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The NY Times Avoids the Falling Glass at the W Austin
Finally, there's some good news for the W Austin which recently had to deal with not one but two separate incidents involving falling glass from their hotel, the latter which actually forced closure of the hotel for 11 days.
The New York Times has just written a rare glowing review of the hotel with the reporter not even mentioning the shattered glass which injured guests by the pool or the recent closure but rather highlighting the hotel's four bars:
Austin doesn’t have many good hotel bars, so the four on the ground floor of the W are welcome additions. The rooms flow into one another and feature circulating waiters and scattered chairs and sofas (and two fireplaces) that make them comfortable spots for hanging out. There are thousands of vinyl records you can have played on a stereo.
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The W Austin Reopens With A Hint Of Confidence
Glass panels may be sexier, but for now, wood will have to suffice at the W Austin, which re-opened this weekend after an 11-day hiatus. The accident-prone hotel had to concede defeat when cascading glass panels were quickly turning the surrounding area into a hazard zone. So far, only one lawsuit has been filed against the W.
The above photo shows construction workers diligently re-installing 1,000 industrial wooden panels into the same balcony fixtures where the glass had once been. A city building official explained that in order to fully endorse the re-opening of the hotel, W required the approval of not one but two local engineering firms.
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It's Not All Falling Glass in Austin as Two Convention Hotels Get Underway
Well, it looks like Austin does have room in their hearts—and their wallets—to accommodate the $4.3 million break in development fees for Austin's newest mega-hotel, a 1,003-room Marriott Marquis. The Austin City Council decided on Wednesday that an influx of steady jobs, the reliable hotel tax base, and new lodging (the city is home to several conventions and trade shows, not least of which is the wildly popular South By Southwest) would outweigh the inconveniences of construction.
An article by the Statesman alluded to another major hotel construction project also commencing in Austin, this time by Manchester Financial Group (Grand Del Mar, San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina)—so it looks like Austin will be treated to some dueling convention hotel action over the next few years! The Marriott Marquis' developer, White Lodging Services, however, has an impressive portfolio of 162 various iterations of the Marriott and Hilton brands. So we're not too surprised we learned of their project before Manchester's.
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This is the Letter the W Austin Gave Out to Guests During Glass Freefall
While the W Austin is taking the necessary steps to make its hotel safe from falling glass, it has wisely decided to relocate guests to another hotel.
We've got a copy of the letter the hotel gave to its guests on Monday. Indeed the guest who sent us this letter actually witnessed some of the glass carnage on Tuesday (glass fell from the building on Monday and Tuesday) as he was having lunch at Wich Wich across the street. (You can see a larger version after the jump.)
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The W Austin Says Bye-Bye To More Windows...And Its Guests
For the third time in just two weeks, the W Austin shed more glass panels from its increasingly hazardous steel frame. The 36-story building, which houses both the hotel and condominiums, lost several of its window panes on two separate occasions throughout Monday and Tuesday, and now has evacuated all of its guests to a separate hotel until further notice.
Local reporters were all over the story yesterday and this morning, and we enjoyed a particularly well-angled candid photo from FOX reporter Sara Talbert (@saratalbert, see above), taken this morning—can you spot the missing three panels?
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Can Marriott Win Austin's Heart?
This week, voters in Austin, Texas get to decide if the Marriott is worthy of a $4.3 million break in building fees for a prospective 1,000-room-hotel they're planning to open on Congress Avenue and East 2nd Street.
The huge scale of the property would make it a Marriott Marquis, putting it on the same level as the giant Times Square tower. The Austin Marquis would have between 27 and 30 floors, and create around 300 new jobs for the city (at a time when unemployment is rearing its ugly head in almost every corner of the country)—maybe this is reason enough to condone the multi-million dollar allowance?
News of the development comes exactly one year after a report showed Austin suffered a six-year low in hotel occupancy. Though those figures still stand, it seems the mayor is counting on Austin strengthening its foothold in the competitive tourism market:
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What is Wrong With The W's Windows?
UPDATE, 3:42PM: W Hotels has released this statement on the two incidents. The W Austin and W Atlanta Midtown incidents are completely unrelated.
The circumstances of the two incidents are quite different and they are totally unrelated. At the W Austin, a panel of glass broke on balcony railings on two unoccupied condo residences located above the hotel. As such, these are two completely separate incidents, at two very different types of buildings and locations (balcony railing versus window).
Teams of experts are currently investigating each event independently.
We thought last month's horror hotel story about the two women falling through a guestroom window at the W Atlanta was bad enough but it's happened again! there's been another scary incident involving glass at a W Hotel. This time, at the new W Austin in Texas.
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Visual Goodness from Austin's Hotel St. Cecilia
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Ashton Kutcher Leads Fans on a SXSW Scavenger Hunt to Austin's Driskill Hotel
Our brother site Jaunted happens to be down in Austin, Texas this week for the SxSW Festival. Over the next few days, they'll be filling us in on the hotel scene and what celebs are disco napping where.
Yesterday, Ashton Kutcher sent his Twitter followers on a scavenger hunt through downtown Austin. Between 10am and 2pm, he tweeted four clues referencing four different Austin landmarks where you could check into location-based social networking app Foursquare, culminating with a live appearance by @aplusk himself at The Driskill Hotel downtown.
@aplusk: Last stop! Ghostly apparitions of the Colonel make this the most haunted place in Austin http://twitpic.com/48xvjp #SXSWNikon
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SXSW 2011 Just Started and Already It's Time to Start Planning Your Hotel for 2012
The Omni Austin has a massive atrium with a bar that gets majorly packed
Well, it's officially that time of the year when warehouse loft spaces around the country go empty, as bands, film and tech companies make the big pilgrimage to the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Of course the biggest hotels closest to the panel action have been sold out for some time, but let us recommend learning from this year to start thinking about next year's SXSW already.
Just as you may find yourself at many of the events at the Hilton Austin, you'll likely sidle up to the atrium lobby bar at the Omni Downtown at some point or another. It's just a hot meeting spot, and those with the foresight to be booked into the hotel have it really good this year. The Omni tells us that they're going out of their way to make SXSW-ers welcome, installing a cyber cafe and having an "Early Riser Bar" with Bloody Marys and free breakfast tacos.
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Stay at The Brand-New W Austin on December 16 for $209 a Night
Update: The W Austin is now open with rooms available at $229 a night on December 10.
Yee-haw! The W Austin is just days away from opening and amazingly, the opening date is still the same as it was when we learned a W was opening in Austin last year--December 9.
Except in usual W trickery, the hotel opens on December 9 but reservations are not being accepted until December 12.And you can't book a room online until December 16. That's when we found a Wonderful nonsmoking room, fully pre-paid for $209 a night. And the spa and the fitness center will not be open then. Those are coming later.
We're sure all systems will be a go for South by Southwest in March but we're a little disheartened to see that W charges $14.95 a day for internet in the guestrooms.
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W Austin to Have Its Own Music Venue
The soon-to-open W Austin will try to fit in the city nicknamed the Live Music Capital of the World—which boasts more than 200 live music spots and hosts the SXSW music festival—by having its own rocking venue.
The hotel, which will anchor a shopping and cultural center complex, will be attached to Austin City Limits Live at Moody Theater, a new venue for music and events. The theater will also be the new home of the famous long-running Austin City Limits concert music show.
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