Commodore Perry Estate, Auberge Collection — Hotel in Austin

The property is beautiful, the food has been pretty good, however I wish the service was a little bit more consistent throughout hence the lower star rating.

FYI though - we brought the whole family (including our human and furry son), so we were needing a little bit more love and care 😆

Pros (great staff service): Our first breakfast with them was outstanding: orders right (without even writing these down, and we made a couple of requests trying to dine there with our young son 🤦🏻‍♀️) cheery and attentive attitude, went above and beyond to ensure it was a pleasant meal for all of us. Their car rental service with Mercedes is a great perk that I think you should take advantage of. Easy to do if available, and you can drive those vehicles that have become out of your reach bc you now are adulting 😝 We needed to set up baby camera, and the staff that provided us solutions with wifi and just hand-held while we tried to make the system work was really appreciated 🙌🏼 Super dog friendly, great dog policy so that you can bring your furry companions too! The estate is also located right next to a golf course that I walked my dog around in when he needed. Loved the little balcony. Thanks to COVID, despite the cold weather, we struck up a friendly conversation with our neighbors a couple times. I can see this being a bigger plus when Austin’s weather is more accommodating.

Cons: The walls (?) are pretty thin. I didn’t hear our next door neighbors, but I definitely heard all of the passersby that went back and forth. We were on the second floor, but one of the first rooms. So I suggest requesting a room farthest from the elevator/stairs. Some service requests don’t get executed depending on who you talk to. Some examples: i) Due to weather conditions, the nanny we got through the hotel cancelled. So we requested our Valentine’s dinner to be cancelled as well at their restaurant. This never got cancelled with the initial staff member. Another staff member (who went out of their way) noticed that we got in-room dining, and called us to inquire if they should cancel. ii) We were getting neck cranks because we usually prefer lower pillows. Requested this with the staff member on-call during that time. She seemed a little puzzled at the request, however kindly enough called back to notify us that she checked with housekeeping and was able to do this. Our pillows stayed the same. They don’t change out the sheets entirely (even though requested a certain night). Not sure if this is again the staff member that we requested this to or if it is housekeeping’s rule of thumb. But they don’t change out all of the sheets. How do we know this? The amount of crumbs that my 1.5 year old left us during the day 🤪 Not sure if it’s just our room, and if it was the air filter that needed to be changed out, but the two adults had allergic reactions throughout the night when we slept (runny/stuffy noses, continuous sneezing). This would clear up when you step out of the room, outside, or when we drove around. Ugh, our second breakfast and second in-room dining experience was mediocre at best. Got orders wrong, charged us for wrong pastries that got sent over and did not touch, had to follow up with the waitress for order items 🤦🏻‍♀️ She was probably frustrated at the end of this too, bc she was not eager to check up on us when we needed to go, and her attitude certainly reflected it.

Despite all of this, I do appreciate the staff coming to work in these weather conditions, and trying to...

This was the first time my husband and I stayed at this hotel. We stay in Austin to visit family at least twice a year and we try to stay at different hotels each time we come. We had heard wonderful things about the estate, including how fantastic the restaurant on-premise is (Luties). I have to tell you though, sadly, we were a bit disappointed with suite and I'm not sure we will be back.

Lets start with the good stuff. The location was perfect. Very close to downtown, but easy to get up north as well. The grounds are absolutely amazing - lovely, inviting and something out of another era. We did come when a cold front had hit Austin so we weren't able to enjoy the pool and gardens, but in the nice weather I can only imagine how wonderful it is. Also the valet guys were awesome. They always had big smiles and we're quick to help. Lastly, we stayed in a suite in the mansion and had a late night whiskey in the library downstairs. They had a wonderful diverse selection of cocktails and we ended up having having a great conversation with one of the staff members, Allen. We sat and enjoyed our whistle pig by the fire until we finally made our way up to our room for the night. Allen was the best part of our experience at the hotel.

Now for the not so good stuff... From the time we checked in, we just didn't feel like the front desk staff even cared remotely about our stay. We came in about 6pm and there wasn't anyone around really (other than the person checking us in). We didn't get that nice and cozy feeling we normally do when we check in somewhere. They did walk us to our suite and give us the rundown of how to get room service and such and every time we did call down to the front desk we were helped fairly quickly.

We ordered wine and breakfast while we were there and that was pretty disappointing as well. While their cocktail selection was really creative and fun, the wine selection left a lot to be desired. Also, the breakfast smoothie (hemp cold brew, banana something...) was not very good at all.

And as I mentioned, we stayed in one of the suites in the mansion and even though the decor was lovely to look at, it was about as Uncomfortable as you can get. Both my husband and I are very tall and we couldn't even fit on the couch or the bench in the living room/sitting room area. The bed was a four poster bed and looked lovely, but was as hard as a rock. My husband got maybe 2 hours of sleep each night we stayed. And lastly which was probably the number one thing that will deter us from ever coming back was the bathroom/shower. The shower literally had fixtures from 100 years ago. There was no water pressure and hot water ran out pretty quickly (maybe 5 minutes). The handheld part of the shower had a leak and water was coming out from everywhere. We could barely get clean with the amount of water trickling out. Really Disappointing! If we had paid a few hundred dollars for the suite, I don't think I would have gone to the trouble of posting a review, but this suite was incredibly expensive (over $1500k a night) and was just an incredible letdown.

I hope they figure out a way to get the look they are going for, but make it more comfortable for the guests that stay there. If so, we will defintely give it a...

We chose to stay here for a staycation anniversary celebration. Booking was easy to do on the hotel website (the website is very appealing). Booking for dinner was another story. I mentioned on the booking form that I wanted an interesting private dining option and could someone from the hotel please call me to organise. After two days hearing nothing, I picked up the phone and was told that the concierge would get back to me. He did not. I called again, and besides a very tepid apology, was told that now there were no private experiences available and that we could dine at 5:30 or 8:30. Our anniversary plans kind of went downhill from there. We arrived at 3PM and the front desk person led us to our room and offered to make us some welcome cocktails from the charming little bar set up in the room. Unfortunately, the drink was so unpalatable that even after I tried doctoring it with some tonic water from the mini-bar we decided to head to the actual bar for a better drink. Alas, the Paloma they served us was so terrible that we couldn't drink it either. No one ever asked us why we switched to wine after one sip nor were the drinks taken off the tab. I could give a half-dozen other missteps that occurred in the 15 hours we were there but why bother? Commodore Perry conveys that you are lucky to be there and its staff doesn't much care about service, consistency or value because the place is slammed with business (Auberge Resorts is obviously a name that carries such a reputation for quality that people are flocking there oblivious to the shoddy hospitality quality at hand). As we checked out we were asked by the same fellow that checked us in how our stay was and I answered honestly but mildly, "Some of it was good and some bad" to which he said, "Sorry to hear that. We like getting feedback." He never asked for me to elaborate, showed no interest in our experience or what had been less than optimal, and didn't refer me to a manager or offer to redress the situation in any way. If the room wasn't $800 (which came to $1100 with taxes and 'fees' whatever those are) and if it was newbie hospitality company it would be one thing but this is a very established brand that is charging top dollar for a less than satisfactory experience (paper napkins! food delivered to the table with room service covers! undrinkable cocktails! filthy floors in the common areas! completely blithe impersonal check-in, check-out! and on and on). They need to get their act together but guessing by the crowds that isn't going to happen anytime soon. The decor is sublime (well done, Ken Fulk) but it can't make up for the incredibly uneven unprofessional service. The only true luxury here is...