Sonesta Bee Cave Austin Hill Country — Hotel in Bee Cave

We stayed at the Sonesta in Bee Cave Austin on Saturday June 15, 2019. The hotel is very clean and has a new look. Complementary parking is located in a garage under the hotel. Elevators will take directly to the lobby or your floor. There are six floors in the hotel. We had a Delux King room overlooking the pool on the second floor. The room was a nice size. Nothing large. It's what you'd expect. Similar to a Holiday Inn Express but clean, well appointed and updated. The King bed was not the most comfortable but I like a memory foam top that I can sink into. This was not that bed but I would guess it would be acceptable to most. There are extra pillows in the closet with an ironing board, safe and luggage stand. There is also a mini fridge, 50" flat screen, office desk, adequate lighting and the AC worked as it should. There is no hot or continental breakfast but there is a shuttle bus that will take you anywhere within a 5 miles radius of the hotel. We did not go to the sixth floor to check out the bar and restaurant. The lobby does have coffe and tea in the mornings. The pool area was crowded with people during our stay but we did not use it. My one issue that I passed to the management was the bath towels. They were not your standard fluffy bath towels but seemed cheap and very thin. The first towel I used seemed to leave a sticky feeling on my skin. I dropped it on the floor and tried another towel and it wasn't much better. I thought maybe I picked up the bath mat with the first towel but nope it was the bath towel. I hope they find better towels. The shower was probably the best I've seen in this class of hotel rooms. It's a walk in shower and not one of those tub/showers. Who uses the tub anyway. They also had the shampoo, conditioner, body wash in a single dispenser on the wall that was marked in large letter on what each was. Not those small bottles with the tiny writing that no one can read. They also have a Keruig coffe machine in the room but located in a slide out shelf under the TV in the dresser area. Keruig is not my favorite. Also you have to stretch the cord across the dresser to plug it in to the outlet box at the top of the dresser. there is a hole in the back of the slide out shelf where you can pass the cord through and plug it into the wall but when I tried to slide the dresser it wouldnt budge. Not a big deal just another small detail the management should address. All in all I would stay here again. Our Delux King room cost...

The Sonesta is near our home and this past Sunday we decided to try out their Sunday Brunch at their top floor restaurant Meridian 98 (never been there before). We arrived around 10am. The restaurant was nearly empty, maybe 3 tables of breakfasteers. One of my two stars is for the view. The wrap around floor to ceiling windows leading out onto the outdoor dining deck was pleasing to both of us.

First thing I noticed was there was almost as many staff as customers and no one was their to greet us/direct us to a table/buffet. We waited 3-5 minutes and someone cleaning tables outside noticed us and told us to sit wherever. My wife found the plates before I did for the buffet. They were square plates large enough to stack toast on it, but not big enough for eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage, not to mention the different bread items (and that was their large plate, they also had a smaller plate you could manage 2 cookies on if you were careful.).

Sometimes a detail like the postage stamp sized plates can be managed if everything else is amazing.

The next breakfast-gone-bad detail I discovered after I returned from the buffet to sample their different foods is that everything I selected, quarter waffle, bacon, sausage, potatoes and the syrup in the nice porcelain pitcher was all room temperature. Not even "warm", just room temperature.

When the server came to the table with our orange juice I mentioned this to her. She said she would speak to her manager. Near the end of our meal another woman who seemed in charged brought us our check. I thought "Oh, some kind of acknowledgement we just spent $32 on breakfast that might have been cooked 4 hours ago." The manager asked about the complaint I made about the room temperature food and I repeated what I told our server. She seemed engaged and after she left I looked at the check. Still $32.

The one food item they cooked to order was the omlet and I'm admittedly high maintenance about those sort of things. They nailed the omlet, so for that they get their second star.

It's a nice hotel and a Meridian 98 has classy ambiance and a great view, but the manager's indifference to a cold breakfast, the tiny chairs and tiny plates doesn't rise to the level of...

I checked in on Wednesday September 24. Upon check-in Timothy greeted me (greeted might be the wrong word as he never looked at me, never smiled and never made me feel welcome). After our initial interaction I told him I was part of the tennis staff. He asked for my credit card and said I would be charged $300. I explained that the tennis organization covers all the cost and he told me there was nothing that noted that. I then pulled myself out of line to confirm with the team if they made the appropriate arrangements as they had done for all other tournaments. They said yes and said they were 10-15 minutes away and they would come address the issue. As they arrive Emre showed up and checked me in. He apologized and life was good. Emre is the best. I wish you could clone him. The next day my shower was plugged. I called and maintenance took care of it. However the next morning I realized that when they snaked the shower, there was residual from the snake job. The maintenance man was great. Friendly and helpful. I showered in the morning avoiding the residual in the shower. At 6:45 a.m. I went to the desk on my way out and I informed Timothy about the issue. He wrote it in a book. I told him I needed the shower cleaned. I returned about 7 pm. The next morning, still residual in the shower. I showered around it again. At 6:30 am I went to desk and explained the issue again and he said he would take care of it. I returned around 7:30 pm, still residual. I called the desk and asked for a manager. I got Emre. I explained what had not been done and he immediately sent housekeeping to my room. He even came to my room to inspect the issue. Every time I spoke with Emre, he made me feel like a valued customer. He went above and beyond to ensure my needs were being met. He changed my view of Sonesta. He owned the issues apologized and got it done. He was always friendly, smiling and working hard to ensure my issue was addressed. I give him a 5 out 5. Outstanding employee. You need...