Since we had good luck with La Quinta in Beaumont and needed pet friendly digs in San Antonio, we decided to book the La Quinta on Rittiman Road in San Antonio.  There are several La Quintas in San Antonio.  I chose the one on Rittiman Road because it was close to where the property manager’s office is.  It’s also very close to Fort Sam Houston, which is where Bill will be working; but that wasn’t important for this stay.

I should mention that San Antonio has a number of pet friendly hotels.  But the Army will only pay so much per night and since we don’t really know our way around yet, we opted for Rittiman Road.  In retrospect, it wasn’t the best choice in terms of lodging or locale.  The La Quinta we stayed in locally was a bit of a dive.  Located between a mega church/Christian school and another motel and Mexican restaurant, it was obvious this particular property had seen better days.  There are also train tracks on the other side of the interstate, so when you don’t hear the rushing of cars speeding by, you’ll hear the train whistle blow.

First view of the room.

Bathroom

The “view” from our one window.

Peeling wallpaper

Yuck!  What is that?

And that?

“Helpful” handout…

 

It was not the worst place Bill or I have ever stayed, but it was a bit on the depressing side.  The wallpaper was peeling and the carpet was pretty gross.  There was one spot where someone had apparently spilled something.  Arran would not stop licking it until we covered it up.  They gave Bill a handout that was supposed to help with concierge needs, but as you can see from the above photo, it’s not very legible.  Their printer needs servicing.

The room was obviously very old school, yet had some modern touches like a big flat screen TV with some rather fancy features.  The bed was very comfortable and had decent linens, though the pillows were cheap.  Breakfast was fairly lame, though Bill did manage to make me a Texas shaped waffle.

I don’t actually like most waffles that much, especially when served with “butter spread”.  But I had to admit that waffle was pretty cute.

I must also give credit to the La Quinta’s shower, which offered plenty of hot water and great water pressure.  I had no way of knowing how much I would miss hot showers when we checked out, since I thought we’d have gas hooked up in our house.

The Mexican restaurant next door also has very good food and is easy to walk to, so that was also a plus.

There are also no pet fees to speak of, which is a good thing.  And there is a coin operated washer and dryer available  for guests and that came in handy, too.

All that being said, though, I wouldn’t stay at that particular La Quinta again unless circumstances forced me to.  It’s not the most awful dive I’ve ever been to, but it’s very far from being even close to the best.