Kasa 2nd Street Austin — Hotel in Austin

I kept thinking there must be a catch: a two bedroom apartment in the middle of downtown Austin, Texas, for hundreds less than the hotels two blocks away. But it was great, and the rest of the people who flew in for the Austin wedding think I’m a genius for finding it. It’s like a professionally-managed AirBnB. Two king-sized bedrooms, each with a huge bathroom and walk-in closet, an equipped kitchen and washer and dryer, a fine living room with a private balcony. Two TVs with Roku, a rooftop spa area with swimming pool, weight room, and bbq grills. Towels, kitchen ware, everything but food for the big fridge. On the last day we discovered the lounge, business center, and ping pong table. All the perks!

There are lots of great restaurants within walking distance, though you are in the heart of hip, trendy Austin, so many of them are expensive. But you can find good places to eat that are affordable. Note that the so-called grocery stores nearby, the Royal Blue bodegas, are not real grocery stores (at least the one we visited). I knew it would be overpriced, but it had no milk or produce, no basics at all. Lots of drinks and chips and made to order sandwiches, but nothing to stock our fridge with.

Just a few caveats: when you get the instructions on how to check in, take them seriously. Read the detailed instructions thoroughly. Be sure you put the actual street address into your app to get you to the building, and then go step by step to access the building, elevator, etc. The “catch” is that there is no regular staff to check you in or out, do your laundry, deliver room service, etc. Fine by me. But to make it work securely takes locking doors and elevators, so be sure to keep your keycard (inside the unit) with you.

The online virtual front desk works great, and the chat brought a response within a few minutes. You can request a late check-out, but KASA can’t approve it until the evening before your checkout, and then you’ll discover that if it’s approved, it comes at a steep price: from $25 for noon checkout to $96.03 for 3PM in our case. The fact that there is no free late checkout should be made clear on the virtual front desk before you request it. That was the only rude shock we got.

Honestly, this place was transformative. Meaning, I’m looking at other KASA properties across the country and seeing where we might want to visit. Being able to afford such a place makes me more apt to travel, as my spouse can snore away behind her door and I can sleep peacefully behind mine. Real AirBnBs can do that too, but I like the idea of a professionally run and accountable company I can deal with. Everybody on chat or email was very friendly and helpful. It’s not that funky house full of character you can rent on AirBnB, but if you just want a comfortable, modern base of operations to come home to while you’re away, it’s awesome. It puts my own...

Mold!!!! Beware!!! Came to Austin on business, my wife goes to check in. She says upon entering it smells of mold. She sees where stains and water damage along the edges of the walls and elevator and all over the airducts. She talks with a permanent reside t of the building who states two pipes burst a month or so ago and flooded the building. She says they have been having air quality issues since. Because she is pregnant, she does feel comfortable staying and I agree we should book else where.

We call the Kasa company immediately at 5pm. (Check in is at 4.) We tell them we can not stay and present our evidence. They try to relocate to another room hit it just as damaged and the poor air quality. I tell the company that I am willing to forgo Friday night rent but wish to recoup my Sat payment because services were never rendered.

The Kasa "escalation team" rakes my case under review. They say they will call me in "30 mins to 2 hrs." Skip to Sat morning no call, I reach out to them. They say the cancelation policy says I forgot all funds. I sytate my argument about fairness in giving up half the total payment. They say no.

What ugliness!?! I could not believe it. Kasa, your handling of this situation was poor at best. I do not appreciate you or your inability to provide reasonable customer service. I called the City of Austin code compliance and reported you. I will attach my pictures and videos of your substandard conditions to this post.

Do Not...

Great, spacious, clean apartment in a convenient downtown location. Walking distance of areas such as SoCo, 6th Street, and public bus stops within a couple of blocks to further out areas and direct to airport. Easy self check-in.

We had a river view king room on 14th floor (kasa floors in this building are 14,15 & 16). It was huge, with a full kitchen, large living area, bathroom with small bath and a shower over, and a good size bedroom with massive walk-in wardrobe. The views were stunning. Had plenty of everything we needed for our 4 nights stay (except a tea towel, probably just an oversight). If staying longer, we would have needed to purchase more coffee, but this is more of an apartment rental than a serviced hotel and that suits us. Check-in for us was really simple. Just be sure to read and follow the instructions. First entry is through the rear doors in the garage area, and then up to your apartment were you have a door code for access to your unit. We found it really straightforward. You will only be sent your codes for access 30 mins before check-in, so if you try and access sooner you'll have issues. We arrived in Austin about 70 mins before so used the virtual front desk to buy earlier check-in.

Only gripe was that the pool area was out of use for 5 days. We arrived on day 2 of the building work, and Kasa emailed an hour or so before we checked in to advise us. If they'd emailed in advance, before the work started, it would have saved...