Below is a listing, in order or room rates, of San Antonio
Riverwalk and other downtown hotels I think worthy of
consideration, along with my personal comments. I
checked out all their room rates for you and I selected Friday
night of Memorial Day Weekend (May 28, 2004) as I wanted to
see what the prices would jump to on a holiday weekend.
They are much higher than those of my last check on
Nov. 10, 2003.
Most of the rates listed are for queen size beds. The
rates were quoted to me as of the first week of January,
they're likely to change by the time you see this, but it will
give you a snapshot of hotel pricing at that time.
Another hidden cost of lodging is the cost
of parking a car. Hotel parking lots are going to be
more expensive than public lots. There are several city
owned public car lots. One I know of, a six story car
lot on the corner of Commerce St. and South Presa, charges
$6.50 per 24 hour period.
And one other comment. Everything in
life is a trade off. If you want to be on the river you
run the risk of having a noisy room as the night crowd along
the Riverwalk doesn't leave until the restaurants and bars
shut down around 2am. So if you stay on the Riverwalk
side I suggest you get a room on a higher floor, away
from ground level where the noise will echo off the buildings.
As for me, I would suggest you just skip the river view and
take a city view. It will be cheaper and less noisy.
I must warn you about a story a doctor friend of mine related
to me when I spoke to her about the hotels on the river.
The Nix Hospital is located on the river downtown with the
operating room up on the 19th floor. My doctor friend
told me that one evening while she was in surgery up on the
top floor she could hear the revelry on the river 19th floors
below!
Here is a big plus you get nowhere but here.
I made just for you a
map of all the recommended downtown hotels. This
will be a great help in refining where you wish to stay.
If you've already booked a room and your
hotel is not listed below or perhaps I've pooh-poohed the
hotel as not my first choice, rest assured your hotel choice
is just fine. (Here's my Chamber of Commerce spiel.)
Not everyone agrees with my choices and I realize nobody goes
out of their way to book a poor room on purpose. You
made the best decision for you and I'm 100% for it. I
just want you to have a great time in San Antonio and
to that end I'm just trying to help you out and give it to you
the way I see it.
