Fairmount Hotel — Hotel in San Antonio

(You should note someone has gone through and clicked 4 stars over and over and over to get their rating up to 4 stars on here.)

After reading the reviews on yelp and trip advisor...I was prepared for a "Money Pit" type situation (if you are too young to know what that means....go watch the movie.) Definitely exceeded my expectations based upon most of the reviews on here. Maybe we got a good room, or maybe they are really paying attention to the feedback they have been given. Let me give you a brief run down.

Parking. Be prepared to pay for parking. $21 per night to park at the hotel. They do not own their own lot, so they valet. We opted to park our own car, in the same lot they valet in. Which made it maybe $10 cheaper for the weekend and involved walking a short distance. Not bad, but just paying for the valet would have been less of a hassle.

Ambiance. The hotel is over a hundred years old. So---it is old. Unfortunately they have not updated any of the curtains, bed spreads, furniture etc, probably since the day it opened. That being said, it is very cute and charming. There is a restaurant attached which was always busy, there is a nice courtyard and the balconies are nice. We had our own private balcony which was nice to be able to go outside or open the door for fresh air. When I got to the room I immediately took the comforter and all of the decorative pillows off of the bed, as I cannot imagine those being cleaned very often. The curtains were ripped and outdated---but it was not anything alarming. It is veryyyy dark in the rooms, but helps it feel a little more romantic and probably helps hide some of the age of the hotel.

Cleanliness. I am a freak about hotel cleanliness. Mostly regarding the bed and the bathroom. The hotel is mostly marble and wood. I think the floors look dirtier than they are, just because they are old. Same with the bathroom. I immediately thought the sink was not even cleaned, and realized it was just specks from years of wear and tear. I ripped back all of the sheets and inspected the pillow cases for stains, dirt, hair, etc. They smelled very clean and were not dirty at all. They have a card you place on the bed if you want new sheets.

Improvement. It seems like they are trying to improve things. They leave a notepad in your room where you can leave comments for maintenance or housekeeping to improve your room. I think they have been listening to the feedback and want to improve the hotel. They have a lot of work to be done, and updating would be nice, even just reupholstering things would really help out the dingy feel of the hotel.

Staff. The staff was great. There was one valet/barhop man who was very, very nice and helpful, Derek. He would order us cabs, help us bring in our bags cheerfully even though we opted to not valet. The staff behind the desk was helpful and responsive. Not a bad experience at all.

Location. It was about a half mile walk to the heart of the river walk and directly next to La Villita. Not a bad location at all, and after all the food we were eating, we didn't mind the exercise----however, it is not "on the riverwalk" but not far at all.

Overall, we had a good time, if I was paying that much I would have rather stayed at the Hilton, or the Hyatt, or any other 4 star hotel on the river walk. This hotel is wayyyy to old and outdated to pretend it's a upscale hotel. Also, we booked on priceline. If you book directly through the hotel, you can upgrade your room for free so keep that in mind! Our room was fine, but if we had a sitting room a bigger bed it would have been much more worth the money. To upgrade to a king room suite (they dont have king rooms that aren't suites) after booking on priceline was $40 a night. Which was definitely NOT worth it, so we kept our deluxe queen room.

Good luck, I would only stay here if I got a great deal. If you booked on priceline and are stuck with it, just know it isn't THAT bad.

Stayed...

We had an incredible stay at Hotel Fairmount in San Antonio, Texas! The hospitality we experienced was top-notch from start to finish.||Rachel at the bar/restaurant truly felt like the heart of the hotel—welcoming, friendly, and just fantastic all around. Jose, the manager, went above and beyond when we decided to extend our stay at the Fairmount instead of moving to another hotel for the convention we were in town for. Jose connected with a member of Marriott and worked out the details of our cancellation there. Jose and Lexy were a lifesaver! ||Bianey made sure our extended stay was smooth and honored our original rate,keeping us in the same room, which we really appreciated.||At the hotel’s Italian restaurant, Sam provided remarkable service, and Austin, the sommelier, was very knowledgeable and enhanced our dining experience. Andrew at Nonna served us breakfast and gave us an amazing glimpse into the hotel’s rich history—such a great touch.||Shoutout to Johnny at the night front desk for having our car ready bright and early and beyond friendly and kind. ||The only downfall during our stay was the room service. Even though we requested daily refreshes, our room was never cleaned. That said, we kept it tidy ourselves, and the front desk was quick to provide fresh towels, coffee, and glassware whenever we asked and made sure to take it directly to our room while we were enjoying dinner or drinks inside the hotel. ||This team made our stay seamless and memorable. Highly recommend Hotel Fairmount for its service, charm, and incredible staff!||The hotel itself is absolutely beautiful, charming, and beautiful restored rooms,from the downstairs bar to the rooftop bar and seating. My only regret was not eating inside the steakhouse while the music was playing, we found such a relaxing and pleasurable experience in the bar seating that we didnt make it inside the steakhouse (although, we did walk inside the morning we left to take a peak) What a fantastic experience, and we will...

I completed the Hyatt survey, which requested I submit a Tripadvisor review at the end. Ok..................||We stayed for a night as a little celebratory staycation. Historic hotel that was relocated (largest moves of its kind at the time) in 1985/86!). Great central location between the Riverwalk area and southtown (great restaurants). We checked in using the Hyatt app and went straight to the room with our key (also noticed there was no one at the front desk). The room was great! Very quiet, very clean, very comfortable, and well-appointed. Light pollution was an issue. The room uses shutters which block some light, but with a balcony room there was a very bright porch light. And, the little window over the door leading to the porch had no curtain or shutter, so the room had a bright glow all night. If you like a dark room, avoid this hotel. Even more concerning was the security camera just outside the unblocked window that could easily see into the room, including part of the bed. Very discomforting. Didn't notice until the morning. ||The thermostat was initially locked down, so no way to keep the fan on and prevent it from turning on intermittently every 30-60 seconds. No instructions. And apparently no occupancy sensor. A call to the front desk got the bartender who did her best to help. We eventually figured something out.||Speaking of bartender, awesome service when we sat in the lobby/bar area for a drink and snack. Great cocktails and the food was from Nonna...yummy! I was looking forward to enjoying a drink on the rooftop bar, but it was closed for a private party. ||Finally someone at the front desk when we went to check out in the morning. Valet was not on duty and the front desk staff didn't know how to drive our car, which meant valet suddenly became self-park. So seems like we overpaid for the $50 valet service when we only got half...