Lap Child Diaries: Omni San Antonio

Hotel Stay Details
Hotel: Omni San Antonio at the Colonnade
Dates: January 14-16, 2014
Rate Paid: $128/night (incl. taxes)

My father had a series of business meetings in San Antonio this week, so we drove down from Austin, which took a bit over an hour down Interstate 35.

Of course, if you've been a long time reader of LCD, then you'd wonder why we'd stay at a non-Starwood hotel (or even Hyatt, IHG or Hilton). Well, that's because this 2 night stay is being paid for by the company my father's here to meet with. Free trumps points any day of the week.

But fortunately for us, the Omni brand has its own loyalty program called Select Guests, and my father had signed up years ago. Despite almost never staying at their properties, he still had their entry level Gold status (0-9 stays per year). Unlike other hotel's entry level membership levels, Omni's Select Guests Gold level actually offered some meaningful benefits to anyone willing to just sign up, including:

Express check in and check out
Complimentary in-room basic wifi
Complimentary bottles of water (1st night)
Complimentary pressing (2 items) and shoe shine
Complimentary morning beverage delivery

The morning beverage delivery wasn't something I was familiar with, but then again, I'm barely 2 years old, so I probably still have a lot to learn about the world.

Basically, it seems to be like ordering room service breakfast where you leave your order on the outside of your door the night before and your beverage of choice (coffee, tea, juice or soft drink) will be delivered to your room the next morning at the requested time. Pretty nifty, even though I don't yet drink coffee.

Unfortunately, Gold status at Omni Hotels didn't include late check out or a welcome gift, but the free ironing of 2 items really came in handy since my father's dress shirts were stuffed into a single carry-on bag with the rest of our family's clothes. Yeah, we travel really light.

So the hotel itself is pretty nice (comparable to a Westin or a Sheraton) and caters to business travelers, conferences and weddings.

In fact, 6 years ago, my father stayed at this very same hotel for his friend Bhavesh's wedding. While that stay was dominated by the Indian wedding festivities over multiple days, this time we were able to try out some of the hotel's amenities, including their impressive outdoor and indoor heated pools and sauna. Given that it was recently freezing in NYC last week, it was really nice to be able put on my swim diapers and get some pool time in January.