I stayed in the Hilton for three nights while attending the 2026 Texas Master Naturalist Annual…read moreMeeting in the Convention Center. I made my reservation quite a while ago, because I wanted to be in the closest hotel to the conference. I rebooked once the block for our organization became available and greatly lowered the cost of my stay.
Two days before the event, I started hearing from my friends that the hotel was moving about 30 people from the Hilton to other hotels nearby. They were comping the cost of the rooms and providing transportation to and from the conference. They were also allowing those people to eat breakfast at the Hilton. To be honest, I was hoping for a call. We are talking nearly $400 I would have gotten back. But, a call never came for me. I was one of the few members of my chapter who weren't displaced. That was only a problem because I ate most breakfasts alone, which is usually a great catch up time with my buddies.
I really liked this Hilton. My room was very nice. It was super clean everywhere. The linens were great. I especially liked the comforter that was as thick as a mattress. The other thing I really liked were the huge pump containers of Crabtree & Evelyn products, although I did wonder why they didn't have one with handwashing soap, instead of the tiny little bar.
The AC worked delightfully well. I like a really cool and quiet sleeping environment. There were several motorcycles and cars hotrodding in the streets, but I used my whitenoise app to cover it up.
I never use housekeeping. I prefer to hang the do not disturb sign out and make my own bed, etc. I used the same towel at home for several days, and see no reason to change that behavior in a hotel.
Finally, let me get to breakfast. In my opinion it was wonderful. They had everything you would want on a small buffet. You could order other things like waffles and omelettes, but I didn't do that. I loaded my plate with a biscuit and gravy, a scoop of scrambled eggs, some breakfast potatoes, two pieces of bacon, and two apple sausage links every morning. It was way too much food, but the food in the convention center was so bad, this became my main meal of the day. The eggs were cooked perfectly, the bacon was thick and crispy, and the apple sausage was out of this world.
Every hotel employee I came in contact with was truly wonderful. However, I am going to highlight two who really stood out. The first was a lady named Katherine. She hustled around with a medical boot on one foot, but was cheerful and welcoming the entire time. She reminded me so much of my Aunt Elma, that I couldn't help but feel a warm fuzziness that felt like home. She checked on me repeatedly with brief and enjoyable interactions without being clingy. The other was an older gentleman. Sadly, I did not get his name. He told me that he works at both the Hilton and the Marriott across the street. He seemed to be the head maitre de. He went from table to table having really nice personal conversations with everyone. Y'all... staff is everything!
Oh, one last thing, it was rumored in the conference that President Trump was making an unplanned trip to Waco to campaign. Supposedly, his away team was going to be housed in the 30 rooms that were vacated. His plans evidently changed and he didn't come after all. I have no idea if there is any truth to that rumor. The hotel never really gave a reason except, "Some of our guests have decided to extend their stay".
