Barton Creek Resort and Spa

I recently had my daughters wedding at Barton Creek Resort and Spa. I must say that I was a bit hesitant after reading some negative reviews on this website and on others, my daughter was insistent that we go visit anyway. The first time that we met Kristin Crawford, the Director of Catering, she put us completely at ease. We knew that this was the place that my only child was goind to be married after speaking with her. Her knowledge in food, event design and new trends made my daugher happy and we felt at ease knowing that so much would be taken care of. After 11 months of planning and the "big day" finally here, I believe we were the calmest family in the hotel. We were allowed to take a peak into the ballroom before everyone entered, and my daughter was in tears, everything was absolutely breathtaking. During the reception, several guests came up to me telling me how wonderful the food taste and how great the service was. You don't ever have a nead when you are at Barton Creek, their staff anticipates those needs before they even arrive. Everyone always told me that this would be stressful, and at times, things were. But Kristin lived up to her promise and I will never forget her telling me how honored she was to have the opportunity to plan such a special day for my little girl.

This is a very nice resort in Austin. I imagine it's the nicest (maybe only) resort in Austin. I recently stayed there for a family reunion. The pool was great, the staff was helpful and attentive, and overall I would say it was a kid friendly resort. My only gripe is that it seemed a little expensive. The resort courses were $250 on the weekend, plus a "Fooooorrrrrreee Cady" fee. We chose Austin because it was a convenient location for our family to meet, but for this amount of money, next time I'll just go to Hawaii (which is still my favorite).

I had my honeymoon at Barton Creek and was very disappointed. Our suite was clean and nice but nothing like what you would expect for the price. Room service was overpriced and the service we received was terrible. They got our dinner order wrong on the 1st and 2nd try. By the time my husband's dinner arrived as he had ordered, it was so cold that he didn't even want to eat it anymore. Also, the staff does not respect your privacy. On our first night, we were startled to hear another voice in the other room of our suite after we had already gone to bed! Apparently, the man entered because we didn't answer his knocking at our door. Lastly, we were very disappointed that there was no mention of us being on our honeymoon during our stay. Overall, it was a disappointing experience and we would not go back.

I also had my wedding reception at Barton Creek and the service I received was even worse: Barton Creek's event coordinators were unprofessional and inexperienced. My husband and I were often given misinformation about important details regarding our event. Their director of catering was condescending and unhelpful. She scoffed at our ideas and was more focused on her own personal life than on our wedding. Her assistant was mistake-prone and misinformed us many times of prices, availability, etc. The catering department served us a delicious meal at our tasting but the actual dinner at our reception was tasteless and the portions were tiny. Barton Creek threw in hidden costs at every opportunity, including charging us for items that we were originally told would be "included", the list of disappointments is very long. Barton Creek made what was supposed to be a fun experience very stressful and trying. I sincerely regret having my event at Barton Creek and learned from my wedding coordinator that establishments such as The Four Seasons and The Driskill do not have such problems. I highly recommend going with another hotel for your vacation or event.

The location is great and the surrounding area is scenic.

I was shocked at the condition of this location, as well as the lack of customer service. It was not what one would expect from a 4-star resort.

I was in the upper penthouse suite. This room goes for $1300 a night. Upon entering the room, first thing I noticed were all the large, greasy stains on the carpet. As I walked farther into the large suite, I noticed that the furniture was missing knobs and pulls. The room had several clocks, and each one was set at a different time. In the front hallway bathroom, the glass shower door had fingerprints all over and around the sink.

There is a breakfast order form to fill in and to be left on you door as to breakfast choice. This form had been filled out by the last guest and was never used. When I called down to get a new one, it took 40 minutes, and by then I had to leave so as to not lose my spa appointment.

At check-in, two hosts where at the counter. One was busy with guests. The second host was looking down at her computer, typing away. Not once did she look up to say "Hello". Welcome to the Barton Creek. After 5 minutes had passed, the host then looks at me and says "I can help you now!"

At the casual dining restaurant, their service was slow. After I and my 8 guests made a comment about the service we were then told, "Oh, sorry, we are short staffed!" At the pool side bar. The servers were all very young, college aged. We ordered drinks, which again took forever.

Sitting around the pool, we noticed a lot of trash, beer cans, wrappers, etc., in the bushes. When we pointed this out to the attendant walking by, again we were told "Sorry, we are short staffed! It will get cleaned up when we can!"

During check out, on our way down, we had a bell person walking in front of us, down the hall. The bell person was with two other guests and had a full luggage cart. As we all turned the corner. The bell person ran over a large amount if ice that had been dropped in the hall. Crushing the ice and making the spill even larger. Instead of warning us about the ice, we all almost slipped on it. We told the bell person, "Shouldn't you call someone about that on you walkie-talkie? He replied "I am sure housekeeping knows about it. And it might just be taking a few minutes to clean up. We are short staffed!"

I think the owners of this resort might want to change the name to "The Short Staffed Resort and Spa."