Austin has ‘healthy supply’ of hotel rooms ahead of busy Formula 1, SEC game weekend
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin is days away from thousands of more visitors to the city for an eventful weekend.
Formula 1 weekend at the Circuit of the Americas is on Oct. 18-20. During that same time, the Georgia Bulldogs will face the No. 1 Texas Longhorns in Austin on Oct. 19.
Austin's busiest month is here. How booked are local hotels ahead of ACL, Formula 1?
Austin's airport said it expects around 44,000 passengers to fly out on the Monday after.
"For four years in a row, the F1 weekend has been record breaking for us here at AUS," said AUS public information office manager Kimmie Hey. "With it coinciding with the SEC game, UT versus Georgia, we expect to continue that record breaking weekend."
Lisa Reisfield is one of those people visiting — she's in town for the F1 races.
"I'm from New York," Reisfield said. "I am here for the most spectacular Austin weekend ever."
Hotel inventory increasing
Visitors are quickly filling up Austin's hotels.
"Right now, hotel revenue is averaging to be 13% higher this year versus last year," said Visit Austin communications director Wesley Lucas.
Lucas said across the city, stays this weekend average about $500 per night.
"We are hearing and seeing rates from some hotels that are averaging about $1,000 a night, some a little bit higher for some of those fuller service or luxury style properties," Lucas said.
The city has not sold out of hotel rooms yet for this weekend, according to Lucas. When it comes to inventory, she said there's a healthy supply.
"By the end of this calendar year, there will be 50,000 hotel rooms within the Austin market. 15,000 of those are located here in downtown," Lucas said.
Earlier this week, there was a groundbreaking for a new downtown hotel, at the corner of Trinity and Fifth Streets. Lucas said there's even more in the pipeline.
"There's about 1,900 hotel rooms that are currently under construction, projected to be open anywhere in 2026 to 2027 across the city," Lucas said.
More hotels means more jobs in the hospitality and tourism community. Lucas said right now, there's around 140,000 Austinites employed in that field.
