Wyndham Garden Austin — Hotel in Austin

While looking over reviews for affordable 3-star hotels in the ATX area, I twice came upon this hotel in my searches. The reviews provided by Expedia were mostly positive giving the hotel a 8/10 star rating as a 3.5-star hotel. On many other sites though, the hotel was given less than positive reviews with numerous complaints. Although I won’t rehash all of those complaints, I will guarantee that many of them are unwarranted for whatever reason; changes made since the reviews were written, higher than normal expectations for a 3-star hotel or legitimately bad experiences. Here, I will set the record straight from check in to check out. The room was booked through Expedia. Check in was seamless. The ladies at the front desk were very friendly and professional. They were also happy to answer any questions I had about the poor reviews. It seems that this hotel was unfortunately closed down in 2020 due to Covid-19. It was literally shuttered for the entire two years. You can only imagine the condition it was in when it was ready to be reopened in Spring in 2022. The lodging portion of the hotel underwent a total makeover to bring the property back to its original condition. Although the pool, restaurant and bar also received an updated makeover, these amenities have not been opened yet. Rebuilding a wonderful hotel such as this from the ground up apparently takes time as well as money but there are plans to reopen these areas. Currently, the pool area is groomed and open for socializing. The restaurant is open for seating and a complimentary breakfast is provided from 6am-10am. We’re talking real dishes and silverware, actual “glass” glasses, no paper plates here. Professionally dressed kitchen personnel are there to make sure the many juices, sweets, fruits and essentials are stocked up, ready and waiting for you. The cooked foods included scrambled eggs, small egg and cheese omelets, sausage patties and self-service waffle bar. The restaurant and lobby are both decorated in portraits of numerous ATX and Texas musical artists. Coffee, water and snacks are offered daily in the lobby near the registration desk. The lobby area is huge and inviting with many seating areas and tables for visiting. There are event rooms that were in use during our stay for private events. The hotel is five stories with two centrally located elevators. Ice machines are located on each floor near the elevators. The rooms, ours was a King room, are spacious (300sqft) with ample area to work, an office style chair, many USB and AC outlets throughout, a refrigerator, separate dining table, single serving coffee maker and coffee pods, relaxing chair and ottoman. The refrigerator has a quick cool setting and was at 46 degrees within the first hour of our stay. The bedding and towels are clean, crisp and fresh smelling. I found the bed to be a bit soft for my liking but my husband loved it. That’s up to personal preference. Soaps and small bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion are provided. The floors are wood, no carpet, so you may want to bring slippers or socks to wear. The entire room was very clean including the flooring. If I had only one complaint it would be that there is no microwave in the room. There are two on the first floor, one in the restaurant and one in the snack area near registration. Both are clean and operable. Check out is at noon and went seamlessly. *This will be my go-to hotel anytime I visit the ATX area in the future Great price, location and rooms. I’ve already booked for a solo...

The room was alright, but not impressive. The bedding was thin. The thermostat didn’t work, I had to figure out that the wall unit had a panel to operate it, no idea what the point of the thermostat was.

I stayed last week in 2 hotels that were half the price with better rooms, even one that was older. It was not a warm or comfortable experience here.

Positives: The AC worked really well and there were no bed bugs. The best thing I can say is that I needed to lock myself in a room and work for a week without being disturbed the desk is huge and probably great for that. That isn’t what I needed and I won’t be going back there for sure.

However any time I had to leave the room, I was not happy.

The entire 4th floor smelled like sour trash and musty carpet. The 3rd floor, which I had to go to because the ice machine on 4 was broken, and I couldn’t find one in the lobby, had a different type of unpleasant garbage odor.

The hotel couldn’t seem to decide on a cohesive decor theme and probably should have just not tried. There’s a jungle theme, and musician theme. And sort of a rustic vibe all blended terribly together.

The elevator that actually opened consistently had a door that was obviously struggling.

Breakfast was not included, but it was worded in Expedia in a evasive way. They list “resturaunt” and “hot breakfast” separately but you have to order at the restaurant, it isn’t complimentary like most places. Again hotels at half the price are at least doing that.

Every time I tried to get off the elevator to the lobby an employee almost ran me down trying to get on so idk if the back of house ones don’t work, but it was very empty for there to be an emergency to justify that.

Overall it was mostly clean but felt like the place didn’t feel clean or warm. It was uncomfortable. One of the hotels I was in last week was literally under construction on every floor, with an arcade button literally hot glued onto the elevator button and insulation in the halls, with hot water out for a day, and I would stay there again over this place for comfort & experience.

The smell alone made it not great. Thank goodness there was no stinky carpet in the room.

Seems like there’s a distinct lack of care or attention. Even small details, like a poster that was obviously intended for the employee break room or private areas, instructing how to sell the reward system to customers, was hung over the mini snack store. Just obvious compounded carelessness all over the place.

Also, probably minor for most, but a big gripe for me was that my throat hurt and there was only a single black tea bag provided in the room for a tea drinker but no way to actually make hot water because there was just a small coffee maker. You had to go downstairs to microwave the water in the lobby.

The resturaunt listed hot tea as an order option so I asked about it and they only had decaffeinated green tea, so I ordered and paid for that and was given a cup of water and I had to take the bags out and make it myself, and they didn’t even have honey. As my throat was killing me, this was incredibly frustrating.

The staff were awkward to interact with. Just overall not good,...

4.5 Rating. I stayed in a forth floor, single king, no smoking, no pet room, #409, with a well curtained and functioning window tgat looked out over the front parking lot. I paid $139 base rate with $20.85 combined, daily, Austin, TX city and state junk fee taxes. My room was located mid-hallway, about one third of the max possible distance from the single bank of centrally located elevators. The key card system worked perfectly. The surrounding area was reasonably quiet except for a short time between 7-8am and 8-9pm.

The room was spotless. It smelled fresh. It was properly air conditioned and I had full control of the AC. It had a very comfortable bed that supported my finicky back very well There were four nice pillows. There were two drawered side tables. The room had good and varied lighting options, as well as plenty of outlets for charging. There was a basic bedside clock with large, bright, display on one side table. On the other bedside table the phone had large buttons and labeling, a working speaker phone mode (a personal fave,) presets for front desk, room service, wake-up, etc. There was a small, cold fridge, no microwave. The free wifi was browser initiated and adequate for email and social media browsing on my android phone and android tablet. The room had a comfy arm chair and ottoman, a rolling, adjustable desk chair and lots of horizontal surface. The counter top, 40 inch flat screen TV and remote were stock, and fully fuctional. I only watched news and weather. The room had three reasonably spacious bureau drawers that operated somewhat poorly. It had a safe, a garment bag, a blow dryer and a single serve coffee pot. Tea and decaf we also available. I did not notice whether or not it was equipped with an iron and board.

The closet was smallish with large mirrored doors. The bathroom was smallish and spotless. The water was instantly hot and the shower in the tub was comfortably high and easy to operate and adjust. The shower curtain was clean and easy to operate. The toilet was comfort height and elongated and the TP roll was intuitively located and (properly) loaded over the top. The plush towel linens were plentiful, stocked in three sizes and included a floor bath towel. The mirror was big and clean. Soap and shampoo were stock and smelled nice. There was a textured hard, main floor and tiled bath floor.

My very personable and well spoken Jamaican maid cleaned around 2-3pm and happily provided extra supplies. The front desk staff were professional and helpful. The kitchen was above average and the room service was prompt. The chicken quesadillas and fried pickles were gross but the signature burger and sweet potato fries were outstanding.

The lobby, coffee counter and restaurant were well laid out. Comfortable seating was ubiquitous. I neither ate in the restaurant nor bought any coffee. I had to walk outside, down a short sidewalk to keycard my way into the spacious, well equipped fitness center. The deluxe model lifecycle that I used was clean and worked perfectly. The outdoor pool and hot-pool looked great but I had no time...