AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center

I photographed a bat mitzvah last night at the AT&T Center and wanted to rave about their food! It was Mexican-​inspired and absolutely delicious. The tortilla soup was rich and flavorful, almost creamy but it wasn’t cream-​based so I can only guess something in it was possibly smoked (maybe chiles?). Their salsa as well had a terrific smoky taste. The staff were extremely professional, quick, and friendly. It was a pleasure to work with Dana (manager) and her crew. The child who was the center of the event had an amazing time. I look forward to working there again!

The AT&T Conference Center was an amazing place to have our wedding.
We used it for both a Friday night rehearsal as well as the Saturday night ceremony and reception. The venue is very modern and classy, with touches of Texas and UT themes that make it wonderful for hosting out of town guests.
Our main contact was the director of catering, Dana Andrae. She was extremely professional, knowledgeable, courteous, and responsive. In fact, she was the de facto wedding coordinator since we did not have a wedding planner. With her on the staff, a wedding planner was not needed. We cannot say enough good things about her. Our wedding day ended up being during a UT home game, and she was able to organize reserved parking for us to where we did not even feel the game was only 3 blocks away. We planned this with her for almost one year and she was there the entire way through from working with us on the concept to the actual walk down the aisle. She followed through on all the details.
The food was amazing. We are still receiving compliments about it. The chef was able to accommodate many different palates, dietary restrictions, etc. They were able to get the food out at the same time for all of our guests (~160)
The AT&T Center has a small army of staff which were superb. They were able to flip the ceremony space and build the dance floor, move tables into place, rearrange center pieces. It was really so well coordinated. Throughout the night we had refreshed drinks and the place looked immaculate.
For any future brides/​grooms, things to know ahead of time is that the hotel is separate from the conference center. Any room blocks are on the customer’s responsibility to fill. The lighting is taken care of by PSAV (in-​house), bringing someone external incurs a «forfeited business» fee. Honestly, Nathan Guy with PSAV was perfect for lighting the HUGE ballroom. Their prices are very reasonable, so it does make sense to use those services.
The hotel was wonderful with helping us take gifts and refreshments to our GIANT room, which was furnished with Champagne bottle and chocolate covered strawberries for the wedding night.
It was really a fairy-​tale wedding and in large part thanks to the AT&T Conference Center. If you use them, you and your guests will not be disappointed.

As far as a location for an educational meeting, this location is great. Amphitheater style lecture halls with power sources for the smaller classrooms. Definitely cool. I did not attend any sessions in the smaller breakout rooms, but I liked the setup of the classrooms.
The hotel rooms are really convenient to the conference side so that is a plus. The hotel rooms were good but not unique.
The catered food. Our event contracted with them for all three meals plus snacks for our conference. We had them do barbecue for one night and all the dishes served at that event were really well done.
The breakfasts were lacking. I’m pretty sure those are not real eggs.
Hotel rooms were standard. Nothing exceptional, but by no means bad.
I would have an educational conference here.

The hotel is perfect if you are attending a conference, but not that great if you aren’t.
We decided at the last minute to head to Austin for a friend’s 30^th birthday and being that it was Labor Day we rolled the dice on hotwire to get a hotel. Somehow I ended up with this one showing as a 4 star. I definitely wouldn’t say it was 4 star, as it was okay, but fairly generic. Prices were a bit high for Labor day, but oh well.
We arrived and used valet ($ 25) and walked up the stairs to check in. The hotel’s layout is strange, and a bit hard to understand. Check in was easy, although I had requested two doubles they had three girls in a king bed. We were able to request a roll away later on in the evening, so no biggie. We were given a corner room with a crap view, but the room was huge. Also, there was no fridge in it, and the TV was tiny for such a large room. The bed was comfy enough and the A/​C cranked. Also a nice sized bathroom and shower. The pool is also very small, not a ton of room out there, and situated in a strange area. The gym looked fairly decent. The coffee shop was already closed when we arrived, and the hotel although they said it was sold out was very quiet. Definately not the place to stay if you are young and looking for a good time, but good if you are just staying for work, or to attend something at UT. For the price, I feel like we could’ve done better and just booked the Lone Star Court with a little more character, or somewhere else downtown.

What a joke! I have stayed at other university-​managed hotels ran as part of their students’ training in the industry (University of Houston, for one) and they blow this place away. First, the only good points — housekeeping is good as place is very clean and the front desk folks were reasonably friendly. Second, the room service menu is extremely limited! One page for lunch and dinner! Third, unpopular items on the breakfast menu are cheap ($ 11), but a simple breakfast is over $ 20! Third, the gift and sundry shop shuts down at 5pm so if you just want a soda or snack, you get to walk 6 blocks. Fourth, there are empty soda machines throughout the building (see photos). Finally, and most importantly, the rooms are no better than tourist class, but command a premium price as they have a captive conference clientele. Very disappointing!

I’ve been at the AT&T conference center a number of times for conferences of sorts.
The food is generally good for a conference center. We had sandwiches, veggie wraps and salads with chips and drinks. The bread is lacking and what should be crusty is soft.
The facilities /​meeting rooms are well equipped with nice big tables and comfortable chairs. Power is nice at hideaway pods for every two seats. Also the stadium seating gives a clear view of the whiteboards and projector screens.
If you have to be in or schedule a conference, there are definitely worse places to do so.
Oh. And free and easy-​to-​hook-​up wifi with good reception!
I look forward to checking out the Carrillon restaurant which looks good.

Stay far far away from this hotel. I was treated like a POS by a building engineer and never compensated for the audacity of behavior (this includes sarcasm, rudeness and demeaning comments).
The manager decided to have their ‘junior staff’ call me and let me know they can’t do anything and skirted all responsibility.
I stayed in the room for less than 6hrs and had a non-​functioning shower — ohh well they thought it was no big deal in a state that’s 80% humidity and hit as hell
You have been warned this is the worst hotel in downtown Austin.

Funny Anita because I spent 4 hours on hold with Expedia who finally told me it was the AT&T Executive Education and Conference discretion to refund Expedia who could then in turn refund me.
I’ve already spoke to the director of reservations, Mike, on April 1^st who said he would refund one night but not both.
This is an obvious run around from you, Mike and Expedia and it doesn’t look like my family will be able to see me in Austin after all as I paid for this out of my own pocket.
I would figure as a Customer Relations Executive you would offer a better solution than passing the buck to Expedia. You didn’t even inquire about my situation or ask for details like my name or phone number to see if there was anything you could do to help.
Unacceptable and further reason to avoid both this hotel and Expedia in the future.
Perhaps you could contact me direct and provide your contact information and see about resolving this unsightly matter.

Decent hotel; rooms weren’t quite as nice as I was expecting but still nice. Larger than normal at least. The bed sheets were nice and soft. Pleasant staff.
Have been to a few events here and always had a good time. Nice facilities for conference activities.

Stayed here for an overnight trip to Austin and had a great stay! The grounds are beautiful and so spacious. We stayed in a double queen bed room and got a super deal for like $ 127 a night.
The bed was comfortable and the bathroom was big and clean. We had breakfast at the carillon and had one of the best eggs benedicts with brie cheese on a croissant. Our server Jon was friendly and provided excellent service.
For lunch we ate a Gabriel’s and Callie our server was so nice and attentive. We had two salads and soups.
The location of the hotel was perfect to walk to the bullock museum. We took a taxi to sixth Street and took the megabus to San Antonio.
Would love to stay again. Also Sam and Benjamin at the front desk gave us wonderful recommendations and accommodations.
Lastly Alex at the valley was super helpful.
Great staff and a great stay!

This place was built to be a subtle monument to UT to keep you ensconced in longhorn nostalgia during your stay in austin. I’d imagine this is also where they put big donors to work them up to a giving mood.
This place is like a longhorn museum with super comfy living rooms on the main floor. Longhorn nostalgia is everywhere. See some of the attached photos.
I should note the service here is excellent. I think they hire students and it’s likely pretty competitive to work here.
The downside is it is priced like an upscale hotel downtown. No alumni discounts here but someone else on Unilocal said you could game Priceline to get discounts. I’d go that route in the future. They offer daily deals in the longhorn nostalgia gift shop and I scored some good football stadium wall art but the 45 dollar Christmas ornaments were a bit much. They’ve probably had the mccombs students doing optimal pricing studies so can’t blame them for charging through the nose for the horns logo.

Superb location, dining, and service
Was in Austin for a work event and was booked at the AT&T. It’s on the edge of the UT campus, the capital is nearby, and downtown is a nice 2-​mile walk.
Check-​in was smooth, service staff are very friendly, rooms are well-​appointed and clean, and the eating options are top-​notch. The hotel amenities are great, as well– high-​speed wifi was included, pool is nice, good workout room, and it’s a LEED building.
Literally the only things keeping me from marking this a five-​star experience are (1) some noise through the walls and (2) missing high-​end amenities and attentiveness. But, it’s very close to that 5^th star.

Not too bad for a hotel and conference center. Food was pretty good, although missed a true hot breakfast. Lunches/​snacks that were provided were quite good and the rooms were pretty good as far as quiet for being able to sleep. Bathrooms in the common areas were a little limited. It was a little creepy I have to say to have a big bay window with the UT Tower right in the center of it, especially when it was backlit crimson red.
Overall, I would stay here again, some other places nearby if you want to grab a bite or whatnot.

This is one of my favorite places to go for meetings and conferences. They have good beverage service for meetings, including multiple flavors of Mighty Leaf Tea, coffee, water, and sodas. I like that they give to go cups and real mugs as options. The facility is new, spacious, and clean. The bathrooms are immaculate. I like the outdoor courtyard between the hotel and the conference center. A nice place to chat or relax outside during a break. Even their business luncheon food was top notch. I had some really great salmon there yesterday, cooked perfectly, not overcooked. Mad props to the chef for that because conference food for large groups is usually pretty underwhelming in my experience. There is a parking garage attached to the hotel, which isn’t cheap, but is basically the same price as anywhere else on campus. I like that this place is on the edge of campus but not in the center of it. It makes work a little more fun when I get to spend my day working from here.
Added bonus, I have eaten at the Carillon, their fine dining restaurant, for dinner, and it was pretty amazing in it’s own right (4 stars for that too if/​when I review it).

Let me preface this review by stating that I’m a «Texas-​Ex» so just the fact that this place is right on campus puts them over the top in my book!
As other Unilocalers have mentioned, the rooms are not exactly «romantic» or «well-​appointed» but, this IS primarily a conference center so most guests are staying here in order to have easy access to conferences and events. Be prepared for crowds if there’s a large convention being held during your stay.
And yes, the parking is pricey but there aren’t really any other options nearby (unless you want to risk getting a ticket by parking on campus). It’s worth the premium for the convenience factor alone.
My only complaint? The comforter/​duvet was paper thin! I like a little more «fluff» in my bedding (i.e. «Heavenly Beds» at the Westin”), but the mattress was super comfy so that made up for the disappointing duvet.

This place was very nice. My review is only for the ballroom space.
We came here in Dec/​January to see the space and decide if it would work for us. It was way beyond what we would like to spend for our wedding. Some of the pricing sheets had numbers for a brand new car paid in cash. …hmm lets say a new Toyota Camry would go for just as much.
But! the site was gorgeous. Absolutely exquisite. The lady we met with was quite nice and I got along with her great. I would have loved to work with her but this was just not in the budget. We envisioned a great view of the Austin skyline while dancing the night away and that’s what option B was going to provide but it was in a café and just seemed hard to swing that much cash and to transform it to wedding reception for the price. (mind you there were 2 spaces we saw).
We were there when the vendor showed up to deliver and it was the vendor we also wanted to use for our wedding cake as well (Sweet Treets). We took that as a sign. (love)

Planned a conference here for the LIVESTRONG Foundation and it went off without a hitch.
The staff is amazing and helpful in every crazy situation.
A great choice of room styles and break time set ups for the conference guests.
One thing they could do better is take or send more detailed pics and measurements of the rooms. Not always easy to get on sight and get that to plan.

An Austinite’s perspective:
We live in Austin but are temporarily living out of town while we build a house, hence the reason for our stay.
I ‘named my own price’ for downtown Austin and we ended up staying here for our bid.
If you like the college scene and don’t care if you’re not on the ‘weird’ side of things in ATX then, by all means, stay here.
The room was decent, we didn’t hear our neighbors and we had a fantastic view from the 7^th floor of the UT Tower. We had an issue with our tv that was fixed promptly by the technician on duty. The balcony is ‘standing room’ only and the shower made an awful, whirring noise but that’s really my only room complaint aside from the daily parking fee. I really, really hate paying parking or resort fees!
The hotel staff were friendly and the valet/​concierge easily answered my questions.
The location is lacking though unless you are attending a UT function of some sort. I would have rather been on the south end of DT. That’s where the action is at, in my opinion. Better restaurants, closer to the lake and better shopping in SOCO. I wouldn’t choose this hotel for friends or family visiting the city as there are better choices closer to all of the things we love most about Austin.

I wanted to stay at a place close to town for my first night in Austin, so I found this place for a reasonable price and booked it since others were not so reasonably priced.
We checked in very early but I figured maybe they could just hold our bags for us, but they went ahead and gave us our rooms. Plus they worked it where my room and my friends’ room connected so we could open the door and just hang out together. Great front desk staff and big props for doing that. Not to mention, I asked about a phone charger and if they had them in the gift shop and they said they had them for loan at the desk… so as long as I brought it back I could use it for free. SWEEEET.
The rooms were not bad, bathrooms were very tiny though, but they did have a good hair dryer and a makeup mirror. Windows overlooked a courtyard where they were perpetually setting up for a wedding. Apparently there is event space too. It is a little odd though to think that people on their 1^st floor patios could almost be right in your wedding pics… and hopefully the windows are tinted or the guests could all get a naughty show if you were so inclined.
One thing that was great — the Wifi was like lightning and my iphone has never had better service.
So a perfectly serviceable hotel, not tons of frills, but it is clean, new, and they have friendly staff.

I accompanied my wife down to Austin for her company’s annual meeting at the AT&T Executive Conference Center. What an incredible facility. It’s located on the UT campus and right in the middle of downtown Austin where all the «action» is.
The check-​in process was so professional and quick. Our room was beautiful and had a balcony over looking downtown Austin.
The company’s Friday night buffet/​mixer had a wonderful assortment of salads, sides and protein entrees. The hotel’s carnitas were delicious and tender. But the star of the show was the salmon. Oh my gosh, I ended up having seconds and thirds. Normally on a buffet the food isn’t that good, but this time it was.
The staff of the conference center is very professional and greets you warmly every time they pass. I was extremely impressed with the facility. One nice plus since AT&T is a sponsor and their name is on the center, there’s free WiFi throughout the campus.
Our room amenities were nice. I really liked the walk-​in shower. Our king sized bed was just the right firmness for a sound nigh’s sleep.