Hotel Magdalena

I visit Austin regularly for work. My team has stayed here before but I avoided it because of negative reviews. This week I decided to try it. Should have stuck with my gut. At check in I was initially encouraged by the style of the place. I asked for a quiet room and was then directed to my room in building C. I was told that it would be an adventure finding the room. It was. The wayfinding signs are terrible. Eventually I found one with an arrow pointing to buildings C and D. So I walked that way but the buildings themselves don't have signs on them, so there was no way to tell if I was looking at C or D. I finally gave up and went back to the lobby and asked for help. The front desk fellow graciously offered to walk me there. Finally made it into the room and I gotta say, it was strange. It felt like a stylish hospital room. Institutional floor tiles. The bathroom sink was across from the bed. Awkward. And the soap and shampoo bottles in the shower were just sitting on the floor. Awkward. Every other hotel has that figured out. Meanwhile, this supposedly quiet room had street noise all night. And then leaf blowers early in the morning. I'll be going back to Austin soon but it'll be at a different hotel.

After being here previously, this experience was extremely disappointing. Sadly, they’ve been acquired by Hyatt and their quality has gone way down. I had to wait 90 minutes to get into my room even though I was here after check-in time. The excuse I was given was there weren’t any linens, even though the room was only missing a top sheet. Many of us waited, even though it was a Friday and a lot of people needed to get ready to go to wedding events. They could’ve just let us in the room and put the top sheet on later. But the worst part of all was the noise. This is a garden boutique hotel, and they are using it now for large wedding venues with children. We were awakened Sunday morning at 7 AM by banging of metal poles taking down the wedding tent. Then at 8 AM about 20 children who were here for a wedding began playing and screaming outside in the area by the restaurant which echoes up throughout the hotel. This lasted until 10:30 while their parents ignored them. This was not at all the relaxing experience one expects from a small and expensive boutique hotel. In the future, they may think about warning guests that there will be a wedding on the weekend they plan to stay in case they want to change their plans or to offer a complementary amenities to the guests inconvenienced by the noise. On a positive note the staff is lovely and the food at the restaurant is very good. Big business should stay out cute hotels that were running just fine. Shame on Hyatt for ruining Magdalena!

Hotel is a beautiful niche hotel located in a great place in Austin. That's where the good things stop. Was awaken every morning at 6am with garbage trucks and delivery vans. Front desk staff can never be found, and when they are around not very responsive to customer needs. Also, the restaurant and bar close at 10pm which is pretty early for Austin. I would a different Bunkhouse location, but will not likely use Hotel Magdalena again.

Amazing experience overall and will stay again when I'm back in Austin! The room was impeccably clean, and I loved the overall minimalist, funky design. I was in town following a friend's event in Round Rock and did a solo stay in Austin after. Hotel Magdalena was a fab choice, especially as a solo traveler. The property felt very safe and well-maintained.

This hotel only makes sense as a place to crash if you are so drunk that passing out is inevitable. This is a dive motel disguised as a boutique hotel. The courtyard area is beautiful with a bar that makes fantastic drinks and amazing food in the afternoon. In the evening you are invited to join the party and it is loud. Our room was so dysfunctional as to be laughable. No lights installed and the switch did nothing. A walk in closet with a tiny hanging bar in the corner and no shelves or drawers. The room had no shelves or drawers for clothes. The mini bar was well stocked of course. A huge bathroom with a tiny sink table, no tub, just empty space, and a tiny bedroom area. The worst part is that the motel is in an alley behind a large, popular bar with a garbage and recycling depot right next to the rooms. They are pouring bottles into metal bins until 2am. At 6am, trucks start coming in to pick up each type of bin until 9am, then they come back to replace the bins with new ones and they bang those large, metal bins around. The front desk is well aware of the complaints when they check you in.