AC Hotel Austin Hill Country — Hotel in Austin

This review is a warning to those who choose this hotel for their wedding weekend, like we did. Prior to letting our guests know where to book, we booked ourselves a skyline view suite for the weekend over 8 months in advance. Around 45 rooms were booked at the hotel for our group, and unfortunately we had a sub-par experience. When we showed up to check into our suite, we were informed that the hotel lost the first night of our reservation and would not have a suite available until the next day. They offered to put us in another room for the night - ok fine, but we had a TON of stuff and needed the extra room to hang my dress, etc. When I came back to the lobby to load more stuff, the hotel staff informed me that they had overbooked suites for the weekend and we would not receive one at all. If it was any other weekend, I would have been ok with it - but this was our wedding weekend and we had filled a considerable number of rooms at this hotel and brought them a ton of business. I also had an email chain (22 back and forth emails in total plus 2 phone calls) with their team ahead of the wedding to make sure everything was set and that things would run smoothly on our weekend at the hotel. One of my bridesmaids had also booked a suite (non-skyline view), so I called her and she agreed to let us take their suite for the weekend, which I felt horrible about. We ended up having the re-book the 4 people who were going to stay in their suite into two other hotel rooms, and it took a considerable amount of negotiation with the hotel staff to get them to match the price of the suite for the weekend for having to get them two new rooms. I spent over an hour at the front desk while trying to check in, and my bridesmaid also spent a considerable amount of time at the front desk when checking in due to the issue. I would have expected the hotel to own their mistake and offer that up right away as a solution. Additionally, I was told that one night of our suite stay would be comped by the hotel for all of the trouble. Upon checkout, we were only given $100 off one of the nights. I visited the front desk and explained what I was told at check-in and was assured that the night would be comped once the manager came in. Days later, no comp.. and eventually we received a call from the operations manager who said that we would not receive a comp because they had to match the price for the additional 2 hotel rooms - which is not what we were told. My husband swiftly pushed back and after yet another call with a different manager the issue was finally fixed. Overall, this was the only thing that went wrong with our wedding weekend.

The hotel itself is very nice, besides a suspicious stain on the bedroom curtains in the suite. I would expect staff to own their mistakes. It makes zero sense to me why the hotel reservation system would allow suites to be over-booked - modern technology is smarter than this. As a couple referring so many people to so many rooms I did expect better service than what we received. Overall it was disappointing, and I would hesitate to use this hotel again for a...

I travel frequently for work and typically choose Marriott properties for consistency and professionalism. Unfortunately, my experience with AC Hotel Austin Hill Country was a total failure from start to finish—and one that has left lasting damage to my trust in the Marriott brand.

I had a confirmed reservation at this hotel, along with two of my employees, for a work trip that required us to stay near our Austin office. Upon arrival, we were informed—without prior notice—that our rooms had been given away. Three out of four members of my team were effectively stranded.

The hotel’s initial solution? A downgrade to a 2-star hotel 16 minutes away. We had to push back to be moved to a more reasonable 3-star option that was only 6 minutes away. Why this wasn’t offered up front is beyond me. We were offered a lower nightly rate and a comped first night, which at the time seemed like a reasonable (though frustrating) gesture.

Then it got worse.

After being told the hotel was fully booked, I watched as two guests checked in right after us.

When we arrived at the alternate hotel, Residence Inn, they attempted to charge $250/night—far above both the advertised rate of $123 and our original AC Hotel rate of $180. So now we’re being pushed to an inferior property and asked to pay significantly more for the privilege?

Then I find out the alternate hotel is pet friendly, and as someone with a severe cat allergy, this becomes a health issue. When I called back to AC Hotel for help, the night staff didn’t offer any solutions. I physically went to the front desk of the hotel I was reassigned to, and I was again refused any meaningful assistance. They insisted on applying the comp night to the hotel that was making me sick, and only offered help in rebooking at standard rates.

Throughout the ordeal, we kept hearing “if a manager were here, this could be handled differently.” Yet somehow, no manager was ever available.

To whomever owns or manages this location: You gave away our rooms, offered poor alternatives, tried to overcharge us, and then left me in an allergy-triggering room without any real attempt to resolve it. This experience was not only deeply unprofessional, it was negligent.

This trip has permanently changed how I view Marriott. I don’t say...

Great pet friendly (which is actually pet friendly, not just dog friendly!) hotel. Very clean, upscale and quiet. After a very long day of packing our house and loading a moving container we needed a place to stay with our two cats before starting our very long road trip to our new house in Arizona. We decided on this hotel as it was one of the only in the Austin area that actually allowed cats, had a suite with a door that separates the bedroom from the living room (We love our cats but they aren't allowed in the bedroom when we sleep because they don't understand personal space) and wasn't a budget super 8 type place. It was a little bit of a splurge as we definitely wanted a really nice place for our first night because we were going to be exhausted, and it was going to be our cats first experience staying someplace other than home. Glad we decided on AC hotel, the Marriott mobile key makes it really easy when traveling with pets because you don't need to awkwardly stand in the lobby for 10 minutes when checking in while the clerk types on the computer before giving you a key, you can just use your phone to gain access to the room so you can go straight in. No fuss, less stress on the pets and on their owners.

My only issue, and this is likely just bad luck that we had a room with this issue, the HVAC in the bedroom area wasn't working. There was no air coming out of the vent, the living room area was perfectly air conditioned but unless you kept the door open into the living room the bedroom would get quite toasty as there was no airflow. The hotel was nice enough to send up a box fan which allowed us to blow the cool air from the living room into the bedroom where we were sleeping, but it did mean the cats also had free access and therefore I slept most of the night with a cat on my head. Not ideal, but I still think it's a great hotel in the fact that they don't discriminate against cats the way most hotels in Texas do makes me love it all the more. Thank you Marriott for understanding that pets come in cat form as well (unlike Hotel Granduca which advertised as pet friendly and then after I booked a room, when I was calling to confirm they informed me that they are pet friendly but only dogs so I should just board my cats for the night...