Hi ...

I will be traveling to San Antonio in October. I love historic/haunted hotels. I know the Menger is haunted. How about the La Mansion del Rio?? I'm also concerned with the rooms as well as the service. Is one hotel better than the other based on what I'm looking for? Thank you!! Shelley

Shelley:

I stayed at La Mansion del Rio last summer and it was fantstic. We had an upper-floor room with a balcony overlooking Riverwalk. The pool is in a courtyard-like setting and the many rooms overlooking that appeared interesting as well. There is outdoor dining adjacent to the courtyard. The lobby is uninteresting, but then, the place is really OLD. The Alamo is only a few blocks away,

I can't help you with the "haunted" stuff, though I can say that one of the valet parking attendents was pretty spooky.

That was my only visit to San Antonio--it was wonderful. Don't miss an excursion to the Hill Country north and northwest of San Antonio.

The Menger is more Victorian and ghosts would prefer it, too. You can wolk over on Riverwalk to the Del Rio...have dinner there...out on the patio. Reccommend the tasting menu. The waiters are wonderful and so is the chef. But stay at the Menger.

Shelly,
Both hotels are very nice. I've been in both.

But I prefer the more "rustic, mexican influence " of La Mansion over the Menger.

In fact, I live in San Antonio, but my family rents rooms at La Mansion each year to watch the River Parade during Fiesta.

You'll enjoy either one.

The rooms

is a little more elegant than La Mansion... but I actually prefer La Mansion.

Don't know about the haunting aspect. But we stayed at La Mansion last summer and had an upper floor room overlooking the pool courtyard. It was a nice room and the pool area is beautiful. We also found the location really convenient, on a quiet part of the Riverwalk.

Just returned from San Antonio and stayed at the MENGER. Hotel is quite charming, lobby was decorated for Xmas. The Continental restaurant serves a nice breakfast. Our room was on the 4th floor of the older wing. over 12ft high ceilings, however the rooms are not sound proof. One night the man next door snored so loud we couldn't sleep! Saw the Roy Rogers suite although not large for a suite had rustic charm. I would probably stay there again. For a modern hotel, the Hyatt looked nice. One thing to note is the price of parking $10-14./night, which for Canadians is very steep.

We didn't stay at either, but went into and ate at both. They were both top notch, it would be a hard choice. Before going to San Antonio we thought we had to stay right on the riverwalk, but now think it is not at all necessary. Either would be great, you can't go wrong. Be sure you take a tour of the Hill/LBJ Country, just beautiful and interesting. We also enjoyed eating at the sphere revolving restaurant...go before sundown.

I've stayed at La Mansion in May of this year and last on a business trip and I wasn't wowed by it. The rooms are very nice, but can be noisy depending upon where you are. This year we were on the first floor near the entrance from the car portico and had a lot of noise from luggage racks being moved. The room also faced the pool which forced us to keep our window drapes shut for privacy so we didn't get any natural light. A room on an upper floor facing the riverwalk would undoubtedly be better. Although it is an old building, I didn't really get a feeling of character from it.

I agres with Ruth on this one.

La Mansion del Rio was adequate, but nothing exceptional. Rooms were decent (small, clean, a little run-down), service was OK. But for the prices they charge, I sure expected a lot more! The "city view" rooms are extremely loud at night. And as for character, La Mansion was definitely lacking. I would not stay there again.

We walked through the Menger and it looked really nice--at least from the lobby area. In fact, my husband (also unimpressed with La Mansion) turned to me and asked: "Why didn't we stay HERE?"

La Mansion del Rio has a better location, but Menger is only two short blocks from the Riverwalk.