Second Street · Austin, TX$$$$
Austin Proper
The pool
- 5th-floor saltwater rooftop pool
- La Piscina pool bar
- Guests + members only
- Hours vary seasonally
Why it's on the list
Kelly Wearstler designed the hotel and it shows — the 5th-floor rooftop pool is saltwater, framed like a set piece, and it is a very good one. La Piscina handles the bar. Guests and weekday Proper Club members only; no day passes.
The stay
The Proper is the design statement — Kelly Wearstler's interiors run through the whole building, the restaurants come from Austin's McGuire Moorman group, and it arrived in 2019 as the brand's first hotel outside California. It shares the Second Street District with the W, so you get the same walkable downtown core near City Hall and the lake, in a considerably more styled package. At $$$$ you're paying design-hotel prices for a pool that's guests-and-members only with seasonal hours — worth it if the design is the draw, less so if maximum deck time is the point.
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