Expensive but Good Location
I've stayed at this hotel several times for business, but this hotel is not for everyone. Here's my list of the good and the bad:
Good
1) Friendly and quick check-in. This hotel appears to be a high volume hotel, and the front desk staff gets you in and out quickly. There has always been at least two people at the check-in desk when I have been there. The check-in service is nothing memorable, but nothing negative to speak of either.
2) The location is excellent if you need to access downtown area or convention center quickly.
3) Running trails are adjacent to hotel property. If running or biking is your thing, then this hotel is a good pick for you. The trail runs alongside the lake adjacent to the hotel and goes for at least three miles. I only ran three miles and then turned around.
4) Clean rooms. I've never had an issue with a dirty room here. All of the rooms I've stayed in have been clean and stocked properly.
5) Full service hotel. I rarely ever have the need for a full service hotel, but every now and then it's nice to order room service or have a beer at the bar.
Bad
1) Price. The room prices are ridiculous at this hotel as well as others in the downtown area. If you don't mind being a short drive from downtown, there are much cheaper hotels to choose from in Buda, Sunset Valley, Pflugerville, Round Rock or the airport. Do not stay here if you're looking for a cheaper rate.
2) Parking. Parking can be a pain to figure out the first few times. There's a parking garage, but you have to take two different elevators to finally get to your room. Additionally, the parking spots are very narrow. On one occasion I had significant hood damage on my car from someone backing into it.
3) Rooms are nothing special. The rooms here are standard, older hotel rooms and nothing to be excited about (but they are clean). Some rooms have a nice view overlooking the lake, but you could also get a room overlooking the aweful Austin traffic on I-35.
4) The pool area is very small. I took my wife and two kids here one time and we were ok until three other people showed up to swim. It was too crowded after that.
5) TV is not HD. I'm still surprised at this one. Why would I want to pay twice the price for a hotel room and not get HD television? Just saying.
6) Internet is about as slow as it gets. If you have a 4G data tether option on your phone, don't even bother with the hotel internet connection. My connection speed was 5x faster on my phone than the hotel connection. It's hard to believe that a place this expensive doesn't even have up-to-date internet speeds. One more thing... what's up with changing the internet password the next day? Such a pain.