Hyatt Regency Austin has finished its full renovation, updating rooms, reworking the lobby, refreshing dining, and keeping the same lakefront views that made it one of the city’s most reliable stays. I toured the property last week with the general manager, walked the new rooms and public spaces, and came away with a clear sense of what’s improved, what’s been lost, and why this remains one of Hyatt’s most valuable Category 4 redemptions—especially during peak Austin events.
The Hyatt Regency Austin was the first hotel I ever stayed at in Austin, long before my wife and I decided to move here. We flew out for a barbecue tasting weekend, to try the best of Central Texas. Our first night we met Mommy Points (Summer Hull, now of The Points Guy) and her husband for dinner.
And I really liked the hotel for its views of the city, directly above Town Lake, and for food with a bit more flavor and Tex Mex flair than I was used to at a Regency. It was a solid hotel!
I’ve been back many times over the years. When my wife and I were considering making Austin home, we’d come back for a weekend a month. We tried a few different hotels in different neighbors, but probably stayed most often at the Regency. We’ve put people up there, and booked it for Fourth of July – it’s good a good pool with a view and it’s right by the city’s fireworks over the water.
I stopped by early this week to have a tour, now that they’ve completed their renovation. It’s got a more modern look. The atrium isn’t yellow anymore!
The food has been upgraded a bit, and it’s seen a number of other improvements. And I heard from the general manager about his philosophy upgrading guests. Although I didn’t like everything they’ve done!
View From The Hyatt Regency Austin
The Hotel Cites Two Claims To Fame
Welcoming local media, we were regaled with tales of the property’s past since it first opened in 1982. There are really two things they claim fame for.
- That the producer of Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater) discovered Matthew McConaughey at the bar of the hotel.
- That the sizzling fajita was invented at the property.
In fact, McConaughey was discovered at the Hyatt Regency Austin bar – but by casting director Don Phillips, not Linklater. Phillips and McConaughey partied together, got kicked out, and Phillips invited him to audition. (McConaughey is now often regarded as the “unofficial mayor of Austin.”)
As for the sizzling fajita, the hotel popularized it at scale. However, the hotel opened in 1982 and “sizzling plate” fajitas date to 1969 at Otilia Garza’s Round Up Restaurant in Pharr, Texas. The Regency’s La Vista chef George Weidmann used sirloin instead of skirt steak and became famous for the dish, cementing the modern, theatrical “sizzle” in mainstream dining. But he wasn’t the first to do it.
How Much Of A Renovation?
This was a seven month project, completed with the hotel open. While the general manager says they spent “more than any other sister hotel in market” per key, they don’t name a number and the renovation started April 2025 and finished in early November with some punch list items remaining. The front desk wasn’t finished yet. They were literally working on it while I was there.
The property opened 1982. The decor changed, the lobby is significantly different (and smaller).
They split up one of the presidential suites to add a room. The hotel is up to 450 rooms and now one of the two presidentials is a “lakeview residential suite” plus a standard room that adjoins.
This hotel is owned by Host, but remains Hyatt-managed. Such properties are almost always better than third-party managed.
The Pool
The pool can get quite busy over peak summer. It’s a great space on the water, obviously. The season is somewhat limited because it’s not heated. They sell access via Resort Pass and that comes with complimentary parking. Pricing varies, but generall a pool guest runs $30 and a cabana ranges from $150 – $350 and even $500 for peak of peak (standard cabana has a capacity 4, the large one is for up to 6). The Ripple & Roots patio menu is available here.
Base Suite – And The Hotel’s Upgrade Philosophy
The hotel has 18 suites, starting on the 3rd floor. That includes ‘studio suites’ that are really just larger rooms. They’re below the category of a real suite, and so these aren’t what confirmed suite upgrades book into.
Instead, Globalists (or any members with points) can confirm into a hospitality suite. Those are over 900 square feet. The General Manager tells me that they do not cap upgrades at this hotel, and they will upgrade Globalists to the Lakeview Residence or Presidential Suite if those are available. But since there’s only one of each, and they do sometimes rent out (especially during peak events, and as part of group business) that’s not something to bank on.
Here’s the studio suite. It’s an oversized room, and of course the best thing about it is the view.
The bedroom consists of a bed, l-shaped couch seating area as well as desk and television.
Rooms have a coffee maker and a refrigerator, the latter being a nice to have.
Bathrooms are nice, but fairly unmemorable.
Standard Lake View Rooms
The base room doesn’t have a view of the lake, but the entire hotel is on Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake to old timers) so there are plenty of rooms with this view. On the third and top guest floors there are even balconies. These rooms are very similar to the studio suites, just somewhat smaller, but still quite nice.
Meetings & Events
The hotel has 45,000 square feet of meeting space, including former restaurant space on the 17th floor. This isn’t a Convention Center hotel, though it’s just across the bridge from downtown. But between food options and different kinds of spaces – as well as Austin backdrop – it makes for a nice meetings property.
Here’s something I thought was neat. The hotel has a Spotify playlist, and you can pull it up with your phone by scanning the wall on the second floor outside the breakfast restaurant.
Breakfast
I’ve always liked breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Austin, as far as Regency properties go. The southwestern flair was a bit of a plus, and you could order a la carte not just buffet.
They’ve eliminated a la carte, though. But they have a honeycomb display, fresh smoothies, and promise that breakfast tacos are a rotating item on the buffet now. It’s complimentary for globalists, $32 otherwise.
What works nicely is that the breakfast restaurant is a great space, and they use it for meetings and groups after the morning hours, since meeting space on the floor opens into ti.
Dining and To Go Market
Probably my favorite thing about the hotel’s refresh is the to go market on the ground floor. There used to be a Starbucks, and I have to think the switch will lose a lot of business. People like Starbucks! They know it! But the offerings here now are so much nicer.
I’d love to see longer hours for the market though. It opens at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m. I may be an outlier, but I want on-premises coffee (and not in-room coffee) before 6:30.
The food in the market looked legit. This is stuff I would eat. No sad salads, everything seemed fresh. The whole experience was a cut above the market at Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress where I was the previous week, and that’s one of the better Regency properties.
The hotel still offers room service. Breakfast is delivery from the market, and lunch and dinner is delivery from their Ripple & Roots restaurant.
The food is surprisingly good, and chatting with their executive chef a lot of thought goes into it. Austin is a strong food city. There’s only a few places that truly compete nationally, but most everything is above average. And the hotel has always leaned into this – seemingly even if a bit more now as they aim clearly for higher room rates with the renovation.
And if you stumble upon a bag of hot honey roasted cashews made in-house as an amenity, give these puppies a try (and see if you can talk staff into some extras).
This Hotel Is Clutch During Peak Austin
Hyatt Regency Austin is a category 4 hotel, which makes it eligible for category 1-4 free night certificates. Award rooms run 12,000 – 18,000 points per night.
I pulled up rooms during South By Southwest this coming March. Rooms are running $550++ for the prepaid member rate. The cancellable standard rate is $638++. There’s a $25 per night destination fee. So a single cancellable room (i.e. comparing like-to-like with points) runs $762.60 all-in. And it’s available for 18,000 points, or a free night certificate. That’s 4.2 cents per point.
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