I really enjoyed my stay at this Holiday Inn Express. The location was close to downtown Austin, the room was spacious and clean, the bed was comfortable, the TV and WiFi worked well and the breakfast was good (cold cereal, pre-made omelettes, mini bagels and cream cheese, half dollar size pancakes and syrup, yogurt and danish). There is a heated outdoor pool (80 degrees, about 3’ 10” deep) and a gym. As for parking, I stayed only one night (Saturday night) so I parked my car on the street around 10:30 PM, paid the street machine for an hour and a half of parking (around $4) until midnight and left it overnight for all day free parking on Sunday. The area around the hotel wasn’t as sketchy as some reviews made it out to be…and I personally didn’t see homeless people meandering around as I expected. The only minus was the first hotel desk clerk who didn’t bother to open the locked front door of the hotel upon my arrival. Her attitude was icy. The next 3 hotel clerks were great!