The unique idea was formidable: Flip an previous brewhouse right into a vacation spot resort. Incorporate uncovered masonry and wealthy mahogany into a contemporary industrial design. Convert nineteenth Century furnishings and flooring into a recent area of luxurious. Make the foyer and floor flooring really feel like San Antonio’s lounge.
Ten years after opening, Resort Emma has exceeded the ambition, evolving right into a five-diamond property with two Michelin keys, recognition its developer neither imagined nor coveted. As considered one of Texas’ most acclaimed resort properties, Emma has turn into an attraction itself, drawing vacationers to expertise its historic structure, distinctive design and noteworthy hospitality.
Arrivals are welcomed by uniformed employees close to a wood-burning fire and led to a two-story library. Surrounded by floor-to-ceiling cabinets of books, they’re greeted with a heat smile and a cocktail. A concierge is made out there by textual content message. Telephone chargers can be found on the entrance desk.
“We hear from visitors, ‘Oh my gosh, I might reside right here,’” mentioned Beth Smith, a Silver Ventures vice chairman who served as Emma’s chief advertising officer when it opened in 2015. “Folks really feel like they’re staying at dwelling — solely with a number of service.”
Exemplary hospitality and culinary service stood out at Emma’s current tenth anniversary celebration. Greater than 300 visitors loved caviar and seafood at one station, quick rib empanadas and lamb lollipops at a second and pork tenderloin and hen thighs at a 3rd.
“The meals was excellent,” mentioned Nikki Whitehead, philanthropy supervisor on the San Antonio Meals Financial institution. “The lamb chops and mini crab muffins have been my favourite. Actually a chef’s kiss.”
The Elephant Cellar — a spectacular room with huge, grey tanks ranked alongside the partitions — featured reside music, a whiskey bar and a white linen-covered desk with delectable desserts.
To cap the night, visitors sipped cocktails beneath a 25-foot vaulted ceiling within the resort’s bar, Sternewirth Tavern.
Emma is swathed in luxurious and historical past. Tales materialize at each flip, from the ballrooms and bar on the primary flooring to the $10,000-a-night Emma Koehler suite on the seventh flooring. Right here’s one: A gold pachyderm hangs by pink silk outdoors the Elephant Cellar. Why, it’s possible you’ll ask, was the grand ballroom given such a reputation?
Brewhouse employees again within the day thought the beer tanks with upraised pipe “trunks” reminded them of elephants. The resort commissioned a metalsmith to design a silver elephant allure to provide every visitor.
“I got here up with this concept so our visitors would have a memento for conversational foreign money going dwelling,” mentioned Smith, the Silver Ventures’ vice chairman. “It’s the identical motive I had the ‘Three Emma” cocktail created: storytelling.”
The story behind the drink is crazier than fiction. It’s a story that spawned headlines, “Nurse is Held for Homicide of Rich Man,” impressed a novel, “The First Emma,” and entertains patrons sipping a mix of gin, lager beer and Amontillado sherry.
Pearl Brewery proprietor Otto Koehler was married to a lady named Emma and had affairs with two nurses additionally named Emma. After Koehler was slain in 1914, authorities charged Emma Burgemeister, who cared for Emma Koehler, with the homicide. Burgemeister claimed she shot Otto in self-defense. A jury discovered her not responsible. A 12 months later, Burgemeister married a member of the jury that acquitted her.
The opposite Emmas moved on. Emma Dumke, the primary mistress, relocated to Missouri and married a lawyer. Emma Koehler rose to turn into president of Pearl Brewery. Virtually 101 years to the day after the scandalous homicide, a 146-room boutique resort opened that bears Emma’s title. A two-story suite, which encompasses a fire, a grand piano and flooring to ceiling home windows, can also be named after her.
A compendium within the suite tells her story. After Otto’s homicide, Emma stored the brewhouse afloat throughout Prohibition, repurposing the power to supply non-alcoholic items and providing dry cleansing and auto restore. After Prohibition, she led the brewery by the Nice Melancholy, overseeing its transform and growth.
The spirit of Emma fills her resort namesake. The area celebrates the gritty, grandeur of her time (clawfoot tubs, tool-leather elevator cabs) and the luxurious of recent time (personal balconies, rooftop pool).
Rooms begin at $396 per night time and rise to $900, every with complimentary drinks, turndown service and contemporary macarons. Luxurious suites vary from just below $1,000 to $10,000 and have two-story terraces, full moist bars, in-room ice bins, unique paintings and Spanish porcelain tile loos.
“Should you would have instructed individuals {that a} resort at peak time might cost $1,000 an evening, be packed, be doing nice dinners, be inviting cooks from everywhere in the nation and having a profitable bar inside a spot that was deserted 20 years in the past — that may have been a tough promote,” mentioned Geronimo Lopez, Emma’s government chef. “However this little shining star [hotel] says, ‘Sure, we will do plenty of issues.’”
Lopez started working at Pearl earlier than floor broke at Emma. He served as an teacher on the Culinary Institute of America from 2012-2015, then left to launch Botika, a stone’s throw from the resort. After closing Botika in 2024, the resort supplied Lopez his present place.
He’s seen Emma evolve from architectural rendering to vacation spot resort and the Pearl district develop up round it.
“Pearl has turn into the primary hub for culinary journey in a metropolis that helps tons of of households that work right here,” Lopez mentioned. “I’ve been right here for 14 years and nonetheless name this place dwelling. I really like the concept of what Pearl and Emma are doing right here. It’s very emotional, to be sincere with you.”
Emma attracts world celebrities. Paul McCartney checked in earlier than his current live performance on the Alamodome. Celine Dion and Adam Sandler have visited. NBA groups usually keep at Emma earlier than enjoying the San Antonio Spurs. Cher raved about her keep on social media.
“She got here into the resort, walked to the entrance foyer, went upstairs and performed the piano,” Smith mentioned. “She tweeted that it’s her favourite resort on the earth. She mentioned, ‘In the event that they ever make a film, I need to play Emma.’”
Ten years after opening, Smith marvels at Emma’s status and stature. It doesn’t have the fashionable polish or refined aesthetic of a Ritz Carlton or 4 Seasons resort, she says. And but it enjoys broad acclaim.
“We didn’t got down to be a 5 diamond,” Smith mentioned. “That got here later.”
It isn’t usually a resort exceeds its ambition. It isn’t usually a resort turns into the crown jewel of a culinary district. Emma has finished all that and extra, impressing celebrities and customary folks alike.
“Each time I go to Resort Emma,” mentioned Whitehead, the San Antonio meals financial institution supervisor, “it looks like there’s a contact of magic woven into the expertise.”
