On the San Antonio theme, I've stayed at the Emily Morgan a few times. There's a thread here on the property, but it is definitely unusual, across the street from the Alamo, and just a few minutes walk to the Riverwalk.

i think there's at least one unusual Honors property in the Dallas area, but I can't think of it right now.

Maybe that large Anatole property?

First thing that came to mind for the OP was San Antonio. 2nd would be Austin, although I don't know Hiltons there.

It would be cool if some sort of luxury Texas ranch existed - sort of like Starwood's Yucatan haciendas - but I don't know of that concept existing in any of the big chains. I'm sure there are some boutiques/B&B's out in small towns that capture that theme pretty well.

I agree with San Antonio. It is a city with a unique downtown area. While resting up from the international travel, you can stroll over to the Alamo (don't forget to watch the IMAX film first at the IMAX Theater in the Rivercenter Mall), take a walk along the river, and eat at one of many great restaurants there. Also, a visit to the San Antonio Missions is also something very special (a rare visit to places in the U.S. which are hundreds of years old).

Here's the thread on the Emily Morgan in San Antonio:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...tel-us-tx.html

From what I read, it used to be a psychiatric hospital, and being close to the Alamo has a bit of history.


Downtown Austin is rather unique also, has a great riverfront, the whole bat thing going (if you happen to come in season), tons of restaurants, bars, music, etc.
While I've never stayed there, from what I've heard the Honors properties are kinda meh. Nothing too special.
There's some more, "experience," properties out near Lake Travis, but those wouldn't fall into any chain, that I'm aware of.
When we first moved here, we stayed at the Homewood Suites in Round Rock (Hester's Crossing). It was a decent location, near Dell, restaurants in walking distance, not far from Round Rock Donuts (worth a stop if anywhere near), but the property was a standard Homewood Suites, and not really any views.

If you want something in the countryside, consider Hampton Inn Fredericksburg. It is the heart of the Hill Country, about 1 hour drive from AUS and 1 hour from SAT. Lots of breweries & wineries nearby, and the hotel is on the Main Street, so you can walk to all the local shops & restaurants. 15-20 miles away near Johnson City is the LBJ Ranch, where you get to tour the home & ranch of President Lyndon B Johnson (who became President when JFK was killed in 1963).

Look up Fredericksburg, TX and see if that interests you.

I was treated well as a Diamond a couple of years ago at the Hilton Palacio del Rio, if you do end up staying on the Riverwalk.

Time for an update:

Amarillo now offers a Hampton Inn (East), which is located (conveniently, for some, I presume) about a half-block away from the Big Texan on I-40.

The hotel is brand-spanking new, with all of the benefits and detriments that go along with it. The place is immaculate, with spotlessly clean bathrooms and rooms. The ceilings in the room (at least on the 3rd floor) are at least 9 feet. The furnishings are "euro-sleek"--the pictures on the hotel's website aren't entirely accurate, inasmuch as my room had lime-green rolling ottomans and an office chair. The bathroom is more modern in appearance as well, with a faucet that off-set (instead of straight-on) to the sink, which results in spilling lots of water if you aren't careful with your hand placement.

On the downside, the are no eating places nearby except for the Big Texan, and--perhaps because the place is so new--there was no mention at all of any Diamond benefits (such as they are) and breakfast was very skimpy (but did offer biscuits and gravy). The interior hallway carpet is oddly colored and looks like it has some sort of acid treatment to it. And the air conditioner wasn't really controlled by the thermostat.

But the place is clean, reasonably priced, and offered a comfortable bed. I hope that it doesn't go downhill like the other Amarillo Hilton properties seem to have done (the Hampton on the west side of town is becoming the victim of deferred maintenance issues, and access to their parking lot is a pothole-cratered disaster).

I'd stay at the Emily Morgan again. Coworker and I stayed there on a business trip - neither of experienced anything. I was on the 9th floor, supposedly an active one. Nothing all week.

That said, you can beat it for convenience to the Alamo. Right across the street and I could see it out my window.

Definitely an eerie feeling when you walk in, but it passes. Nice hotel though. I'd recommend it.

On another note, some other hotels I've stayed in Texas:

Homewood Suites, NW side of San Antonio: typical HS, but my stay was generally a disaster. Coworker and I put on the first floor. Fire alarm went off at 2am one night. Water pipe burst and flooded the exercise room and a good bit of the first floor. Fortunately, our rooms were further down where the water didn't reach.

ELP DoubleTree - Very nice for a DT. Decent breakfast and supposedly has one of the best rooftop bars in the country. It was January when I was there last so, I can't comment on that ... Good location next to the freeway though. Easy on/off. Close to the stadium and right in downtown.

ELP Garden Inn (near the airport) - Standard HGI. Decent room, comfortable, and good breakfast. No complaints. Only minor gripe is that if you're looking toward Juarez you have a nice view of an oil refinery.

Embassy Suites DFW Airport South - Nice hotel. I'll never stay there again though. It has the smallest bathrooms I've seen outside of NYC. Barely enough room for one to close the door to use the commode. Very busy. Breakfast was an absolute madhouse with crazy waits. Really wished I would have stayed at another property.

Hampton Inn Rockwall - Usually my "go to" hotel if I'm working east of DFW area. Typical HI and quiet. Very convenient to I-30 and several restaurants (can walk to Saltgrass and a sushi bar). Management's generally pretty good, but there's one manager there that just rubs me the wrong way. There's a Hilton there on the lake that would be a better alternative. Unfortunately, it usually falls outside my allowable hotel expense.

Hampton Inn Greenville - Looks like a nice HI but it's pretty noisy. Seems like the walls are made out of toilet paper - you can hear everything to the side and above you. I could hear every step the people above me took, and could hear the guy in the next room snoring. Friendly staff though, and convenient to the freeway. Applebees is on the other side of the parking lot so you can drink your fill and stagger back for the night. Also an IHOP handy if you don't dig HI breakfast. They'll at least upgrade Diamonds.

Hampton Inn Sulphur Springs - Probably the nicest of the 3 HIs I've stayed in east of DFW. But it's out in BFE. Way out there. Good BBQ joint in front of it. Probably the best bed and sheets I've ever had at a HI. Very comfortable and got some of the best sleep I've had I a long time.

Anyone have recommendations on Hilton properties in/around College Station?

I'll have a 1-night stay in the area in a few weeks. For now I reserved the Homewood, with the AARP rate, which is fully cancellable (24 hours notice).

I'm doing a swim meet at Texas A&M. It looks like I'd have to drive from any of the properties to the pool.
Do any have places to eat nearby?

To answer my own question, the Homewood Suites was a great property and definitely fit my needs.

I re-checked rates a week or so before and saw that the Hilton was considerably less expensive. Turns out that they are doing some major renovations over there. Almost all room types were under $100, but I just didn't want to risk it.

The Homewood was actually almost right across the street from the Hilton. I had a view of the Hilton from my window. It had the typical Homewood setup. I reserved a 1-bedroom and having a full fridge really came in handy for freezing water bottles and keeping snacks and other foods cold. The a/c was cranked up when I opened the door (it was set at 68F), which was a pleasant surprise.

There were several restaurants just across the parking lot...Pei Wei, a place called Grub, and Willie's Grill. After talking to the guy at the front desk, I ended up at Willie's for dinner. It was ok. If I went back, I'd probably try Grub. But you can't complain about walking 2-3 minutes for something to eat.

Breakfast was about the typical setup. The morning that I was there they had eggs, potatoes, sausage, make-your-own waffles (the result came out in the shape of the state of Texas, of course). They had biscuits and gravy, yogurt, etc too. I saw the biscuits and wanted to make a sandwich with eggs...one of the workers could tell I wanted something and when I asked about cheese, she got some for me from the kitchen.

There's something to be said about staying at a small property where you can get up to/down from your room in 2-3 minutes (another reason I avoided the Hilton). There are 4 floors, and I'd guess maybe 20 rooms per floor.

When I was leaving, I noticed that there's an electric charging station. The sign said Tesla. I have a plug-in hybrid (not a Tesla), and the location didn't come up on my app, so I'm not sure if it would have worked.

Overall a nice stay and I'd stay here again if I'm back in College Station.

Time for another update:

The Hampton Inn - East is starting to suffer from maintenance issues, although it remains a relatively clean property. The air conditioner still isn't controlled by the thermostat (but rather by the controls on the a/c unit itself), the breakfast is still very skimpy, and the beds remain comfortable. And the only nearby eating place is still the Big Texan.

However, the drains in the tubs are starting to become clogged, as they drain very slowly and cause puddling in the tub. And the door to our room would not "lock" from the outside---you could close it, but you could open the door from the hallway without needing a key. We didn't realize this until we were leaving for the poor breakfast offering in the morning, but when we mentioned the two problems to the front desk they didn't seem to be too concerned about either the door or the drain issues.

The hotel will likely soon suffer the same fate as its sibling on the western side of town as a result of being host to too many one-night stopovers and hoards of disinterested patrons and their unruly children.

The price for the hotel is often now slightly higher than the Hampton Inn - West, and usually on par with the new Embassy Suites in downtown Amarillo, unless there is a big convention going on in town, when the Embassy Suites' spikes in price.

The Embassy Suites is about a month old, and is very clean and is the new "convention" hotel for Amarillo. The lobby is more Dallas-esq than Amarillo---it is a big upgrade for the town. Parking is $7 at a multi-level garage next door (and the cost was not waived for a diamond), or I suppose you could try your luck with free on-street parking.

Our room on the 6th floor had no real view to speak of, and was slightly oddly shaped as it was an interior corner room, with a connecting door to the next room over. We could hear some noise from the adjoining room, but you couldn't hear any noise from the hallway. Never turned on the tv, but it was a large flat-screen one. All rooms come with a refrigerator (but no freezer in it), and perhaps a microwave and small bar sink. The bed was very comfortable, the sheets were of a higher-end fabric than that at the Hampton (they were akin to what the Santa Fe Hilton provides), and the air conditioner was extremely quiet---it was more of a residential-type unit, with proper air vents in the ceiling, instead of an under-the-window type unit. The bathroom was large with a glass-door shower; oddly, though, there were no electric plugs at all in the bathroom. :confused: The furniture was comfortable to sit in.

Breakfast was a bit of a zoo, with way too many shoeless kids running around, but the omelets were tasty and the standard sausage/bacon/yogurts/fruit were well stocked and replenished often.

All in all though, I'd say the best hotel in town now is the Embassy Suites, with the Hampton Inn - East in second place. The latter really has to work on its breakfast and maintenance issues, and if the price between the HI East and the ES are within a few dollars, I'm now going to go with the ES every time.

Alpine, Texas Hampton Inn
 

Any reports/reviews re?

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/ale...ampton-alpine/

A recent several night stay at Hilton Garden Inn, Waco
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/act...rden-inn-waco/

GREAT property. Newer. Immaculately clean and well-maintained. Helpful and affable staff. I was even asked if I wanted daily housekeeping! (Such a nice change from hotels that won't even follow current brand standards about it being available on request). A very good breakfast (including grits :)) The F&B credit was applied correctly and almost covered the cost of the full hot made-to-order breakfast.

Highly recommend.

Did you end up staying at the Hampton in Alpine, TX? I'm thinking of a few days in that area, and the prices aren't too bad.

It's been almost four years, but yes, we did. Hotel was essentially brand-new. Got upgraded to a "suite." Affable and helpful staff.