hightide

I have 48K IHG points. Plan to arrive and depart Austin on Amtrak without plans to rent a car.

Although Hotel Indigo - Austin Downtown Uni and HIX Austin Downtown - Uni seem to be located nearest to/in the city center, both lack an area shuttle which I will have use for.

Hence, I'm considering Holiday Inn - Austin Town Lake which is located by I-35 and is ~1 mile from downtown. My questions:
Are the roads from HI - Austin Town Lake to downtown suitable for walking?
I reckon the complimentary shuttle can pick me up and drop me off at the Amtrak station, give me a ride to Zilker Park and downtown hence my consideration for this property.

Is there a better IHG property to stay at in Austin considering my circumstances?
My planned stay in Austin is 2 days, so plan to do one award night + one paid stay.

IAN-UK

I have no answer for you, in fact raise an additional question...

I've seen "area shuttle" mentioned in many IHG property descriptions, but never believed it represented a credible service so just ignored it. It looks like maybe I was wrong to be so dismissive. Can the the area shuttle be used (easily and efficiently) in the way the OP describes?

hightide

From my experience at Crowne Plaza Portland Downtown - yes and I have used in several times during my one night stay. Once when I booked it for a certain time slot and they suddenly needed the shuttle for something urgent, they actually called an Uber for me on their dime to take me to the Apple store.

ElmhurstNick

I would also consider the Staybridge at the airport, which is only 20k. That way you could do two award nights. There wouldn't be a shuttle from the train station, but the savings from the second night may cover enough Uber/Lyft rides (about $17 one way from 6th street, including tip), and the #20 bus costs $2.50 and runs 4x/hour for much of the day between the airport arrivals level and the city center - and it also runs past the Staybridge, about a block and a half away.

Colleagues of mine have less than flattering things to say about the HIX/Indigo complex off of 8th, primarily that the neighborhood is a little challenging, especially at night.

hightide

Thanks for your suggestion! Will keep Staybridge at the airport as an alternative, and if the price is right closer to check-in, I might stay there.
I would rather do 1 award night and 1 paid night especially when one of the nights is reasonably priced as I can collect accelerate points.

EmailKid

IMHO this depends on when you want to do this @:-)

Right now daytime temps are well over 100, and the low is about 85.

NOT suitable for comfortable walking.

hightide

In March.

Dubh

I managed to book the Staybridge for the full long weekend of the Formula 1 in October with points. I was amazed there was availablity.

Mikey likes it

If you can find a way to earn the extra 2K points, the Intercontinental Stephen F Austin (50K points) is the most conveniently located hotel to Amtrak and for seeing downtown. Like the others you mention, there's no "area shuttle" but you can use the Bird or Lime scooters for short dollars and of course there's Lyft and Uber.

ehallison

hightide, did you decide on a hotel for next March yet? We just had a 2-night stay at the Holiday Inn Town Lake. It's a good location. Yes, you can walk to downtown. We walked to Rainey Street at night - it's a straight shot of about .4 mile on a sidewalk - it goes along a freeway frontage road but felt safe enough on the sidewalk. The river trail is directly behind the hotel so you can walk to downtown via that route, or even to Zilker park. I did that during the day. I wouldn't do it at night alone; it's pretty dark along the path.

We also took advantage of the area shuttle which will take you anywhere within 2 miles. Not sure if that's driving distance or if they look at the map and draw a 2-mile radius, but it worked for us. We didn't ask for a return trip so I'm not sure how that works.

Also, instead of Uber or Lyft, download the Ride Austin App before your trip. Very easy to set up an account. It's a not-for-profit ride share app - similar to Lyft & Uber, but they take less of the ride cost & give more to the driver. (they also claim they do better background checks than Lyft/Uber, with 100% fingerprinting of drivers). We used Ride Austin on this trip, and Lyft on previous trips.

As Platinum you will probably get an upgraded lake view room, even if the hotel is sold out (I'm guessing you will be there during SXSW?).

Bloobell

I'm going over for 7-10 days for the F1 next year and was intending staying at the IC but it seems to be pretty inflexible about things like rollaway beds - there may be 3 or 4 of us boys.

If I have to I'll stay elsewhere but that would be a shame as the IC looks to be in by far the best location

Dubh

It was super convenient for COTA. I was parked up in the track marshal parking lot in about 15mins every morning. Breakfast was ok, for a Staybridge, and started from 6am. And there is a free laundry room.....great for drying stuff after a downpour.

Bloobell

Thanks for that, worth knowing.

The new Kimpton : Hotel Van Zandt looks lovely so I'll see if there are any IHG reviews on the place - 60,000 Points per night but hey ho

hightide

Thanks so much for the thorough review ^

I will be in Austin after SXSW, and it looks like hotel rates are back to normal around my time of arrival. However, stalking numerous dates, it looks like ideally HI Austin Town Lake should be booked 1 month in advance for the best rates, so I will be looking to book a nonrefundable rate in February. The current rate is still over my budget, so I haven't bothered to book yet.

Also, I remember the redemption rate to be 25,000 points earlier this year. Did it suddenly jump up to 30,000 points?

madipides

The Van Zandt is a very lovely property. I highly recommend it. You will not be disapointed. The pool area and outdoor fireplace is excellent, both day and night. Wine down hour includes local beer and hand made margaritas. Plus it is walkable to downtown.