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SXSW Attendees Minus Hotel WiFi Equals Disaster at the Omni

Where: 700 San Jacinto at 8th Street [map], Austin, TX, United States, 78701

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.

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Tags: SXSW Hotels / Austin Hotels / Music Festival Hotels / → All Tags

What Hotel Rooms Can You Get for SXSW?

Despite the recent reports that signal music festivals might be dying, everyone's favorite Texan music fest--South by Southwest--is still very much on again this year. If you have the time to get to Austin (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 hotel rates search engine for March 13-16--prime festival time and found the Hyatt Place Central Austin for $109 a night. This hotel is about five miles from downtown and it involves a freeway ride. But if you are a music geek who needs to upload or edit music, video, bootlegs, whatever, remember Hyatt Place has all the geeky tools you'll need to make that happen.

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Tags: SXSW Hotels / Austin Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Options Dwindling for SXSW Festival

Where: Austin, TX, United States

It’s almost time for Austin’s annual blowout music event, SXSW, and you know what that means: Come March 12, a heaving mass of skinny-jeans and bearded bloggers will descend on the hot streets of Austin for 10 days of music festival madness. Also, with this starting in less than three weeks, hotel rooms are getting scarce.

If you want to stay in one of the official SXSW hotels, your options are paltry — particularly if you want to stay through the whole festival. At this writing, the SXSW website lists four not-particularly-central hotels with availabilities: Candlewood Suites-South (doubles $123), Marriott-Austin South (doubles $149), Crowne Plaza (doubles $156), and Barton Creek Resort & Spa (doubles $199). Though all the downtown hotels seem to be booked, SXSW runs pay-to-ride shuttles ($30 unlimited pass) during daytime and nighttime shows to and from the other official hotels.

The Country Inn & Suites-North (doubles $114) and Embassy Suites (doubles $172) are available all but the first night, if you can stomach the late start. Or, scour Expedia for deals that started around $67 when we searched. Just remember that cabs can be near impossible to catch in the height of SXSW, so that cheap hotel in the hinterlands might not be the sweet deal it appears to be.

[Photo: bre pettis]

Tags: SXSW Hotels / Austin Hotels / Music Festival Hotels / → All Tags

Hilton Austin Still Has a Few Rooms Left For SXSW

Where: 500 E 4th St [map], Austin, TX, United States, 78701

If you're planning to go to South by Southwest in Austin this year, we have some news for you: hotels are gettin' pretty full already. You need to get your game up and start booking.

We started checking individual hotels' websites for stays that ran March 12-23 (the festival runs March 13-22), but the Hilton Austin came back with absolutely no availability on any of those dates — which was curious, but not impossible since the hotel is adjacent to the Austin Convention Center, where many of the SXSW activities go down — so we investigated further.

According to Expedia, if you're really set on the Hilton Austin (it's nice and it's convenient; easy, easy), it can be done if you're only staying for the first weekend of SXSW (Thursday through Monday). But you'd better book it now and be prepared for a $349 rate.

If you're down for staying a few miles out of downtown, The Doubletree Austin does have rooms available for the entirety of SXSW for $118 a night — but, again, you'd better get to booking now. Rooms in the more upscale (read: not Super 8) hotels are lookin' scarce around the city.

Tags: SXSW Hotels / Hotel Parties / Hotel Blacklists / → All Tags

What Went Down at Hotels During SXSW?

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual music and film festival in Austin, Texas concluded its run yesterday and predictably, we have some hotel scene reports.

Ryan at the Synthesis blog stayed at the Four Seasons hotel and said his room smelled like something interesting by the end of the trip. He also said the hotel charged him for something he didn't get. On the bright side? He saw Ice Cube in the hotel lobby and the veggie burger is delicious although $22.

Meanwhile, Perez Hilton is reporting that singer Van Morrison who is allegedly already blacklisted at the Four Seasons is now banned from the Hotel Driskill.

Update: We got word that the Driskill Hotel have confirmed – categorically – that the Perez Hilton report is untrue.

Sorry Van.

Furthermore, Mr. Morrison's representatives added this concerning the Perez Hilton report:

Mr. Morrison has not been banned from this or any other hotel.

John Spomer, Vice President & Managing Director of the Driskill Hotel, has issued the following statement. "Throughout his stay, Mr. Morrison, as well as members of his party, treated our staff with the utmost professional courtesy and respect. We look forward to the opportunity of hosting him again in the future."

Got any more hotel party reports from SXSW? Let us know.

[Photo: Tyfn]

Tags: Austin Hotels / Hotel Deals / SXSW Hotels / → All Tags

PM Linkage: Rooms Under $200 for SXSW Festival in Austin

The South By Southwest Music Festival begins March 7th and even though all the official hotels were sold out a while back, there are places to stay in Austin if you wanna be there.

We found a boatload of hotels under $200 on Expedia from March 7-10. Sure, these hotels have zero personality (i.e. Radisson Hotel Austin North, Super 8, Marriott Airport, etc.) but a deal is a deal. For more info how to "do" SXSW, check out Jaunted's Back of the Envelope Guide.

In other news:
· Drunk driver causes havoc on the Rocks in Sydney, smashes into a car at the Park Hyatt. [SMH]
· Just because you're in Cleveland doesn't mean you can't lodge in style.[Bizweek]
· The Waldorf-Astoria collection adds the Dakota Mountain Lodge in Park City to its portfolio.[Centre Daily]
· Times Square's Naked Cowboy a hotelier? [Page Six]

[Photo: Mayhem]