Austin Fodorites, I need some help
 

Hi, I am beginning the planning for a gathering of 100-150 friends from high school. It will be a three or four night party. One of the cities we are considering is Austin. Can you suggest a good hotel which will have easy walking access to attractions? I like to keep the budget in the $110-150 per night range to accomodate the widest band of budgets. We need an on site banquet hall and fairly large rooms. The suites type hotels would be appropriate as well. Thank you!

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Yoo Hoo, Austin!

Hello cmcfong :) Finally heard you calling!!

Hotels in the downtown area may be higher priced than your budget, or maybe at the upper end. Priceline works but not for that many, of course.

Walking distance to attractions means you probably want to stay between 1st Street (or now I guess it's called Cesar Chavez Street) up to 11th or 12th Streets. 6th Street is where the action is at night, if music is what you're looking for.

The Texas Museum, capitol bldg., Johnson Library, Congress Street bats (April-Aug/Sept), giant Whole Foods are all downtown, but easy walking? To me they're a bit of a trek. Although there is the bus if you won't have cars.

Widening your circle, there's Zilker Park with its hike and bike trail all around the lake, Barton Springs (for a dip in the cool natural springs--year round).

I have digressed. Sorry...

Hotels at the lower end pricewise downtown would probably include the Extended Stay Suites and the La Quinta, but I'm doubting they have the onsite banquet hall at those.

Better options would be the Doubletree Suites, a Hilton, Homewood Suites, Hyatt, Radisson, Holiday Inn - but the price really depends on WHEN you're all coming. You didn't say when. Most all these would have a conference or banquet room, a couple are even near the convention center for a really BIG room, lol!

Remember, football is BIG down here, so if you're heading this way in the fall, be sure to check the home schedule. Rooms book up fast during football season also.

I'm thinking Austin would be a good fit. The nightclub scene and variety of restaurants is a real plus for a group like yours.

The Hilton is about 4/5 block away from the action (and I'm talking about 4th/Colorado hop area - not the very young 6th st.) but it will probably cost you about $150-$200/night. The Hampton Inn on San Jacinto is about 6/7 blocks away and you can probably get it cheaper, especially if you book early. If you have about 100-150 friends, I would call the hotel directly and try to book group rates or discounted rates for the "occasion". The 2 bed rooms are quite big.

There's also Ramada, Hyatt, and I believe a marriott that's close enough but these 2 are where we always stay when in Austin to have fun. Another option and a bit farther away is the Embassy Suites by Town Lake and their suites have a bedroom (1-2 beds) and a living area that has a couch that opens up into a bed and can be around $150-$200 but there's more room for people to share.

www.hilton.com (use all hilton brands)

Hope that helps! Let me know if you need help with places to go visit! A great day trip would be Hamilton Pool but you guys have to get there early and I don't think all 100-150 of you could get in at the same time but it can be fun if a smaller group want to do something differently.

Sounds like a fun get together though!

Oh, don't plan to go around mid September because ACL (Austin City Limits) will be happening (I'll be there!!!!whoohooo!). It's a huge music festival that spans the whole weekend. You won't be able to find rooms - much less close to the action. Really, 6th st is very young. 4th and colorado is more fun.

oh, and embassy suites has free full cooked to order breakfast too so...don't know if that helps any.

oh, i didn't mean to say those hotels aren't near 6th street. it is. I jut concentrate on 4th and colorado more. :-) It's also walking distance to the capitol, shopping, restaurants, and the like.

Thank you!!! That gives us a starting point of hotels to check. We are coming in late Sept 2009. I will take a look at all your suggestions. You have saved me a lot of time and I appreciate it.

Hello again cmcfong!

Checked the football schedule for home games in September 2009: two dates only: 9/19 and 9/26. They're non-conference games, so maybe not as many out-of-towners, but guaranteed the stadium will be packed to hold its 85,000+ fans.

I'll do some checking today to see what other events may be happening then. There's always something: a marathon, a bike race, music festival, etc. It's a happenin' town!

Definitely not in walking distance, but one option would be Barton Creek resort. They will probably give you a rate in the low 100's for that many people. You'd have to have transportation to go into town though. I'm imagining many folks will be driving and the others could take a cab - or the resort may help you out with shuttles.

They do a nice "Texas night BBQ" that would be good for arrival night.

I've been going there for 20 years now and it's a nice place. Golf course and spa for those who may be interested.

cmcfong, their listed rates are much higher than your budget. But, I know for sure that they offer groups rates in the low 100's for events for large groups.

Austin City Limits Music Festival is September 26-28 this year. If that is within your time range, forget Austin cause everything will already be booked, and/or out of your price range. Sorry....

starrs - and practically in my backyard! That would be a terrific place for a reunion, but it's definitely a drive into downtown (15 minutes or so).

So are you coming out again in the near future?

Hi swiss,
Definitely a drive, but a great place to meet up with folks. We would take shuttle buses into town and then cab it back at night. Worked well for our purposes.
I don't think that I'm headed that way anytime soon. I don't work for the Austin based company anymore. But, who knows? My first time there was in '89 - and it really became a favorite for our corporate meetings.
They do take VERY good care of their guests. I like the place a lot.

Thanks for the dates info. That will help with our planning. We are basically choosing between Santa Fe and Austin at this point. You have given me some very helpful information. Starrs, loved, loved, loved the Barton Creek website. It looks great! We will investigate it. We are also getting a very good response from the Radisson.

I appreciate the help and welcome any advice!

The Radisson has a great downtown location. It's right on the edge of the lake, at the corner of Congress Avenue and 1st Street, so you just look down the street and see the capitol building! (I think it's at 11th and Congress, or pretty close to there.)

In the summertime, people eat dinner at the TGIF located on the ground floor, outside on the patio, watching the bats as they emerge for their evening meals from underneath the bridge!

A few days ago that bats comment would have thrown, but now I know what you are talking about! Sadly our contacts with the Radisson indicate rates in the $200 plus range which might work for some, but we do try to get places with really broad appeal. I am still at the drawing board....

We have been going to ACL for the past 5 years and this is the latest they've had it in April. If you're not going until Sept 2009, go ahead and book or check on a place soon. They don't announce the dates for ACL until afterthis year's events so if you cover rooms first, perhaps you'll still get some good rooms. Radison isn't bad. Just base your "center point" around 4th and colorado and in a map, you'll be able to see how many blocks it is from the hotel. Austin city blocks aren't that big so that may help in the final decision. Z tejas on 5th street has very yummy food too, if you need a restaurant recommendation.

(Sorry, cmcfong, don't mean to hijack your thread but just in case these folks are interested...)

maria_so and AustinTraveler and other interested Fodorites - have you seen this thread?

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35100217

We'd love to have you join us!

Oh no problem, remember I hijacked yours!!!

cmcfong, I didn't notice that you are looking at 2009 - no telling when the festival will be next year. I'm hoping they'll move it to October cause September is usually way too hot.

swisshiker, yes, thank you, I have seen that thread. Unfortunately I have to work that weekend. I will, however, be at Gruene Hall tomorrow night for Robert Earl Keen!!

swisshiker, no I haven't seen it. I'll check it out. We were planning on going early spring to Austin/Fredericksburg (we're in Houston) so it depends but would love to join!

I just stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is between 5th and 6th street, right beside I-35. The hotel was nice and reasonably priced, with standard rooms (and couches) and meeting facilities. I assume it also had banquet facilities, though I didn't check them out personally. I paid $140 per night on short notice, so I am sure that getting a group rate would put you easily in your target budget, unless you're in town at the same time as some other big draw.

I love Hilton Garden Inns. They are my favorite moderate hotel choice.

The Hilton Garden Inn has some conference rooms. Their website is quite specific as to which conference room can hold how many people. Looks like they're really set up for groups like yours.

Good suggestion, kgh8m!

hilton garden in is almost next to the freeway. it's farther away from the other hilton properties but still doable. we've not stayed there before. The one farther out in the outskirts we've used is the Double tree on 15th and guadalupe. They have shuttles that will take you within a 5 mile radius of the hotel....

Thanks so much. Clearly the budget limitations are going to present a huge obstacle. I have two other cities, Park City, UT and Santa Fe, in the mix, but am open to other ideas. We don't want to go too far west, need to be near a major airport, and don't want a place our friends "have" to rent a car to enjoy. The other criteria is a minimum of 75 rooms, banquet facilities and on site restaurant.

All ideas welcomed!

Since it will be hot in September when you visit, you'll definitely want to take some of the gang to Barton Springs. The natural springs pool is a constant 68 degrees, even if the weather is blazing. Barton Springs would be able to accommodate the whole 100-150 people. Hamilton Pool is quite a ways from downtown Austin (at least 45 minutes) and they wouldn't be able to fit that many people (although probably not all 100-150 would want to go anyway).

Another place that you should take the group to is the Oasis. They definitely can accommodate 100-150 people on their spacious decks. Make reservations for a sunset dinner - spectacular.