Sep 30, 2017, 6:07 pm
Last edit by: krazykanuck
Interest List
I'm totally there
krazykanuck
nomadic.relief
mattp1987 +1 (local resident)
I might be there
Middle_Seat
I'm out
Zorak -- looking unlikely at this point
monitor+1 - work gets in the way
nutwpinut - work gets in the way Double sad because I am local If something on the schedule pops up Sunday night, I can make that.
Schedule
Friday, December 1
(note: first friday downtown)
4:30 pm: Beers at Kuenstler Brewing (302 E Lachapelle, San Antonio, TX 78204) for those arriving early
7:30 pm: Trinity University Christmas Concert (my alma mater, I may attend, others are welcome)
Saturday, December 2
9-9:30ish am: Pearl Farmer's market/breakfast
1:30 pm: Lunch at Two Brothers BBQ (12656 West Ave, San Antonio, TX 78216)
5:00 pm: Dinner/drinks before game?
7:30 pm: SA Rampage Game
Sunday, December 3
(marathon this morning)
11:45 am: Brunch, Southerleigh Brewery at Pearl (krazykanuck has made a reservation for 6)
Hotels
krazykanuck: Hilton Garden Inn SA Airport South
San Antonio has chains and budgets to suit everybody. My personal recommendations...
Hilton
Hilton Palacio del Rio
Emily Morgan Doubletree
These two are my 2 favorite Hilton's in the city. Neither one has an exec lounge, but they both have a great breakfast, and at the Palacio you can have your breakfast on the Riverwalk patio. I usually pick between the two based on price.
Emily Morgan swaps the corporate Hilton look for a Texan style. You can't go wrong with either one.
Hilton San Antonio Airport - I only list because it's typically pretty cheap on the weekends. It's not odd to see rates in the $90-100/nt range. Exec lounge is closed on weekends, but it has a good breakfast. Only a ~$10 uber to downtown from here.
Hyatt
There's a Hyatt Regency downtown (12k pts/nt) and there is a Hyatt Place a few miles up the highway near the Quarry that is 5k pts/nt.
mattp1987 edit: There's also a Grand Hyatt downtown (12k pts/nt) that is currently (as of 3 Oct) showing cheaper cash prices than the Hyatt Regency. I've never stayed there, but it's right next to the Tower of the Americas and has a nice-looking rooftop pool (no idea if it's heated since this is for Dec).
StarMar
This is a bit harder, there are only a few SPG properties downtown and I've never stayed in any of them. The Sheraton Gunter is usually fairly priced and has a club lounge, the Westin is higher priced, and I don't think the St. Anthony is on anybody's list as a Luxury Collection hotel, though frankly it's usually priced close to the Westin. I'd avoid most of the Marriott properties, IIRC they're pretty dated, especially the Rivercenter one.
mattp1987 edit: I've done a staycation at the St. Anthony, and it's quite nice. I got an FHR rate under $200 on a weekend, and we were upgraded from lowest King room to a 1BR suite. Rebelle is a great use of the F+B credit, and room service breakfast was pretty good as well. There's also a Four Points at the airport for 3k pts/night on the weekend which can be a good deal for those who are interested.
I'm totally there
krazykanuck
nomadic.relief
mattp1987 +1 (local resident)
I might be there
Middle_Seat
I'm out
Zorak -- looking unlikely at this point
monitor+1 - work gets in the way
nutwpinut - work gets in the way
Double sad because I am local If something on the schedule pops up Sunday night, I can make that.Schedule
Friday, December 1
(note: first friday downtown)
4:30 pm: Beers at Kuenstler Brewing (302 E Lachapelle, San Antonio, TX 78204) for those arriving early
7:30 pm: Trinity University Christmas Concert (my alma mater, I may attend, others are welcome)
Saturday, December 2
9-9:30ish am: Pearl Farmer's market/breakfast
1:30 pm: Lunch at Two Brothers BBQ (12656 West Ave, San Antonio, TX 78216)
5:00 pm: Dinner/drinks before game?
7:30 pm: SA Rampage Game
Sunday, December 3
(marathon this morning)
11:45 am: Brunch, Southerleigh Brewery at Pearl (krazykanuck has made a reservation for 6)
Hotels
krazykanuck: Hilton Garden Inn SA Airport South
San Antonio has chains and budgets to suit everybody. My personal recommendations...
Hilton
Hilton Palacio del Rio
Emily Morgan Doubletree
These two are my 2 favorite Hilton's in the city. Neither one has an exec lounge, but they both have a great breakfast, and at the Palacio you can have your breakfast on the Riverwalk patio. I usually pick between the two based on price.
Emily Morgan swaps the corporate Hilton look for a Texan style. You can't go wrong with either one.
Hilton San Antonio Airport - I only list because it's typically pretty cheap on the weekends. It's not odd to see rates in the $90-100/nt range. Exec lounge is closed on weekends, but it has a good breakfast. Only a ~$10 uber to downtown from here.
Hyatt
There's a Hyatt Regency downtown (12k pts/nt) and there is a Hyatt Place a few miles up the highway near the Quarry that is 5k pts/nt.
mattp1987 edit: There's also a Grand Hyatt downtown (12k pts/nt) that is currently (as of 3 Oct) showing cheaper cash prices than the Hyatt Regency. I've never stayed there, but it's right next to the Tower of the Americas and has a nice-looking rooftop pool (no idea if it's heated since this is for Dec).
StarMar
This is a bit harder, there are only a few SPG properties downtown and I've never stayed in any of them. The Sheraton Gunter is usually fairly priced and has a club lounge, the Westin is higher priced, and I don't think the St. Anthony is on anybody's list as a Luxury Collection hotel, though frankly it's usually priced close to the Westin. I'd avoid most of the Marriott properties, IIRC they're pretty dated, especially the Rivercenter one.
mattp1987 edit: I've done a staycation at the St. Anthony, and it's quite nice. I got an FHR rate under $200 on a weekend, and we were upgraded from lowest King room to a 1BR suite. Rebelle is a great use of the F+B credit, and room service breakfast was pretty good as well. There's also a Four Points at the airport for 3k pts/night on the weekend which can be a good deal for those who are interested.
Interest in SAT DO? Dec 1-3?
Oct 3, 2017 | 9:49 am
#61
Join Date: May 2013
Location: RMS
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Added a couple additional bits of hotel info.
For restaurants, obviously BBQ and Mexican or Tex-Mex are the big draws. Here are a few of my favorites:
BBQ - Two Brothers near the airport is probably my favorite, Rudy's is my favorite chain but they're all pretty far out from downtown, Smoke Shack and their affiliated bar/biergarten Pigpen is the closest decent BBQ to downtown unless you want fancy modern takes on BBQ in which case the Granary is really good but pricey and will be crowded on weekends.
Tex-Mex - Rosario's in Southtown (great icehouse called Friendly Spot across the street in case there's a wait), Paloma Blanco in Alamo Heights
Mexican - Soluna on Broadway is good food in a sit-down restaurant environment, La Fogata on Vance Jackson is a fun environment but the food is just ok, any small taqueria is good for grab and go (I frequent Taqueria Datapoint at the intersection of Fredericksburg/Zarzamora/Gramercy, their original location is on Datapoint Rd by the Medical Center)
Looking at the schedule on the wiki, I'm a big fan of both the Pearl Farmer's Market and Southerleigh, but those are both at the same place. It might be better to do something else for breakfast/brunch on one of the days. I recommend we keep Southerleigh on Sunday (will need a head count for reservations) and look into maybe Snooze at the Pearl or Mad Hatters in Southtown for Saturday breakfast. That said, if everyone wants to go to the farmer's market anyway, it's probably easier to just grab food there.
First Friday is fun but can be crazy with a decent-sized group like we'll hopefully have. I'd recommend switching out Blue Star/Southtown for Alamo Beer Company on Friday night. It's also close to downtown but should be a little calmer and allow us to grab a picnic table or two together.
For restaurants, obviously BBQ and Mexican or Tex-Mex are the big draws. Here are a few of my favorites:
BBQ - Two Brothers near the airport is probably my favorite, Rudy's is my favorite chain but they're all pretty far out from downtown, Smoke Shack and their affiliated bar/biergarten Pigpen is the closest decent BBQ to downtown unless you want fancy modern takes on BBQ in which case the Granary is really good but pricey and will be crowded on weekends.
Tex-Mex - Rosario's in Southtown (great icehouse called Friendly Spot across the street in case there's a wait), Paloma Blanco in Alamo Heights
Mexican - Soluna on Broadway is good food in a sit-down restaurant environment, La Fogata on Vance Jackson is a fun environment but the food is just ok, any small taqueria is good for grab and go (I frequent Taqueria Datapoint at the intersection of Fredericksburg/Zarzamora/Gramercy, their original location is on Datapoint Rd by the Medical Center)
Looking at the schedule on the wiki, I'm a big fan of both the Pearl Farmer's Market and Southerleigh, but those are both at the same place. It might be better to do something else for breakfast/brunch on one of the days. I recommend we keep Southerleigh on Sunday (will need a head count for reservations) and look into maybe Snooze at the Pearl or Mad Hatters in Southtown for Saturday breakfast. That said, if everyone wants to go to the farmer's market anyway, it's probably easier to just grab food there.
First Friday is fun but can be crazy with a decent-sized group like we'll hopefully have. I'd recommend switching out Blue Star/Southtown for Alamo Beer Company on Friday night. It's also close to downtown but should be a little calmer and allow us to grab a picnic table or two together.
Oct 3, 2017 | 7:14 pm
#62
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: UA Plat, DL Silver, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,497
Added a couple additional bits of hotel info.
For restaurants, obviously BBQ and Mexican or Tex-Mex are the big draws. Here are a few of my favorites:
BBQ - Two Brothers near the airport is probably my favorite, Rudy's is my favorite chain but they're all pretty far out from downtown, Smoke Shack and their affiliated bar/biergarten Pigpen is the closest decent BBQ to downtown unless you want fancy modern takes on BBQ in which case the Granary is really good but pricey and will be crowded on weekends.
Tex-Mex - Rosario's in Southtown (great icehouse called Friendly Spot across the street in case there's a wait), Paloma Blanco in Alamo Heights....
For restaurants, obviously BBQ and Mexican or Tex-Mex are the big draws. Here are a few of my favorites:
BBQ - Two Brothers near the airport is probably my favorite, Rudy's is my favorite chain but they're all pretty far out from downtown, Smoke Shack and their affiliated bar/biergarten Pigpen is the closest decent BBQ to downtown unless you want fancy modern takes on BBQ in which case the Granary is really good but pricey and will be crowded on weekends.
Tex-Mex - Rosario's in Southtown (great icehouse called Friendly Spot across the street in case there's a wait), Paloma Blanco in Alamo Heights....
Two Brothers looks good! The fact that their website is semi broken speaks to the fact that they have better things to do, like smoking 'cue!
Rosario's would be good as well. I've never been there, though I have been to The Friendly Spot. For the non-SA'ers, these are both walking distance-ish (only a few blocks) from the Hilton Palacio and the Doubletree.
Oct 3, 2017 | 7:22 pm
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA the REAL Washington; occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: AS MVPG 100K (Atmos Titanium) / 0.5MM; DL fallen PM (1.58MM = Complimentary Annual GM); AA Gold
Posts: 24,470
that said, though, there's a possibility that I'll be "invited" to join a NASA proposal effort based in Houston for a month or so in the Jan timeframe, so I'm still taking good notes from this thread
Oct 18, 2017 | 11:11 pm
#64
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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For those looking at hotels, there is a brand new Hilton Garden Inn opening in November with rates in the ~$150/nt range (advance purchase), ~180/flexible rate, for this weekend, which pairs very nicely with the Amex offer currently floating around USA Amex cards for Spend $175+/Get $35 back.
It's a good location too, only 1 block from the Emily Morgan, and only a few min walk from the Palacio del Rio.
It's a good location too, only 1 block from the Emily Morgan, and only a few min walk from the Palacio del Rio.
Oct 19, 2017 | 1:52 am
#65
Original Poster
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
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Posts: 28,002
Hi everybody, I've been in touch with flyerCO who has a lot going on, so I have taken the "burden" 
to throw together an initial plan and we can go from there. Long story short, we're still on.
Next steps: I need input from people. People have expressed interest in a San Antonio Rampage game, but would we prefer Friday or Sat night? Both games are at 7:30 vs the same team.
Also as far as restaurants, preferences? Mexican? BBQ? SA unique places? Help me out with opinions and I'll go from there. I'd recommend having dinner along the Riverwalk one night, because as mentioned upthread it's very nice in early December.
I have posted a very draft schedule in the wiki, along with some hotel suggestions. Personally, I'd think about going to the Rampage game on Saturday night, because Friday will be First Friday downtown which could be a nice low key start to the weekend and then do dinner downtown after. Opinions are key since there's stuff to do in SA but if I don't know what folks are into, I can't plan the best
(http://www.10best.com/destinations/t...nio-a-must-go/)
There is also the mission tour which might be nice to do Saturday afternoon: https://traveler.marriott.com/health...n-san-antonio/ which as a multi year resident of SA I never actually did
What do y'all want?! Also please re-post your interest in the wikipost. And forgive my god awful formatting and text sizes in the wiki.
to throw together an initial plan and we can go from there. Long story short, we're still on.Next steps: I need input from people. People have expressed interest in a San Antonio Rampage game, but would we prefer Friday or Sat night? Both games are at 7:30 vs the same team.
Also as far as restaurants, preferences? Mexican? BBQ? SA unique places? Help me out with opinions and I'll go from there. I'd recommend having dinner along the Riverwalk one night, because as mentioned upthread it's very nice in early December.
I have posted a very draft schedule in the wiki, along with some hotel suggestions. Personally, I'd think about going to the Rampage game on Saturday night, because Friday will be First Friday downtown which could be a nice low key start to the weekend and then do dinner downtown after. Opinions are key since there's stuff to do in SA but if I don't know what folks are into, I can't plan the best
(http://www.10best.com/destinations/t...nio-a-must-go/)
There is also the mission tour which might be nice to do Saturday afternoon: https://traveler.marriott.com/health...n-san-antonio/ which as a multi year resident of SA I never actually did
What do y'all want?! Also please re-post your interest in the wikipost. And forgive my god awful formatting and text sizes in the wiki.
flyerCO
PS Again thanks KrazyKnuck
Oct 21, 2017 | 12:28 pm
#66
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I have a business trip on Sunday the 3rd now so I'm unlikely for this event I'm afraid. Shame too as it sounds like a lot of fun.
Nov 17, 2017 | 5:19 pm
#69
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Bit of an update here. Looks like this is going to be a really small group and I'm going to amend the scheduled events a bit. It appears we have 1 person coming in from out of Texas (nomadic.relief), me (driving from Houston), and then our San Antonio residents (mattp1987 + 1, and flyerCO). Revised schedule is in the wiki. Anything in bold is new or a changed time.
Saturday will probably be the only day with fixed plans. The big thing is that the Rampage game we'll go to is going to be Saturday night. before the game, do we want to do dinner/drinks before hand? Since Friday will probably just be me and the SA locals, do we want to do beers late afternoon or dinner? I'd like to go to the Trinity concert which makes dinner plans a bit tough.
Saturday will probably be the only day with fixed plans. The big thing is that the Rampage game we'll go to is going to be Saturday night. before the game, do we want to do dinner/drinks before hand? Since Friday will probably just be me and the SA locals, do we want to do beers late afternoon or dinner? I'd like to go to the Trinity concert which makes dinner plans a bit tough.
Nov 19, 2017 | 8:58 pm
#70
Join Date: May 2013
Location: RMS
Programs: UA Gold, Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Credit Card Diamond
Posts: 9,408
Friday afternoon, I need to check my work schedule and will respond early this week. I'm going to recommend switching out Freetail for Kuenstler Brewing which is a brand new spot also in Southtown.
We're in for lunch Saturday and 80% for the Rampage game. How many do we have for Sunday reservations? One thing to note is that the marathon route goes right by the Pearl, so parking/traffic might be crazy.
We're in for lunch Saturday and 80% for the Rampage game. How many do we have for Sunday reservations? One thing to note is that the marathon route goes right by the Pearl, so parking/traffic might be crazy.
Nov 20, 2017 | 7:16 am
#72
Join Date: May 2013
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Ok, just checked and it's not my day to close, so I should be able to make it to either of those breweries in Southtown sometime in the 4:30-5:30 range depending on what time I can get out.
Nov 20, 2017 | 7:57 pm
#73
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Friday afternoon, I need to check my work schedule and will respond early this week. I'm going to recommend switching out Freetail for Kuenstler Brewing which is a brand new spot also in Southtown.
We're in for lunch Saturday and 80% for the Rampage game. How many do we have for Sunday reservations? One thing to note is that the marathon route goes right by the Pearl, so parking/traffic might be crazy.
We're in for lunch Saturday and 80% for the Rampage game. How many do we have for Sunday reservations? One thing to note is that the marathon route goes right by the Pearl, so parking/traffic might be crazy.
Cool.
Nov 21, 2017 | 7:56 am
#74
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I initially had thought I might be able to go to this one, but unfortunately this weekend is sandwiched between other trips...and it is the weekend of the Georgetown Christmas Stroll 
(an interesting event if anyone will be in the Austin area that Friday night or Sat)
Anyway, I saw some comments about hotels, and I agree that for Honors properties, the Emily Morgan is definitely not cookie cutter. I posted some comments over in the Hilton forum, and would definitely recommend it. But be prepared for the unexpected.
Let me know if you need any thoughts on other things in town.
(an interesting event if anyone will be in the Austin area that Friday night or Sat)
Anyway, I saw some comments about hotels, and I agree that for Honors properties, the Emily Morgan is definitely not cookie cutter. I posted some comments over in the Hilton forum, and would definitely recommend it. But be prepared for the unexpected.
Let me know if you need any thoughts on other things in town.
Nov 21, 2017 | 8:51 am
#75
Join Date: Aug 2003
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Some day I'm going to do a "DO" but unfortunately my SAT trip had to be changed due to work things that changed my MR to PVG to this weekend. Hope you guys have a great time!