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Room Blocks

This is a totally personal preference, but our favorites are below. In general, rates are between $200-350/night depending on the hotel (including the room block discount). This is also a great time to think about small gifts to put in your guests hotel rooms—think something local, like Yellowbird Hot Sauce, a small Tito’s vodka from Twin Liquors, or things that are useful like Lyft gift cards or discount codes (Get $5 off your first ride). 

Favorites:

The Line Hotel – The newly renovated Line hotel has a sleek lobby and cute pool, with Arlo Grey being the vibey restaurant on the bottom floor. Rooms are very hip and they have the P6 rooftop (so dreamy) which would make for an excellent welcome party or rehearsal dinner space. This hotel truly is a one-stop shop between their room block discounts, pool, event spaces for rehearsal dinner, welcome party, bridal shower, or even the wedding. It’s all topped off with multiple restaurants, including the new Dean’s One Trick Pony and Alfred Coffee (get the Matcha Latte).

The Presidential Suite is also great for the wedding party getting ready for the big day.

Fairmont Downtown Austin – This Luxury hotel is perfectly located in all of the action, walking distance to Rainey Street, the East Side, 6th Street and more. The Fairmont is still fairly new, and has everything you need for a one-stop-shop during your Wedding Weekend. Between luxury sleeping accommodations of over 1,000 guestrooms, 5 restaurants and bars, a seasonally heated swimming pool, and enough event space to utilize this hotel as a wedding venue – it makes it the perfect location.

Hotel Van Zandt – The Loretta Suite is amazing for brides getting married, and Shannon is the best to work with! They also have free HH for guests, and can do a pool cabana the Sunday after. Geraldine’s is a great spot for a welcome party or rehearsal dinner. This is a huge hotel that can accommodate large parties. It’s named after Ronnie Van Zandt (lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd) so it also has a ton of musical elements that make it feel very Austin. It is also pet friendly!

Hotel ZaZa – For the boujeeiest of the bouje, very Dallas/Houston vibes, each suite has a different theme (Palm Springs Bungalow suggested for Brides). There’s a great pool, two restaurants including Perfect Strangers when you walk in, and Group Therapy on the 7th floor overlooking the city. Jessica, their sales rep, is adorable and brings you champagne and T-Shirts when you do a walk through!

South Congress Hotel – This is a smaller hotel which tends to book up fast, so be sure to reach out ASAP if you are interested. It’s the perfect spot in the middle of the action on Congress! It also has several restaurants, including Café No Sé, Central Standard, Mañana coffee/bakeshop, and Otoko,the 12 seat Japanese Omakase restaurant. 

Hotel San Jose (40 rooms = 80 guests total) or Hotel Saint Cecilia (20 rooms = 40 guests total) – Both are boutique hotels so they are full hotel buyouts and you’re on the hook for all rooms to be rented. Owned by Bunkhouse Group (the group that owns El Cosmico in Marfa, Austin Motel, new Hotel Magdalena, and even Jo’s Coffee), so you can already imagine how pretty these spots are. If you have a larger party, this might make sense and you can have the rehearsal dinner there as well. Saint Cecilia is the one that has the notorious “SOUL” neon sign above the pool. Both are absolutely beautiful and in the heart of SoCo!

New Openings:

• Austin Proper (January 2020) – New McGuire Moorman collaboration spot near Seaholm!
• Hotel Magdalena (Spring 2020) – On SoCo near Equinox and the new SoHo house! This is another Bunkhouse project (Hotel Saint Cecilia, Hotel San Jose, Austin Motel, etc.)

Pro Tip: Start small when you’re committing to rooms. A good rule of thumb is to start with 10 and scale up later if more guests book. Most hotels have a 90% attrition rate, meaning you have to pay for the remaining rooms you held in the block if the guests don’t fill it up. Better be safe than sorry!

To see your business listed, please contact erin@365thingsaustin.com.