1 Hotel Austin opens as the brand's first Texas property
The 252-room hotel occupies floors of the 74-storey Waterline and brings the brand's second watr rooftop concept, after Miami's, to Texas.
1 Hotels has opened its first property in Texas, a 180-room Canopy hotel at Deer Valley's East Village in Park City. 1 Hotel Austin is inside the Waterline, a 74-storey tower that is now the tallest in the state, and carries 252 rooms including 60 suites, more than 10,000 square feet of event space and three food and beverage venues.
Barry Sternlicht, founder of 1 Hotels and chairman of Starwood Hotels, called the Austin opening a milestone for the brand. He said few cities have grown with Austin's confidence while keeping the qualities that make it distinct: its creativity, independent spirit, welcoming character and natural beauty, according to a statement issued with the opening.
The hotel was developed by Lincoln and Kairoi Residential and designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, with HKS Architects serving as architect of record. Studio MAI led the interiors in collaboration with Starwood Hotels, working with locally quarried limestone, oak and reclaimed wood salvaged from historic American structures throughout the building.
The site places guests between downtown Austin and the Waterloo Greenway, steps from the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, Waller Creek and the 10-mile loop around Lady Bird Lake. That proximity feeds the hotel's own programming, including a three-mile Sunday run club that follows the lakeside trail.
What fills the rooms and lobby
More than 4,000 plants across over 30 species, plus a living plant wall, bring the landscape of Central Texas indoors. The lobby is deliberately residential rather than formal, with soaring wood ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and seating clusters arranged more like a living room than a conventional hotel entrance.
Guest floors carry warm wood paneling and soft indirect lighting. Rooms use woven textiles, oat-coloured fabrics and handcrafted textures, with stone-vanity bathrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows framing Lady Bird Lake, Waller Creek or the downtown skyline depending on the room.
In-room amenities include filtered water taps, reusable glassware made from recycled wine bottles, cotton robes, yoga mats and Bamford bath products made with organic ingredients. Minibars stock local goods: chocolates from Desnudo, snacks from Austin Pretzel Company, Wildflower Caramels and Tamalitoz treats.
Three venues, one from a Michelin-linked chef
Alteño is Austin's first restaurant from James Beard Award nominee Johnny Curiel, whose two Denver restaurants, Alma Fonda Fina and Mezcaleria Alma, both hold Michelin stars. The menu draws on the fire-driven cooking of the Jalisco Highlands, where Curiel grew up, and honours dishes passed down by his father, the original Alteño.
The bar carries more than 40 mezcals alongside additive-free tequilas, raicilla, sotol and ancient corn whiskey, organised around an open kitchen with a private dining room for group meals. At street level, Neighbors Café and Wine Bar is the first Neighbors wine bar in the 1 Hotels collection.
Neighbors opens onto both lobby and neighbourhood with Mediterranean, biodynamic and minimal-intervention wines, spritzes and cocktails including a Nitro Espresso Martini, its calendar running to game nights and Matcha Mondays with Mori Matcha. Sixteen storeys up, watr is the concept's second location after its debut at 1 Hotel South Beach.
Watr pairs Japanese-inspired cuisine, including a raw bar and tableside chutoro over binchotan, with skyline and Lady Bird Lake views, a low-waste cocktail programme that turns spent sparkling wine into syrups, and a calendar running to DJ sets and monthly Full Moon parties.
Wellness floor and sustainability measures
A dedicated wellness floor holds a fitness centre opening onto an outdoor terrace, a yoga studio, and the Bamford Wellness Spa, founded by Carole Bamford, with six treatment rooms and a couples suite with a steam shower. First-time guests get a complimentary three-day pass to the nearby Monroe private club, which includes sauna and cold plunge access.
The property is pursuing LEED Gold certification and runs an on-site apiary with Keeper's Harvest for honey served at Neighbors. Fully electric Audi Q6 e-tron house cars are available for guest excursions, and a donation scheme called 1 Less Thing sends gently used clothing to local charity Thrift-ish.
The hotel works with Foodprint Group on food and beverage waste reduction and with Texas Disposal Systems on recycling and composting. Event space on the 14th floor includes a divisible 4,500-square-foot ballroom and 6,000 square feet of pre-function space with indoor and outdoor terraces overlooking downtown.
The other hotel news this week
The Austin debut landed the same week Marriott and developer SomeraRoad announced The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Brooklyn Heights, converting the former Hotel Bossert into that brand's first Brooklyn-branded residences, a project we covered as the Bossert's shift to Ritz-Carlton, with construction due to start this year and completion targeted for 2029.
Separately, IHG Hotels & Resorts and EasyJet entered a global partnership giving small and medium-sized businesses in IHG's Business Edge programme a 10% discount on new EasyJet plus membership, alongside reciprocal loyalty perks and accelerated access to IHG One Rewards Gold Elite status for EasyJet plus members.
Sources
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Image: 1 Hotel Austin
