The Stephen F Austin Royal Sonesta Hotel Reviews

I booked out the Stephen F Bar and Terrace for a cocktail party after my proposal. Ghina and the rest of the team were extremely accommodating, from the day I reached out about the inquiry down to the day of the actual event. They helped me coordinate pricing, timing, setup, food and drinks, and headcount in a way that met my requests, preferences, and budget. The venue itself is great and perfect for such an event. The bartenders were well praised on the night of and did an amazing job serving my guests. Overall, the event was a 10/10, and I would not have wanted to hold a party for that special night anywhere else! Would highly recommend!

Ghina and her team made my son’s wedding rehearsal dinner flawless. The food was delicious, the room and outdoor space was more than expected and the service was impeccable. They all went out of their way for the evening to be a success and it ended up even better than we imagined.

We hosted our wedding ceremony, wedding reception (for 90), night before drop-in welcome reception (for 70), a room block, and other events the weekend of December 12-December 15, 2019. These events and the entire staff of the Intercontinental far exceeded our expectations.

We'd like to especially thank Julie Stanfield whose listening skills, attention to detail, and creative ideas were the perfect combination for our personalities. Julie was the event coordinator for both events and took on the role that a wedding planner normally would (no need for an additional one). She really knows the venue and provides honest, good feedback on what will work and what will not. She is fun to work with but very professional. She takes the time to get to know her clients' preferences and adapts the events to their desires. This was not a cookie-cutter wedding. It was highly personalized which made it even more special. Julie also coordinates with all of the vendors the day of the wedding to make sure that everything is in order and delivered. Our guests were unanimous that this was the "wedding to beat" and one of the best weddings they’ve been to.

The hotel staff were as close to flawless as we've experienced, and the team went way beyond the normal to ensure the bride, groom, and parents were treated like special guests. From the concierge on arrival to the wait staff on Saturday night and our departure Sunday, it was simply wonderful. The Capital Ballroom itself is a fantastic venue for the wedding ceremony and reception. It offered old-world class with modern lighting and style. The ballroom itself opens onto a private balcony that looks over Congress Avenue, giving you a view of the Paramount theater, the Capitol, and Congress Ave itself. The smaller ballrooms (that could also be used for receptions or rehearsal dinners as we had) also have access to balconies and are cozier. We hosted a night before event in the two smaller ballrooms/boardrooms and were blown away with the ability of Julie and the staff to bring our vision of a "tacos & tequila" party to life. We had access to the balcony on 7th street that night. This was super unique to have this much access to a balcony with ample seating and a fun atmosphere. (No tents necessary! Heaters on most of the balcony). People loved getting to go outside and then meander back into the various ballrooms.

Food and drink was top-notch for both nights. We chose to have a taco station the night before and a Central Texas themed buffet with brisket, quail, and other Austin specialties for the wedding reception. We provided open bars and the service was excellent. We chose mostly local spirits, craft beer, and specialized wines (including a rosé cuvée for the toast) with Julie and the catering staff sourcing these for us. The signature cocktails, passed appetizers, and cheese display were a hit at the cocktail reception! Our desserts (churros and tres leches cake) were delicious the night before, as well. A small detail, but the way that they displayed food - whether at the cocktail reception, in a buffet, or even the plated salads - was beautiful. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend as close to perfect as possible. If you're looking for a historic downtown hotel that is smaller, more intimate, and more refined than some other historic hotels, the Stephen F Austin Intercontinental cannot be beat.

I cannot say enough fabulous things about this venue. We did a "bar buyout" which included rented out nearly the entire second floor including the ballroom, bar, area near the stairs, and terrace. We had a bar set up on the terrace which was perfect for guests to get some fresh air and take a break from the band. The best part about this venue was Julie, the director of Catering, at Intercontinental. She basically became my wedding coordinator not only day of but leading up to my day. She was always available by email, phone, text any time. She was amazing to work with and made my wedding day free of stress. I honestly believe she is the greatest asset to this venue and I would recommend her and this venue to anyone. The service was phenomenal all weekend and I will continue to call the SFA Intercontinental my favorite hotel!

Venue was absolutely fabulous! Wedding went without a hitch and was so smooth! Beautiful space, great bar area for guests, and wonderful food! Suite was also wonderful, and we were so well accommodated!

What a fabulous hotel!!! This was our first stay here and everything was perfect. We had a suite on the Continental Club floor ~ the 16th floor ~ for 5 days and it was so wonderful. The staff greeted us by name at every turn, the room was beautiful with plenty of room to dress and prep for our wedding. My husband and I had such an amazing stay in this hotel for our honeymoon. Within walking distance to all the fabulous sites of downtown Austin and a fantastic 2nd floor outdoor bar overlooking the capitol building! Cannot wait to return!

We had a fabulous and unforgetable evening here! David Lopez, director of catering, worked with us for months planning and getting all the details just right for our daughter's wedding reception. He never seemed too busy to take one more call or have one more meeting to get it all right! Antonio Pace, the banquet director, was on hand and on every single little detail that night to make sure it all went smoothly. We were very pleased with the entire experience and the beautiful venue that the Stephen F Austin Hotel provided. The food was delicious and we had many guests comment positively.

Our wedding was held on New Year's Eve. This was the perfect location for guests to celebrate the wedding and ring in the New Year. Congress Ave was beautiful as was the view of the Capitol....and the hotel still had it's Christmas decorations everywhere which added to the festivity of the event. David Kaso, their catering director was amazing....he kept us organized....very professional and efficient...the food was delicious....our wedding party and guests had a fabulous time

Everything was wonderful and I would absolutely recommend this place as a reception venue to anyone. We had to move our wedding and they were completely supportive and flexible. The food was amazing and the room set up was perfect. They were able to tell us to the $$ amount what our total would be; which was nice. Great!

Just to clarify, I give this place 5 stars for the day of and anything Julie Stanfield was involved with. Our day went absolutely perfect! I was the MOST relaxed bride and I had the best time. If there were issues, I knew nothing about them. We got SO many compliments on the food! It was delicious, we had our rehearsal dinner there as well and it went great! Julie is the most compassionate, sweet and organized person I've ever met. She did everything in her power to make to make our day special and she succeeded. Advice: I would avoid the current room block process with the hotel. It really wasn't worth the trouble. The rate they locked me into was way more expensive than the rooms that were booked last minute and because of the attrition policy I had to keep track of all the bookings on a spreadsheet of my own. The last thing you want to worry about is paying for rooms you don't use simply because people want to stay somewhere cheaper. They were nice enough to honor bookings from other sources like Expedia, but again the hassle of keeping up with it all was more stress than it was worth.

It was a gorgeous venue, but expensive. The people were great and the food was delicious and presented beautifully. Everything was set up like I had wanted. They even arranged our get-away carriage. It was great that they didn't charge a cake-cutting fee or for each chair.

The only negatives were parking and extras. There's only valet parking (unless you want to find your own space in downtown on a Saturday night) and it is very pricey. Extras--a projection screen for us to hook up our laptop to for a picture slideshow was going to cost about $150.

We booked this hotel for our wedding a year in advance. The hotel coordinator changed, and the second coordinator, Molly, went on vacation during the time of our wedding. Perhaps for this reason it was a wonderful wedding in a lackluster venue.
Everything was wonderful until the weekend of the wedding. The front desk failed to pass out welcome boxes to our registered guests and I had to ask for boxes multiple times in person for guests. The foie gras we decided on during the cocktail hour during tastings, as well as the salad and sauce with the filets were not what we ordered (OR TASTED IN THE TASTING) --- foie gras mixed with garlic in a phyllo shell instead on on toast with greens; sour fresh cranberries replaced dry cranberries in salad; and when served in our tasting, the two sauces on the filet were on the same plate, we were told the red sauce we preferred was the horseradish sauce- which apparently wasn't as on the wedding night it was the other.

To top it off there were promotions such as free room and breakfast for bridal suite and parents of bride an groom--- which were not applied. I had to call and request this deduction for my parents in law, and was surprised with a $980 tab for my bridal suite (when the coordinator was unable to be reached, the front desk comped it due to the fact I waited there 15 minutes for a manager).

On the other hand the service from our waitress the days of the events, Veronia, was amazing, as well as the bellman Geraldo who helped us empty the gifts and wedding supplies to our car. They were the best workers there!

I almost hate to give a not great review because my wedding was 100% perfect. The ballroom was gorgeous, the entire event ran smoothly, the food tasted great (we actually had compliments on it), and the staff was great the day of. However, trying to work with their onsite coordinator leading up to the event was like pulling teeth, it was terrible. He took weeks to answer my emails. He forgot 2 out of 4 of our meetings, including our first food tasting!! What the worst thing about the forgotten food tasting was he tried to pretend like he hadn't forgotten that we were coming. He put us in the club lounge instead of the ballroom, fed us terrible food that he had the room service cook throw together, and didn't have our paperwork with him. (The second food tasting, which I couldn't attend because I live out of state, was great and the food the day of was as well). He was very disorganized, every time we talked to him he told us something different than he had the last, and constantly tried to up-sell us even though we had been very clear from the beginning what our budget was. I did consider the value to be good. No nice hotel in Austin is cheap, but the fact that we had a beautiful ballroom, two terraces, all the set up and tear down, their nice linens, and good food made the money worth it. I would give the coordinator a half a star, however, I added two for the other staff we worked with there. The reservation coordinator was great and all the servers the day of were as well. I checked that I would recommend this venue to a friend because the wedding did end well, however, that friend needs to have a lot of patience and be very organized so they can deal with the coordinator.

Our reception turning out really nice and I was happy with the end result, but the service beforehand was terrible. David Manuel, the new directer is extremely rude and unresponsive to calls and emails. Every time I would meet with him he would never be on time and he did not listen to what I wanted. We had to change the event order form several times before he finally got it right. Miguel, another one of the staff is wonderful to work with. If I could just rate him I would give him 5 stars.

The Stephen F. Austin Hotel is a great reception location for Austin brides, being right in the heart of downtown with a fun patio providing views of Congress. However, working with the director of catering was the most frustrating and disappointing aspect of planning my wedding, and I would warn brides before getting involved in the future.
He was very warm and friendly, but consistently difficult to get in touch with and very forgetful. I was always worried that he had lost notes from our meetings, as after several discussions he could never remember if we were having a sit down dinner or buffet, band or DJ, and after being in touch with my father for months, he called him by the wrong name.
Of course small mistakes happen with any wedding planning process, but the entire time we were planning the reception, I felt ill at ease and worried that things would slip through the cracks because of how long I would have to wait for him to get in touch with me (weeks would go by and I would have to follow up) and then it was as if we had never had any previous conversations and were having to start from scratch. The important thing is that you're getting married, but be wary of working with the wedding planning staff at the Stephen F. Austin. Antonio worked with me on the actual night of the reception and was awesome and a complete 180 from who I had planned the entire event with, and Liz Young helped us with all the reservations and hotel room accomodations, and she made everything a breeze and was extremely professional.