The Loren Hotel Austin — Hotel in Austin

My overall stay at this hotel was mediocre. While the property itself is quite nice, it does seem to me to be more full of itself than it’s entitled to. I have stayed at some of the finest hotels all over the world, and I would say this hotel ranks in perhaps the 75th to 80th percentile in terms of quality. But the snobbiness I detected at the Loren was out of scale with what the property offered. ||||I had drinks at the upstairs bar shortly after I arrived. I thought that the staff at the hostess’ station were less than professional. They acted like they were doing me a favor by letting me come in and have a drink at 4 PM without a reservation. There were literally two other people in that giant space at that hour who weren’t employees. The young and unprofessional employees at the bar were having loud conversations that I couldn’t avoid being annoyed by, especially given that that venue was otherwise quiet and peaceful. The din bothered me so much, in fact, that I actually went down to my room to grab my earphones, so I could listen to some music and have some peace. The drink I ordered was pretty good, so that was nice. ||||I was irritated – as an Amex member using my benefits under the aegis of the FHR program – that I did not receive an upgrade at check-in, nor was one mentioned. Staying in the middle of a week, and noticing what surely must be a lower-than-usual occupancy (with the hotel seeming like a ghost town during the 24 hours I was there), I cannot imagine that an upgrade per the FHR benefits should not have been available to me. I did not ask, but I do not feel that it is my job to ask, it is the check-in staff’s job to tell. ||||The room was clean and well appointed, although not as over-the-top as I would have expected from the price or the airs that the hotel seems to be trying to put on. The FHR amenity provided - literally two pieces of gummy fruit under a glass lid - was the most paltry I have ever received under this program, but at least it was something. ||||I also had quite the introductory experience to this property:||||I made small talk with one of the staff while on an elevator. I thought it odd that the elevator required card access, considering that someone who didn’t belong there would have to get past – in theory – the bellman (though the door was only opened for me once during the dozens of times I came and went from the hotel), as well as the staff at the front desk. However, since I had just been accosted by a mentally ill homeless person within the first 20 minutes since I had arrived (while walking a block back to the hotel from a nearby parking deck), I remarked to the staff member that I sort of understood why that precaution needed to be taken. It didn’t occur to me to mention the homeless person’s race, because that wasn’t germane to the conversation. As I stepped off the elevator and the doors began closing, the staff member made a racist comment to me about my experience. I stood there on the other side of the elevator doors for a moment in shock, trying to unpack what had just been said to me. It was a reference to “cleansing“ our country of immigrants. The irony, of course was that the homeless person was just as white as staff member was, which I didn’t get to say, because the elevator was long gone. I am not an immigrant myself, but this horrendous and inappropriate experience absolutely marred and hung like a cloud over my 24 hours in Austin – the first time I had ever been to the city. Combined with the balance of my other experiences there, which were lackluster, at best, I assured myself that this visit would be my last, as well.||||So overall:...

We did not have a great stay here. 5 night stay... expected much better. We get a much better experience at other high-end hotels in downtown (Austin Proper, Zaza, Thompson, Fairmont, van Zandt. Etc).

VERY LOUD STREET NOISE. 2nd floor city view? No views, just a busy road with traffic. Looks like half the rooms (city view) face street traffic, so be warned if noise bothers you (sirens, cars with loud exhaust and a train that goes by every hour or 2 honking its loud horn all night).

Broken AC. Called front desk around 9.30pm after returning from dinner. They said they would send someone. I asked would it be long. They said no, only a few minutes. 20 to 25 minutes later, I called to ask again. They said let me check, and then said another 5 to 10 minutes. We waited to shower and get ready for bed. I spoke to front desk and said forget it as we had an early morning.

After a bad night of sleep due to being quite warm, complained again in morning. Asked to move rooms. He said would it cost $75 a night extra to UPGRADE!. He said there was nothing else available in our catagory. I said no, this is what the company budget allows for. I said just fix the AC. Fyi. I checked online and our type of room was available to book directly.

Stayed out 2 hours, as they were sending staff to fix. Then asked the same front desk person if it was fixed. He said he hasn't heard back, so usually means its taken care of. I asked what was wrong, if anything. The young lady beside him at the desk called and then found out they never took care of it!!! Repair staff told them there was a lady on FaceTime in room, so they left. What??? Now im worried as my wife or me was not in the room at all.

So they sent maintenence again, and nice guys said THEY NEVER SAID that to front desk. What is going? But they eventually resolved the AC issue by fixing the pump. Worked fine after. Polite workers admitted hotel staff has communication issues. 🤷🏽‍♂️

But in the end...looks things break. Mistakes happen. BUT for all the staff to never give a care about our experiences after all the mess ups is WRONG. We also spent good money at their coffee shop and upstairs restaurant too (good experience).

We didnt sleep well and for them to ask for more.money to change rooms was WRONG. The guy just had a bit of arrogance to him and didn't care about us.

At least another front desk person sent us up a half bottle of bubbly worth $10 to $15, as she felt bad for us. But really? That makes up for a whole night of bad sleep?

We had a small ceiling leak issue at the Austin Proper 2 months ago. Management immediately upgraded us for the week. They comped us some food and sent a full bottle of wine. You can tell the difference In customer service... putting our needs 1st.

Upon check out, another front desk person asked about our experience, and again we just said it wasn't good due to above. Staff didn’t care. Why even ask? I waited for a few days to see if management might reach out, but nothing. So no choice to leave this honest review.

Be better Loren Hotel. Care about your customers and their experience.

Good: nice art, restaurant, free electric bike to use, upstairs restaurant

Lots of road noise in city facing rooms, no vibe at pool, bad customer service. Location is better and more happening...

The Loren is just over 1 year old and still finding its footing. It’s an excellent location for enjoying the Hike and Bike Tail (which you can do with house e-bikes) on a warm day, or walking downtown on the Pflugerville pedestrian bridge. Many rooms and their rooftop restaurant enjoy views of downtown flanked by Ladybird Lake, which are sometimes more desirable than views from downtown. It’s a compact property unaffiliated with any major hotel alliance, filled with a collection of art and books, so it feels like a boutique stay.

We enjoyed our premiere suite with city-view balcony, complete with a beautiful stone bathroom, comfortable bed and curated accessories. The “fully stocked minibar” includes some jaw-dropping markups, including a 375ml bottle of Tito’s for $58. You’ll also pay $50 for parking (valet only) and a nightly $35 resort fee. That includes WiFi (already free to connect), in-room Nespresso, in-room fabric steamer (that you must request), a small fitness center (with 3 Peloton and 1 Hydrow), MOD electric bikes (if available), boxed water (at the gym), EV charging (only if you pay $50 for parking) and “access” to the heated pool. It’s a junk fee. You’ll also see a 2% surcharge added throughout the property to support their climate initiative, but you can ask to remove it if you’d prefer to do your own philanthropy.

It’s often listed as a 5-star property, and they do have a number of luxury amenities, but staff training impacted service. For example, we received a complimentary welcome gift (1 bottle of wine) at the start of our stay, accompanied in error with a $120 check that we had to protest. Other fumbles: The front desk could only check in one party at a time; missing credits on our bill; bathroom floor wasn’t in great condition; front desk had to look up breakfast hours.

Their signature restaurant is handsome and offers spectacular views, but food is very disappointing and the experience revealed more service shortcomings. For what it’s worth, there are many fantastic nearby restaurants, such as Uchi and Odd Duck.

Tip: if you have access to AMEX Express Fine Hotels & Resorts, you’ll enjoy some special benefits, including daily breakfast and a $100 property credit. (This can’t be used at Milk & Honey Spa, despite being...