Austin Way Magazine - GreenGale Publishing - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/557531
The hoTel Room Boom THE DIZZYING ARRAY OF LUXURY HOTELS COMING IN AND GOING UP HAS MADE AUSTIN ONE OF THE HOTTEST MARKETS IN THE COUNTRY. by KAREN VALby Picture a giant neon vacancy sign hovering over the increasingly impressive downtown skyline. In 2005, there were essentially two hotel options for high-end travelers in Austin: The chic gravitated toward the Four Seasons, while the more tradi- tional opted for the Driskill. But that was then. Austin now finds itself in the top-10 markets for new hotel construction, with luxury boutique and major international brands leading the charge. The rising tide of development is expected to add more than 3,200 rooms to Austin's central business district over the next three years, roughly a 40 percent increase from its current offering of 8,000. Since 2009, Austin's hotel demand has grown nearly three times faster than its supply, according to STR.com, a hotel market-data site. Last year the city ended with a 72.3 percent hotel occupancy rate (compared with a 64.4 percent national average). That means Austin hotels are sold out both midweek days and weekends. "If you look at markets over the United States, hotels in general are slow on the weekends," says Matt Green, managing partner of The Kor Group, which is The luxe Austin Proper will add 243 hotel rooms to the city, a small fraction of the 3,200 rooms that the central Austin business district expects to gain from new hotel development in the next three years. continued on page 96 AUSTINWAY.com 95 HAUTE PROPERTY