Had a four-night stay at the Westin Riverwalk this past week -- was originally booked into the Sheraton Gunter but bad reviews here convinced me to change hotels.

The good

The valet/doorman/bellman staff was efficient and incredibly polite. No waiting for a valet, doors always opened, help always offered.

The public spaces in the hotel are quite nice. The lobby is attractive and the river-level bar is very nice indeed.

The temperature control in the room is quite efficient (as one hopes it would be in Texas). No issues with the room being too warm, at least not for long.

The bad

I asked about a suite upgrade at check-in and was told they weren't available. I had looked earlier in the day and seen multiple categories of suites available, but silly me, I hadn't done the obligatory bring-up-their-reservations-page-on-my-iPad thing right before arriving, and so I couldn't argue.

I had a balcony room overlooking the river, but if you're on the eighth floor, you have to peer over the edge to see the river, and what you normally see is a huge, ugly, noisy building just across the way.

My door wouldn't close all the way on its own. I figured this out straightaway and dealt with it, but didn't think about what would happen with the cleaning staff. I came back from being away one afternoon, my room having just been cleaned, and the door wasn't closed -- with my computer sitting out. Yikes, that could have been bad.

On more than one occasion I had reason to call Service Express ("0") late in the evening. Once they didn't answer, even after a minute or more of ringing. Another time, it took close to a minute.

The gift shop doesn't keep anything like the posted hours. Don't go there 15 minutes (or sometimes even 30 or 45 minutes) prior to listed closing time thinking you're going to buy a soda -- they'll be gone.

Bottom line

Would I stay again? Maybe. I'd look at other options first, though.