W Austin ★★★★

The Hotel Attached to the Room Where Austin City Limits Is Made

Block 21 is one building doing several jobs at once, and the W has the best of them. Andersson-Wise Architects gave it thirty-seven floors on Lavaca Street, with 251 hotel rooms above a base that also contains ACL Live at the Moody Theater, the hall where Austin City Limits is recorded and where most touring acts play when they come through town. Residences fill the rest. The result is a hotel with a concert venue inside its own footprint, which no amount of design budget elsewhere in the city can replicate.

Why It Works

Music is the reason, and the hotel treats it as substance rather than decoration. The photographs on the walls are by Scott Newton, taken as the official Austin City Limits photographer across decades of tapings, so the faces in the corridor are the people who played downstairs. A room key earns a discount at the venue store. Beyond that it is a properly equipped luxury hotel: a rooftop pool with cabanas, a spa, a gym that never closes, and a French brasserie that stands up on its own. Few addresses in Austin do both halves.

Why This Location

Lavaca at Second puts you at the top of the Second Street District, the run of shops and restaurants that leads down to Lady Bird Lake and the hike-and-bike trail. The Austin Central Library and Republic Square are a couple of blocks west; Congress Avenue and the walk up to the Capitol are east. Sixth Street and the Warehouse District are north, close enough to walk and far enough not to hear. And the Moody Theater is downstairs, which makes the walk home from a show a lift ride. Check what is playing before you pick your dates.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: Music-first, high-design, social, downtown

• Rooms: 251, including 32 suites, in a thirty-seven-story tower by Andersson-Wise

• Best For: Concert weekends, design travelers, anyone who wants the venue in the building

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Scott Newton Austin City Limits photographs, hung where the artists actually played

• Dining: Serenade for a French brasserie cooked over wood with Texas influence, the Living Room Bar all day with DJs at weekends, the Blue Room by reservation, 2nd and Roast for local coffee

• Amenities: WET Deck rooftop pool with cabanas and verandas, AWAY Spa, FIT fitness center open around the clock with Peloton bikes and a yoga studio, two pets per room up to fifty pounds

• Attractions: ACL Live at the Moody Theater downstairs, the Second Street District, the Austin Central Library and Republic Square, Lady Bird Lake and the hike-and-bike trail, Congress Avenue and the Texas State Capitol

Serenade, the Blue Room and the Living Room

Serenade is the dining room and the surprise: a French brasserie run through Texas, with wood fire doing most of the cooking, and the sort of place people book without a room key. The Living Room Bar works from morning to late, light plates and drinks, with DJs taking over on Friday and Saturday. The Blue Room is the opposite proposition, a small cocktail bar behind a reservation, which is either affectation or exactly what you want depending on the evening. Downstairs, 2nd and Roast pours locally roasted coffee with house pastries for anyone with a plane to catch.

The WET Deck, AWAY and FIT

The WET Deck is the rooftop pool, run as a venue in its own right: cabanas and verandas to rent, day passes for people who are not staying, and DJs through the warm months at weekends. AWAY Spa covers massage, facials and body treatments and wants booking ahead. FIT is open around the clock with Peloton bikes and a yoga studio, which matters in a hotel where the evenings run late. Two dogs per room are welcome, up to fifty pounds each.

Rooms Hung With the People Who Played Downstairs

The 251 rooms include 32 suites, and the tower height divides the views cleanly: north over downtown toward the Capitol, south across the lake and the hills. The design is W in register, sharp and dark rather than soft, and the music photography is what saves it from anonymity. Ask for a high floor away from the venue side if a quiet night matters, and the opposite if it does not. The suites earn their step up for the living space more than for the address.