Celebrating Eight Years with Eight Fun Facts About the Heywood Hotel
December 17, 2019
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On December 22, 2011, after years of renovations, more than 200 name explorations, and a ton of support from family and friends, the Heywood Hotel finally opened its doors.
Eight years later, we’ve served thousands of guests, partnered with dozens of local businesses, and shared countless memories with the Austin community and beyond. We are humbled and grateful for the continued support of our little indie hotel, and look forward to welcoming guests to Austin and our East Austin neighborhood for years to come.
In celebration of our eight-year anniversary here are eight fun facts about the Heywood Hotel.
1. 8+ years
Our first employee and senior housekeeper, Juanita has been part of the Heywood crew since even before our doors opened. She was a member of the make-ready team and stayed on, helping us develop our housekeeping standards and working daily to ensure our rooms are sparkling clean. She is the heart and soul of the Heywood and we are immensely grateful for Juanita’s 8+ years of service!
2. 99,840
….that’s the astonishing number of cups of coffee we’ve brewed since the day we opened! We are proud to feature our own custom-designed Heywood blend, a medium-roast blend with a nutty, velvety finish. It is roasted each week by our friends and partners at Austin’s own Progress Coffee and available for sale in our lobby or by mail order. Email us for more info!
3. Love is in the air!
The Heywood has hosted happy couples for 79 wedding nights and 56 honeymoons. Eleven couples have gotten engaged at the Heywood! We’ve helped celebrate 37 first anniversaries and hosted more than 25 couples celebrating 20+ years of marriage, including two 50th anniversaries. We love celebrating love!
4. Ready for a Heycation?
More than 2,040 Austin residents have spent a special night at the Heywood Hotel. Be it an anniversary, a night away from the kiddos, or just an opportunity for someone else to make the bed — we recently had a guest vacationing from one block away! — we love hosting Austinites and showing off our Eastside neighborhood. We appreciate that Austin supports local businesses. Stay small, stay local!
5. 99+
…is the number of places we say we feature on our curated neighborhood map. But the number of places highlighted for 2019-2020 is actually 206! East Austin is booming with so many great, locally-owned spots that you won’t find anywhere else. Our dedicated concierge team curates our map annually and only includes places we’ve personally tried. Neighborhood artist and mapmaker Molly O’Halloran patiently accommodates our updates. We distribute more than 8,000 copies each year to hotel guests and around town.
6. “A labor of love… or lunacy”
…is how our owner Kathy describes the process of opening the Heywood. The process to convert a 1925 Craftsman bungalow into a 7-room hotel took more than 3.5 years of development and was a full-family affair. Her husband George designed and handmade our Scandinavian-inspired walnut beds, and their parents and friends helped set up the property, including Kathy’s mom Martha who crocheted the yarn koozies that fancy-up the cords for our AC units!
7. 63 nights
…the number of nights one guest has stayed with us so far, over the course of the last few years (thank you, Daniel! ❤). We adore all of our repeat VIPs, and take pride in remembering their favorite rooms and preferences, like having a yoga mat in their room or French Press with a to-go cup for an early start to the day. We have five guests in the “Over 30” club, having spent more than 30 nights at the Heywood, and there are at least 10 guests who have stayed in each of the hotel’s 7 rooms.
8. “Wit and Grit”
…was one possible name for the Heywood Hotel (“Heyday Hotel” was another), and it perfectly describes what it takes to operate our little endeavor. The Heywood is powered by eight incredible, low-BS women who manage all of the hotel’s day-to-day operations, business management and even “fixing stuff,” with a little help from a handy fella from time to time. We are proud to be a woman-owned and woman-powered organization and are grateful to our team and to our customers and community.
With much love and gratitude, we are the Heywood crew:
Kathy, Owner and General Manager
Juanita, Senior Housekeeper
Maris, Guest Services Manager
Kristin, Senior Concierge
Angelica, Lead Rooms Attendant
Robin, Concierge and Rooms Attendant
Elizabeth, Housekeeper
Melanie, Assistant Revenue Manager
…plus George (co-owner), Adrian (handy fella), and a dozen local small businesses who partner with us to deliver an authentically Austin hotel experience.
Thank you for eight great years and here’s looking forward to more fun and friendships in 2020!