The Omni Hotel in Austin is an interesting place. The building takes up an entire city block and shares the space with offices, which we could see into from our room. The reason why the hotel part is interesting is because the view from our window down across the lobby, restaurant and coffee shop was entirely enclosed. This meant that technically we were looking out at the inside of the building.We reluctantly left The Driskill (the first night was for business, the second night was on our own dime) and walked up the hill to the Omni, which was bustling with guests checking in and out. Despite all the activity the desk staff were very quick to check us in and equally as friendly as at The Driskill. We were randomly upgraded to a suite on the 13th floor, which gave us access to an area where complimentary drinks were served between 5-7pm and breakfast laid out from 8-10pm. We managed to take advantage of the drinks hour and perhaps as a part-consequence, missed out on the breakfast the following morning.
At the time of our visit, the elevators were being renovated and to be honest, this was a bit of an inconvenience, possibly compounded by the fact that we had so many floors between our room and the lobby. On one occasion I think we waited about ten minutes before one of the two in-service elevators arrived.
If you’re in Austin on business then the Omni will make you feel like a business traveler. Whilst comfortable, the room was decorated classic chain-hotel style and the view out over the offices opposite is hardly relaxing or romantic. In spite of the bizarre view, our room was big and bright, with floor to ceiling windows. The one drawback was that the windows didn’t open up, which makes the atmosphere a bit stifling after a while. We were impressed by the smart array of complimentary magazines in the bathroom though.
After a couple of complimentary drinks and snacks, we took a short walk into town and enjoyed an evening of barbecued ribs and blues. The Omni is in a great location for accessing the main bars and is also en route to the State Capitol building at the end of Congress Avenue. As I mentioned we sadly missed out on the breakfast but in a moment of wisdom the day before, we requested a late check out at 1pm. This gave us an extra hour to seek out a coffee shop before returning to pack our bags and catch a cab to the airport, which is only 11 miles away.
www.omnihotels.com/FindAHotel/AustinDowntown.aspx