When school starts, most of us are on a financial and time crunch. So I decided to venture up the highway to find out if this Hill Country Staycation was worth it or justa place that looked pretty online. So I broke it down into 5 Facts To Know Before Booking At Horseshoe Bay Resort.
HORSESHOE BAY TOWER ROOM
This was the first time in like forever never that I’ve walked into a hotel room that I ✅would give 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️to on the cleanliness of the room. Since I own an Austin Cleaning Service, my expectations of cleanliness go beyond surface cleaning.
There was not one single thing I could say was not clean to perfection.
We booked The Junior Suite and I was worried about being on the 6th floor (there are only 7 floors) above the 🏊🏽pool. ✅We had no issues of noise on a night that was 100% occupied!
✅The room was equipped with free WiFi (without annoying codes to remember)
Coffee maker
✅Office area (because of course, I worked on a staycation) 🤷🏻♀️
✅Our Patio was on the corner lot which gave us privacy to moon watch. 🍾
However, they forgot to mention
✅The bathroom had great makeup mirror lighting 💡I mean the whole mirror was lit to what was needed. So the small makeup mirror was just an added benefit.
🛑The Large Bathroom had the tiniest vent known to man, hidden in a small area by the toilet. Why?
🛑I’m 5’6 and standing on both 🦶, I could touch the ceiling.
🛑It took quite a while to get the room to a comfortable cool setting. So we just removed the cover off of the bed 🛌and slept with the sheets.
🛑Small bathtub 🛀but it was still great to have a tub to soak in.
Horseshoe Bay Spa
I was leary in booking major spa treatments since booking anything ahead of time was already a headache that went from Monday to Saturday. I only booked one massage treatment for The Mr. and I took advantage of using the spa area for a small charge of $15. This included the ✅pool (resistance pool 🏊♀️), ✅hot tub, steam room 🛑, and sauna🛑
Onsight it looked and felt so peaceful, but then things started falling apart. Let’s just say I wasn’t mad I spent $15 because the picture alone and quiet time was worth it.
✅Massage 💆🏽♂️The Mr. enjoyed a massage time of about an hour specifically for tension release. He said it was amazing and he wished it would have been longer. 5 Stars to that masseuse because he is very particular.
🛑The sauna and Steam room both had issues. I thought it was just me at first but two other ladies were complaining. The sauna just didn’t get 🥵hot👎🏽The Steam room wouldn’t steam unless you slammed the 🚪door shut. (Which I was instructed to do so by the staff) then the knobs on the wall from the 1970s fell off the wall. Oops. At least I made the other lady laugh while we enjoyed the non-sauna.
When I mentioned this to The Mr. Who had the same amenities in the men’s locker room, he also mentioned the sauna didn’t get hot. That was odd because the staff stated the men’s locker room sauna was shut down for months so they could fix that issue before. Maybe that’s going to be renovated in the next phase 🤷🏻♀️
✅The Resistance 🏊♀️pool was a great workout and was beautifully designed. Unlike the rusted water cooler area. 🛑yeah, please replace this y’all 🤦🏻♀️
Horseshoe Bay Staff
👎🏽No one really knew what was going on and where and when it was going on without looking at the Resort manual. This was the same manual they gave us when we checked in. Ummmmm, I’m going to need resort staff to be in the know. That’s how you make tips 💰
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised because booking this stay was a headache.
- I called to book but they said the prices were better online than what they could offer.
- I booked online but couldn’t book spa services without calling.
- I called the spa. No answer.
- I called the resort and had to leave a message ( this was Monday) Then Tuesday came and I still didn’t get a response.
- I reached out on Facebook and left a message. It showed “read” no response.
- THURSDAY I GET A CALL 🤦🏻♀️from a very aggravated rude older lady that sounded like I felt. Mad. “Hello I’m confirming your upcoming stay and any reservations you’d like to make”
- I made a spa reservation but she said there were NO RESERVATIONS available at the two restaurants I wanted to dine at. YEAH IM SURE OF THAT SINCE IT WAS NOW THURSDAY👎🏽
- ✅Lantana staff (restaurant in The Tower where we stayed) were all amazing and friendly. Come to find out, they were mostly from programs overseas and were working towards their degree in hospitality in areas of the resort. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Shuttle Staff were friendly but didn’t know any times that restaurants opened or closed. That was odd.
- Management staff experience was great. I wish I would have met this lady on Monday on the phone initially. She made me feel better about the whole booking with her smile and courtesy. She was supposed to send her card up to my room but never did. I did however get a bottle of wine and chocolates 🍫delivered mysteriously on our last night. No card or anything. When I called downstairs to ask who delivered it and why, of course again NO ONE KNEW 🤷🏻♀️
HORSESHOE BAY RESORT FEATURES
This place is AMAZING and I’m kicking myself for not coming sooner. Especially since it’s ONLY ABOUT AN HOUR AWAY from my busy, traffic congested Downtown Austin Cleaning Service Life. 👀
🏌️🏌️I wasn’t in a Golf weekend mood but they are known for their 3 award winning Golf 🏌️courses, an exclusive member course, and a unique 18 hole 🕳putting course in miniature.
🤷🏻♀️360 Sports Bar: We drank here twice. The first experience was ok… pricey but ok. The second experience was interesting. The Friendly Young lady bartender admitted she pretty much didn’t know how to make the cocktails. Oh fun. 🛑
✅✅Jungle Kids Club looked so awesome. It was a huge facility with planned activities and a large play areas that would make any kid under 6 be exhausted after the fun times in here.
(We didn’t have kids with us, but this was a selling point for me for sure)
✅✅Marina Rentals. They had a great stocked gift shop with anything you need to wear for the weekend for all ages.💙💚Many options of rentals from Wave runners, stand up paddle boards, canoes, and boats. We took a Pontoon out since they didn’t have a ski boat available and it was too hot for jet skis.
Great memorable time and an awesome way to see the beautiful homes surrounding Lake LBJ.
🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️Yacht Club Restaurant was one place we didn’t get to try since we were not able to get a hold of anyone for a week for reservations. 👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽
✅✅Poolside outside of the Yacht Club was great. Small sand area with many seats overlooking Lake LBJ.
Beware of the Bees at the bar. 🐝
✅Largest Hot tub in Texas was what this area was known for. Since I’m big on germs 🦠while providing cleaning services in Austin, This hot tub wasn’t going to be a stop for me. It looked fun!
Great pool areas over here with less kids! They even had a pool area with seating inside of it. WIN WIN!!! 💦🍹
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Lantana: Restaurant with a big bar inside The Tower where we stayed. Great service and food. Did I mention GREAT SERVICE 💙💚
Trails: Filled with parrots 🦜that they would allow you to hold.
Waterfalls for great pictures.
Very large open area with a few games for kids to play. They were the gigantic versions so of course it attracted the kids age 7 and up.
🎾8 hard court Tennis Courts
🎾6 certified clay courts
🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️Pickle Ball Courts. ( I had to google what this even was lol)
✈️PRIVATE AIRPORT AND JET CENTER
now this was a winner for sure 💙💚 ✈️
🏋️♀️Fitness center that gets a 👎🏽👎🏽
The Mr. made mention that for the size of the entire resort that the fitness center should have been bigger. He felt as if the fitness center was part of an apartment community. Small and cramped packed into two small levels.
Horseshoe Bay In Room Dining
After checking the blog of A Taste Of Koko who is a very well-known blogger out of Austin, I looked forward to a great breakfast in bed. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
She posted on her blog a picture of her in the bed with a lovely room service tray and a morning Bloody Mary.
Ummmmmm mine was sent up in a paper bag and two plastic containers.
👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀
Overall Experience At Horseshoe Bay
Overall I would most definitely leave Austin for an hour’s ride up 🛣to this great Resort. It was worth the 💰money. The only thing missing was the knowledge that I wish I knew before coming, so that’s why I wrote this unfiltered non-sponsored Personal Blog.
Don’t go until you RESERVE EVERY PLANNED EVENT before check-in.
Just don’t do it.