La Cantera Resort & Spa

La Cantera Resort and Spa is located in the La Cantera area which has its own shopping center. The hotel provides shuttle to the mall, but you have to order and wait for a while. The lobby is beautiful, especially with Christmas decorations. The room is nice and cozy. I was lucky to get a room with walkout balcony on the top (7th) floor, right in the middle of the Citadel building with a nice view over the Piaza San Saba. The room comes with access to the Seven lounge which is open at 6AM for those who can't wait for the Sweet Fire restaurant to open for breakfast at 7AM down. The fitness center is open 24/7 and spacious, with penty of equipment. There is a small shop adjacent to the fitness center. Staff is helpful and quick to help. Especially Mya at the Seven Lounge. On the downside, the room comes with minimum amenities and only has a low-capacity coffee maker (with capsules), no tea bags or water kettle is provided. if you are lucky to have access to the lounge, there you can find a water kettle. Be prepared to bring your own thermos. No laundry service available in the weekends and no guest laundry facility either. Bummer!

Very nice resort and the location is perfectly suited if you want to leave the resort and experience local fine dining restaurants, shopping and pick up some items you may have forgotten from Target or HEB. In addition, to visiting UTSA, Fiesta Texas and Sea World.

Room was comfortable, beds/pillows great. Wasn’t able to enjoy all the facility has to offer but I’m sure it would be a fun vacation spot! Holiday decorations were beautiful and brought the season in. Ample staff through out the facility is you needed directions or assistance.

Spa massage was FANTASIC. The first Deep Tissue massage that was like a Physical Therapy massage. Really DEEP. Golf Course was home to the Texas Open PGA Tour event for years. It is always in great shape. The banquet food, I had steak, was GREAT. Other meals were good, not spectacular. (Baked goods were dry and hard)

First, let me start by saying that we have been here over 10 times during the past 15 years, and in its prime, it was the destination resort for the Hill Country in and around San Antonio. It was also owned then by Marriott and was a Westin property. We'd been noticing a degradation of the rooms and infrastructure over the past few years but had always felt the premium prices were justified because of the location (views are first class and spectacular), the pools and the grounds of the resort in general, not to mention the restaurants and bars onsite. However, this last trip over Thanksgiving was absolutely terrible. Came to use the pools, even arranged for my son to obtain a day pass so he could come join us at the resort. Weather was terrible and we likely wouldn't have jumped in but for an hour or so (pools are heated when operating properly), but the pools were under maintenance and the childrens pool (I have twin girls) was open but not heated. So, what had been a huge bonus during the winter of the prior year was a huge disappointment. But, that's really just the start. I was also offered an upgrade to a pool view room (pool was drained for maintenance) for a mere $200/nt. Sweet Fire grill, a nice indoor/outdoor restaurant cost us around $200 for a wedge salad (weird taste to the dressing), striped bass (my wife wouldn't eat due to taste), 1 french fry and 2 kids pastas. We did have 2 Grey Goose martinis (which were cheaper the next day at Ruths Chris despite being larger) and a glass of wine each. Sweet Fire is great for what it is, but its not a premium dining experience. I could go on, but I think you get the point. This is a place that can and hopefully will be a destination resort again, but until the renovations are done and they start giving customers a premium experience for the close to $400/nt it costs to go there (that's for a 350 sq ft room; we went cheap; prices go up from there), we won't be back. Here's to hoping Marriott buys it back! Something is drastically wrong and needs to be fixed....