Austin, Texas · Founded 1886 · Building: 1886
Austin’s landmark 1886 hotel survived financial collapse, a 1969–1973 closure, and a community preservation campaign to remain an active Hyatt-managed property.
The Driskill Hotel opened at Sixth and Brazos in 1886 as Jesse Driskill’s ambitious Romanesque downtown hotel. It remains an operating luxury hotel in The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, owned since 2022 by a group led by Pixiu Real Estate and Woodbine Development with Austin-based investors.
Jesse Lincoln Driskill opened The Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin.
Source: Texas State Historical Association, “Driskill Hotel opens in Austin”; Texas State Historical Association, “The Life of Jesse Lincoln Driskill”
A late spring freeze killed 3,000 cattle, contributing to the Driskill family’s financial collapse. The hotel payments could not be met, and Jesse Driskill was forced to sell the hotel to S. E. McIlhenny.
Source: Texas State Historical Association, “The Life of Jesse Lincoln Driskill: Cattleman and Driskill Hotel Founder,” updated May 2, 2025
The hotel expanded with the Maximilian Room and annex.
Source: The Driskill by Hyatt, official history timeline
Lyndon B. Johnson and Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor had their first date at The Driskill, according to the hotel’s history. The LBJ Library confirms that Johnson met Taylor in September 1934 and proposed on their first date.
Source: The Driskill by Hyatt, official history timeline; Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, biography
The Driskill closed during a preservation crisis. Hyatt’s official history places the Save the Driskill effort and reopening across 1969–1973.
Source: The Driskill by Hyatt, official history timeline
The Driskill was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: National Register of Historic Places listing for The Driskill Hotel
The hotel reopened after the Save the Driskill preservation effort.
Source: The Driskill by Hyatt, official history timeline
Hyatt began a new period of stewardship and management of The Driskill.
Source: The Driskill by Hyatt, official history timeline
Pixiu Real Estate, Woodbine Development Corporation, and Austin-based investors acquired The Driskill from Hyatt; Hyatt continued to manage the hotel under The Unbound Collection by Hyatt.
Source: Woodbine Development, acquisition announcement, June 6, 2022; Hotel Management, May 27, 2022
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The Driskill’s official history places their first date at its 1886 Café. The LBJ Library confirms that Johnson met Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor in September 1934 and proposed on their first date, though the library biography reviewed here does not independently name the hotel.
Johnson was in Austin when he won the 1964 election, but this review did not locate a reliable LBJ Library, newspaper, or archival source proving that he watched returns from a Driskill suite. The claim should not be stated as fact without a contemporaneous record.
Texas State Historical Association research says the Driskill family lost its fortune in 1888 after a late spring freeze killed 3,000 cattle. Unable to make hotel payments, Driskill was forced to sell the property to S. E. McIlhenny. That record materially contradicts the poker-game version.
The Driskill has a well-known haunted reputation, and this story is part of its recurring folklore. This review did not find a reliable historical record confirming the claimed identity, age, parentage, or staircase death; it should be presented as a ghost story rather than documented history.
The hotel’s official Hyatt history places its closure and preservation-driven reopening across 1969–1973. The precise fundraising total and timetable require a direct archival source and are not included here.
Hyatt managed and branded The Driskill after 2013, but Pixiu Real Estate, Woodbine Development, and Austin-based investors acquired the property from Hyatt in 2022. Hyatt continued hotel management.
Everything below has been reported by two or more independent sources — this is an informational record of what's said about this place, not a verified account of paranormal activity. Still Open America doesn't certify hauntings as real.
Room 525 is linked to stories of one or two jilted brides who died by suicide there. Guests and staff report an apparition of a woman in bridal or Victorian clothing, strange sounds, voices, leaks, sensations, and unexplained activity in the room and surrounding hallway.
Austin Monthly found no corroborating historical evidence for the commonly repeated stories of a nineteenth-century bride or a 1991 bride dying in Room 525, despite repeating details in modern retellings.
A little girl is said to have fallen down the grand staircase while chasing a ball. Guests report a child's laughter, the sound of a ball bouncing on the stairs or through nearby hallways, and occasional glimpses of a young girl in period clothing.
No historical record confirming the child's identity, a senator parent, or a fatal staircase fall was located in the reviewed sources.
A gentlemanly male apparition believed to be hotel founder Colonel Jesse Driskill is reported in the lobby, bar, and upper floors. Reports commonly include cigar smoke in otherwise empty areas, footsteps, and sightings of a man who appears to be watching over the hotel.
Staff and guests report an unseen woman crying in fourth-floor hallways and rooms, sometimes accompanied by an apparition of a woman in period clothing. Some retellings connect the activity to a woman said to have died by suicide on that floor.
The reviewed sources did not independently confirm a fourth-floor suicide or identify the woman associated with the reported crying.
Hotel stories describe a man in period clothing riding the elevator while checking a pocket watch. He is said to disappear when the doors open or when other riders try to speak to him.
A woman in a long gown, often described as a former housekeeper, is said to appear in the lobby arranging flowers. Witnesses report that she vanishes when approached or after looking away.
Jesse Driskill lost The Driskill in a poker game.
Texas State Historical Association research says Driskill’s 1888 financial collapse followed a late spring freeze that killed 3,000 cattle. He could not meet hotel payments and was forced to sell to S. E. McIlhenny.
Source: Texas State Historical Association, “The Life of Jesse Lincoln Driskill: Cattleman and Driskill Hotel Founder,” updated May 2, 2025
Hyatt owns The Driskill Hotel.
Hyatt manages and brands The Driskill through The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, but Pixiu Real Estate, Woodbine Development, and Austin-based investors acquired the property from Hyatt in 2022.
Source: Woodbine Development, acquisition announcement, June 6, 2022; Hotel Management, May 27, 2022
The hotel’s ghost stories document the deaths and identities of named spirits.
The hotel has a prominent haunted reputation, but the identity and death details in recurring stories, including the senator’s-daughter staircase tale, were not verified in the historical sources reviewed here.
Source: Austin Monthly, “Driskill Hotel’s Haunted History: Fact vs. Fiction,” September 28, 2021
The Driskill endured because it became a civic landmark worth preserving as well as a commercial hotel. When it closed in the late 1960s, the Save the Driskill effort helped return it to service in 1973; subsequent restorations and a current ownership-management partnership have kept the historic property operating while accommodating new investment and renovation.
The Driskill’s official history says Lyndon B. Johnson and Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor had their first date at the hotel’s 1886 Café in 1934. The LBJ Library confirms that they met in September 1934 and that Johnson proposed on their first date, though the biography reviewed here does not independently identify the venue.
No. The Texas State Historical Association says the Driskill family’s fortune collapsed in 1888 after a late spring freeze killed 3,000 cattle. Because hotel payments could not be met, Jesse Driskill was forced to sell the property to S. E. McIlhenny.
The Driskill was acquired in 2022 by Pixiu Real Estate, Woodbine Development Corporation, and a collective of Austin-based investors. Hyatt no longer owned the property after that transaction but continued to manage it under The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, according to Woodbine Development and Hotel Management.
The Driskill has a longstanding haunted reputation and is frequently included in Austin ghost tours and paranormal media. Its named ghost stories, including tales involving a child on the staircase and Room 525, are folklore rather than established evidence of paranormal activity; Austin Monthly has reported that several versions do not hold up as historical fact.
This review could not verify that claim. Lyndon Johnson was in Austin when he won the 1964 presidential election, but no reliable archival or LBJ Library source located here established that he watched the returns from a Driskill suite.
604 Brazos St, Austin, TX 78701
(512) 474-5911
At Sixth and Brazos in downtown Austin. The lobby, bar, and public dining spaces are generally accessible to visitors; confirm current access and renovation conditions before visiting.