Thompson Austin

A Glass Tower That Kept Its Texas Accent

Downtown Austin has grown upward quickly, and much of what went up reads the same from the sidewalk. Thompson Austin is the exception on San Jacinto Boulevard. bKL Architecture gave it a slender thirty-two-story profile that looks corporate from a distance; step inside and the register changes entirely. KTGY Simeone Deary Design Group worked the interiors in hardwood, cast concrete, leather and stone mosaic, and the art program carries into the elevator cabs. The building holds two hotels at once: Thompson on the upper floors, and tommie, its smaller and more casual sibling, on the second. One address, two ways to stay.

Why It Works

Three things decided it for us. Position first: the music district begins two blocks away, and the tower is tall enough that the room stays quiet anyway. Then the design, which resists the beige-luxury default. The materials are honest, the art is real rather than lobby filler, and the floor-to-ceiling glass does the rest. Third, the building is useful across a whole stay without asking you to leave it: brisket hash at breakfast, a fourth-floor pool deck in the afternoon, a seventies-styled cocktail room after dark. Plenty of new downtown hotels of this size feel interchangeable. This one belongs to its street.

Why This Location

The hotel sits on the block of San Jacinto between Fifth and Sixth, the seam where working Austin meets playing Austin. Antone's, the blues club that shaped much of what the city exports, is on the same stretch of Fifth. Two blocks north is the Sixth Street entertainment district; a few blocks west, the Paramount Theatre on Congress Avenue. Turn the other way and Second Street runs down to Lady Bird Lake and the Ann and Roy Butler hike-and-bike trail, which is the reason to pack running shoes. The Capitol grounds are up Congress in the opposite direction, and the convention center is walkable. What the address imposes is Sixth Street on a weekend night: ask for a high floor.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Polished, art-filled, downtown, unfussy

• Rooms: 229, plus suites and the larger Upper Stories suites

• Best For: Music-weekend travelers, design-minded couples, business trips that need a good room

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The elevator cabs, hung with art like the rest of the public rooms

• Dining: Arriba Abajo rooftop cantina, Fifth Street Diner, The Royale Room for cocktails, a lobby coffee bar that pours natural wine at night

• Amenities: Fourth-floor pool deck with cabanas, a 6,700-square-foot fitness center with studio classes, pet-friendly rooms, EV charging

• Attractions: Antone's on Fifth, Sixth Street two blocks north, the Paramount Theatre on Congress, Lady Bird Lake and the Butler trail

Rooms That Face the City

The 229 rooms are built around their windows, which run floor to ceiling and frame either the Capitol dome to the north or the river and the hills to the south. Hardwood underfoot, leather furniture, stone in the bathrooms: the palette is warm rather than cool, unusual in a glass tower, and it makes the rooms easier to spend an afternoon in. Suites step up in space, and the Upper Stories suites sit highest, with the widest views. Anyone sensitive to noise should say so at booking. The higher floors are noticeably calmer, and the staff know which ones.

Eating and Drinking Without Leaving the Building

Four venues cover four different appetites. Fifth Street Diner handles the morning and the late afternoon with omelets, burgers and smoked brisket hash, and it is the reason to eat here rather than around the corner. Arriba Abajo, on the fourth floor beside the pool, serves fajitas and handmade tacos with the skyline behind them, and runs a mezcal omakase counter for anyone who wants to sit and be led. The Royale Room is the evening room, seventies in mood, martini-forward. The lobby coffee bar turns from espresso to natural wine as the day goes on.

The Fourth Floor, and What to Do With a Free Morning

The pool deck is the hotel's social center: cabanas, daybeds and loungers, high enough to be private and low enough to still feel part of the street. The fitness center runs to 6,700 square feet, with Peloton bikes, Technogym treadmills and scheduled studio classes, which is serious by downtown hotel standards. If the weather is right, the better plan is the Butler trail, ten minutes south on foot, and a loop of Lady Bird Lake before breakfast. Come back, swim, and the day has barely started.