Just returned from San Antonio, where I toured the newly-opened JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa. This 1,000-room property is ideal for meeting groups looking for a “retreat-style” venue with access to all the culture and history that San Antonio is famous for. It has two ballrooms, 19 breakout rooms and 40,000 sqft. of exhibit space, as well as three outdoor event venues, two world-class, 18-hole golf courses, a massive pool complex and the 26,000-square-foot Lantana Spa. The place is huge, yet feels intimate. And the service – as at all JW Marriott properties – is first-rate. We also spent some time in downtown “S.A.” on the famed River Walk, which was recently expanded by 1.3 miles, connecting even more museums, restaurants, hotels, theaters and historic sites with meandering pathways that border the San Antonio River. Attractions along the extended River Walk include the San Antonio Museum of Art and the historic Pearl Brewery, where you’ll find the Pearl Stable, a late-1800s architectural wonder that once housed the brewery’s draft horses. As part of the recent redevelopment of the Pearl complex, the circular, Texas-limestone-and-wood Stable has been converted into a unique special event space, perfect for an off-site reception or banquet for up to 500 people. While we were in town, the Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference was being held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, which recently completed a $218-million, six-year expansion/renovation project. Then there’s the city’s King William Historic District, El Mercado Market Square, La Villita Arts Village – no matter how many times I go to San Antonio, I’m always impressed by some new attraction or venue that reminds me what a truly unique and meeting-friendly American city this is.
Richard Kern
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