Best Western Alamo Suites — Hotel in San Antonio

Just a couple of things for this honest but not emotionally charged review:

There is a man with glasses that works the front desk that makes his own “VIP” parking spot right in front of the main entrance. This would normally be a nonissue but there is only a singular drive way that gets you in and out of the hotel lot. It is very narrow with only enough space for 2 way traffic. All of this is very normal but this means that with his car there, customers must drive around it in the other lane to get through. If customers are checking in for the first time, they are forced to park in the only handicap spot that is close to the main entrance or take up a spot opposite this “VIP” parking space, and block both ways of traffic going in and out. We experienced this issue and witnessed on numerous occasions that customers of all ages were impeded by this as well. An elderly couple had to move all the way around their car with a walker (after the only handicap space was taken for another checkin due to the employees car, not another handicap persons with the sign on their car) and it was very hazardous for no apparent reason. There is a back parking lot the employee could be parking in or a number of parallel spots just after the main entrance but he has a traffic cone to make his own. (I’m sorry, people shouldn’t have such difficulties getting into a space they paid for, especially if those customers are disabled and it’s within the company’s realm of ability to shift where they are parking).

I booked through booking.com and there was over a $100 price difference than the online reservation. When asked about it, the man behind the counter said it was a safety deposit and that I would be refunded at check out. By the time i checked out and refunded, it was still $70 more than the price reserved (all fees and taxes were supposed to be excluded per the state as well for business so it was not that). I don’t like that there wasn’t any price transparency but it didn’t hurt my bank so I went ahead and paid for what was not advertised.

The room was very underwhelming but standard. There was a balcony that overlooked electrical facilities, but the issue is the sliding door wasn’t flush with the wall so the 41 degree cold weather was felt in the room even with a heating unit. There were also make up stain on all sheets and towels. I could tell they were clean so we used them of course, but still needed to share in my honest review. The mattress and bed frame resembles our pull out couch mattress and the pillows were not supportive. That last sentence was personal preference so I would not dock the company for that.

Lastly, I might be the only one this bothers and this has nothing to do with the employees of the hotel just the corporate side, but the title of the hotel after its namesake is “downtown Alamo suites”. I was there for a work convention that required me to actually be downtown near the Alamo at the convention center so as an out-of-towner, this sounded perfect. I thought everything would be walkable and within reasonable distance if it is all “downtown”. I did look at a map but I had no real experience in the city to back it up, with all the promising reviews I assumed it would be okay. However, the hotel is sadly a 15 minute drive or a 25-30 minute walk to the actual downtown area near the Alamo. It is absolutely not as safe to walk near the area of the hotel so I paid way more for ubers and parking than I should have. I wish I would have known the hotel is actually located in “Soflo”, not downtown. Also for this time period the review was taken in, the entire city was torn up with construction so that absolutely could’ve...

My first impression of this property was that the archcitect was an idiot putting stairs immediately inside the back entry. More than that, this is Texas where everyone has to drive, and this place has almost no parking near the front entry. This leaves the ADA guest with ‘barely accessible’ accommodations, although it does meet ADA standards. Minimally it’s hugely inconvenient if the customer is carrying more than a ladies purse.||This building is not young, but it does look like the ownership cares about it, and has made an effort to keep it looking new. The front desk agent, Jose, was more than courteous, accommodating, caring, and welcoming. The outside of the building is multi-colored stucco, and it needs a fresh coat of paint. But, for what they are charging it’s plenty acceptable.||When I got into my sleeping room it was I good condition. In the bath they have used those very low toilets which need to be taller. I wish I knew why any manufacturer of bathroom stools makes those that are slow the men have to hang onto their junk to prevent it falling in the water. For obvious reasons I find this to be unacceptable, but that’s on the maker of the porcelain.||They have also modernized their bathrooms with vessel sinks. Although that’s obviously a new trend, I don’t see any value in them. The rest of the bath was sparkling clean, and everything in it working correctly. ||The beds, sheets towel, etc were in great condition, except for their pillows which are about the size of Chiclets™ chewing gum. One needs at least 3 of them to even read a book in bed. The HVAC system was new and working perfectly, as was their big screen TV, which was wall-mounted to give more counter space.||There is a micro-refrigerator, and a micro-microwave oven in the room that were clean and working correctly. The floors had carpeting which I personally hate, but clean and new condition. For you smokers they do have a working outdoor balcony on floors 2-3 where you can step outside and smoke. It’s sad there’s no view to look at on either side of the building, but hey…they do have balconies.||When breakfast time came I took one look at it and declined. As is quite common they had cooked the sausage in the oven, and I just don’t like the stuff. They had plenty of those fake scrambled eggs, plenty of breads, cereal, and of course all the juice and coffee someone wanted. It would be a very welcome thing for a family with kids, but I prefer to have cooked-to-order breakfast, and I’m willing to pay for it.||The parking in this city everywhere is at a premium, and although this place has just enough, I wouldn’t bring a trailer or exceptionally large vehicle. They have one elevator which is working well, as well as drinks and snacks in a vending machine. There is no food within walking distance, or convenience stores, but plenty of both available with only a short ride.||For what they are charging I would use them again, and I do recommend them with an asterisk concerning the issues mentioned above. For my needs they did the job well enough. While this place wears the label of “Alamo,” don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s close. If you want to visit that you’ll need to take the car, but...

I think there are better Best Westerns in the San Antonio area than this one - on the Sunday when we checked out, the parking lot was completely full and there is nowhere nearby to park if you can't find a space. It's on a one-way street next to the highway so it's awkward to access and there's a lot of run-down stuff nearby except for the very busy doggy daycare place across the street. That was one thing that made us feel a little bit better about the area, but most of the rest was just empty, it seemed. Our first room was a small suite with one bed and a pull-out bed, but this pull-out bed was broken and looked like they'd tried half-heartedly to fix it, so it wasn't like they didn't know it was unusable. This room was also more run-down in the bathroom, etc, but the front desk moved us to a two-bed suite that was more updated (no broken and moldy grout). There, the showerhead spewed water onto the ceiling and was making the paint peel, and the hairdryer was cracked and revved up so it seemed dangerous. I reported both problems when I checked out so don't know if they were going to fix them any time soon. It was, however, clean and the shower gave plenty of hot water. Nice fluffy towels, too, and the beds were pretty comfy. They had a balcony which we could use to dry some of our swim towels after swim meets. The air conditioner was next one of the beds and blew straight on the person lying on that side, and meanwhile, the other part of the room was quite warm and it was hard to regulate the temperature. There is a microwave and a fridge and the room was quite large. The pool was indoors but very crowded and noisy, and I really don't see how a disabled person can access it because there are stairs (weirdly, their disabled parking is at this entrance where there is no way a disabled person can get into the building, unless there was a hidden elevator I couldn't see). The breakfast include some cooked options like scrambled eggs and sausage gravy with biscuits - there are nearby Best Westerns with greater variety, but this was ok; there's plenty of cereals and yogurts and waffle making and a ton of sweet pastries and cakes, and the coffee was generally pretty good (one day it was too bitter but the other two it was fine). Now saying all this, I think it's one of the better hotels I've stayed in for the price so weigh up the issues for yourself before booking. I'm really telling you everything on the down side, the biggest being how its location falls between two stools of not being close enough to downtown to easily get to the river walk (but it does have free parking if you can find a space - it was only the Sunday that parking lot was completely full); and on the other, it's in a run-down, abandoned-feeling area that you don't get from some of the options dotted around the ring roads like 410. I wouldn't stay here again just because I think there are...