Austin Convention Enterprises, Inc. was formed by that municipality to effect the construction of an 800-room headquarters hotel at its convention center and raise revenue bonds to finance the hotel’s construction. Six months before the asset opened, Warnick + Company was hired by this public entity to provide asset “monitoring” services, which were later expanded to full-fledged asset management services.

The hotel opened in 2003 and immediately became the RevPAR leader in its competitive set. In its first year alone, nearly 60 percent of the hotel’s business was “first time to Austin,” a testament to the strength of the destination and the hotel sales team in place. The hotel’s financial success enabled ownership to refinance the original bonds in 2006, resulting in improved coverage ratios and a significant in bond interest costs. For the years 2004 to 2006, the Hilton Austin was the only Hilton-managed hotel to earn top marks in each of the categories in their “Balanced Scorecard” quality assurance program: total revenue, profit margins, guest satisfaction, employee turnover, and quality assurance.

Warnick + Company has worked closely with management and ownership to affect numerous capital and operating strategies designed to maintain the hotel’s leadership position in the market as well as the physical quality of the asset. Examples of such strategies include the redesign and repositioning of the hotel’s fine dining restaurant, Finn & Porter (which is consistently ranked among Austin’s top ten restaurants), sales team re-deployment, revenue management enhancements, and staff realignment.

• Hilton Austin has Impressive Record of Service to Guests, Community - March 2009
• "Hilton Austin wins 'All Green' award third consecutive year" Austin Business Journal - March 5, 2007
• Gold Key Award from Meetings and Conventions - 2007
• "Hilton wins All Green award from corporate two years in a row" Austin Business Journal - March 6, 2006