Review: Thompson Hotel Austin

I stayed at the Thompson Austin during my visit to Austin. I earned lifetime Globalist status during this stay and it was a special stay for me.

In the past, I have written about my love for the Thompson brand. I think my love affair with the brand is starting to wear off as I stay at more of the newly opened properties.

The hotel has great food and beverage outlets, a nice pool, and friendly service. The room design was poor and I wondered if I was staying at a W property. I don't like the fact that the property is in two hotels and an apartment building, so there's nothing "boutique" about it.

Booking the Thompson Austin

I paid cash for my stay at the Thompson Austin and the rate was $300 a night. The Hyatt Privé program was used to book me. The Hyatt Privé rates are the same as standard flexible rates and include perks.

• Daily full breakfast for two in the hotel’s restaurant
• A $100 property credit per room per stay
• A one category room upgrade confirmed within 24 hours of booking (room-to-room or suite-to-suite) — based on availability at the time of booking
• Early check-in (as early as 9AM) and late check-out (as late as 4PM), subject to availability
• A welcome gift and letter

Some of these benefits are similar to my World of Hyatt Globalist perks but getting an extra $100 credit was a nice extra benefit.

The Thompson Austin is a Category 6 World of Hyatt property meaning that a standard room free night redemption costs up to 29,000 points. The World of Hyatt points are 1.5 cents each, so paying cash is the better value.

The Thompson, tommie, and Sienna at the Thompson

In the past, I have asked what constitutes a boutique hotel. The Thompson Austin is marketed as a three-in-one property with two hotels and an apartment building.

The tommie hotel is supposed to be a brand like Thompson but with smaller rooms.

The hotels are the same for all practical purposes. They have the same entrance, lobby, check-in counter, amenities, and rooms. Thompson rooms are to one side while tommie rooms are to the other side when you exit the elevator. This is a 405 room hotel.

The execution of dual branded hotels was odd. The coffee shop is marketed as being at the tommie even though it is just as much at the Thompson.

There is an apartment building on top of the two hotels. There is a different entrance to the building.

While the pool and gym are great, keep in mind that you are sharing it with 719 other people. The bottom half of the building is the hotels, while the top half is the apartments.

Thompson Austin location

There is a central location. The intersection of 5th and San Jacinto is where it is. I found this to be a pretty central location, and it was easy to travel from here. The hotel is close to a lot of bars, so it can be loud in the evening.

It is convenient to arrive via the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Thompson Austin lobby & check-in

There are several couches and a fireplace in the lobby of the Thompson Austin. The lobby has access to three of the food and beverage outlets.

The reception was in the lobby.

When I got to check-in, I was asked which hotels I was in. The associate that checked me in was friendly and professional. The Globalist perks and amenities were covered by him. I used a suite upgrade award to confirm that I was in the standard suite at the hotel.

I found the dual branded aspect of this property to be odd as I was given a Thompson key in a tommie sleeve.

The elevator is located down the hall from reception. My room was on the 13th floor.

Depending on the angle from which you look at it, the elevator's art can change.

The tommie rooms were on the 13th floor and the Thompson rooms were on the other side of the building.

Thompson room numbers start with "TH" while tommie room numbers start with "tm" It would be a lot simpler for hotel employees to ask which of the two properties you were staying at if they just chose a different number.

Thompson Austin San Jacinto Suite

I was assigned a suite. This was the first room on the right after walking down the hallway.

Thompson properties seem to like having small rooms, and this suite is an example of that. Square footage isn't listed on Hyatt's website, unlike at most hotels.

The San Jacinto Suites are 572 square feet and have these details. It isn't large enough for a full suite with a separate living room and bedroom

The suite had an entryway with a bathroom on the right and a closet on the left.

The living room had a piece of furniture between a couch and a loveseat that could be used for two or three people.

There was a wall-mounted TV and a long desk in the living room.

There was a coffee machine on the desk. There was nothing else besides sugar and no milk.

The minibar had drinks and snacks for sale.

Two bottles of sparkling water and a cookie were included in a welcome amenity near the minibar.

There was a bathroom in the living room.

There was a king size bed in the room.

The bedroom was separated from the bathroom by a door. The bathroom had a single sink, a partitioned off toilet, and a massive shower with one shower head on each side.

Reusable bottles were used to hold the toiletries.

You can see The Driskill, a Hyatt property, in the bottom left of the picture.

You might think that the suite looks nice. The issue is that the suite felt like it was designed by someone who hadn't been to a hotel before, and no thought was put into the actual design choices that impact the guest experience. I'm going to give some examples.

• There were no outlets on top of the desk, and the two outlets underneath the desk were occupied with the coffee machine and a lamp; who designs a desk with no outlets?!
• The living room was sort of uselessly small; it had a single couch, so it would have been nice if there were another chair, or something, since often the nice part of having a suite is being able to hang out with others
• There were two AC power outlets next to the bed on each side, but they were so close together that you couldn’t use them at the same time with most types of cords
• The sliding door between the bathroom and bedroom wouldn’t stay closed, but would keep sliding open; while there’s a lock, at times that was hard to open, and I almost thought I was stuck in there
• It’s odd to me to have one of the biggest showers I’ve ever seen in a suite, all while having a single sink in the main bathroom
• I know black toilets might look nice right after they’re cleaned, but I’ve never seen a black toilet that doesn’t look awful after it’s used in any capacity
• The materials largely felt cheap, and the lighting wasn’t doing the room any favors in terms of wear & tear; for example, take a look at the below picture of the door to the half bathroom
• Something was funky with the air conditioner in the room; I’m not particularly temperature sensitive, but at night I found that it was either way too warm or way too cold in the room, to the point that I’d wake up, despite having the same setting on all night
• There’s no phone in the living room, but rather only in the bedroom; if you’re staying in a full suite, it’s nice to be able to separate the two areas in case someone wants to sleep, but then there’s no way to call down without going into the bedroom
• There’s a master lighting switch at the main door to the room, but it’s not labeled as such; I only realized this after spending several minutes trying to get any lights to turn on
• Since the room had a concrete ceiling, there were no central lights in the living room or bedroom, which meant the lighting at night was poor

It isn't that any of these made my stay bad. I was frustrated by the way the design was thoughtless. Does anyone test out the room designs before they roll them out?

Thompson Austin gym

One of the best hotel gyms I have seen is located on the third floor of the Thompson Austin's. There is a lot of cardio and weight equipment, as well as a golf simulator that you can book.

Both Thompson and tommie branded bottles were used for bottled water.

The gym is busy because it is shared between two hotels and an apartment building. The gym is more crowded than a hotel gym.

Thompson Austin pool

There is a pool on the fourth floor. The pool was completely empty in December, but I think it is slammed in the summer because there are so many people who have access to it. It is not likely to be a good pool for swimming laps if you are not alone in it.

Thompson Austin The Coffee Bar at tommie

There are four unique concepts in food and beverage outlets. The Coffee Bar at tommie is open from 6 AM to 7PM. You can get a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening here.

If you're looking for a place to work, it has comfortable seating.

The small cold brew and small cappuccino retailed for $7 each, but they were both great.

Thompson Austin The Diner Bar

The diner bar is located off the lobby and is known for its Port City Southern food. James Beard is behind the idea.

As far as the opening times are concerned.

• Breakfast is served here from 7AM until 11AM Monday through Friday; if your rate includes breakfast, you can have breakfast here or at The Grey Market
• On weekends, brunch is served from 11AM until 2PM; if your rate includes breakfast, you can’t use that benefit here for brunch
• Dinner and drinks are served here nightly from 4PM until 10PM

The focal point of the restaurant is the long bar which has a number of tables.

The breakfast menu can be found here. The breakfast menu is not traditional and there is no omelette option. The selection is pretty much what you would expect from the south.

The French Omelet, with cheese, crme frache, chives, potato rosti, and lettuce, was one of the options.

You can find the dinner menu at the restaurant that was crowded in the evening. The food was also very good. The half roasted chicken with garlic trencher and escarole was included.

Thompson Austin The Grey Market

It feels like a cross between a diner and a market at the Grey Market. You have to walk through the diner bar to get to this. It is open from 7 AM to 10PM.

You can come here whenever you want to grab a drink or food. There are a lot of things from soda to bottles of wine.

The breakfast and all day dining menu can be found here. If your rate includes breakfast, you can have it at any time of the day. If you have it delivered, the service fee is no longer charged. Since the diner bar is closed for breakfast on the weekends, this is the only option for breakfast.

It is served in to-go bags which takes away from the experience of in-room dining.

The options included the "T GM Omelet," with mushrooms, peppers, onions, and potato hash, and the "Hash and Eggs," with crumbled chicken sausage, potatoes, and sunny eggs.

Thompson Austin Wax Myrtle’s Hide-A-Way

There is a Hide-A-Way on the fourth floor. It is a great place to eat or have a drink. The menu can be found here.

The restaurant has a lot of outdoor seating.

The food here was good, including the boiled peanut hummus with roasted salsa verde.

Bottom line

The Thompson Austin has great food and beverage outlets, friendly service, and generally good elite recognition.

The poorly thought out room design was one of the things that I didn't like. I don't like dual branded hotels and there is also an apartment complex added into the mix. A 400+ room hotel and apartment building is what this is.

I don't like the Thompson brand as much as I used to. The Thompson Dallas was a converted property that I liked. Small rooms and a lack of attention to detail are what the Thompsons seem to have.

What did you think about staying at the Thompson Austin? Where do you think the Thompson brand should go?