Riverwalk Plaza Hotel — Hotel in San Antonio

This was our first time visiting San Antonio, TX, and wanted to be near the Riverwalk we heard so much about from other military families who have been to the area. We were so excited for the trip and saw the photos of this establishment and was sold on booking here.

Welp, we should have done a bit more research on the hotel. As many of you have probably seen if you are going through reviews, the experiences of folks are certainly varied. I will say the photos provided of the hotel by the owners are extremely outdated and sells you something that is not reality. The pool looks NOTHING like the pictures you are seeing online. I was hoping to use the pool, but the way it looked and the dank smell on the floor swayed me to pass on that experience. The main hotel is a historic location, so the lack of updates made to the property may have something to do with why it looks run down in some areas, I am not sure. I was shocked to see the wear and tear on the rooms and hallways so prevalent. There were several doors on our way to our room that needed to be painted and/or replaced, and in our room, we had a waterfall coming down from our ceiling during a portion of our stay. The bed was creaky and very hard. The walls are seriously super thin. In fact, at about 4am on day 2 of our stay, we heard new people moving around and making noise so loud that it jolted us out of our slumber. We had to complain to the front desk about them.

The staff was kind and if we needed anything they were accommodating. Maintenance fixed the waterfall in our room (many thanks to James) while we were out, and the valet was super great and prompt with our vehicle. Yes the valet is expensive ($40/day), we felt we had no other choice due to the staff letting us know that the hotel would not be looking out for any vehicles parked in the lot next to the hotel. The area seemed sketchy with homeless roaming the area, so we felt pressuee the valet. Art and Leo at the valet were super prompt and very kind, took less than 3 minutes to get our vehicle.

The attached restaurant, The Gavel, was pretty decent for the money. We had a late dinner and drinks with Dria on day one. She was amazing, and the quesadillas were so good for a late night dinner. We had breakfast with Lexi and Audrey during our stay as well, very good service through and through at the restaurant. Denise was a gem and served up a Smoked Old Fashioned that was out of bounds delicious! We also went to the coffee shop The Niche and met the manager, Zella. She was super pleasant, and the coffee was very good. The common spaces of the hotel were kept up, clean and very nice.

Overall, our experience was ok... The staff and service was amazing, but the rooms were lacking in my opinion, we had a King w balcony, so I can only imagine what other rooms must have looked like! This hotel place is NOT...

UPDATE: it’s been a year and I never got my refund. I was told that I would get my refund a year ago through a BBB complaint I filed but haven’t seen it yet. The Manager Ron Shelton also lied and said we were combative with staff over an issue but we actually waited until we were on the road home to reach out about the issues, in writing. Do not stay here! Dirty, gross, not family friendly or disabled person friendly!! The pictures are deceptive! This hotel is horribly ran and managed. It took us over half an hour to even be able to pull in to check in because they only had 1 valet person working during check in time and you have to valet unless you want to pay $15 every time you leave and come back and they wont be responsible if your car is damaged while parked in the garage. Our room was dirty esp the bathroom (which is gross), stained sheets, and looked like it was falling apart. The walls are super thin, how do I know? Our neighbors decided to have a marathon of adult activities all night which was uncomfortable as we had our kid with us also, at one point the wall was hit so hard it caused our beds to shake. We got up and hurried to check out because the neighboring room was stirring again only to wait 15min for the elevators. Another guest said her son told her they were broke earlier and she assumed they were still broken. Why didn’t anyone put signs up or alert guests?! So we had to take the stairs, from the 6th floor, down with all our luggage. We had 0 sleep and were already exhausted. The hardest part is our child is blind and uses a cane so that was extremely stressful for her and us, imagine having to go down that many flights with your eyes closed and other people also having to use the stairs at the same time. This was all happening 30 minutes before check out so it was a mess.

I also want to note that in the email we received once booking the room it stated that pets aren’t allowed unless they’re assistance pets and papers must be shown. It is 100% against federal and state ADA laws to ask for papers or proof of a disability where a service animal is concerned. Our kid doesn’t use a guide dog yet so it didn’t affect us but it definitely caught our attention. I will be reporting them to the proper people for that.

This hotel isn’t family friendly or disabled person friendly.

I reached out twice about my issues and requesting a refund because of the horrible stay and their deceitful practices because the photos you see are not the hotel you actually get. This is more like a cheap motel. I haven’t heard a response of any kind so obviously management does not care and probably because I’m asking...

OK, first of all this hotel is a lot different than what I normally stay at for business. I’m usually in a chain hotel. I know what your rooms go look like smell like and feel like this place is anything but that for me I don’t know it’s really not that good first the location is directly across from the courthouse so my cut van is too large to park and The garage so I have to park at the public parking while it was broken into. Suck it. Yes I like hotels where you get extra security with a swipe into the badge with the machine works that’s great but you have to get three or four cards to get the elevator to work that’s another issue. Didn’t you check into the room and I was blessed to stay on the fifth floor Where there’s a pool on the fourth floor it is kinda like instead of Texas stadium where God can see the Cowboys play this is in San Antonio near the Alamo, where God can see the tourist swim in a very shallow pool. Also, it’s noisy as hell my room you walk into it and the beds are right there Window looking over the lovely pool area. OK as far as the comfort of the beds, it’s kinda like laying on somewhat of concrete that has been poured above a sink hole and in field with gravel the bathroom if you’re over 511 and 200 pounds is gonna be too small for you because the damn door Turns into the shower and into the toilet instead of away from it. As for the positives the front desk was extremely nice the restaurant the people are very nice. The food is average at best breakfast. The girl working this morning was an angel pleasant it could be Plant city Florida talk to her about it The food maybe pork sausage stay away from it. I had dinner there cause I’m not in front of the Riverwalk, it’s all the same food that all taste the same but all looks the same and it all hit you the same time at 3 o’clock in the morning so the restaurant is called the gravel. You get it across from the courthouse so I had a quesadilla. No one could mess up a quesadilla. It was actually pretty good and very reasonable it was better than Taco Bell and just only a few dollars more so anyway I will give it three stars. It could use some improvements. The water is hot as hell which is good But that layout if you’re in the kinky and freaky stuff and old artifacts, it might be for you better not for me but thanks. The roads are clean. I didn’t...