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Pros and cons to hotel-condo living

Brand name can add cachet, but sharing amenities with

hotel guests has drawbacks.

In Austin, real estate agents are split on whether it's a better investment to buy a condo inside a hotel or one in a more traditional downtown tower.

The amenities a hotel offers and the brand name attached to it can make it a better long-term investment, said Kevin Burns, a principal for Urbanspace, an Austin real estate investment firm that specializes in downtown living.
"There is a draw and a mystique to having a condo as part of a hotel, if it's the right brand of hotel," Burns said. "Then you are riding on the coattails of that brand."

Yet other real estate experts say, at least in Austin, it's better to go for high-rise condos not tied to a hotel.

Hotel amenities mean always sharing a pool or a fitness center with hotel visitors, strangers who may not care about maintaining those amenities, said Cord Shiflet, an agent with Moorland Properties.

"If it were my money, I'd probably spend it on a true high-rise," Shiflet said.

Charles Heimsath, president of Capitol Market Research, also sounded a note of caution, pointing out that hotel-condos tend to be more expensive and more susceptible to fluctuations in buyer demand, particularly among second-home and investment buyers.

— Lilly Rockwell,

American-Statesman staff