We chose this hotel because of the location & very reasonable room rates. Some of the rooms have doors that open to an outside walkway. Our room was in what is apparently the older part of the hotel. We entered our room from an interior hallway after using our card keys to open a security door. The ceilings in the hallway were VERY low - not a problem for us but it might be for someone tall. I'm only 5"4" tall & could touch the ceiling in the hallway! The hallway had a strange smell but our room didn't. Our room was newly remodeled. The bed was a little harder than I prefer but it was ok. The pillows were ok - there were 2 types to chose from. The sink/vanity were in the bathroom with the toilet & bathtub/shower. The room had lots of light. The window in our room just looked out at the center of the hotel - the window was very dirty - it seemed like they hadn't cleaned the windows after doing the remodeling. The continental breakfast was ok. The hotel has valet parking - since we didn't have a car, I can't comment on how efficent that is.

We like to walk and were able to get whereever we wanted to go by foot or on the free Dillo trolleys. The hotel is located near the Capitol & a lot of state & business buildings - it is a very quiet & isolated area after business hours - not even many cars on the street. It didn't seem unsafe when we walked back to the hotel as late as 10 p.m. but it might be a concern for some travelers who don't have cars. There are no restaurants in the immediate area.

If I ever go to Austin again, I'd probably stay in a more expensive area closer to restaurants & nightlife - but I think La Quinta is a good option for a budget traveler.

I stayed at this hotel for almost $800 for three days and two nights for Austin City Limits. Do NOT stay here. Pay the extra money for another hotel. Our room smelled extremely funny, so bad I couldn't sleep. Plus, the sheets and comforter were DIRTY, gross! I had an opportunity to stay up the street for an additional $200 and didn't take it because I thought this was a better bargain. Boy, was I wrong.

Knock off another $40 and it would be okay. Incredibly noisy. Between the traffic and the rattle of suitcases echoing along concrete walkways I was hardly able to sleep. Also, my room had a hole above the bathtub where water was leaking from the upstairs bathroom.

They did switch my room, and the staff was curteous. Overall though, not a great place to stay.

The overwhelming memory of my stay is the overpowering air freshener smell in my room that lasted all three nights. I presume that it was to disguise the odor of an earlier smoking customer. The room layout is poor - the only window on the room is adjacent to the door so at night you can't leave the curtains open if you want privacy from every person walking along the exterior corridor.

The room was clean however and facilities worked ok. The inclusive breakfast was pretty poor on a few counts. The orange juice from an automatic dispenser was the worst OJ I can ever recall sampling. There was no real butter for the toast, only some sort of half-butter spread. In fact I didn't bother with their breakfast after the first morning - there is a cafe a couple of blocks away on Congress.

Location is convenient for downtown Austin.

Would I stay there again? Only after trying hard to find somewhere else.