Overall this apartment is a great value for the area it’s in. Some things to note that we weren’t really aware of since this was our first trip to ATX:
Austin is NOT walkable. We went two days without a rental car but then we caved because the Uber bill was $100+ a day. We weren’t there during any of the festivities, so I can assume that bill would’ve been double during ACL or other festivals. With all of that said, parking wasn’t really an issue around the apartment (it is a pain everywhere else in the city) but you do have to pay M-Sa 8a-12a. There’s free parking a few blocks away, but it didn’t feel very safe and we didn’t want to chance it with the rental. The garage attached to the apartment is $25 with no in and out privileges. Street parking is $2.00/hr and if you choose to do it through their parking app you must preload your parking wallet with a minimum of $10 at a time. Luckily the way it worked out for us, our last time parking we used all but $1 which I’m not concerned about, but I’m not sure how or if you could get refunded if you had more money left in your parking wallet.
The neighborhood is very up and coming, and that means TONS of construction- including the building that you’re in. Not too much of a hassle but did mean there were several detours on the streets surrounding the apartment building.
This is a mixed use building: some renters, some Airbnb (seemingly all owned by Sonder as we were greeted on our floor by Sonder branded doormats and signage), a parking garage, and retail/food shops below. Everyone we encountered was very nice and the keypads were easy to use and Sonder makes sure you have all of the codes in your reservation email.
On that topic: we did not receive our reservation email 3 days in advance as promised. While inquiring the night before our trip about early check-in I realized we didn’t have it and added that to my request for early check-in. I feel like it would’ve been simple to resend the email with the reservation information, but I was questioned about whether I had checked my spam (I had) and told it was sent to the email I have on file with Airbnb (it was not). So rather than just confirm my information with me and send it over, I got an attitude from the representatives via email and went back and forth with them up until the next day about 2 hours before our check-in, causing a little anxiety that I could’ve done without as I was flying for the first time since Covid. I understand how email works, but never received it initially nor did Airbnb ever update the information within my booking as it would normally do. The company could do with some training on customer interactions and rather than blaming us and telling us to check spam/junk/update our email, just resend the information and make it easy to be a guest.
Other things of note: super cute decor, very clean, nice toiletries (Ferragamo and Adler), hair dryer, full kitchen (even some tiny olive oils! And an ice maker which was super nice to have), overlooks a cute second level courtyard with hammocks and fire pit (only got rowdy for an hour around 11pm the Friday before Halloween- expected, but not appreciated since our flight was leaving at 7am the next day and our alarms were set for 4am, but not their fault), bed was comfortable enough (was VERY low to the ground- trendy with no box spring but slept well, just hard to get out of), HUGE soaking tub (wish I’d had time to use it!), 1/2 bath was nice to have after a long day of using public restrooms (we literally started calling it the “pooping closet” because, you know, everybody poops), washer & dryer was such a nice touch and we used it to make sure we didn’t have to do chores when we got home (there was a tiny box with about 4-5 laundry pods in it- very thoughtful touch) I really can’t say enough about how nice the space was. Definitely one of the best Airbnbs I’ve stayed in.
Extra thing of note: they say this sleeps up to 4, but it would not be comfortable to share this space with more than just 2 people. My wife and I obviously shared the bedroom, but even with just the 2 of us for the week it was cozy. 4 would be very cramped.
On a scale of 1-10, Austin ranks about 4.5. I’m glad I got to go, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back. If I did, I’d likely seek to stay with Sonder again. Cheers!