AUSTIN, Texas
Marriott White Lodging has announced that the JW Marriott Austin is ahead of schedule and will now open on Friday, Feb. 20, 2015.
The hotel was originally slated to open March 1, 2015. More than 310,000 room nights have already been contracted, with the first groups arriving the day the hotel opens.
Construction began on the 34-story hotel in August 2012, and a groundbreaking ceremony took place in October of 2012. The hotel reached its final construction height or "topped out" in January 2014. When the JW Marriott Austin opens, it will be the largest hotel in Austin, the largest JW Marriott in the U.S. and the second largest JW Marriott in the world.
The hotel is designed to host large conventions and meetings, with more than 112,000 square feet of event space, 42 meeting rooms and 1,012 guest rooms.
"The City of Austin is excited to showcase our city to many new people, businesses and organizations from around the world," Bob Lander, president and CEO of the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau, said. "To have already booked more than 300,000 rooms illustrates the interest in Austin as not only a tourist destination, but also as a key hub for many different industries and businesses."
Staff Additions, Dining and Sustainability
The JW Marriott Austin recently added two new hires to the staff—Director of Event Planning, Jeff Stutts, and Director of Catering, Linda Poole. Stutts previously held positions as the director of event management at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter and director of event planning at the JW Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton at the LA LIVE center. Poole previously worked as the director of catering and conference services at the Driskill Hotel in Austin.
The JW Marriott Austin will feature three restaurants including a full-service regional Italian restaurant, a restaurant highlighting local Texas cuisine and a restaurant with a walk-up food truck-style window on Congress Ave. The hotel will also achieve a LEED Silver certification and two-star Austin Energy Green Building rating.
White Lodging, which currently manages 19 other properties in Austin and Round Rock and has three additional hotels in its pipeline for Austin, will manage the JW Marriott. The company will employ more than 1,700 people in the greater Austin area when the JW Marriott opens, making it one of the area's largest private employers.
