Since there haven't been any updates lately, I figured I would post a couple of comments after our 4 night stay in April. A little background info....I have been to Miraval Tucson previous to the Hyatt takeover and some comments will compare Austin to what I experienced in Tucson.

- Overall very happy with our stay minus the service issues we encountered which I will point out later.
- We redeemed points for 4 nights and since I had no Hyatt status we basically got the base room in the lower level of the very first building you see when you drive on site....Building 1. (I had let my Hyatt status lapse during reduced Covid travel in favor of other chains elite status.)
- Room was nicely decorated and had one of the best showers I have ever experienced in any hotel I have stayed at. (Great water pressure and a rain shower head that actually worked and didn't seem to have some horrible water saver valve in it.)
- Room had a nice patio but since the room was on the lower level you really got no view other than of the bluebonnet field right behind the building.
- Felt the room was well insulated but the noise from the people above us on their wood deck was bothersome.
- In comparison to Miraval Tucson, I felt the resort was needlessly spread out. The advantage was you had to walk a good distance to dinner...the disadvantage was you had to walk a good distance to dinner. Since we went to Miraval to kickstart a focus on eating better and getting more exercise the spread out nature promoted being physically active.
- I liked the courses they offered and I felt it was similar to Tucson. The facilities for the courses in Austin were nicer than Tucson in my opinion....likely due to it being a newer facility. I am a hiker and I did find that Tucson had more hiking options than Austin so if anything I would suggest they add some more options to their activities plan. I would also say that due to the spread out nature of the resort, don't schedule yourself too thin from an activities timing perspective since you might need to rush from one to another if you only have 5-10 minutes to get across the resort. In Tucson you could easily book back to back activities, since you didn't have as far to go between some of the buildings.
- I did not like the fact that they wanted you to book everything in advance including your dinner times. In Tucson they were more flexible with dinner times.
- Quality of food was very good and I felt they had a lot of options to pick from at all times (minus the grab and go options I will point out below).
- The service at the restaurant was in serious need of attention. There were plenty of staff but they all seemed to be moving around and not really doing stuff but just looking busy. Based on discussions with the managers, they knew this was a problem and were trying to address it. Overall this was the biggest issue for us during the 4 night stay. At times we sat for prolonged periods of time till anyone even came by. Simple solution.....come by...take someone's drink order and bring them a drink....after that you can be MIA for a while as they enjoy their drink before you take their food order. Service was worst on nights during which larger groups were present at the resort since the staff seemed to be mainly occupied with keeping them happy.
- Breakfast and lunch were buffet style and I really enjoyed the items. There was always a good selection but I did feel like the items that were chef prepared were prepared in too large a quantity and thus not really warm. To explain, there were usually 2 chef prepared items at the end of the buffet and then there were numerous items presented in burners. The chef items at breakfast were like ranchero eggs or pancakes but the chef prepared like 6-10 portions and put them out and then they sometimes sat for a couple of minutes and got cold. Instead of doing that, put our 2-3 every couple of minutes instead of doing such a large quantity and walking away. Same was done at lunch and there were 2 times I grabbed something that was chef prepared only to not eat it since it was not warm.
- Grab and go food option were NOT as good as in Tucson! In Tucson you could get smoothies and various quick grab and go food options throughout the day. Austin had a similar set up next to the restaurant but the items never really changed and were not as appealing as in Tucson. The sweet items were not good and felt like they were the item that didn't get taken off the breakfast pastry rack and put in little paper bags and then left there for people to take.
- Spa services were great and I was surprised by how large the area with all the treatment rooms was. I did feel that the locker room area and the option in the locker room felt cold and uninviting and not up to par with other high end spas I've visit. There was an area off the immediate changing room that had a plunge pool and a steam room but the area felt sterile....likely due to the white tiles....the rest of the spa was in muted brown tones. I am going to assume that Miraval didn't touch this area after they took over the previous property.
- Staff was overall really welcoming and seemed to enjoy their jobs.
- One thing I would note is that due to the water levels of Lake Travis, you really cant' see much water from the resort. Was this important? No but if you booked and spent extra on a room that had a view you likely would not get much of a view since a large portion of the lake is dried out. When sitting on the patio at dinner, you could really tell how much the water level had changed over the years.
- I did not like how many corporate groups seemed to be at the resort and I felt it changed the feel of the resort when they were present. There was one day that a large group of people that were clearly there for work kept working on their computers while at the table during lunch and this should be a big no no at Miraval. In addition, these groups tending to hang out at the building that people met at for a lot of activities (Live Oak Center) since that was an area that cell phones were allowed and they were all on their phones carrying on work conversations. In Tucson, cell phone activity was restricted to the area in front of reception but in Austin it was not and I felt like that needs to be changed.

All in all, we would return and hope that the service in the restaurant had improved since that was our only real gripe. Location wise I liked the Austin property but if proximity to the lake and water is important then I might recommend you also look at the Lake Austin Resort & Spa which I have also stayed at.

Looking forward to trying the Berkshires property next.