HotelChatter - Austin

Kevin Connolly Flies in Playmates To Spice Up His Stay at The Driskill

juliana — 2009-11-10T09:29:24-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/kevinconnollydriskill.jpg" class="top"> If you play a guy on TV that's always used to having an "entourage" of hot girls around you, giggling and agreeing with everything you say, we guess it must be hard to go anywhere without these fembots. How else to explain Kevin Connolly's (aka "E" from <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/entourage hotels">Entourage</a>) BYO-Playboy Playmates incident at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/The+Driskill/local/382">Driskill Hotel</a> in Austin, Texas? <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/kevin_connolly_poker_playmate_combo_TvkCCmnAH1KeEAMQ6RbgTK">Page Six reports</a>:<blockquote>Kevin Connolly knows poker and Playmates go together. For a poker tournament the "Entourage" star and a group of buddies organized at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, a couple of dozen Playboy Playmates were flown in just to keep things lively. </blockquote>Hmm...we've heard of people bringing their own pillows and toiletries with

The Superest Super 8 of Them All?

juliana — 2009-07-24T16:54:23-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/super8austin.jpg" class="top"> You don't want to know how we stumbled upon this <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g30196-d557377-r18134136-Super_8_Airport_South-Austin_Texas.html">TripAdvisor review</a> for the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Super+8+Motel+Airport+South/ian/229357">Super 8 Airport South</a> in Austin, Tex. but we sure are glad that our dubious internet skills took us here. That's because we might have found the superest Super 8 of them all. The reviewer mentioned that the hotel's lobby had a Nintendo Wii for guests to use. Yes, a Wii which proves that Wiis are not just limited to <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/12/23/224358/25/hotels/Serving_Up_the_Wii_at_Westin_Hotels">Westins</a> and boutique hotels. But looking around some more, we saw that the hotel was ranked the #2 hotel in Austin by reviewers. So what gives? It can't be entirely due to the Wii, could it? Well we noticed that

The Ginger-Chile Mojito From the Four Seasons Austin

juliana — 2009-07-01T17:33:49-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/gingerchilemojiot.jpg" class="top">We've kicked off our <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/summer cocktails">Summer Cocktails</a> series where we profile fun new summer drinks that hotels are making. Got one we should know about? <a href="mailto:tips@hotelchatter.com">Send us the recipe with a photo of the drink.</a> Otherwise, enjoy and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/hotelchatter">@reply us</a> when you're wasted! Guests hitting up the <a href="">Four Seasons Austin</a> should try out some of the hotel's "Summer Sips" being served in the hotel's lobby lounge from now through the end of September. These cocktails are fun, fruity and most importantly, packed with alcohol! The hotel's mixologists have introduced five new summer drinks, available for $12.50 each: The Ginger-Chile Mojito, The Sparkling Sangria, The Terlingua 75 (served with Patron tequila), a Cucumber Martini and

SXSW Attendees Minus Hotel WiFi Equals Disaster at the Omni

Jenna — 2009-03-18T16:45:07-05:00

By now, most of us are well aware of the major AT&T snafu that happened down in Austin at this year's South by Southwest. Basically, the cell service provider was not equipped to handle the massive amount of iPhones that convention-goers were packing — not to mention the heavy twittering, texting, and emailing they were probably doing. Yikes. Not good.

And almost as bad as a big ol' AT&T fail is a SXSW hotel in Austin with crappy WiFi. Sadly, this was the case at the the Omni Austin, where one blogger and SXSW attendee reports the WiFi was mostly down. Oh noes.

What Hotel Rooms Can You Get for SXSW?

juliana — 2009-03-09T10:33:33-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/17697/sxsw.jpg" class="top"> Despite the recent reports that signal music festivals might be <a href="http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/3/124754/6543/travel/Spain%27s+Summercase+Music+Festival+Bites+the+Dust">dying</a>, everyone's favorite Texan music fest--<a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/sxsw%20hotels">South by Southwest</a>--is still very much on again this year. If you have the time to get to <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/city/austin">Austin</a> (perhaps the downfall of our economy has freed you up a bit, eh?), hotel rooms are available but not quite affordable. We have a feeling Austin is trying to milk this event even harder in the wake of the economy's collapse.We checked our <a href="http://hotelrates.hotelchatter.com">hotel rates search engine</a> for March 13-16--prime festival time and found the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Hyatt+Place+Austin+North+Central/ian/124384">Hyatt Place Central Austin</a> for $109 a night. This hotel is about five miles from downtown and it involves a freeway ride. But