the omni is amazing. so are the driscoll and four seasons. they re pretty upscale
It depends. What s your budget? Whatever your budget may be, I would recommend staying in downtown so you are within walking distance of all the bars, restaurants, and downtown activities that take place over the weekend. The Four Seasons and Driskill Hotel are two of my favorites. In terms of activities, you can walk to Congree bridge and watch the bats leave at dusk. And also take an Austin Duck tour http://www.austinducks.com/ which is fun. Oh, and don t forget to eat bbq at the Salt Lick. It is outside of the city but well worth the drive. Good luck.
there are quite a few sites that you can search that will likely show you great hotels at the best prices available. check out the website BookMe and you will be able to compare prices on all the reputable travel sites in just a couple minutes. it s very convenient and will save you a bunch of time and money. Also, make sure you buy them online... otherwise they charge much higher fees for phone orders. good luck.
I might recommend the San Jose Hotel on South Congress, which we crazy Austinites call SoCo. It really has the flavor/feel of Austin. Our city slogan is keep austin weird and you ll see what we mean when you stay at the San Jose Hotel. You can walk to the Continental Club. My father in law actually sat and had a beer with Toni Price - a two time grammy award winner. You might go to another club and see Dennis Quaid playing music. Famous people are ordinary people in Austin. I ve bumped into Ann Richards, George Bush, and Michael Dell on our famous running trail around Town Lake / Lady Bird Johson Lake.There are several entertainment districts where you can shop/eat/club and more. There is SoCo. Then there is the 6th street (many University of Texas kids). There is the warehouse district (4rth street) where us old codgers hang out. Now there is even a new district on 2nd street. So you can go out at night pretty easily and have a great time.Enjoy your stay!
The first poster had some good suggestions as far as downtown goes. I d just like to add that a lot of new residents seem to move to North Austin, which is safer area and better priced since it s not right in the middle.If you re looking for the non-downtown feel of the city, check out the Arboretum area. There are several chain hotels that are nice, including the Residence Inn (free breakfast, and free dinner most days), a Courtyard, a Hilton-owned suites hotel (Springwood Suites or something like that), and a few others I can t name off the top of my head. As general advice, I d try to stay West of I-35, and in either central or North Austin. If you ve got job prospects in South Austin it might be worth checking out, but otherwise I d focus elsewhere.As for sights, definitely check out downtown. The bats won t be back by the time you get here, but South Congress Ave is still an interesting trip. The Museum of Texas History is pretty neat to see if you re moving from out of state, and it s right next to some other nice sights. Oh, and check out the Alamo Drafthouse, there are three throughout the city. They are movie theaters with full menus and pretty good service, plus the movie picks aren t necessarily the normal in-theater fare. Austin is a great city, I hope you like it!