JW Marriott Hotel, Austin, Texas [Master Thread]
Dec 7, 2018, 2:38 pm
Dec 7, 2018, 3:38 pm
I will be curious to hear your thoughts on the W if you try it next time. We received excellent service there on our visit in November 2017. We are looking forward to a return visit next year.
Dec 7, 2018, 9:34 pm
Dec 8, 2018, 3:21 pm
I’m a PPE, and I stayed several times there over a very short period of time, and I requested always to be assigned to a specific type of room the next time, but they never ever pre-assigned me to this type of room. At checkin though, I was practically always able to get this type of room so they obviously had it available. But pre-arrival my request was ignored.
Dec 8, 2018, 4:38 pm
Dec 8, 2018, 5:46 pm
Dec 24, 2018, 12:01 am
JW Marriott Austin
110 E 2nd St Austin, TX US 78701
Beautiful Presidential Suite with disappointing service misses for a "luxury" hotel (39 Photos)
JW Marriott Austin
This was my first stay ever at a JW Marriott brand hotel, and I chose it over the W Austin largely because it was a bit cheaper and my stay was only for a night. I also was swayed that the SNA upgrades to a very nice Executive Corner Suite that many thought was better than the comparable suite at the W.
The hotel is a very large convention hotel with 1,012 rooms. That should have been my first hint that the hotel really couldn't operate in the luxury space that the JW brand allegedly occupies and that I prefer for my personal stays.
The lobby was most often a zoo, with lots and lots of people hanging out and coming/going.
The lobby and reception:
Corner restaurant:
Lobby bar/lounge area:
Another restaurant:
Elevators showing the many options and floors:
Check In
Check in actually wasn't too bad, with a short line and then a friendly associate.
There was no mention of my status, though the associate did mention I'd been upgraded to the Presidential Suite.
I had previously applied an SNA to this booking, which had cleared exactly 5 days out to the Executive Corner King Suite about which I had heard so many good things.
A few days before my trip, I called the hotel to remind the hotel of my need for the air con to be set to 67 F or below--something I also had confirmed with my Ambassador and the hotel before booking here. I also happened to ask the manager, with no expectation, that I'd love to see the Presidential Suite if it were available (and if it were able to cool to 67 F or below). I noticed the morning of my arrival here that I'd already been upgraded from the Executive Suite to the Presidential Suite.
Room
The Presidential Suite was on the 32nd floor if I recall correctly. It was a beautiful hard product and very spacious suite, laid out in a very effective manner and in a very corportate boardroom chic style. I was most impressed.
The living room, office area, dining room, and powder bath (there also was a butler/kitchenette not shown):
There obviously were great views from every window and vantage point in the suite.
It was very strange that the only phone in the entire suite was in the living room office space--not particularly convenient.
The bedroom was also spacious and had wonderful views (most photos taken at night after arrival, view shots taken the next morning):
I can't say I cared much for the bath products, though I'm not someone who cares so much about those, either.
Nighttime views:
Daytime views:
The hard product was excellent. Unfortunately, I arrived and while the thermostats had all been set to 67 F, the air con wasn't on at all--and it was quite warm in the suite. It actually was 72 F in the suite as measured by my personal thermometer. Fortunately, the air con was fixed by the time I returned from dinner--it got as cold as 62 F, in fact. Or bliss for me.
Wifi was an excellent 50 Mbps up and down, putting to shame the Ritz-Carlton Dallas and its pitiful 0.5-1.5 Mbps speeds.
Shower pressure was great.
All in all, the Preidential Suite was a wonderful room. Its only real problem and stupidity was that there was no phone in the bedroom by the bed!
Service
Service was a real letdown for me.
After being so impressed that the manager had upgraded me to the Preidential Suite, it was a bit of a letdown to see the air con not actually on and the suite quite warm--especially after having repeatedly impresed upon here and the hotel a few times about this. It took 2 tries to get it fixed, pretty annoying on a 1 night stay. Still, I was pleased the hotel team fixed the problem by the time I got back from dinner.
I was constantly let down by calling and being transferred and being put on hold. When calling to get the air con fixed. When calling for room service. When calling for my car. When calling to check on whether engineering was coming. When calling to complain that engineering hadn't fixed the air con, after all. When calling to ask for a concierge recommendation. It didn't matter. There was NOTHING luxury about the way the hotel handles calls or service requests. The phone often rang for 10-15 rings before someone picked up. I was put on hold once for 7 minutes. It was tragic.
The elevators were slow...and not all seemed to be working. With 1000+ rooms, this was a bit of a mess.
Despite it being my first visit and them knowing very well I was a Plat Ambassador guest, there was no welcome amenity at all. Nothing. I asked about it the next morning, and the guest relations manager admitted that was a mistake--and promised I would get the amenity at noon (I was supposed to leave around 2 pm). It never arrived.
Housekeeping knocked and entered the room at 11 am despite the Do Not Disturb on the door. I was pissed.
Room service took two calls and a hold to even order; it took almost an hour to be delivered, and it was barely warm at that. I complained and wasn't charged, but I would have preferred to pay and get the hot breakfast I wanted.
Basically, I've always heard that JW Marriott is the affordable luxury brand. Well, it was affordable, and it was a nice hard product, but to my mind there was nothing luxury about the hotel. The service was very disappointing on so many levels.
Dining
Breakfast room service wasn't so great after taking almost an hour to arrive.
I'd also say the presentation wasn't quite what I'd expect for a supposed luxury hotel. Again, this was the presentation I'd expect for the convention hotel it is.
Location
The downtown location was great. Other than the nightmarish Austin traffic, it was extremely well located for me.
Overall
I’m glad I tried a JW. But there’s no question that the large room count makes for a unsatisfactory luxury experience by any measure. I now understand why I have always preferred W, even with its quirks. W room count is almost always much lower than this JW or most JWs IME. Service is vastly better with fewer rooms, and W service is almost always vastly superior to the service I’ve experienced here.
I would not choose the JW Marriott Austin again. I would much prefer to try the smaller size and better luxury service afforded by the W.
That being said, the JW Marriott Austin is a great option for anyone attending a conference/convention in town, as well as anyone wanting a nice hard product at affordable rates. Just don't expect luxury!
Jan 17, 2019, 9:36 am
- We received a call from the hotel yesterday around 3pm (check-in day) verifying we were still arriving. It seems they were over booked and trying to find out if some were not going to make it.
- Parking here is expensive. $35/night - Self-parking, $50/night - Valet. Luckily this is a business trip.
- Upon check-in, my status was recognized (at least as Plat) and offered amenity choice of $10 food/bev coupon or 1K points. Chose the coupon as my wife likes to hit Starbucks in the mornings. When I mentioned that, they gave me a 2nd $10 food/bev coupon for tomorrow morning as well. We were also offered a couple of bottles of water as well. Nice extras. (Did notice that there were 2 bottles of water already in the room as well.)
- The lobby area reminded me a lot of the Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino hotel (though there were more people everywhere, but this is a conference hotel so not surprising).
- Was told I had an upgraded room, which I think in this case meant I had a normal King room on a higher floor. Not a big issue as I do believe they are overbooked and for 2 nights with just my wife and me, we don't need much. (From here we will be traveling to the JW Cancun in a Club 91 room for 6 nights. I wouldn't mind a nice upgrade to an oceanfront room at least if possible.
) - I asked for and received a 4pm checkout for tomorrow afternoon. No negotiating or fighting required. I just asked and they said not a problem. Of course, lets see how many times housekeeping knocks on my door tomorrow before we checkout.
- The room has a door hanger I can put out if I prefer 500 bonus points instead of housekeeping cleaning my room for that day. I wasn't paying attention last night when we got to the room. So didn't get it set out by 2am in the morning. And since I'm only here for 2 nights, I won't be able to verify if everything is automatic with the request.
- As a PP, I get the Enhanced Internet connection for no charge. I ran a speed test today (around 10am, which probably doesn't have a lot of folks using right at the moment). It showed 55mb download and 54mb upload speeds. Not bad at all. Of course this evening when everyone gets on at the same time, I try to remember to test again and see what the results are.
- Breakfast in the lounge was about the usual for a lounge breakfast in the US. They had scrambled eggs and bacon for hot items. I did like that they had a nice selection of fresh berries (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries) plus other fresh fruit options as well.
- Even though the hotel was full last night, the lounge at 7:30-8:00am this morning was not jam packed at all.
Also note, we are here as my wife is attending a conference at the 4-Seasons. She would have rather stayed there and we did try to get in, but unfortunately they were booked up.
Mar 15, 2019, 11:50 pm
lobby is insane. lots of people. doesn’t bother me.
exec suite is nice. low floor, so views weren’t anything to write home about. a real showering tub would have been nice instead of the standard room tub + walk in shower. bathroom is nice. bed is comfy; pillows aren’t that firm
cheaper parking is available very close-by if you don’t mind walking five minutes.
second bar across the street is awesome; highly recommend it
AMAZING location.
would come here again
Oct 24, 2019, 1:49 pm
Dec 14, 2020, 10:33 pm
- Lounge Access: While our Executive Lounge is currently closed, Platinum and above Marriott Bonvoy members will receive one complimentary appetizer in Corner Restaurant per stay, as well as a $10 credit to Starbucks, per day.
James