Mokara Hotel & Spa — Hotel in San Antonio

We stayed at the Omni la mansion and went over to the Mokara for a spa day. Had great massages. All of the spa staff was great. The locker room was clean and peaceful and we enjoyed the relaxation lounge and steam and sauna. Most hotel spas I have visited have a private spa pool for their guests to enjoy and this is usually one of my favorite parts. The pool is located on the rooftop and there is a rooftop cafe we were told at booking we could enjoy lunch and drinks poolside. When we got out to the pool several other guests had drinks and food we were eager by this point to order some lunch. No server came back out to check on anyone so I went inside to find the cafe. The cafe was closed (this was on a Monday) and I just happened to catch a staff member in the hall and asked him how we ordered food and he said to go in the cafe and I told Him I can’t it’s locked and it says it’s closed on Mondays. He was confused but assured me he would send someone to take our order. So I went back to the poolside and we waited another 15-20min but nobody came. A lady brought some food to another guest a few seats down from us and I told her we would like to order as well. She couldn’t take our order and seemed really confused. She told us we had to call down to in room dining and tell them we were at the pool. So we had to search the phone number etc and ordered. They told us it would be 40 min for two Cesar salads and bruschetta. (We definitely told them we were at the rooftop pool even though they asked what room to bill to.) We didn’t have any other option so we waited. Over an hour later the same lady we had seen deliver everyone else’s food came up and told us she was sorry she was the only one working and she had gone over to the Omni to our room 😣 and then they called us to ask where we were and we confirmed we were at the pool. Anyway…. We had got the Cesar salad from Ostra the day before so thought that sounded perfect again for this day but added shrimp for more protein. (Makes this a $30 salad btw) anyway the salad portion was small, there was shrimp on it and some other grilled veggies didn’t seem like a Cesar salad anymore. Also the little toast that came with our salad the day before was now covered in pimiento cheese for some reason ??? I had 4 pieces and my friend had 2… I was hoping that wasn’t their version of bruschetta. So we opened up the 3rd box there was a nice cup of diced tomatoes and basil and balsamic as well as a cup of an interesting texture ball of mozzarella. And get this… TWO only TWO tiny pieces of toast to enjoy our bruschetta. For $20 mind you. And on top of that they still charge you the room service fee and auto gratuity even though the cafe online says open daily. This made our meal $117. That definitely hurt the budget. We were starving and the salad still tasted okay at least and we ate our one piece of bruschetta each. We also had ordered water (good thing we hadn’t chosen cocktails) we were brought one chilled Bottle Of water and one room temp bottle of water. 😏 Also…. We booked heart of massage but couldn’t remember the length we had chosen when booking months prior. Upon arrival we were told we booked 100min. We enjoyed our massages and then at check out were billed $370 for The massage and $77 for and automatic gratuity which made the total $477.70 for one massage. I’ve stayed at other spas and had wonderful massage and facial for that price. We were both thrown by the total and when we checked the spa menu online 100min was not Even an option. An 80min was $240… so we have no idea why the price jumped $130 For 20 more minutes that we didn’t even ask for. We even called to confirm prices and were told 80 min is the longest they offer. They said they don’t offer anything longer. We had to ask again specifically do they ever do 100min and they said only sometimes depending on the service provider and only when asked how much the 100min is then they told us $370. Not fun to basically have $155 you didn’t budget for at booking. Coupled with our $117 salads. I guess river...

I am purely writing this review in hopes that the owners will take this as constructive criticism. In 2018, the Mokara was the hotel we chose for our special wedding weekend and it was absolutely amazing. The attention to detail, the service, the warmth of the staff, the pampering my then fiancée received in the salon, everything was about as close to perfect as it could have been. We had high expectations and they somehow managed to exceed them. We paid a premium and it was worth every penny.

Fast forward to 2021. We recently had an opportunity to return to San Antonio for our 3 year anniversary and wanted to stay at the hotel that had blown us away. Upon arriving, we were greeted by the valet although, not quite as enthusiastically as we remembered before. No big deal, right? Everyone is allowed an off day. So, now we're checking in. The receptionist is busy with a customer on the phone. She does her best to give us a smile and soft "I'll be right with you." In the mean time there were at least 3 other employees that didn't seem to be as busy. After several minutes, one reluctantly came over to ask for the name on the reservation. And finally, we get checked in.

Now, as we walk througj the hallways headed to our room, we notice the dated carpets don't appear to be as clean as we recalled. Upon entering our room, at first glance everything is just as wonderful as we remember. During our stay, however; we discovered several issues with attention to detail regarding the housekeeping practices. Mirror frames received no attention as there was obviously dust and dried on oral care products that have been there for quite some time. We received sheets on a couple of occasions that certainly seemed to have been washed but, still had noticeable staining. Same for a couple of towels that were left in our rooms. In 2018, I was shocked that ice was consistently left for us throughout the day. Never once had to ask for it. It seemed as though that service just wasn't the norm this time around.

The staff just didn't seem as attentive as our previous stay. The front desk would greet us everytime we left or enter the hotel in 2018. This last time, it seemed as though they waited for us to notice them before they would say anything and then it was kind of a half-hearted, forced gesture. And to top it all off, we experienced a plumbing issue. To their credit they did get that issue resolved quickly so, it wasn't too much of an inconvenience.

I am rating this last stay as a three because honestly, nothing was totally horrible about our stay. It simply didn't meet its own bar that was set in 2018. I have encountered similar issues at what I would have previously considered lesser hotels and they weren't big deals. You just kind of expect that they happen occasionally at those hotels but, not for the market the Mokara is trying to fill. After our 2018 stay, we felt as though Mokara would be our home away anytime we were in San Antonio. After our 2021 stay, we can't help but think there are better options for the money and are already planning to stay elsewhere when we return next...

This was our second time returning to the Mokara Hotel. We thoroughly enjoyed our first stay, so wanted to stay again!

Pros:

Overall service: The service is impeccable! From valet, to the front desk, to the housekeeping. It’s wonderful! You can tell everyone enjoys their job and is there to make sure the customer is happy and well taken care of. You can definitely tell that you’re staying in a luxury hotel when you go here. They even slightly upgraded us to a room with a balcony. While we were a bit apprehensive about going out onto it (since we were on the 7th floor and I have a fear of heights, lol!) it was still a wonderful gesture on their part!

Room: The room is wonderful! A little snug compared to some other king rooms that we’ve been in, but the bathroom is gorgeous. I love that they have both a bath and a shower in the bathrooms. Also, the bath tub jacuzzi is so relaxing after a long day!

Keep in mind you have to call for ice, but there were also several times they offered it throughout the day.

While we didn’t try any of the spa services, I’m sure it is relaxing!

Cons:

Full disclosure: This doesn’t necessarily fully reflect the hotel and the services that were rendered there, but it was still disappointing nonetheless.

Starting the second day we were there, the people staying near us, started blasting music in their room. It was clearly heard through our walls. I wouldn’t have made a big deal, but when I go to hotels, I will usually request a quiet room. While it wasn’t necessarily during their “quiet time”, I made a call to the front office. It’s just rude, and not really considerate towards others staying at the hotel. The noise level went down, but it took about an hour.

Then the last evening we were there, they started blasting their music again around midnight. We could literally feel the vibrations through the walls. I made a call to the front office, and security was sent. While the volume went down in about 30 minutes or so, they continued to play their music well into the night. Needless to say, I got about four hours of sleep that night, since it’s hard for me to fall back asleep.

Issac and Chris were wonderful about their response with security, but I was somewhat disappointed that they didn’t switch our rooms, even if it was our last night there. While the noise level may not necessarily be heard in the halls, it’s a different story in the room itself.

Also, in response Issac did wave an evening of valet and offered us a late checkout, which was appreciated!

If you’re going to stay at a prestigious hotel such as this, you need to be mindful of the people around you, to enable everyone to enjoy their experience. People pay a decent amount...