My husband Joe and I have been visiting Schlitterbahn water park in New Braunfels, Texas, almost annually, since around 2006 or so. It’s our “happy place” vacation, where we don’t have to do very much planning aside from car rental and finding a place to stay.
In the earlier years of our visits, we used to stay at B&Bs (actual bed & breakfasts) but eventually began exploring hotels in the area. Through the years we’ve told you about some of them:
- The Candlewood Suites with the greatest front desk person in the world
- The nicest Courtyard By Marriott anywhere
- A LaQuinta Inn & Suites right after a “refresh”
- A run-of-the-mill Wingate by Wyndham (paid with points)
Most recently we had discovered a Homewood Suites by Hilton that we really liked. We stayed there in July 2024 and enjoyed our visit so much that I reserved another stay, for the following month, when I went to Schlitterbahn with a friend from high school.
During both stays in 2024, the hotel was perfectly fine. Very good service, clean room, etc. Great for a mid-tier hotel. It was so good that we stayed again in 2025. Our visit in June was just as pleasant as our stays in 2024. We did notice that one of the two elevators wasn’t working; throughout our 3-night stay, it had a sign that said “Elevator out of service due to a missing part – we don’t know when the part will come in.” But we had a room on the first floor so we didn’t really care.
We were supposed to stay at the same Homewood Suites in July, but that was when the Texas Hill Country was having its tragic flooding, and we thought it better to change our plans and wound up going to Aruba (we planned the trip in 2 days – free night certificates and Southwest Companion Pass to the rescue!). Even then, the hotel was very accommodating – we had a rate with a 2-week deadline to cancel, but they waived it. Again, Homewood Suites for the win!
I still had one more trip to New Braunfels up my sleeve – I was going to meet a friend from high school there. However, this time things were not so great. Oh, it was still pretty clean. But service has gone downhill and some things were just…weird.
Check in
The check in process was pretty routine. Nothing big to complain about; the guy at the desk was friendly enough, my credit card I had on file still worked and I was assigned the room I had chosen at early check-in the night before.
No benefit for being Hilton Gold
However as a Hilton Gold member, I was pretty sure I was supposed to get “something” upon arrival. I didn’t know what “that” was because frankly, Joe makes all of our hotel reservations and I don’t keep track of what we get when we have “X” status. So I asked him when I spoke to him on the phone that night. He checked and said Hilton gives you a choice of 2 bottles of water + a snack, or 250 Hilton Honors Bonus Points, and you have to choose them ahead of your stay. I thought maybe I had chosen (well, Joe would have chosen for me) the points, since the reception desk guy hadn’t said anything. So maybe the points would have just gone into my account. But nope, I had apparently “picked” the other choice.
I didn’t bring it up to the front desk guy because it really wasn’t worth it for 2 bottles of water and a pack of Lorna Doones.
No mention of their weekly social
I also didn’t mind that the front desk guy neglected to mention the evening social, which I recall the hotel has on Wednesday nights (I was staying 4 nights and it would include a Wednesday night), because I had no intention of going.
The elevator
The elevator was STILL broken. The “waiting for a part that’s on order” sign had been replaced with a simple “out of order” sign. And someone appeared to be working on it at one point during my 4-night stay. But by the time I left, yep, it was still broken. I was glad I had picked a room on the 1st floor.
Housekeeping
OMG, housekeeping. I don’t know if maybe the person was new? In too much of a rush? But…ugh!
The trash can
Sometimes hotels store things in their guest rooms in inconvenient places. Case in point, lots of hotels keep their hairdryer in a drawer. I get that, but since I’m going to use it every day, I’d just as soon keep it on the counter.
Same thing goes for the trash can. The hotel had it under the sink, but I prefer it next to the toilet. That’s where it was when I left the room but when I came back, after housekeeping was done, it was back to being under the sink.
The towels & washcloths
Typically when housekeeping refreshes the towels, all of the towels look like they’ve been placed so the room would be ready for the next guest. Not this time. This is what was left for me on the bathroom countertop.
“You want your towels hung up? Do it yourself!”
Housekeeping also lovingly left me the washcloth I had purposely left on the floor because I knew they were coming that day. They took the towel that was under it, though.
The kitchen towel
Homewood Suites has small kitchenettes, which we appreciate when we’re in New Braunfels because we typically bring our own lunch, drinks and snacks to Schlitterbahn and this way we have a full-sized fridge, and sandwich prep space.
The kitchenette has a dish towel and an oven mitt. I had no use for the oven mitt, but had used the dish towel several times to dry things. Again, I knew housekeeping was coming, so I left it in kind of a ball in the kitchen. And that’s exactly how housekeeping left it for me, too.
My pillow
I’m one of those weird people who brings my pillow with me whenever I travel. When housekeeping does their stuff in our room, they typically incorporate my pillow into the pile of pillows they’ve arranged at the head of the bed.
Not this time. I discovered my pillow, not at the head of the bed, or even on the bed at all. They left it on the couch. You know, where thousands of people have sat, perhaps naked, perhaps stinky, and perhaps farted (or worse).
And remember, this was my pillow, where I lay my head. Gross.
The breakfast area
The hotel has a continental breakfast every morning. I would grab a quick cup of coffee to hold me over until I got “real” coffee and whatever else – breakfast taco, etc. Nothing really stood out…until my last morning.
No lights
The breakfast area is an L-shaped room. The larger part of the L is where they have the tables and chairs, and the smaller part is where most of the food is. On that last morning, the smaller part of the L, where the food was, had no lights on. And it’s not like, “breakfast time is done; go away!” or anything like that…it was about 9:15 am! It was awkward. And hard to see.
Their choice of entertainment
But this…THIS was the epitome of awkward.
So, directly across from the “dark food room” was the coffee station, with a TV directly above it.
(The picture above was taken during one of our visits last year)
So I go down to get my coffee. I notice the “dark food room,” go “huh” to myself, because that wasn’t something I expected to see.
And then I suddenly hear a conversation. For a second, I thought it was 2 guests talking, but no, it was coming from the TV. And it’s something I just never expected to hear in a Homewood Suites by Hilton. Warning: The following movie quote contains explicit language and may be offensive to some readers.
Gin: That figures. You want all kind of set-asides. Special treatment ’cause you’re handicapped. You’re all the same.
Marcus: Special treatment? I’m 3-foot-f***ing-tall you a**hole! It’s a matter of physics. Draw me a sketch of how I get him to the car, huh?
Gin: B*tch, B*tch, B*tch!
Marcus: Sketch it up, you f***ing moron. F***ing Leonardo da Vinci.
Gin: What’d you call me thigh-high?
Marcus: I called you a f***ing guinea homo from the 15th-f***ing-century, you d**khead!
Gin: I could stick you up my a**, small fry.
Marcus: Yeah? You sure it ain’t too sore from last night?
Gin: You got some lip on you midget.
Marcus: yeah? Well these lips were on your wife’s pu**y last night. Why don’t you dust that thing off once in a while? A**hole!
And I was like, “What the…???” Because yep, they were playing Bad Santa on the TV – the 2003 movie that uses every curse word you know – as a verb, noun AND adjective – sometimes in the same sentence!
AND they were playing this in the dining room. The family dining room. Of a Homewood Suites by Hilton. Where there was a family with 2 kids, age 5 and 7ish? at the FAR, far end of the room. You know, with their parents hoping the kids didn’t hear/notice what was on the TV. All the other families apparently cleared out of the dining room that morning…no idea why (the space was typically packed at that time of day).
Now personally, I have no issues with adult language. I’m a native New Yorker and under the right conditions, I can have a mouth like a sewer. I just wasn’t expecting to see an R-rated movie in a Hilton-branded hotel on a Friday at 9:15 in the morning. And the thing is, I saw 3 employees walk through the room while the tirade of curse words were uttered in the movie and not one of them even seemed to notice. Totally bizarre!
Overall opinion
Of course, none of the issues I mentioned were huge things (OK, families might think the TV thing was a big deal. I wasn’t there with kids. I thought it was weird but not a deal breaker). But after 3 past visits that were great, it was just weird to have all these little problems start happening, when 2 months ago, everything was still absolutely fine.
Did it “ruin my vacation?” Nope. Will I stay here again next year? If the price is right, yep. And hopefully, the experience will be better next time.
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