Dive Brief:
- The Standard hotel brand will make its Texas debut in Austin next year, following the renovation and rebranding of the South Congress Hotel, Hyatt announced Wednesday.
- A collaboration between Hyatt and local firm Timberline Real Estate Partners will convert the hotel to The Standard, Austin, with the property expected to open in spring 2027, per the release. The revamped property will include social wellness experiences, a rooftop pool and multiple dining concepts.
- The Standard, Austin will represent the brand’s first U.S. opening in more than a decade, according to the release. Hyatt is expanding The Standard brand under its Lifestyle Group division, which was formed after Hyatt acquired boutique hotel operator Standard International and its affiliated brands in 2024.
Dive Insight:
The Standard, Austin will “function as a lively campus of ideas and experiences that evolves throughout the day and night,” with guests being able to “move seamlessly between cafés, dining spaces, guest quarters and outdoor gathering spaces,” according to the release.
The property joins Hyatt’s Lifestyle Group, led by former Standard International executive chairman Amar Lalvani. An Austin-based creative team, including Lalvani, will lead the renovation and conversion project. Other local creative partners include James Moody, founder of branding agency Guerilla Suit; Stan Nix, managing partner of Timberline Real Estate Partners; and local architect Michael Hsu. Meanwhile, New York-based Goodrich Design and The Standard brand’s in-house design team will handle interior design.
“I have always loved the South Congress Hotel and have long envisioned its potential to be The Standard, Austin,” Lalvani said in a statement. “We’ve assembled an incredible team of Austin-based friends and collaborators who will both honor the property’s legacy and breathe new life into it. Austin deserves a hotel that reflects the cultural capital it has always been and the world-class city it has become.”
The Standard International team is no stranger to Austin, however, as its Bunkhouse Hotels brand — also acquired by Hyatt as part of the 2024 Standard deal — has called the city home for more than a decade. The Bunkhouse brand team will support the new Standard project, “ensuring continuity with the neighborhood’s distinctive design and community sensibility,” per the release.
Bunkhouse operates seven of its nine hotels in Texas, including Hotel Daphne, which opened in Houston in December.
The 83-room South Congress Hotel will close for renovations this summer, laying off all employees, according to multiple local news reports. The hotel did not respond to a Hotel Dive request for comment.
Other brands expanding within Hyatt’s Lifestyle Group include Andaz, Thompson Hotels and JdV by Hyatt. Following Hyatt’s acquisition of Standard International, Hotel Genevieve in Louisville, Kentucky, converted from Bunkhouse to the JdV brand.
