Hotels Near Barbara Jordan Statue by Bruce Wolfe in Austin

I arrived at the Stephen F Austin Royal Sonesta at 2am after a delayed flight. It took 20 minutes for me to check-in due to issues with the hotel computer system. It might have been worth the wait, because I was upgraded to a suite. But I'd say that the suite was quirky: two rooms, nice furnishings, but no amenities. For example, the bar area in the living space had a sink but no accessories or drinks that you might expect to find on a bar. I fell asleep at 3am, and was woken at 8:45am by construction noises directly behind my bed. The noises included loud voices, drilling, banging, and scraping. Even with top-of-the-line ear plugs, it still woke me up. When I reported this issue via text message, the hotel manager looked into it instantly. He was on my floor talking to the hotel engineers by the time that I left my room. The manager recognized that I was the guest who had complained about noise, and apologized. He let me know that the work was supposed to be completed later in the day, and expressed sympathy for my rough morning. The manager set me up with some perks that made my stay more enjoyable and made up for the bad experience. So, all's well that ends well. The rest of my stay was good, especially because the hotel was in a really convenient location -- walking distance from my business meetings, restaurants, and tourist sites.

This hotel is good, with an outdoor swimming pool, it is still open at this time, and the breakfast is ok. Personally, I prefer fitness, the gym is OK, and overall I am satisfied. 🔔Service: Well, the self-service printer is not easy to use, the front desk helped to call, the people are very good. 🍃 Environment: OK 🧹 Hygiene: OK 🚗 Transportation: OK

We opted to stay on Rainey based on what Rainey was like in the past. However, we didn’t realize that this is the new site for redevelopment in Austin, so a lot of the charm of Rainey is being replaced by high-rises. The hotel did provide early plugs in the room to help block out construction noise, and for that I was super thankful. The hotel sent the typical welcome text earlier on check-in day. We checked in online and opted for a digital key because we’d arrive after midnight, and wanted to go straight to our room. Upon arrival, our digital key didn’t work at the garage or at our room. We went back to the lobby and waited a while without anyone coming up to help. After yelling “hello,” to try and get help, an employee came to the front desk. It wasn’t the typical welcome, as they seemed kind of put out about us being there - but hey it was 3 am so I can overlook that. After getting us regular room keys, I asked if my digital key would work now too. They shared that the digital key system was new and had not been working. The welcome text really should have mentioned that. The room smelled off when we arrived - almost like BO. Possibly it was from someone cooking onions in a nearby room, but it was just as pungent then next morning.. When we got the “how was you stay text”, we mentioned the smell. The front desk staff was helpful and offered to have housekeeping go by and freshen the room. When we arrived back at the room that evening, there was an aerosol odor-ban food smell remover spray on the table. Nothing else was done and the room smell was just as bad. Same smell on the day we departed. Our room was on the 16th floor so possibly other areas were not as bad. If you do opt to stay here, it is not terrible. Set your expectations lower as it is more like a Choice Hotels brand stay than a Hilton family stay. Also if you reserve the one bedroom king and plan to have your kids stay on the sofa bed, know it is not paid out like some other Homewood suites. The sofa bed is the same, but the only way to access the bathroom is via the bedroom. Also, the sink and vanity are not separated from the bedroom by a door and the shower is the old tub insert shower combo. So if your kids are teens and stay up later like ours do, just get two rooms. The place really needs an update all around to be up to be we usually experience at a Homewood. Hopefully it is up for one soon as the location is great. We’ll be booking at the Hilton instead when returning to Austin, though.

In the words of Bette Davis, “What a Dump.” In its favor, we had a nice view of Lady Bird Lake from our window, which was pretty to wake up to, and the water pressure in the shower was great! The bathroom seemed partially updated and was pretty decent. Free parking, too. There were a few HBO channels on tv. However, the hotel is very dated and not very clean looking. The indoor parking garage was filthy and was dimly lit. Didn’t feel very safe in there, so we parked in the outside lot whenever possible. No greeting from the night time desk clerk when we came back from dinner, as she seemed to purposely be avoiding eye contact with us (she wasn’t on the phone or busy with someone else). The elevators were very smudgy and too dark, also. The beds slumped a bit in the middle, the linens were old and tired looking, and the chair in the corner looked worse than some I’ve put by the curb. An old leak on the ceiling was poorly patched up, and there were stains on the desk chair, carpet and walls. The door to the adjoining room didn’t provide enough sound proofing, as I heard our neighbor’s phone convo loud and clear. The pool area didn’t look very inviting, as there were no umbrellas or trees to block the strong sun. We wanted to stay in downtown Austin to be within walking distance to things, so this was the least expensive option. But not much could be walked to from there, and the area it was in was a bit sketchy, so we ended up taking Ubers, anyway. We had booked our last night at a hotel in the Arboretum area, because this one went up to a ridiculously high amount for Friday night (music festival in town), and it ended up being just as convenient to take an Uber from there (15-20 mins) to downtown. Plus, the hotel was much nicer and way less expensive. Live and learn.

Stinky room and hotel!!! I will never go back to this hotel ever I was not impressed with anything at this hotel and for the price they charge you can get sooooo much better with free food drinks etc, I know cause I stayed at another one 15min away from there! The only thing I can say that was good is it was a very quite hotel, I only stayed one night but during that time it was very quite and the guy did change our rooms immediately because of the smoke smell

This hotel has all the basics: spacious rooms, comfortable beds, very decent continental breakfast, and everything works. However, it is in desperate need of a face lift - new carpets, upholstery, etc. There is a strong smell of ”old”. We went first to a Target to buy air freshener which we used liberally in both rooms all three days we were there. If you can deal with that, this hotel provides good value.

Big clean room, comfy bed and the breakfast was also good. Nightshift-staff was really welcoming. But it would be good to mention in the hotel description that the airport-shuttle stops at 11pm. Anyway we can recommend and would book this hotel again. :)

The hotel staff were extremely helpful whenever I needed information. The complementary breakfast served in the mornings was a lifesaver and included in the cost of the room, not an add-on and with lots of choice, like scrambled eggs, sausage patties, pancakes, cereal, etc. The bed was very comfy and the 3rd floor room was very quiet. The water was nice and hot when taking a shower with lots of water pressure. The hotel room included a fridge, microwave oven, Keurig machine and a comfy couch. Bathroom included towels and all the little things like soap, shampoo, etc. This hotel is very close (About a $12 cab ride) to the Via Fortuna office complex. About a $45 cab ride from the airport. Room rate was reasonable considering I got a single king sized bed and a large room. The hotel room was very clean. Would highly recommend.

I wish I could review this hotel with 0, but unfortunately I cannot. I am currently having the worst hotel experience of my life and, I must say, I have been around the world. Today I realized that I slept on a pillow that has an urine stain on its pillow case. Urine. Someone else's urine. I am not sure what is going on with the hotel, but I forgiven the dirty sticky room carpet, the elevator out of service, but URINE on the pillow case is beyond unacceptable. It is a sanitary problem. The front desk attendant in silence looking at me does not help either. I just want to get out of here as fast as I can and never come back!

It’s a little far from downtown but very convenient to the highway, so it’s not a dealbreaker. Super clean. Price was right.