re: san antonio
i just last week stayed at the hilton palacio del rio. not exactly a palacio, but not bad either. i was paying a pretty hefty rate of $264 a night, i think, during a sold out convention period... so there wasn't anything to really upgrade me to, as i was already paying for one of their better river view rooms.
i received continental breakfast coupons at check-in without asking, although i didn't use them... so i can't comment on the hotel's food service. but they seem to have several good dining options, including some value-priced lunch and dinner specials. all in all, a fairly unremarkable stay at a perfectly acceptable property.
the unexpected star of my san antonio trip was the san antonio airport hilton. i chose it for my last night in town, as i had a very early morning flight. i checked in about 10 PM; very pleasant desk clerk.
as an hhonors diamond member, i was prebooked into a mini-suite... which was very nice. nothing fancy by any means, not very large, regular neutrogena bath ammenities, the usual stuff - this is, after all, an older, very basic airport hotel - but it still gave me a little breathing room for my few hours there. without asking, i was given lounge access (but it was too late to use it and check out was too early for breakfast). the desk clerk seemed to be well trained with a good knowledge of hhonors benefits... i had to request nothing.
upon entering the room, i found a welcome gift of bottled water, a small bag of famous amos cookies and an apple... along with a computer printed, but personalized, welcome card thanking me for my business and recognizing my hhonors status. all for a rate of about $109 (if memory serves).
you see, it doesn't really matter if you're the finest hilton hotel in the world... i believe what frequent hilton guests notice is when you proactively fulfill the terms of the hhonors program (since some hotels still don't) ...and go out of your way to acknowledge or provide special benefits to elite hhonors members.
kudos to the san antonio airport hilton for getting it right!
oh, yes, one more thing: the shuttle to the airport was full at 6 AM (southwest pilots and crew, mostly), so they ran another one immediately, with no delay. how many times have you been to an airport hotel, when the shuttle was full, and they refused to run another one until twenty minutes later?
just another thing that impressed me about this well run property!