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Austin's Inn At Pearl Street
Categories: Event Planning & Services Hotels Hotels & Travel Hotels Hotels & Travel Bed & Breakfast Hotels, Bed & Breakfast [Edit]
1809 Pearl StAustin, TX 78701
Neighborhoods: West Campus, University of Texas
(512) 478-0051
- Price Range:
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$$$
7 reviews for Austin's Inn At Pearl Street
7 reviews in English
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Review from c v.
Hermosa Beach, CA
5/3/2011
The B&B house is an amazing building from 1900 and has a great ambience. We were practically alone and it was peaceful to be in, and beautiful to look at.
The breakfast room is open all day which is nice when you are traveling and have no option for a quick snack.
The music was a bit loud and odd but we have no complaints. -
Review from Jason L.
Boston, MA
8/17/2009
Do not stay here, do not have your wedding here.
These are words that will ring absolutely true with a lot of previous reviewers. Nothing has changed and don't expect it to.
My fiance and I visited several different Bed and Breakfasts before coming to the Inn at Pearl Street and choosing it. We met with Jill Bickford and although she didn't have our proposal on hand at the time of the appointment (Alarm #1), she was pleasant and we followed through with the tour without issue.
A week passed, then one of our relatives actually linked us to the horrible Yelp! reviews for Austin's Inn at Pearl Street. This sent unpleasant chills down our spine, as we were moving across the country within the month and we had already placed our non-refundable deposit with the Inn.
My fiance, a girl whom plans everything out to a T, began getting nervous as did I. Is this where we wanted to spend our wedding? Previous reviewers had noted how she yelled at the wedding party, ruined their perfect wedding, didn't provide the services set in the agreement, etc.
This is definitely not what I wanted for my bride to be. Once we settled down in our new residence, my fiance sent off a list of kind list of questions that she wanted answered before signing the agreement.
Over a week passed and no response from our "wedding coordinator". My bride to be (BTB from here on) called her. The flightiness (seemingly very unstable) in Jill came out of remission and not only did she not know whom BTB was but didn't know the date the wedding was scheduled for.
Jill hadn't checked her business' e-mail in over a week (On vacation. What? No out of office e-mail or alternative contact method?) and had to pull up the e-mail.
BTB, rightly so, wanted an e-mail (a.k.a. written) response back but Jill disagreed and said that the 20 minute conversation should have been good enough for her. She had 6 weddings to manage and didn't have time to answer all the questions that "these brides" seemed to have.
I came home and gave Jill a call. At first she was all roses and sunshine until she realized that I was going to be asking her for our deposit back (Supposedly non-refundable, but nothing was signed!).
She insisted that she sent an e-mail to BTB with her answers, though the phone was passed to someone named "Charlie" that she told to tell me (yay for her not covering the handset microphone) that her "internet was down".
Not only was this very unprofessional but this only made me hold her closer to the fire. I asked when I could expect the e-mail from her, she couldn't guarantee anything.
We are now planning (afar) our wedding elsewhere and plan on telling everyone we come across on any sort of consumer review forum to avoid the Austin Inn at Pearl Street.
You and your wallet will be glad that you did. -
Review from Astra L.
Fort Collins, CO
2/23/2007
Before I go into this review, I should admit to some dorkiness -- I first heard about this place from a book called "Haunted Texas Vacations." Now, I'm not saying I necessarily believe in ghosts and ghouls and all that, but it is fun to read about, and for a while, my ex-boyfriend and I got pretty intrigued by it all. For our one-year anniversary, we decided we wanted to stay at a "haunted" hotel.
At first we were set on the Driskill, but at $330 a night, we had to rule that out. Enter the inn at Pearl Street, and its French Suite, which -- according to the book -- had been the "hotspot" for a couple of sightings of a mysterious woman nursing a sick child. We even went so far as to research the place at the History Library, and discovered a couple of interesting tidbits, like the fact that a family who'd once lived there in the early 1900s lost not one but two boys, both at the age of 4 months, and both on the same day (though 10 years apart). Weird, huh?
But I digress. Research accomplished, we booked the suite, and arrived midafternoon to be greeted by the very friendly and welcoming innkeeper. She told us that we might even have the place to ourselves that evening, as no other guests had checked in (unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case), and she gave us complimentary wine and encouraged us to explore the place.
It's not exactly Victorian, but similar in decor -- the place is just chock-full of neat old furniture, and each suite is done up with a different theme -- French, Gothic, Far East, and so on. Downstairs, there's a foyer, sitting room, kitchen, dining area, and living room, plus the big back deck, which was all set up with Halloween decorations and jack o' lanterns (Halloween was the next day).
We whiled away a couple of hours, but were eventually driven back upstairs by the annoying other guests, who insisted on watching a football game (with the volume turned WAY up) in the main room. I don't know why they didn't just check into a Best Western.
Anyway, I'd like to say that our whole evening was relaxing and restful, but with all the reading I'd done about mysterious wraiths and spooky dead children, I didn't get much sleep. At one point, I remember having half-dozed off, and then waking to a strange, eerie blue light filling the room, and an odd buzzing sound -- only to realize that my boyfriend's cell phone alarm had gone off.
So that's all that happened. If you don't believe in ghosts and you enjoy quaint bed-and-breakfasts, then the Inn at Pearl Street is just perfect. But if you MIGHT believe in 'em, well, don't say I didn't warn you if you spend a wakeful night. At least it was a cool pre-Halloween experience! -
Review from Eileen S.
Austin, TX
12/26/2007
Although the location downtown is very convenient, and the setting makes for beautiful pictures, I strongly suggest you look somewhere else for your wedding/reception. Planning a wedding can be stressful enough, and dealing with the owner of Austin's Inn at Pearl Street will definitely drive you over the edge!
I fell in love with the cute bed-and-breakfast the first time I saw it. Jill Bickford, the owner, gave me a tour and a play-by-play of what an actual wedding may look like. She sold me immediately, but I wanted my fianc to give the okay. So, we went for a second tour, and we got the same song and dance. Days were filling fast, so we put down the non-refundable $850 deposit soon after our second tour.
After my deposit was received, things that I was told during the first 2 tours started to change. I tried to go with the flow and not get stressed out, but dealing with Jill was not easy. I believe she is just very flighty and unorganized - and doesn't remember what she told you from one day to the next. When I realized this, I chose to deal mainly with her assistant, Crystal. Crystal, thank goodness, is very organized. She started to put everything in writing and was consistent when either my fianc or I asked her questions.
Unfortunately, this all fell apart the day of my wedding. I had booked the Inn for 4 hours (for both my wedding and reception). I had to pay $30 per guest for the venue. This fee was to cover the use of the entire first floor of the Inn and Bride & Groom's changing rooms, along with several other things. I was told the week before my wedding that the normal bride's changing room was already booked, and they didn't have another option. Thankfully, my aunt had rented a room at the B-and-B, and she agreed to allow me to change there. I was not happy, but again, I tried to go with the flow. When I arrived a few hours before my wedding, I was told by my aunt (I was never approached by Inn staff), that the normal bathroom and the first floor of the Inn were now booked with other guests, and they were not available for my reception (they had mistakenly overbooked the Inn). So, my aunt was forced to give up her private bathroom for all of my guests to use! When she complained, Jill told her that there was no other option!!! When my pastor arrived, he needed to change. Of course, the groom's changing room was booked as well and not available for my wedding! To top it off, several of my wedding guests (including my mother) said that Jill and her staff were rude to them throughout the evening.
Services that were promised to me and that I paid for were not available on the day of the event. I was never informed of these mistakes by Inn staff - I had to find out from family and friends. I was also never compensated for the lack of services.
I have filed complaints with the BBB and the Texas Attorney General. There are so many beautiful places in Austin to have a wedding. For the prices these venues charge, a person should not have to put up with rude, unprofessional staff. I would definitely look elsewhere. -
Review from Maggie J.
Elgin, TX
5/30/2010
My best friend had her wedding here in April. It is beautiful! Fairy-tale quality, especially after adding fairy lights. It was exactly what my girlfriend wanted, and it turned out beautifully.
My beef is with the management. When I showed up for dress rehearsal a little early, the manager (Jill) approached me by saying, "Who are YOU?" After I explained that I was part of the wedding party for the next day, she seemed to calm down a bit, but the damage was done--I was definitely wary of her, especially after she insisted that there was absolutely no place for me to use a restroom. When the officiant/coordinator showed up, Jill flipped out. She insisted SHE was the coordinator and that was non-negotiable! She was argumentative and really upset my girlfriend (K). She made set-up difficult, snapped at the vendors, threw tantrums every time someone corrected her, and basically managed to get in everyone's way all day long. The only person who was ever able to deal with her was me, by brown-nosing my BUTT off to try to make things easier for K. I was told that after I left at the end of the night, Jill yelled at one of the other bridesmaids. Also: K and her husband didn't get their deposit back because there was a muddy footprint on a carpet somewhere. Buyer beware. Go into this with your eyes open.
All that being said, if you can handle Jill, the location is beautiful and the rooms are amazing and unique. The breakfast is good, the baked goods hidden around the inn are fabulous, and as I said before, it really was everything K wanted it to be. -
Review from Ms M.
Austin, TX
6/6/2009
I had contacted these folks to get details and got a very speedy response email. So I called the venue and spoke directly with the owner. Immediately, I got a bad feeling. She kept interrupting me, misinterpreted everything I said, and I got very frustrated. She seemed very flighty. Based on that alone, I decided not to even take a look at the place or book it. And, after looking at the reviews on yelp, apparently I'm not the only one who got a bad impression of her. Too bad. It looks like a beautiful place.
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Review from C B.
Austin, TX
10/5/2008
I recently attended a good friend's wedding at the Inn at Pearl Street. The setting is magical for an evening wedding. Crystal (the former assistant) is gone but Claire is there and she is quite wonderful. I completely agree with Eileen S's review that Jill is one difficult person to deal with. She also changed things after the contract was signed and things kept "popping up" that were either upcharges or things that we were told of the night of the wedding and not before then. Even though we had rented the entire Inn, we were told we couldn't leave anything overnight that wasn't in one of the rooms. Jill realizes that couples are willing to spend money on their wedding night and completely takes advantage of them by nickel and diming them on everything. If the ownership changes and they add a "community" rest room for weddings, it would be a lovely spot to have a wedding. Right now, look elsewhere because dealing with Jill is not worth the stress.
