Omni Hotel Bayfront Tower Review

I’ve never been to Corpus Christi before – despite having lived in Texas my entire life – so I was really excited to get the opportunity to travel there and review the Omni Hotel Bayfront Tower. I did a little reading before we left for our trip and discovered their loyalty program, which I promptly joined. This free program allows you to accumulate points toward free nights’ stays or airline miles, and it provides other immediate benefits, including:

• complimentary wi-fi
• complimentary morning beverages & newspaper delivered to your guest room
• complimentary shoe shine & pressing of two items
• evening housekeeping service, including turndown

Upon arriving at the hotel, we discovered there were two options for parking – valet service, or the attached parking garage. We opted for the garage the whole weekend and it worked just fine for us. The hotel is literally right across the street from the bay, stretching up 20 stories.

The hotel lobby is nice and open, and despite there being quite a few people ahead of me, check-in was quick. I told the woman at the desk we had two small children with us and she pulled out two kids’ packs for us –  bags with toys & a treat, designed as backpacks. J loved his and wore it around quite a bit.

She also told me that each evening they showed a family-friendly movie outside on the pool deck. We ended up being out both evenings, but I love the attention to kids’ needs at the hotel. Traveling with children can be tiring sometimes, but having fun things like this makes it more exciting for the kids and easier on the parents!

We went up to our rooms, which were bayfront, and the view took our breaths away. You can’t fully get the impact from photos, but here’s our view:

Needless to say, we kept our curtains open pretty much the whole weekend. The blue sky and water took up the expanse of our window (which was basically the whole bayside wall of our room) and made it really feel like a retreat. The boys liked looking out the windows and watching boats go by:

The rooms were spacious, with a desk area, two full beds, and a seating area with a table and two armchairs. We had plenty of room to spread out, which, if you’ve traveled with small children before, you know is vital! The bathroom was large too, with a long vanity and a clever retractable clothesline built in over the tub – perfect for using after a day at the beach. The decor was nice and neutral, although slightly dated. One of the managers behind the desk told me there’s a major renovation coming this winter, so I assume they’ll be updating the decor with that. But honestly, we spent most of our time in the room looking out the windows!

We decided to venture down to check out the pool area. Around the pool area there’s also a salon, masseuse, racquetball courts, and a ping pong table. A small portion of the pool is indoor, along with a hot tub:

There are also several tables and chairs in this area, and every time we were down there we saw families hanging out. Omni really hit the nail on the head in planning a good space for families to spend time together – there’s something for everyone. The outdoor pool area is really nice, too – it’s flanked on one side with palm trees and a view out to the bay, and on the other with another aquatic mural.

In the back right corner of this photo you can see a small raised area – that’s a kiddie pool, which our boys just loved. We did too, because it meant we could sit and relax with them while they splashed around and had a blast.

Of course, we didn’t just hang around the hotel while we were there – we quickly discovered that the Omni Bayfront is located near, well, a LOT! It’s just a few minutes’ drive to the USS Lexington or the Texas State Aquarium. We got a chance to visit the aquarium and all had a lot of fun! The dolphins were probably my favorite part – we saw a show, and then watched them up close from an underwater viewing room.

We also discovered a great beach right down the street from the hotel (with a playground right nearby – we didn’t get a chance to check it out but saw several other families playing there). There were a ton of shells in the sand (J has quite the collection now!) and the water was calm, with a large shallow area perfect for hanging out and watching boats go by in the distance. We also discovered a row of hermit crabs not too far out from the shore – definitely a fun experience for little boys. C enjoyed digging in the sand with shells while Brian and J played in the water:

It was just about a 15 minute drive from the Omni Bayfront down to Padre Island, which we explored a little bit too. We loved that we could get out and drive around the city without it taking long at all to get back to our hotel. Oh, and I mentioned the loyalty club benefits earlier – these really were great. It was so nice to come home to a clean room with the beds turned down and ready for us. Each night we filled out a card to select what morning beverages we’d like, and the next morning there’d be a knock on our door and a tray with goblets of juice waiting for us along with a copy of the paper. Downstairs in the lobby the hotel had out fresh lemonade, tea, and juice for all hotel guests, which was really refreshing to come back to after being out in the heat. These touches really made our stay feel special.  The Omni is a high-end hotel, but as a family with small children we still felt right at home – they know how to combine the elegant with the comfortable really well.

We’d definitely love to come back to Corpus Christi and stay at the Omni Bayfront again in the near future. Omni also has another hotel right down the street called the Omni Marina Tower, which I’d love to try too. One tip – be sure and reserve a bayfront room so you can enjoy the same beautiful view we did. If you’re planning a family vacation, I’d definitely recommend both the city and Omni for your trip – we left relaxed and refreshed with wonderful memories from our stay.

Note: Omni Hotel Bayfront Tower provided us with a stay at the hotel and with tickets to the Texas State Aquarium. My review was not influenced in any way by this – my honest opinions were provided. I was not compensated monetarily for my review.