Atwell Suites Austin Airport

DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL. I recently booked a night at this Holiday Inn Express, and paid a bit of a premium to have services that included: Shuttle to Airport, Full Breakfast, and free parking. On arrival, the lobby was under construction. The temporary bell desk acted like business was usual, but i inquired… Will the morning shuttle run? Well, we will comp you for Uber. Will there be breakfast? To go only, which was basically a frozen jimmy dean sausage biscuit. And parking? At your own risk among construction trucks. The hotel was being transferred to another brand, the Atwell. There was not a set date as to when the transfer would occur. I said that the services were not what was advertised on their site, so they should discount. NO. OK, cancel my reservation. NO. We were within the 24 hour cancelation, so we would be charged the full price. Let me talk to a manager - none existed. I called, and spoke to the Philippines, to a girl that had a rooster crowing in her backyard. She could not offer me anything. 45 minutes later, and 3 transfers, I was told that the hotel was being transferred to another brand, and that they could not refund my money without the GM of the hotel authorizing such. I asked if they had even appointed a GM for the “new” hotel, and she had no idea. I asked if my car would be safe while I traveled, and it was basically, park at your own risk. So, you’ve been warned. If you think you will get an airport shuttle, breakfast, safe parking, you should not expect such. And if you want any form of customer service, do not expect such locally, or anything satisfactory from their foreign support agency. I’ve stayed in the Holiday Inn brand for 60 years. But it is no longer an organization that is unified. It is simply an amalgamation of franchised entities , that could care less about loyalty, or even meeting the services they advertise. I could not be more disappointed. I gave the 3rd level, senior customer service manager this metaphor. I said “you held something in your right hand, and gave me a price. I paid it. Then you brought out your left hand, with an inferior product, acknowledged that it was an inferior product, and then refused to give me the product in your right hand, or give me my money back. And, you passed me off to an agent in the Philippines, without any power to do anything helpful, to say, well, that is our policy. I am done with anything owned by IHG.

It was not a great ending to our vacation. In the first room, the toilet continually growled and didn't flush....asked to be moved to a new room. In the new room, the shower curtain was torn and the sink stopper was permanently stopped. So, that was fun. Maybe it was just all maintenance issues, but it didn't make for a great stay.

I was charged a fee that was never supposed to go on my account, which was admitted by staff, on top of a deposit fee, which is standard. It will take over 5-7 business days guaranteed, and then it was charged all over after. If you don’t mind getting charged a miscellaneous fee that is inexplicably there, then you’ve nothing to worry about. Nothing bad to say about the rooms themselves, they’re clean and the beds are comfortable.

This hotel is going through major construction right now. The entire hotel is under some type of change. We we’re put in their new remodeled room. If you like IKEA, this is for you. I would not have stayed here had I known all of the amenities that would be available. No pool, no lobby, no bar or liquor you can purchase. I spoke directly to the hotel, I would have thought they might have mentioned this and they didn’t. I won’t stay here again.