Austin, Texas: A Year Without a Convention Center

Typically, convention centers remain open for business during expansion or major renovation projects. But in a highly unusual move, Austin, Texas, decided instead to close the Austin Convention Center in April 2025 for a full demolition and rebuild. The city aims to reopen the facility in early 2029, in time for that year's South by Southwest event.

At the time of the closure, Visit Austin, the city's convention and visitors bureau, approached this new reality with optimism, actively selling events that use just one hotel, as well as "miniwide" bookings that touch two or three venues aside from the hotel. 

They planned a "We're still open for business" campaign, and leaned into talking about how much more Austin there is to see beyond the convention center. But the new reality has been harder than anticipated.

One year without a convention center

According to Visit Austin, many clients just aren't ready to do their larger events campus-style, using several hotels and venues.

The impact of the closure has been more profound than they thought it would be, noted Tom Noonan, president and CEO of the CVB.

"It is difficult to fully capture the ripple effects of the events hosted at the Austin Convention Center, and it's clear our initial estimates were low," he said. "We are seeing a measurable strain across the hotel and business community — not just downtown but citywide."

Austin's leisure market has been resilient, but this year has underscored how much of an economic engine the convention center was, and how much of a difference the future facility will will make for the city's tourism industry. "Total hotel occupancy tax collections have stayed relatively stable," Noonan said, "bolstered by the start of collections from short-term rentals around the same time as the closure of the ACC. However, that total doesn't tell the whole story: Some hotel partners have reported double-digit revenue drops in the months formerly anchored by large-scale conventions."

Noonan noted that the Austin Tourism Public Improvement District is helping to mitigate those losses by expanding its marketing and providing incentives to keep Austin competitive. "We continue to evaluate our data and align our strategies to support local businesses during this transition," he said.

Hotels working together

While the convention center construction rolls on, one way the city's hospitality community is working to keep meetings and events coming to the city is to promote several hotel collaborations that help groups find the space and rooms they need across several properties.

Anchored by the 297-room AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, which has 85,000 square feet of meeting space, the University Hotel Collection features five hotels with a total of 850 rooms (the other four are the 149-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Austin – University Area; the 137-room Hampton Inn & Suites Austin @ the University/Capitol; the 214-room Hilton Garden Inn Austin University Capitol District; and the 47-room Hotel Ella).

"We operate like a second convention center," said Josh Delagado, director of sales and marketing at the AT&T Hotel, adding that the other hotels don't have as much meeting space, and his property doesn't have enough rooms. "It's a very organic partnership."

Not that he hasn't noticed the difference without larger conventions in the city. "Where we're really missing it is those shoulder months," Delgado said. "Not having a so-and-so association and its 5,000 people for four days in July really hurts."

Two other collabs of hotels have been created to help boost meetings business in Austin. The 319-room Hotel Van Zandt, the 1,048-room Fairmont Austin and the 801-room Hilton Austin have launched the Red River Collection, a coalition intended to create a more effortless group-booking experience for planners bringing events to town while the ACC is closed.

"It's exciting to be a part of a community that's working together to move the city forward and meet the needs of the growing interest in Austin," said Rodney Morrow, director of sales and marketing for the Fairmont. "Partnering with the other hotels in the Red River collection to accommodate successful programs is going well for us, as it allows groups to utilize amenities and space across properties creatively."

Morrow noted that, having worked in Las Vegas at a resort while it was building a new tower, "It's satisfying to watch the progress on a daily basis, knowing that the end result is going to be an incredible multiuse space that our clients are going to know and love for years to come."

White Lodging also has pulled together several properties into the AustinPlace Hotel Collection. The developer, which represents 22 percent of the central business district's hotel rooms, aims to fill event planners' needs with 11 Marriott hotels, including meeting space that nearly reaches the size of the former convention center. In total, the collection features 3,629 rooms, 225,000 square feet of event space, 10 ballrooms, and 30 on-site restaurants and bars (six of which are rooftop bars).

How did SXSW 2026 fare?

Without the convention center as home base, South by Southwest went back to its roots this year, spreading a little further out into the city and marking some venues as hubs over its March 11-18 dates. The event also shortened its programming by two days.

"The 2026 data tells a story of two halves," said Visit Austin's Noonan, "A record-breaking start fueled by a perfect storm of demand, contrasted by the expected impact of a shorter event window and the ongoing absence of the Austin Convention Center."

According to numbers compiled by the CVB for the front half of SXSW, demand for the citywide event was up over last year by 12 percent. Friday, March 13, approached sellout status (95 percent occupancy), which hasn't happened since 2019. The back half of the event, however, tapered off significantly.

As contributor Andy Langer reported for Texas Monthly, "Thursday through Saturday felt lively enough... but by Sunday the drop-off was stark, and the new format — the 'clubhouse' zones, fewer music venues, seven compressed days — started to feel less like a reinvention than a reshuffling of the same pool of badge holders into tighter spaces."

His colleague, Dan Solomon, opined: "Maybe a smaller festival that looks busy is working." And by both their accounts, there was a lot of true buzz and the movie screenings in particular were successful.

Other renovations and upgrades

Aside from the complete rebuilding of the convention center, several other projects are taking place around Austin. Several hotels — such as the historic Driskill, the AT&T Hotel & Conference Center and the W Austin — have undergone renovations. And two new hotels are scheduled to open later this year: The sustainability-forward, 251-room 1 Hotel will have a rooftop bar and pool, and the 258-room Hotel Trinity, an Autograph Collection hotel by Marriott, will be just steps from the city's famed Antone's Nightclub.

"We're also expanding Rainey Street and redoing the face of Sixth Street," says Noonan of Visit Austin. "And there's an airport expansion coming, and there's light rail coming, there's the Waterloo Greenway — all these things that are coming. So there's a lot of excitement about the future of Austin and that's the product we're selling." 

The west gate expansion at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport debuted this spring, adding 84,000 square feet over three levels, adding three new gates, more concession space, five more seating areas, a play space, a pet relief area and more. The construction of a new terminal and an another 20-30 gates is scheduled to be completed in the early 2030s.

The Waterloo Greenway Confluence, a 13-acre stretch of restored parkland and walkways connecting downtown neighborhoods, recently opened along Waller Creek. The project will eventually connect with paths leading up to the rebuilt convention center.