This three night stay was during a large work conference held by the company that Brent is employed with.
This exact conference held roughly 400 rooms of the hotel. It most likely skewed the pricing for the rooms that weekend so we won’t refer to any room pricing, types, or accommodation access.
Arrival/Check in
Knowing ahead of time that the resort was a large property we expected that it would have a grand entrance, which it did, but this was after a rough 5-10 minute trek through the surrounding community. The community is welcoming, just large and somewhat of a process to get to the resort entrance.
Upon entering the hotel, you are welcomed with an open luxury designed walkway/sitting area separating the conference and hotel portions of the hotel. The space was a great location to meet or wait to check in while also overlooking the all important hotel’s main bar location which included interior and exterior seating. More on the bar and happy hour below.
Although the JW was expecting the large conference arrivals, the check-in desks processed all individuals as their own entity. This still gave a one-on-one experience typical to any normal cash or award check in. All in all the check in process was seamless and we were all directed to our proper elevator for room access.
The Room
From experience staying at other JW Marriott’s in the past, there was of course an expectation of the room. The trek to the room here though was like no other! I guess that’s what you get when you are at a conference center, water park and TPC hosted resort. The walk from the lobby to the room, which was at the edge of the first wing to the East, was roughly 5 minutes including the elevator ride up. There were four elevators at the wing, which was helpful. Nothing you can’t expect from a resort of this size, but if you prefer quick access to the lobby, bar, etc. then request a lower level or a room near the elevators.
Upon entering the room, I was welcomed with a scalding brightness of Texas sun from the open blinds of the balcony overlooking the property grounds and clubhouse. Once the squinting was over I was able to notice a large closet to my left and the overall aspect of the room in general. A standard king bed with a small Texas themed lounging couch and chair area towards the balcony. A larger welcoming desk area was across from the lounging area and was a fantastic size for a hotel hosting conferences in my opinion.
From my experience the Luxury hotel brands from Marriott and some other high end brands out there will always add some either local touches or some larger more luxurious touches in the actual room area, but the true luxurious aspect tends to be in the bath area. In this case the JW didn’t fall short. The bathroom was a beautiful 5 piece bath with a double vanity. The large soaker tub to the left, vanity to the center and stand up shower and toilet to the right. All with luxurious high end touches, and a plentiful amount of bath linens and two full sets of miniature shampoos, soap and conditioners. The mirror with backlighting and magnifying mirror were great touches albeit, with Liz not along for the trip these were not used. All in all the bathroom had everything one could need on a golf, water park, or conference stay at a high end luxury brand. Let’s get back to the view and to the golf course shall we….
Back to the balcony view of the room. The room faced south and as mentioned gave a view of the clubhouse and the main TPC Course (The Oaks) which hosts the Valero Open on the PGA Tour if you didn’t know. More on this here in a minute. The south facing view over the clubhouse, course and the remainder of the Hill Country back towards the main city of San Antonio sure gave a dramatic open sky Texas feel and view. With every morning and evening in either direction the sky would light up with a blissful amount of oranges and pinks that would trickle out over the trees and hills. It was a true pleasure to wake up to or wind down after a long conference day.
Golf
Now to the best part, the main attraction for any golf lover. This was my first stay and play at any TPC related course of sorts, so there was an excitement of sorts even knowing that my solid 20+ handicap would probably get beat up pretty solid on either of the courses offered here. As mentioned the main course The Oaks was seen from the room and in pristine condition, with pure white sand bunkers and a well manicured bermudagrass throughout. With over 100 golfers playing from our company, the course and our budget probably made a good choice and had us playing on The Canyons course on property rather than The Oaks.
The Canyons course compared to The Oaks course: upon the first cart roll towards the Tees, you could tell it still had the same manicured bermudagrass and had been played a bit more frequently by the “general public or guest”. Our company was playing a scramble style tournament so I won’t be able to divulge the specifics of the course by my score or a true hole by hole experience, but I will highlight the course and its challenges here.
Quickly it was determined we truly were in the Hill Country, a well-known area north of San Antonio. I was never truly aware that it existed, even after multiple travels into this area of Texas. I guess I should have paid more attention when I was younger. Back to the course though, every hole seemed to have its own challenges.
A few holes would have a wide open fairway just begging you not to miss hit your drive. As any well-designed course these holes had limited rough available to miss as you would quickly find the rugged desert terrain to both sides of the hole. In our first couple holes, it was noticeably different how much slope and speed the greens truly had. Our local home course that I golf frequently at in Colorado really spoiled me as I blew by a minimum of 3 putts in the first 2 holes and then proceeded to leave the next couple short–by a very novice amount.
Of course being a Pete Dye/TPC Course that is not all the course threw at us. Slowly through the round we would venture our way through the hill country with elevated tee boxes, sloped fairway shots, fairway bunkers the length of a semi trailer, and dramatic valleys caressing across the course to truly give a memorable golf round.
The highlight of the course was the back 9 that worked its way back “uphill” to the resort and clubhouse. Hole #16 was one of the dramatic holes that deceived you with a large valley crossing between the tee box and the green. Trust the yardages as it deceived all four of us in our scramble group in one way or another. Then the way Hole #17 and #18 turns you back to the resort from a completely different direction than when you started which was a fun sight to see.
A perfect backdrop for the sunset in the eastern sky.
Final Overview
Although the stay was work based and I was not able to truly immerse myself in the whole property or all of its amenities, I can feel confident by saying the property would be great for multiple types of visitors. Conference goers, family trip, golf trip, the list goes on who could enjoy this property. Overall the property was well kept, service was top notch for a Marriott Luxury Brand, and roughly would give it a 4.5 out of 5 rating.
Note this stay occurred in November of 2021, and any changes to hotel policy or COVID related policies may have changed.
