We loved our trip to Austin, it was a quick one night stay at the Radisson Town Lake. Being that the hotel was provided for by my husband's work we didn't have a choice in the hotel, but were thrilled with the hotel and location. It is literally right on Congress where during the right season you can sit out and watch the bats come out of the Congress Bridge. A short 6 blocks to 6th Street. The hotel is clean, modern and has beautiful views of the river and city. {as a side note besides the amazing hotel, I think the Salt Lick BBQ made our WHOLE trip} So if you get the chance stay here and go to the Salt Lick.

We had a lakeside room close to the bridge. There was some traffic noise but not unbearable.

The bathroom looked tired but clean and the room was nice.

The parking lot is tricky and narrow, The staff of the hotel, the Starbucks and TIIF were all lovely. Would stay here again.

The rooms at this hotel have the comfort select beds. The housekeeping staff did not reset these beds to a neutral/moderate setting before you check-in. I have never slept in one of these beds before so I was surprised at how unresponsive the controls were when I attempted to change the settings. My wife's side was set to 25 and my side was at 50. On the second night I got them both set to 40 and it was much better. But I had to push the buttons on the controls about eleventy-hundred times before it actually responded. The bathroom was typical, the sink looked old and worn. Nice TV. The thing that I loved is that these guys have a charging station on the nightstand. Two USB plugins, and two regular plugins. So two cell phones and a laptop were good to go. The exterior sign at night facing West had some of the letters not working so it only said "Rad". I think that is better than it actually saying the full hotel name and think they should leave it like that. Especially because they have some cool lights that shine up 10 stories high on that same side of the building and it looks really "Rad".

We left Dallas around 8 am and arrived in Austin right on time around 11:30. Being starved for lunch at that point, we were excited that there was a full size TGI Friday's restaurant right inside the lobby of the hotel (and a Starbucks too!). Do know that there is an onsite parking garage that costs $16 a day for hotel guests.

Upon arrival, we were impressed with the decor and comfort of the lobby. There are plenty of sitting areas, mesmerizing aquariums, and a warm fireplace to relax by. Megan at the front desk told us that our standard room was not ready yet (we arrived early), and I casually told her that I had elite status and asked for an upgrade if it was available. She told us that a lakeside view suite with one king bed would be ready in about 30 minutes, which was fine because we were going to have lunch at Friday's before going to the room anyway.

During lunch, Megan called my cell phone and told us that the room was ready when we were. We headed up to our suite (room 1039), and within minutes Megan called us and asked us if everything was OK with the room, which was a nice touch of good customer service. As far as location, the hotel was nested right in the center of town, walking distance to Austin's famous 6th Street and many restaurants (too bad it wasn't bat season in Austin, it would be been cool to see the famous bat colonies). Take a look at some of the pictures we took of our suite and the hotel below.


We were excited that there was a full size (bar included) TGI Friday's in the hotel. It was nice to grab lunch before checking into the room.

The lobby was spacious and inviting with plenty of couches, a warm fire place, and the elk chandeliers were a cool touch.

The living room area of our suite - a bit dated, but clean and spacious.

The desk was situated in the living room of the suite, and was big enough to work comfortably.

The coffee machine was located on a separate nook between the bedroom and living room area.

We were given two complimentary bottles of Dasani water.

The shower was pretty basic, but clean, and had good water pressure and plenty of hot water.

The bathroom sink area was stocked with Radisson's signature Asira product line (Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Lotion & Body Soap Bar).

We shared a very large king size bed, and the bedroom had a door to separate it from the rest of the suite for added privacy.

All Radisson rooms are equip with Sleep Number beds (not my favorite, but my sleep number is 30 if anyone cares).

After a short nap for us in the room, we decided to hit the town and walk to check out 6th Street; believe it or not, Austin seemed to be dead all around (I'm blaming it being Sunday and the Super Bowl playoffs), so we had some dinner and drinks at Manuel's (Upscale Tex-Mex, which ended up being excellent) ultimately because we got a coupon for a free loaded nachos appetizer from the front desk. After dinner, we decided to head back to the room and watch the game (not that we are football fans or anything, but we did feel a sense of obligation to support our Giants...).



Please visit my blog post at http://www.justanotherpointstraveler.com/2012/01/hotel-review-radisson-hotel-suites.html for my complete review including pictures