W Austin, Texas [Master Thread]

Old Dec 15, 2010, 3:38 pm
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Arrow W Austin, Texas [Master Thread]

Stayed this past Sunday night on a free weekend night. It was unavailable for the longest time but a room popped up at the last minute and I grabbed it. Strangely enough, there were C&P rooms available. William tried to help me with the issue but was never really able to get anywhere with the property.

This property clearly has teething issues, but that's fine. It opened on Friday and I visited on Sunday, so that is to be expected. At check-in, I was told that the suites weren't in inventory yet. I was told that I was upgraded but the room was fairly small, particularly for a non-NYC location. I can't imagine a smaller room, though I guess they exist. I have pictures that I will post later. The room I was initially assigned had a beautiful view overlooking a construction site and the USPS elevated parking garage.

Random thoughts:

1) Check in was fair. Was told that suites weren't available (fine). I inquired about the gym and was told that it wasn't open yet. So, when I asked for alternatives, I was told that there was a Gold's Gym down the street. When I asked for a pass, I was told the hotel didn't have passes. So, I had to push a bit. I basically told the agent that if the hotel's gym wasn't available, they would have to get me a pass somewhere.

I am fine with a hotel opening prior to the gym/spa or other amenities being available. But, a hotel of the W caliber/star level/price range obviously has to offer alternatives if their basic services are unavailable for any reason. I mean, c'mon. (I stayed at the Royal Hawaiian right after it re-opened. The property's spa and gym weren't ready. The hotel immediately offered me the option of using the gym at the Westin (next door) or the 24 Hour Fitness down the road. I selected the 24 Hour Fitness and I brought them the receipt and they took it right off my bill.)

After arriving in my room, someone else from the front desk called and told me the gym was, in fact, open. So, the check in was so so.

2) In the rooms, electrical outlets are very hard to come by/find. This is shocking considering this is a NEW hotel. How can new-build aloft hotels have plenty of outlets but not a new W? Behind the desk, there was one spare plug (the other plugs were used). To access the plug, you have to lie flat on your back on the floor, head under the desk, and squeeze your arm behind the desk. But, I needed to plug in my computer and that was the ONLY choice. When I was using the wifi and laying on the bed using my computer, I was completely unable to access any outlets on the pillow side of the bed. Luckily, my long cord reached completely down the length of the bed and to an outlet a few feet from the TV near a chair. But, there was no outlet whatsoever on the pillow side of the bed.

3) There is wired internet on the desk and wifi.

4) One bar of soap at the sink. No bar soap in the shower, though there is shower gel.

5) There was no door separating the shower from the rest of the room...you walk into the room, take one or two steps, and to your right is the bathroom sink (no door). To the right of the sink is the shower with a glass door. To the right of the shower is the toilet room (that has a door, thankfully).

6) No bottled water (for Platinums). The only water in the room had a $7 price tag.

7) On the bed was an opened book, also with a price tag. Half of the things in the room that weren't bolted down had price tags, it seemed. A bit tacky.

8) On the bathroom mirror was a sticky note that said there would be a $200 fine if anyone smoked in the room.

9) Water pressure was good but I couldn't really get the water super hot. I left it on full max hot mode and it was good for me. And, I am not a super hot water shower guy, typically. If you are the type that likes HOT showers, you may be out of luck.

10) I returned to my room on Sunday afternoon from brunch to watch some football. Of course, my cable didn't work. Several technicians were called up and finally it was determined that none of the TVs on the 15th floor worked. After about 45 minutes the property found another room on the 12th floor that had working cable. The very nice hotel manager picked up a drink at the bar for the inconvenience. We chatted a bit and he was great...

11) The (same type) room on the 12th floor had a great view of the river...really beautiful view. I wonder why I didn't get this room from the get go. If there weren't suites available (which is fine), they could have at least offered the better view, no? Maybe it wasn't ready when I checked in? Whatever, that's fine. Not a killer, just interesting.

12) The gym is amazing for a hotel. Very impressive. Above ground, tons of light. Obviously, brand new equipment. Great gym. There was an attached yoga room/studio for jumping rope and stretching, etc.

13) On both floors I was on (12 and 15), housekeeping left their carts on the floors all hours of the day and night. So, when I got back to the property late Sunday night (after midnight'ish?), there were still housekeeping carts on the floor. There was also a housekeeping clipboard just laying on the floor in the hallway near a room door. Also, the door to the staff elevators was propped open with a wooden wedge and there were dirty room service trays stacked and laying around in front of the service elevators. When I left in the morning (6 AM'ish?) the door was still propped open and the dirty room service trays were still stacked up (gross, right?). It was such an eyesore. And the lighting in the service elevator hallway is so awful compared to the regular hallway lighting. Obviously, that service elevator/staff door shouldn't be permanently propped open.

14) When I left on Monday morning, many of the rooms still had Sunday morning's newspaper laying in the hallway even though the Monday's paper was also delivered. Sloppy.

15) Before I left for dinner, I called Whatever/However (or whatever silly name the W calls its version of "Service Express") and asked for turndown service. The agent had no idea what "turndown service" was. So, I just asked for some fresh towels. Several hours later when I returned, there were no towels delivered.

So, overall, the hotel is clearly still finding its way. Let me be very clear: this hotel will print money. Austin is often "under-hotel'd", particularly when they have those "hipster" events in town (music, technology, etc.). The property is in a great location (near the main road to/from the airport). It is right on the river allowing great views. It has a great bed, great gym, etc. But, clearly some teething issues with housekeeping, front desk training, etc.

I will return, hopefully to see the inside of a suite.

If anyone has questions, fire away...keep in mind I was only there for one night.

Last edited by JFKSFOLAX_friend; Dec 15, 2010 at 10:53 pm
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Old Dec 15, 2010, 8:31 pm
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Cool time-lapse video of the construction:

http://www.vimeo.com/17773633
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Old Dec 15, 2010, 9:20 pm
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Thanks for the very detailed review!

I held on to one free weekend night hoping to burn it there... but it wasn't available online when I needed to make my plans and now I'm glad I didn't head down with kinks still in the works. I'll have plenty of Austin stays in the coming year so I'll plan on checking it out in the spring.
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Old Dec 15, 2010, 10:51 pm
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I can't figure out how to post pictures on here. Any thoughts?
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Old Dec 21, 2010, 7:27 pm
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Still teething... although it may be getting worse

I stayed at the W last night and it is still searching for it's way - with one less Platinum to visit it ever again.

I booked a Cool Corner Suite as it was a special event and I didn't want to risk not having an upgrade. There was no upgrade to any higher suite, although none was expected. I pulled up to the hotel and the location really is fantastic. Easy access, easy to find valet, and everyone was quite friendly. Check in went smoothly as expected although I did get a kick out of being told I had been upgraded to a Cool Corner Suite (just like the one on my reservation!).

Went up to the 15th floor and found a housekeeping cart blocking the door completely (this is 7:30 at night). The room was nice enough although the single bar of soap by the sink and no toiletries at all for the bathtub seemed a little cheap.

Over the course of the night, we discovered:

1 - You can only watch either the living area TV or the TV in the bedroom, not both at the same time.

2 - If you try to search for a movie, you get a 404 page not found screen on the TV

3 - The TV signal is sporadic at best and would cut out for a minute or two at random times.

4 - Later at night, the TV simply crashed and put itself into a permanent reboot loop. When I called Whatever/Wherever I was told that "we are still having issues with the TV" and that was that.

5 - The mini bar had not been re-stocked prior to our arrival, and there was trash from prior guests in the trash can.

6 - The pad they used on the bed did not fit and left lumps in the bed that were very uncomfortable.

7 - In the morning, after trying to reach valet with no one answering, I called W/W again to have the car pulled around. I came down 15 minutes later and after waiting 5 minutes outside heard the W/W rep tell the valet to pull our car around.

Overall, I really don't have much nice to say about the hotel other than check in went very smoothly and the room service was very good (quick, well prepared, and a friendly delivery person). Beyond that, the night was terribly with one little problem / disappointment after another. The hotel simply isn't up to the standards of any W I've been to and falls short of the service available at even the Sheraton nearby.

I'm sure the hotel will do well with the party crown because of it's three bars (a fact that was pointed out to us three times during check-in) and Austin's underserved hotel market. That said, for anyone looking for upscale travel, I would have to say to stay away - it's just not what a W should be.
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Old Dec 21, 2010, 10:26 pm
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Originally Posted by JBeechel
although I did get a kick out of being told I had been upgraded to a Cool Corner Suite (just like the one on my reservation!).
Originally Posted by JBeechel
Went up to the 15th floor and found a housekeeping cart blocking the door completely (this is 7:30 at night).
Originally Posted by JBeechel
1 - You can only watch either the living area TV or the TV in the bedroom, not both at the same time.

2 - If you try to search for a movie, you get a 404 page not found screen on the TV

3 - The TV signal is sporadic at best and would cut out for a minute or two at random times.

4 - Later at night, the TV simply crashed and put itself into a permanent reboot loop. When I called Whatever/Wherever I was told that "we are still having issues with the TV" and that was that.
I find it interesting/almost humorous that you ran into the same problems that I did: namely, slight front desk issues, housekeeping sloppiness/laziness, and extreme TV problems. I guess they haven't figured things out yet.

I would also note that after I checked out, I found an interesting $80-plus charge on my credit card. I was not sent an updated folio even though the property must have my contact details. I have written the property about the unexplained/mysterious charges.
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Old Dec 21, 2010, 11:21 pm
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Originally Posted by JFKSFOLAX_friend
I find it interesting/almost humorous that you ran into the same problems that I did: namely, slight front desk issues, housekeeping sloppiness/laziness, and extreme TV problems. I guess they haven't figured things out yet.

I would also note that after I checked out, I found an interesting $80-plus charge on my credit card. I was not sent an updated folio even though the property must have my contact details. I have written the property about the unexplained/mysterious charges.
Interesting you saw those charges. I'm calling tomorrow a.m. as I have a charge for 590.40 (well more than my room rate, valet, and room service combined) and another charge for 150.00 even. I can't fathom any explanation for the total on the first charge, much less the second.

It just seems like the group launching the W in Austin has no idea what they are doing.

As an update to this. I decided to call before i posted. Here's the explanation of the incorrect charges on my card:

Internet access. When I mentioned that this was complimentary for Platinums, and after questioning whether I was actually Platinum, she stated this would be reversed.

Mini-bar charges. My girlfriend and I each had a Coke from the mini-bar and nothing else. She did mention to me that it seemed odd there was no water and no other Cokes, but I figured it was just Austin. Nope. It turns out I was charged for a very large mini-bar bill for no reason.

The attitude I received on the call was comical for a hotel trying to build a reputation here in Austin. For the hospitality industry, there sure seems to be plenty of inhospitable attitude from the W/W staff. Give them a call to see if they are trying to ding you for mini-bar... sorry, "honor bar" charges as well. That would be my guess.

I just read my post and don't want to seem like I'm trying to bash the hotel. I sincerely want the W to be a great hotel because Austin needs another true luxury brand hotel. It's just that what I experienced at the W hurts the Starwood brand - something a new hotel should never do.
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Old Dec 22, 2010, 7:50 am
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I heard they were so hell bent on opening on the date predicted that the hotel staff training may not be up to par and many systems such as the TVs are not working.

I understand the allure of finishing a project on time, but rushing the end just to make an arbitrary deadline seems to have hurt the new reputation of this building.

Luckily it seems all the issues are training and staff related and those at least have an easier fix than an architectural problem.
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Old Dec 22, 2010, 10:50 am
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(Oh, and my Platinum amenity never posted. I had to contact Customer Care to have it manually added.)

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Old Dec 27, 2010, 3:36 pm
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I would welcome some additional reporting of stays at this facility. We are heading to AUS next week and would stay here but I would like some assurance that this is a luxury or near luxury and not a Texas sized C@#$%F&*)....
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Old Dec 27, 2010, 7:08 pm
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Originally Posted by JPat
I would welcome some additional reporting of stays
People are always free to post Trip Reports at any time, no?
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Old Dec 31, 2010, 2:58 pm
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Just completed 2 night stay during MR to Austin. Notably, all in-room movies were complementary during my stay (plus one bottle of water per person per day) and comp. coffee/pastry downstairs.

Design was nice, in my opinion. The room with hundreds of vinyl records from local musicians was fun to browse. The jalepeno lemonade drink was tasty. Valet crew did a great job arranging taxis.

Missteps: elevators that didn't work part of the time due to ongoing construction (walking down 15 floors is a lot of stairs!); slow room service and very slow bfast downstairs. To their credit, management recognized the slow food problems and removed those charges. Also, gym is now open 24/7(very impressive changing rooms), but construction workers were still in there at 1 am which was a bit odd.

I sensed they still have some staffing/ training issues, plus ongoing constuction, but I had a great stay and look forward to returning. Location is excellent. The unlimited free movies were a fun perk that -for me- made up for the hiccups during this stay.

Last edited by FreeRangekid; Jan 28, 2011 at 6:41 pm
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Old Jan 17, 2011, 3:02 pm
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Here is a review of the W in Austin that I just posted on Yelp. I also uploaded a few pictures on Yelp.

"I travel to Austin pretty often because of my Texas Longhorns Football season tickets and because it's my second favorite city in the world (after NYC). I've been anticipating the opening of the W for quite some time, and my one night stay didn't disappoint. I want to make this my second home...

I've turned into a complete hotel snob after staying in a hotel for over 200 nights just last year alone, so I've had a wide range of experiences with Starwood properties. I would rank the W in Austin near the top (The Joule in Dallas is still my favorite, and I don't think anything will ever top that).

It doesn't surprise me that a few of the early reviewers had bad experiences dealing with the employees or with the overall hotel operation. One of the managers admitted it was a bit of a disaster the first few weeks since they were still trying to work out all the kinks.
But after about a month of being open, it seems like everything is running very smoothly. The employees were very friendly and eager to assist with my needs, and I didn't have any issues.

Let's start with the positives:
1. Atmosphere: I love the modern/hip/luxurious design of the hotel.
2. Starwood Preferred Guest benefits: When it comes to upgrades and other SPG benefits, Starwood properties are hit or miss. Luckily this hotel goes out of its way to treat Platinum members with respect. They gave me a free upgrade to one of the Cool Corner Suites, and I was pretty blown away. The hotel rate for a corner suite is worth about twice what I paid for...
3. The rooms: The rooms are amazing with a great level of comfort and a great view of the city. The bathrooms are nice and clean, and as always, they include the awesome Bliss products that I love to steal. They also have HD TVs in every room where every channel is in HD. Heck, the Beverly Hilton didn't even have this feature.
*Check out the pictures I uploaded.

Negatives:
1. The price - The lowest price that I've seen is about $279, and during football season and other busy weekends, the rate shoots up to at least $454 a night. The $279 rate is ok with me, but I would never pay close to $500 per night at this hotel.
Of course you can use SPG points, but it will cost you at least 12,000 points on most nights, and 16,000 on the busy weekends. That's crazy...
I'm also disappointed that they don't offer the cash and points option as much as they should. It would normally be just 4800 points + $90, but every random weekend that I checked didn't even offer this option.

I still need to try out the restaurants, bars, and the pool. If the pool is similar to the Wet pool at the W in Dallas, then I'll be highly satisfied. I'll update this review once I have a chance to check out these other features.

Overall, I would recommend this hotel to anyone that is looking for an amazing place to crash in Austin. Like I said earlier, this is going to be my 1st choice whenever I make it down to Austin."
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Old Jan 17, 2011, 4:31 pm
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Are the TVs finally working?

(Oh, and about the rates, as I said earlier...this place is literally going to print money.)
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Old Jan 17, 2011, 10:45 pm
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Originally Posted by JFKSFOLAX_friend
Are the TVs finally working?

(Oh, and about the rates, as I said earlier...this place is literally going to print money.)

The TVs finally work, and every channel (or at least the TVs in the Corner Suite) was in HD. That's pretty amazing.

And you're right about the place printing money. The hotel was sold out on a random Saturday when nothing was going on in Austin. If anyone wants to book a room during football season or ACL, you better do it months in advance...
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