After arriving at this older hotel, it became obvious that this used to be a campus that was turned into a hotel. The rooms had some great features, such as the exposed brick wall and the balcony over-looking the river. I had to switch rooms, as my first room was facing an extremely busy street and the noise of the trucks driving over the bridges was loud enough that I didn't stay in my first room more than 5 minutes. It was unseasonably cold in San Antonio during our stay - even for January - and we had booked a river cruise for our group. The banquet staff loaned all of us very warm Mexican-style blankets for our boat ride and went out of their way to make our meeting a success. The front desk staff was not nearly as gracious. This was a great venue and was just a short walk or a river cab away from dozens of restaurants, bars, and shopping.

I took my family to the hotel for a weekend trip. Staff was friendly, room was clean with an extremely comfortable bed, and was relatively quiet, although our room had french-style doors that led to the outdoors (not a hallway) which took a little getting used to. A plus was that our room featured a pullout couch bed that one of our children was able to use. The concierge was very helpful and knowledgeable about the city, and most of the city's historical attractions are within walking distance.

Pool is a bit small, but nice, and the restaurant was very good as well - and did not charge us for our children's breakfast. I agree with other reviews that your best parking option is to go across the street. I saw some of the valets leaning on guests cars chatting while guests waited for their cars, and I definitely wouldn't want my car used like that. I also noticed several guests visibly upset that they were forced to wait a while for their cars. This is a common theme in other reviews, so I hope that the hotel does something about it, because this was the only negative spot that I saw (and I did not directly experience it, so I can't say for certain that it was the case)

The hotel has a nice, rustic look and feel that is really well suited to the city, and I would definitely stay there again.

We stayed here from April 17-20, 2008. We were extremely happy with this hotel. The location is fabulous, right on the Riverwalk, at the beginning of the "busy" section...all the restaurants were just steps away. The rooms were very nice, clean, with french doors, everything worked, seemed new. My only complaint was the beds were a little soft for me. Service was wonderful, except for the concierge...he seemed to pass everything on to everyone else, even though their book in the room said to contact him for everything. The bell boys were the most friendly and polite that I've seen. Nice smaller pool area, with heated pool that was like bath water. Our room was an adjoining room, not with someone we were adjoining with, and you could really hear their tv at night, but I sleep like a log so it didn't really bother me. We were going to a well known restaurant one night, wanted to get a taxi, even though it was walkable, we had walked miles that day. The bell boy said since we were going there that we should arrive in style, not a taxi, and pulled out the hotel's Cadillac and drove us for no charge. Very quick check in/out. Would stay here again if I went back.

We stayed at the Mansion during the Final Four tournament last week and had a wonderful time. As eveyone says, the hotel is on the smaller, more romantic side, and not big and boxy like a Marriott or Hilton. It is in an excellent location and also as mentioned has a parking garage right across the street, where we were only charged $6 a day. The hotel pool is small and quiet, with a bar and lounge chairs. The bar area has coffee and pastries in the morning and is a nice alternative to the rather pricy restaurant. Rooms are on the smaller side (we had a Courtyard/Poolside room) but are very comfortable and well appointed. I would only suggest an upgrade in the shampoo, conditioner items, as what they offer is a bit below the quality one would expect in a nice hotel like this. We did not experience much noise at all, and were pleasantly surprised given that the hotel was full and very busy. One night there were some conversations in the hall outside our room, which we could hear, but they were not overly loud or disruptive. There is a business center, which charges $6.95 for $15 minutes (another thing that could be changed would be to provide free internet!) and a spa in the hotel across the street, which we did not visit.
The Alamo is a 10 minute walk, as is the Rivercenter mall and almost all the downtown sites. VERY convenient to everything! Check in and out were perfect and we found the staff to be very pleasant. We would definitly return.