Aloft Austin at The Domain — Hotel in Austin

The Aloft Austin clearly hangs its hat on the fact that it has minimalist furnishings and a trendy lobby/bar area. However, that's about what you get from the hotel. The lounge and lobby area is quite nice, I found it welcoming and enjoyed having a drink there with friends.

The room was small, but laid out well -- as noted, there's practically no storage space if that matters to you, however I found the bathroom in general to be quite nice. The shower was large, comfortable and had everything I wanted. There was no bathtub but that doesn't bother me. Otherwise, the furnishings were fairly sparse. There's a desk chair, but no arm chair -- instead, there's a bench squared up against the wall between two built-in desks. It was not terribly comfortable but did fine as a luggage rack. The beds were strange, too -- just a mattress on top of a platform, no box springs. I didn't find the bed uncomfortable but I prefer a firm bed.

My biggest complaint was the noise. They were working on the outside of the building with all the associated hammering, sawing, and power tool noise that you might expect, in addition to the occasional person showing up hanging from a rope outside my window. That's temporary, but I would caution anybody against a room in the area of the hotel that is anywhere near the Park sports bar downstairs, which has an outdoors seating area. We were on the third floor near the area where the sports bar is and from Thurs - Sat nights it was packed, we could hear the loud music AND people yelling and talking all night. I was able to drown most of it out with an iphone sleep noise app but the hotel really should have planned better for it and taken some extra steps to noise-proof. If you are noise sensitive, make sure your room isn't on that side of the hotel.

For the price, I was shocked that the hotel offered very few services -- for instance, there was no room service at all, no bellhop, no valet, etc. I called down to the desk to ask if it was possible to have the bar send a bottle of wine to my room and they said no, but I could come down and pick it up. Really? "Room service" is they provide a delivery menu from Daily Grill, a restaurant located at The Domain. The staff was very friendly and accommodating, but that doesn't change the fact that they didn't offer the services I would expect. We paid the exact same price for our rooms as they were charging at the Westin down the street, a traditional hotel with much better amenities...

Horrible experience! I booked and prepaid for a room at Aloft in the Domain. Before I arrived I lost my entire wallet. I did not have cards or my drivers license; however, I did have a temporary license with picture from DMV, my work ID from a state government entity with picture, and my phone which had a picture of my drivers license and digital credit/debit cards (Apple Wallet, Bank App, etc). I had a splitting headache, lost wallet, had just gotten off of work, and needed rest. The general manager refused to allow me to check-in to the room stating it was Marriotts policy (not true). I called Marriott and was informed that Alofts are independent franchised. I had to have two individuals call Aloft Domain to get a refund from the fully paid for room. Two hours later I received a refund and went next door to the Westin (also Marriott) and was given top A+ service that is typical of Marriott. I was able to check-in with my physical IDs (which Aloft Domain claimed were not physical IDs), fill out a Credit card authorization form, have it verified, and was in my beautifully appointed room within five minutes of walking through the front door. To add topping to the cupcake, the Westin was $4 less expensive than the Aloft, the bed was heavenly, and the staff was kind and welcoming (Westin standard plus some : A+++). I personally stay in 50 + hotels a year, travel extensively, and book others’ travel to various locations; including the Domain. I will not write off Aloft in general because apparently they are independently franchised; however, I will never stay, recommend, or book anyone at Aloft in the Domain in Austin, Texas. I can however recommend Westin and Lone Star Court in the center of the Domain and Hyatt Place, Residence Inn, and Courtyard by Marriott across the highway; as I have had the most pleasant stays and guest services in...

I spent 2 nights at the Aloft Austin on March 2-4 and was extremely disappointed with my experience. Hotel check-in was smooth,and the room was clean/ tastefully decorated.

Those were the high points of the trip. The walls are paper thin at this hotel and getting a good nights sleep is very challenging. In addition, our room air conditioning system was load during normal operation - That was prior to the knocking sound followed in the middle of the night and through the morning. Upon waking in the morning (or more appropriately stated, leaving bed after not sleeping much), I visited the front desk who committed to having engineering fix the knocking problem and also deliver a couple extra pillows since the bed only had 2.

Upon returning that evening, I found that the pillows were delivered and assumed the AC to be fixed as well - Though it was left off. However, after turning back on the AC, the knocking returned again in the late evening hours. After realizing that I could not sleep with the loud noise, I finally turned it back off and went back to sleep. That being said, the lack of ambient noise of the running AC (sans the undesired knocking sound) brought to light again the fact that the walls in the hotel were paper thin - Both internally and externally to the street. With a 6th floor room (top floor of the hotel), you should not expect to be woken up by a passing car or motorcycle - Something that happened more than once.

I spend roughly 30-40 nights annually in hotel rooms and this was one of the poorest sleep experiences that I have had in recent years. I expected better from a Westin property.

All said, I would not choose to stay at this hotel again nor would I recommend it to others. I feel that I wasted the Starwood points in booking it and would have been much more...