Apple adds 192-room hotel to site plans for $1B Austin campus

AppleInsider

For reasons as of yet unknown, Apple has added a 192-room hotel to its site plans for an under-construction $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas.

A rendering of Apple's planned $1 billion Austin campus, courtesy of the company.

The Cupertino tech giant broke ground on its new Texas campus -- a 3-million-square-foot site that is eventually set to house 15,000 employees in November 2019. But, new site plans have an unnamed third-party building a hotel on-site.

Apple introduced the new amenity in a revised site plan approved by by the City of Austin on April 29, local publication CultureMap reported. Original plans for the site, first submitted to the city in December 2018, didn't include a hotel.

John Boyd, a principal at location consulting firm The Boyd Co., told CultureMap that the proposed hotel plans are "another example" of Apple being ahead of the curve.

While "having a hotel connected at the hip with its corporate parent is not common now," Boyd added that he expects to see more of the concept from major tech companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft.

The new plans didn't name a specific hotel brand or company. Apple's planned Texas campus, set to open in 2022, is located close to the company's existing Austin facilities -- where Apple's current 7,000 employees in the city current work and where U.S.-made Mac Pro models are manufactured.

jintech

Probably for when people travel for business to the site they can just stay there. Would make more sense to control leaks too since everyone working there would be an Apple employee and would be under non-disclosure agreements. Curious what kind of food and beverage options they will have!

mpantone

JinTech said:

Probably for when people travel for business to the site they can just stay there. Would make more sense to control leaks too since everyone working there would be an Apple employee and would be under non-disclosure agreements. Curious what kind of food and beverage options they will have!

The hotel employees would not be Apple employees. They would be working for a hotel management company in the same way that their cafeteria employees work for restaurant management companies, their gardeners work for landscape companies, their janitorial staff work for janitorial companies, etc.

Apple would however benefit by being able to offer preferential room rates to vendors and their own employees visiting from other locations.

It also provides conference facilities that could be booked preferentially for Apple for private events that Apple would rather not host on campus. These facilities could still be booked by the general public whereas an on-campus facility would not (e.g., wedding reception, corporate holiday party, arts & crafts fair). That’s actually the way hotels make the bulk of their profit (not rooms). If you call a hotel and ask to be connected to sales, you will be transferred to the banquet group.

A hotel would also generate transient occupancy taxes (a.k.a. hotel tax) as well as sales tax assuming Austin has such things. The hotel would also provide jobs for weekends whereas corporate facilities would be closed.

Hospitality is a low-margin industry so there is little financial incentive in making this a P&L center for Apple.

edited May 2020

entropys

Is it called Hotel California?

mark fearing

entropys said:

Is it called Hotel California?

It is. But you can't check out.

pulseimages

Will there be a Steve Jobs Suite? 

anantksundaram

The reasons are obvious. Visitors who are company stakeholders (e.g., suppliers, employees from other parts if the word, journalists, people showing up for Apple-hosted conferences and meetings, etc.) will find it far more efficient to stay on campus, for lots of reasons. 

Many large companies do this. Surprised that Apple doesn’t or hasn’t, thus far. 

sevenfeet

Other tech companies own hotels for their own business purposes.  Oracle bought the San Mateo Marriott years back.

jintech

mpantone said:

JinTech said:

Probably for when people travel for business to the site they can just stay there. Would make more sense to control leaks too since everyone working there would be an Apple employee and would be under non-disclosure agreements. Curious what kind of food and beverage options they will have!

The hotel employees would not be Apple employees. They would be working for a hotel management company in the same way that their cafeteria employees work for restaurant management companies, their gardeners work for landscape companies, their janitorial staff work for janitorial companies, etc.

Really? Because I remember seeing listings on Apple's job website for their cafeteria, which to me, would imply that they are Apple employees.

bigmacher

The Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia has a Four Seasons Hotel — designed by Norman Foster. A magnificent design on the top floors. 

dewme

New twist on staycation.

commentzilla

The iPad Suite!

nightwatch

I used to work at Apple Austin in the mid-late ‘90s right before Jobs came back. Back then there was a main campus, (located off 183 in north east Austin), that focused on sales and customer service. Then there was an annex a couple miles west on 183 that housed Apple’s complete tech support department, (before it got outsourced). That’s where I worked. Luckily I got a gig in the High End group (didn’t have to support printers, QuickTake cameras, or any of that junk). Best tech gig I ever had, (I’ve got a few funny ‘90s Apple stories).  

I later went on to work for Motorola in their PowerPC Manufacturing and Planning Division. That building resided in Thousand Oaks which is located beyond southwest Austin. The Motorola campus was huge. I mean, from end to end, walking the distance was like traversing an airport. There was a fab in that facility and I thought for awhile that Apple had taken it over for the 2013 Mac Pro production, but I think I’m wrong about that. 

Anyway, I assume this new Apple campus will be located off of 183 near the old campus. If so, it’s a really nice area and very convenient to get to, (just a straight shot from the Airport taking 183 north for about 20-30 minutes which avoids downtown and I-35 all together). When I was there, to find a hotel you had to go into town where traffic jams were frequent. The odd thing about this location is that the so called  “Silicon Hills” area is located on the opposite side of Austin. Hence, an on-site hotel makes a lot of sense, and considering the division to be be housed there and who will visit, it will be much appreciated. 

jony0

mark fearing said:

entropys said:

Is it called Hotel California?

It is. But you can't check out.

Actually You can check-out any time you like … But you can never leave !

nightwatch

I used to work at Apple Austin in the mid-late ‘90s right before Jobs came back. Back then there was a main campus, (located off 183 in north east Austin), that focused on sales and customer service. Then there was an annex a couple miles west on 183 that housed Apple’s complete tech support department, (before it got outsourced). That’s where I worked. Luckily I got a gig in the High End group (didn’t have to support printers, QuickTake cameras, or any of that junk). Best tech gig I ever had, (I’ve got a few funny ‘90s Apple stories).  

I later went on to work for Motorola in their PowerPC Manufacturing and Planning Division. That building resided in Thousand Oaks which is located beyond southwest Austin. The Motorola campus was huge. I mean, from end to end, walking the distance was like traversing an airport. There was a fab in that facility and I thought for awhile that Apple had taken it over for the 2013 Mac Pro production, but I think I’m wrong about that. 

Anyway, I assume this new Apple campus will be located off of 183 near the old campus. If so, it’s a really nice area and very convenient to get to, (just a straight shot from the Airport taking 183 north for about 20-30 minutes which avoids downtown and I-35 all together). When I was there, to find a hotel you had to go into town where traffic jams were frequent. The odd thing about this location is that the so called  “Silicon Hills” area is located on the opposite side of Austin. Hence, an on-site hotel makes a lot of sense, and considering the division to be be housed there and who will visit, it will be much appreciated. 

spamsandwich

This will make it easier for Apple to flee California as the state keeps increasing taxes, makes it harder to do business and falls into economic ruin.