There’s no real secret to Austin’s long-running popularity as a choice travel destination. Preceded by its reputation, this central Texas gem shines on by simply being its easy-going, fun-loving self, relaxed in its skin and always true to character.
Unsurprising are Austin’s many high or top rankings in areas such as eco-friendliness, the outdoors, culture and work-play balance; while not born in Austin, adopted son Lance Armstrong was quoted as saying, “I got there as fast as I could.”
Fresh off another triumphant South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Festival, its signature annual event, the “Live Music Capital of the World” is striking an especially resonant chord with meeting planners in this down economy.
“The financial crisis has generated some unfortunate rhetoric around the perceived extravagance of meetings and conferences,” says Roy Benear, senior vice president of the Austin CVB. “The fact we are not traditionally considered a luxury or extravagant destination plays well in this environment. Companies know they can still count on a great experience, while not having to account for the trip to the board of directors.”
Benear says there is strong ongoing interest in Austin, citing the remarkably high number of visitors to the city’s booth at the recent springtime meetings industry event in Washington, D.C.
Over the past two decades, this one-time small university town (albeit one giant school, the University of Texas) where Willie Nelson got his start has become a big city (16th largest in the U.S.) with a commanding skyline. It’s a short 7.5-mile drive from the award-winning Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and once on Congress Avenue, with the Texas State Capitol beckoning in the distance, the sense of place is unmistakable.
The city is still growing and changing, too, with a W Hotel among several upscale developments starting to fill Austin’s untapped luxury niche.
“The general feeling is that these projects will add a new dimension to the downtown area without changing the city’s character,” Benear says. “We are secure in our identity, which we work hard to guard and to preserve.”
Whether within Austin city limits or exploring the breathtaking environs of Texas Hill Country, planners and delegates can count on an authentically local, make-yourself-at-home getaway like no other.
Hot Prospects
With 300 days of sunshine annually and temperatures averaging nearly 70 degrees year-round, meetings are naturally brighter in Austin.
The 900,000-square-foot Austin Convention Center’s abundant windows, terraces and patios lend a sunny disposition and relaxing ambience throughout its exhibit halls, meeting rooms and expansive, art-filled hallways and common areas. Complimentary hyper-speed (1 billion bits per second) wireless Internet service, advanced lighting systems and a 43,300-square-foot Grand Ballroom are among the other highlights.
Offering views of the Texas State Capitol, another illuminating, high-tech choice is the new AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center at The University of Texas. Situated on the Longhorns’ campus, this advanced 40,000-square-foot meeting facility includes a 300-seat amphitheatre, 800-seat divisible ballroom, classrooms, conference rooms and breakout rooms. Also a hotel, the center features 297 energy-conscious rooms, 21 suites included, and three restaurants.
Hospitality comes naturally to Austinites. It’s also a major segment of the local economy, Benear says, employing some 78,000 people and continuing to chart impressive year-on-year growth. Of the more than 26,000 hotel rooms citywide, 5,500 are downtown, a capacity on track to reach 7,000 by 2011.
Located across from the convention center, the 800-room Hilton Austin, with the city’s largest ballroom and a scenic rooftop pool and sun deck, is among the city’s leading business hotels. For conferences with a historical touch, the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin and the legendary Driskill Hotel, both with 189 rooms, are two exceptional choices.
Steps from the Congress Avenue Bridge—site of Austin’s famed twilight bat exodus—the 448-room Hyatt Regency Austin overlooks Lady Bird Lake and provides breathtaking city views from its 17th-floor Foothills Ballroom.
Meanwhile, Austin’s popularity as a happening meetings destination continues to soar, and new and planned hotel developments are continuing to meet the demand.
Two boutique hotels recently debuted on the scene, both on Austin’s hip South Congress Avenue. The seven-room, European-style Kimber Modern offers high-tech amenities and an ideal gathering venue in its central patio, while the 14-room Hotel Saint Cecilia offers private bungalows, a new pool and modern lounge.
Several large hotel projects are either under construction or in the pre-construction phase. A new 250-room W Hotel anchors the Block21 mixed-use development in the 2nd Street District. Covering an entire city block, the ultra-modern project will also feature new studios for Austin City Limits and a nightclub co-owned by Willie Nelson, star of ACL’s pilot program.
The upcoming 16-story, 243-room 21C Museum Hotel will double as a contemporary art museum, which will be open to the public and showcase free exhibitions year-round.
Another mixed-use project, the Domain, will feature an eight-story, 340-room Westin Hotel and include 14,000 square feet of meeting space.
Westin is also planning an 18-story, 300-room hotel in Austin’s popular Warehouse District. The project will include 15,000 square feet of meeting space and a spa.
Meanwhile, Marriott will soon break ground on a 1,000-room property that will serve as a headquarters hotel for the Austin Convention Center and offer 50,000 square feet of meeting space.
A planned sweeping redevelopment of Austin’s Seaholm Power Plant will integrate the plant’s Art Deco facade into a new mixed-use center, with an upscale, 160-room meetings hotel as its hub and direct trolley service to the Austin Convention Center.
Designed with business travelers in mind, a Hyatt Place is planned for the award-winning Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The property will feature free Wi-Fi access, sleeper sofas, oversized desks and more.
The Hyatt Regency Austin Downtown on the Lake has just completed renovations to its lobby, public areas, meeting spaces and ballroom. There’s a new coffee shop, a new patio bar and a new restaurant.
Other developments taking shape include one that will have bicyclists rejoicing. Named after Austin’s favorite (adopted) native son, the long-anticipated Lance Armstrong Bikeway is scheduled for completion this August. Consisting of off-street concrete trails, on-street striped bike lanes and on-street signed bike routes, this dedicated downtown route is perfect for channeling your inner Lance.
Play List
With four distinct entertainment districts and live music playing at nearly 200 venues throughout the city on any given night, Austin has a soundtrack all its own. The arts also take center stage on the meetings scene, with a variety of great event-capable performance, cultural and entertainment spaces to choose from.
The city’s newest cultural landmark, the multipurpose Long Center for the Performing Arts, provides a permanent home for the Austin Symphony, Ballet Austin and Austin Lyric Opera, along with dozens of independent theater companies and performance groups. Overlooking Lady Bird Lake and in full view of the Austin skyline, the center’s curving, colonnaded outdoor stage is a prime event and performance space.
With three area locations, including the historic Ritz Theater on Sixth Street, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is an immensely popular concept for presentations, awards ceremonies and other events. Delegates can eat and drink in their seats while watching movies or bring the screen to life with customized movie-themed events. Plus, the Rolling Roadshow turns the experience inside-out by bringing the screen directly to events across Texas, catering included.
No night out in Austin is complete without hitting South Congress Avenue, or SoCo. Home to retro motels, great eateries and legendary clubs, this famed thoroughfare is ground zero for the pure Austin experience, with dining temples like Guero’s Taco Bar and rock shrines like the Continental Club.
The event-ready Texas State History Museum tells the Story of Texas with three floors of interactive exhibits and enthralling big-screen shows. Austin’s culture club also includes two University of Texas institutions, the Harry Ransom Center and the Blanton Museum of Art, and a fine theater collection, including One World, Zachary Scott and the historic Paramount.
Whether crafted by hand or by nature, Austin’s artistry is also found in several great outdoor venues, such as the utterly tranquil Umlauf Sculpture Garden, the Zilker Botanical Garden and the 284-acre Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Hill Country
Once likened by poet Robert Frost to a westernized New England, the Hill Country region surrounding Austin and extending south to San Antonio is an evocative dreamscape of hills, lakes and historic communities founded by early German immigrants. On a hazy summer’s night or under a full moon, this expanse of brush- and tree-covered canyons, hillocks and ravines can feel like an undiscovered planet.
The heart of the state’s prodigious wine industry, Hill Country is home to the 22-winery Texas Wine Trail. It is also a natural environment for sprawling luxury resort getaways.
Set on 4,000 acres, the 295-room Barton Creek Resort & Spa features four championship golf courses, recently redesigned rooms, the trendy 8212 Wine Bar & Grill and—perfect for groups and private events—The Rock House at the Fazio Canyons. Built in the 1960s, this “citified honky-tonk” features a poker room, bar, pool table, scenic outdoor porch and full-service catering.
The 492-room Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa is a great choice for fresh-air gatherings, with a generous pool deck that is part of 230,000 square feet of outdoor space as well as 60,000 square feet of indoor meeting space.
Other choice options for groups include Lake Austin Spa Resort, one of Travel + Leisure’s top 10 coziest spas in the nation; the 166-room Lakeway Resort and Spa, scenically fronting Lake Travis; the 285-room Horseshoe Bay Resort, overlooking Lake LBJ; and the intimate, 43-room Vintage Villas, also on Lake Travis.
Farther south toward San Antonio are other countryside havens, including Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort & Spa, where copious meeting space is complemented by 27 holes of championship golf, a world-class spa and a four-acre waterpark. Whether going town or (Hill) country, business is always a pleasure in Austin.
For More Info
Austin CVB 512.474.5171 www.austintexas.org
