the thompson hotel

Driving up to the Thompson Hotel, I did not know what to expect because it is a fairly new building where there used to be a Bank of America drive-thru and a parking lot. We were going to a two-night run at Antone’s, so we were happy to set up this stay downtown, and see both shows. We pulled up and the valet was right there and we got out of the car very easily as there’s no curb by the right side of the hotel, in front of The tomie (part of the hotel), my chair was able to get me right outside of the main entrance. The valet opened the huge door and I rolled inside and cruised right over to the front desk.

The staff was very friendly and communicative with me. They also recommended the Diner Bar for dinner, which was one of the best meals I have had in Austin, but more about that later. We got our keys and went up to the room, followed by our luggage. We hopped on the elevator with the bellhop. The elevators were a little tricky to load into as the door closed fast, but we can be fast too. When you get off the elevator you can go one way to The tommie or the other way to the Thompson hotel, clearly marked and designated by different colored carpets (black for The Thompson & red for The tommie). The hallway was easy to roll down as the carpet was very flat. 

We got to the room and went in, the door was very wide and was easy to enter. On the left was the bathroom and if you roll forward the bed is on the left and the is window straight ahead. I did a quick investigation of the bathroom, the door is a wide sliding door and the shower is on the left side and the toilet is on the right side. There are bars around the toilet and in the shower, there is a folding bench attached to the wall. An accessible sink you can roll up under since there is no cabinet below.

We rode the elevator downstairs and went into the restaurant, the Diner Bar from the lobby entrance and easily maneuvered to the front hostess stand to ask if there were any open tables. We were out of luck as the restaurant is super packed and busy because, it is home to two-time James Beard-winning chef, Mashama Bailey. It is rated the number two restaurant in the state by Texas Monthly, a great tip from the front desk. We were told that we could order food and eat it in our room, so we began to scour the menu. We lucked out because while we were doing that, the bartender said there were two seats available at the bar and one of these seats was an accessible spot for me, I have never seen this before and it was awesome! I could wheel right up and eat. The bar was low enough for me to enjoy my meal right next to Lani. 

We left the restaurant and went up to the room. The elevators are not full of mirrors, this must be a new trend as all of the hotels I’ve been to in the past had mirrors in the elevators. I used the facilities as we got ready to go out. The toilet is very accessible. There are bars and everything is easy to transfer over. The toilet is black, this was my first experience with a black toilet. Everything was good, the only suggestion I will make is that the vertical bar on the wall could be closer to the toilet as it would help transfer over a little bit more. But, this is a pretty standard placement at hotels. The shower is set up really smooth. Transferring over to the bench is easy it folds down from the wall. The shower comes out from two different places. There’s a handheld sprayer and a rainwater sprinkler head. If you are sitting on the bench you can only use the handheld shower hose, as the rainwater shower head is on the opposite side of the bench. As with my suggestion for the toilet, my suggestion for the shower wall is it would be easier to hold on if the bars were closer to me on the bench, but again, pretty standard placement. We got ready and rolled over to Antone’s for another night of great music.

We returned to the room after the show and it was effortless to transfer over to the bed. The bed is low and super comfortable. I slept through the night without waking up at all, which is not always the case.

After a great night’s sleep, Lani went down to grab us breakfast and coffee. The Grey Market and the coffee bar at The tommie, were off the main lobby. The Coffee Bar had an automatic door button in and out, which is very helpful.

The coffee & food was so good! I had the world’s best pancakes! The great part about eating in the room was the desk, I could roll right under and eat. After that, we got dressed and ventured down to check out.

Check-out time is 11 am, but if you are a Hyatt member the time is extended to 1 pm, which is great, because it takes us time to get ready & pack up all our stuff.

This is where my new mantra came up, I will always check out the pool when I check in to a hotel from now on. We visited the pool area after we went to the front desk to drop off our bags.

The pool area is absolutely amazing! To get to the pool, you go thru Wax Myrtle's restaurant. The restaurant has an open area to the pool. When you exit the restaurant, you roll through several seating / lounge areas. The pool is located inside a gate, when you go through that gate, there are lounge chairs all around and the pool & cabanas, with a clear path to go thru the seating area. At the other end of the pool is a wheelchair lift. I was really dying to try it out. However, I did not prepare for it to be a nice day because we are in Austin and the night before was freezing cold & rainy, which means that the next day is going to be perfect and 74 degrees. I always forget that our weather here is super crazy. I will definitely be going back to check out the pool. The accessibility seemed awesome, but I need to go back to give a full review and experience the heated pool and use the wheelchair lift. We toured around the pool level a little bit more and then made our quick departure.

At the front of the hotel there is a curb cut for a smooth transfer into the car. The valet brought our car up and we loaded inside & left with huge smiles on our faces. Our first hotel experience with Trippin’ On Wheels is now on the books and the Thompson Hotel was above and beyond our expectations. Check it out!

The Thompson Hotel
506 San Jacinto Blvd.
Austin, TX 78701
(737) 787-1234

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