Another last minute trip was thrown together to head over to Austin for the last University of Texas home football game of the year. This is about a three hour drive from my place in Houston, but the drive to Austin is always worth the trip.

Hotel Entrance

We decided to stay at one of the Starwood properties that I had not yet become acquainted with. So I will be giving a brief review of the hotel and a slide show of some pictures. On a normal occasion I would have stayed one night at the Aloft and one at the Westin which was just up the street in order to receive two stays rather than two nights towards my elite status, but the Aloft was running a 40% off second night special. The property was a bit of a drive from 6th street (roughly 9 miles), but had a ton of other features to make up for that little minor flaw.

Pool Table and Lounge Area

If you have not stayed at an Aloft property I would have to say that you are in for a new hotel experience. Upon entering the hotel lobby I felt like I was entering a trendy dorm room for grown ups. On my right there was a pool table and a bar serving $2 beers, then on my left they had a “ReCharge Station” with a ton of different snacks, drinks and coffee. It was different that any place that I had stayed before with the bright lights and dog treats by the glass door. The hotel was packed with Kansas State fans, University of Texas fans, and their pets. The entire place was rented out, but the staff was still cordial and met our every request.

King Size Bed

The design of the Aloft rooms is a bit different than other hotel rooms and has a European feel. They do not have suites (or at least not in Austin) and you will either get double queens or a king. The bed was amazing and I slept like a rock. I must commend them on having one of the very few showers that is tall enough where I do not have to squat down to wash my hair. The phone in the room was wireless which was nice and they had all sorts of plugins to view your computer on the flat screen TV.

Going Green

Over all this was a great place to stay, even though there was a bit of a drive to get downtown. The staff was on point and made our stay a great experience. One thing that I did love about this hotel was that they gave you an incentive to go green. For every night that you declined laundry service they would award you 250 Starwood Points or a $5 voucher on food. If you value SPG points at 5 cents a piece then you would be get $12.50 or more. I would say that 5 cents is reasonable if you are a “cash and points” kind of guy.

ขอวีซ่าอเมริกา