I will start with the positive - the room decor was up to date and smart; the bed was comfortable.

Unfortunately, there are several negatives about this hotel.

I purchased the hotel through Priceline, using a "blind" request - I did not know what hotel I would receive - I simply submitted a price and hoped for the best. I will have to think twice before doing this again. My "winning" price was $95/night for Friday & Saturday nights in February.

The hotel is in a run-down area adjacent to the abandoned Highland Mall - an area that was nice, 30 years ago. As I entered the parking lot, I noticed shattered glass next to a car. I asked the registration clerk if there had been an automotive break-in - she did not know anything about that. She did tell me that a security guard patrolled the parking lot at night.

My room was on the 6th floor - I immediately noticed a musty smell in the hallway after existing the elevator. This smell was constantly present during my 3-day stay.

While the room decor is smart and up to date, someone failed badly with the bathroom design. The bathroom does not have the usual bathtub with a shower curtain; instead, it has only a shower, which could have been nice if it were well designed. The shower floor has a slight slope toward the drain, but no "lip" to keep the water in the shower. As a consequence, the bathroom floor was flooded every time I bathed. Thank goodness for 3 bath towels - they were necessary to mop up the floor. Also, there is absolutely no shelf or basket in the shower for soap, shampoo, etc. Instead, I had to sit soap and shampoo on the top of the toilet bowl tank and reach out of the shower for them. One other thing: the toilet seat is so old that the finish is wearing off.

The hotel did have an exercise room with two weight machines and a handful of treadmills. One of the weight machines had a "out of order" sign posted.

Here is another major security shortfall. There is a back entrance into the hotel that is not visible to the front desk. ABSOLUTELY ANYONE CAN WALK INTO THE HOTEL! This door is completely unsecured - there is no card reader controlling access through this door. Once inside, any strange has access to the elevators

I checked out of the hotel Sunday morning - typically a busy time. Yet there was only one clerk at the front desk; I was fortunate that there were only two customers ahead of me. Completing their check-out took the clerk about 15 minutes. By the time I completed my check-out, there was a line of 4 customers behind me. Sounds like a hotel operating on the cheap!

I strongly recommend that you stay away from this hotel.

I had a week long training. Check in was very easy, my stay was very relaxing. They had some construction going on at the same time but i had no distrubances. I will be returning to Austin for the second part of my training and will be staying here for a another week.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Midtown in Austin. It is very difficult to find (although I can blame some of that on Google directions). When we arrived Christina was extremely polite and helpful. That is all the nice things I can say about this place. The room smelled like a locker room due to water on the carpet that was still wet from rain earlier in the week. The water either leaked in through the balcony door, or someone opened the balcony door and let the water in. Either way, someone had to know the area was wet, and EVERYONE had to know how bad the room smelled. The bed and pillows were the "firmest" I have ever encountered. I have no idea what they are thinking in putting this in a hotel room, but sleep apparently isn't important. The next morning I tried to call the front desk to get the Wi-Fi password. For some reason it was not included in the arrival package. After 3 calls and no one answering I decided to go to the business center. I tried to print a page and the printer jammed. At this time the front desk agent arrived. She was kind enough to clear the jam. I told her of the problem with the room and she apologized. As we are talking, my wife calls me and tells me the bath tub faucet would not shut off. I went upstairs, and the faucet was barely attached and the stem had broken inside. Maintenance came up to look at it, and informed us he needed to go get some tools. Personally, I might have brought some tools with me when informed of the issue. After an hour, the project was semi-completed. The water still dripped and only the cold water worked. I moved around the faucet and was able to connect to the pipe inside the wall, which allowed the water adjustment to move both to cold and hot. As I was checking out the agent asked for my phone contact as she was going to ask for a manager to call me. I said I wanted to speak with a manager at that point. She said there was not one on duty. Now I am a scheduler by trade, and I believe I would have a manager on duty on Sunday morning, but that may not be their policy. It is almost noon on Monday and I still have not received a phone call or email.

Stayed at this hotel for a conference. Breakfast was good. The food at the bar was great. Henry really does his best to make it fun and comfortable. The rooms were nice.
As for the location, if you intend to site-see, you'll need transportation. Not much in walking distance here.