The Emily Morgan San Antonio - a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel — Hotel in San Antonio

UPDATED IN NOTEWORTHY DETAILS BELOW (it actually somehow got even worse a week after our stay!)

Haunted Hotel…. Haunted by horrible service and poor equipment, that is.

I usually love Hilton hotels, but OMG the other night was horrible. They didn’t give us the cookies they brag about on the phone message when you call their hotel, which sounds silly and petty but it was a knife that twisted all night. It was our first impression upon arrival, and the guy said “We don’t have cookies right now because I’d have to cook them”, which is basically just saying that we weren’t important enough for him to get off his butt and do his job. Then, he didn’t offer bellhop assistance to get our large cart of stuff to the 14th floor so I assumed they didn’t have bellhops until after we checked out the next day and loaded all our stuff back into the car when I saw a bellhop helping some hot girl with a couple of small items. Then, they put us in the wrong room and since the hotel was full they couldn’t move us to the better room we booked and paid for. Then, the bartenders were rude: we got to the hotel a little later in the evening after a long drive and car trouble, then after taking half an hour hauling all our stuff up by ourselves, fighting for one their 2 elevators to the literal top of the building and back down to the lobby to return the empty baggage cart, I got to the bar with 3 minutes to spare at which time the bartender walked to the back and stayed there while I and others waited to order, then came out at exactly closing time and said they wouldn’t serve anyone else because they were closed. After I went back upstairs, the desk wouldn’t answer the chat for the Hilton app and the phone in the room was broken so I had to Google the hotel phone number and call them on my cell every time we needed something which turned out to be often. Oh and that cookie thing…. Every single time I called back down to the desk on my phone I had to hear their stupid message about how great their cookies are, which is what ended up torquing me off about the cookies, especially with all the other stuff. First attempt to contact was for batteries since the ones in the tv remote were missing. Next, the AC didn’t work in the room (it got up to 81 in there), and they couldn’t fix it so they gave us a bunch of big noisy box fans (shout out to Andre who was the only real positive part of our stay and got us those fans so that the whole family didn’t spontaneously combust). Since we got in kind of late we called for room service at 12:30am and were told that out of the 4 items listed on their late night menu they specifically did not have the BLT or Caesar salad available (the 2 things we were going to order) but they had pizza and wings only (wings weren’t even on the menu). We ordered the pizza and wings. We waited 45 minutes while we could have been trying to sleep in our hot, noisy room and never heard anything so I finally called back down to the desk on my cell phone once more just to be told they are out of wings but they have the freaking salad and BLT available. At that point I canceled room service and tried to go to sleep in the hot room while hungry. Couldn’t use the alarm clock in the room because it didn’t work either. In the morning I tried to make coffee only to find that the coffee pot wasn’t even plugged in, nor was it near an outlet at all. I had to move the whole thing to another place and unplug the fridge to make coffee (definitely wasn’t unplugging a fan). I had plenty to say to their manager when we checked out, but he was nice, gave me his card and 60,000 reward points for the trouble. Oh, and as we left the hotel, we passed a lady in the lobby complaining that she had been waiting over half an hour for her cookies.

Pros: the building was nice, historic, and in a good location, the room was clean, the 14th floor gave off the spooky vibe as people have mentioned, Andre was as helpful as he could be and very nice, the car valets outside were good.

Cons: literally everything and everyone else the hotel...

Despite the rumors of being haunted, don't be frightened away as this hotel offers a very comfortable and luxurious stay that everyone is sure to enjoy (mortal, ghost or anything alike).

Fairly lively and upscale from the shine of the gold interior and the polished floors (if you're lucky to drop by while the in - hotel restaurant Oro is open the smell of the food only further heightens the experience). The place was spotless from top to bottom within the lobby and a lot of the decor and items throughout the hotel are rustic and aged as they've been used and refurbished from previous items present from what the building used to be. The rooms are also very comfortable and fairly clean; the main surfaces that are often used were clean but areas like tops of shelves in the closets, some drawers and backs of the tv spaces were a bit dusty although not caked in it (perhaps it's for the old appeal). The rooms always smelled fresh and stayed equipped with amenities such as body wash, shampoo, conditioner, hand + face soap, lotion, etc. which all smelled quite lovely (the body wash and lotion being my favorite). The gym area was relatively clean although the water dispenser seemed to have a buildup of some kind and was dusty and someone decided to slap a pad on the ceiling, but overall it seemed to be maintained well and all of the machines worked. Despite it's intended upscale nature and rich history both within and around the hotel itself, the space was very relaxed and cozy (although the basement is something either very cold or very warm but still pretty nice).

If visiting the Oro restaurant the food is delicious and the staff are respectful and professional. The menu also offers a lot of items to choose from both familiar and adventurous so it's worth a try if you don't feel like making a commute for a wonderful dining experience or romantic moment while downtown.

Attentive, welcoming, professional and accommodating in every way they possibly can, the staff of the hotel made our stay as comfortable and eased as possible. We barely had any worries and many of our questions were clearly and easily answered. Most of our positive engagement (excluding the lovely Oro staff) was from Johnny who was always on top of things, gave us tips and recommendations about what to keep an eye out for, introducing us to all the perks and features the hotel offered its clients and much more. He was hospitable, energized and felt very personable with everyone. No matter how busy he may have been or how late or early in the day, it seemed he was always there giving his all and giving as timely as a response as he could whenever we needed to reach out. His effort to remember names and faces as well as greeting people humbly made our experience feel more personal and involved as if seeing an old friend despite it being our very first visit.

Although I sadly didn't spot any ghosts or come across any paranormal encounters (at most only a few phones on different floors worked on and off so they often lacked a dial tone here and there, nice smells about the building, random towels in the elevators and discovering cracked doors that were staff only which tended to be locked) it was still a very fun and fulfilling experience and I recommend the stay to anyone here that's looking for a nice getaway or maybe wants a...

As much as we wanted to enjoy this hotel, we were greatly disappointed. I gave three stars purely for two amazing staff members. However, do not be fooled in the fact that this hotel should be given 1 star if even. My family and I have regularly visited San Antonio and stayed in just about every hotel. This was one we had not managed to stay at yet. So, I booked and spent well over $1000 to take my family here. Upon arrival, we were all very excited. While this first mishap was not damning or the biggest issue, it was just an inconvenience we wish we knew prior. The hotel has maybe 2 or 3 luggage carts. Of which, the wheels are trashed. You will have to manage to snag one, walk it yourself to the side entrance, walk it around to the front, load up your luggage, then fight the wheels to wrap back to the side entrance and into the hotel. With two disabled members of our party, this was a hassle but we managed.

We then go check into our rooms. When booking we were aware of the age of the location. Yes the rooms are dated so they don’t look like what some may desire, but there is a difference in outdated and just flat out dirty.

The first thing we noticed was that everything was dusty in our room. Above the toilet paper, the lights, the counter all dusty and not just a fresh layer of dust. It was something that even in places that get dusty quickly, would need a long while to accumulate. We ignored it as we figured we have stayed in much worse. So what is a bit of dust. Then we grabbed the remote, the thing that looked like it belonged in a pre k room of grabby little kids because it was so nasty and filled with dust. I pulled back the bedding and a black mark was on the blanket. The bathroom light had what appeared to be blood smears.

Room 2 My brother laid down for a nap and got in bed so quick he didn’t notice old blood stains on his pillow before laying down until someone pointed it out less than 1 min later.

They were kind enough to offer a partial reimbursement which is nice, especially considering my card had small amounts pulled out over 5 times through out the stay rather than pulling everything out in one or even three.

On our check out we had to wait over 30 min for a luggage cart with several people trying to do the same.

Also, if you have any questions about your vehicle or valet parking or if something goes wrong with your car, you get told they are a separate company. Therefore, they cannot do or answer anything.

All in all, this trip was a disaster in terms of where we stayed. I would rank it one of my worst stays, and I have stayed in a 1 star hotel in a different country where homeless people fought outside my window for 4 hours. I absolutely cannot fathom how this hotel has the stars it does. Nor how I was dumb enough to be wowed at the idea of staying at a five star hotel right by the Alamo. My husband had his hopes crushed. His amazement of staying at a five star hotel for the first time in his life, boom shattered.

At the end, the only one that didn’t want to leave...