff: helpful, knowledgeable, attentive. There was a fair amount of miss communication but there was never anything but a best effort. The dinner was surprisingly good and ample. We stayed in a cottage and it was clean and efficient. Thus far, all as advertised. BUT, it all ends there. We walked in for dinner promptly at 6 and were not served for almost a full hour, this despite telling our server that we had booked the "lover's cove" to watch the sunset. We had to shove our food down, race down the trail to catch the sunset. We were told, follow the path and turn left. You can't miss it. Well, we did, as following instructions put us on an overlook of the creek bed. It took a phone call, and more vague instructions before we found the structure (little more than a lean to with a dusty, dirty pillows to sit upon. The wine was there, but no cheese board as had been promised. We barely made the sunset to celebrate my spouse's 60th. We went to open the wine, and no cork screw. We did eat the cobbler which ha been hastily put into boxes for us as we raced from the dinning hall. All that would have probably been fine, but when we returned to the room to discover that the TV only had a hand full of apps tied to Apple TV -- and that was all there was -- we had had enough. For a place that pitches itself as high end, and charges as if it is, SH is not on point. I suspect part of it stems from poor management choices trying to save a nickel here and a nickel there. For example, there's a lovely spread for breakfast -- but they up charge for an egg. Really? Why not have your chef there to make whatever anyone desires? SH wants to be something special. But, alas, it was a ways to go. I will say, much to my surprise, that management provided a refund. But, what we wanted was the experience,...