Lone Star Court, an 'Upscale' Motor Court, Opening December 24

Lone Star Court, an "authentic" and "retro-inspired" boutique hotel from the Houston-based Valencia Group, is opening on Christmas Eve in the Domain. The hotel will feature a food trailer court called The Feed Store with an in-house trailer of the same name, and rotating local trailers to come. Their sit-down restaurant is called The Water Trough, and they have a signature cocktail called "The Chill Cowboy." Perhaps you did not know, but this hotel is in Texas. Super authentic Texas. Read the full press release below.

AUSTIN—Lone Star Court, a new upscale, retro-inspired, motor court concept hotel at the Domain, is opening tomorrow, Dec. 24, just in time for the holidays.
An authentic Americana roadside hotel by Valencia Group, recognized nationally and internationally for its service and style, Lone Star Court has an aesthetic that's authentically Austin and Texas Hill Country from the furniture in the rooms to the unique outdoor environment.

Lone Star Court has 123 retro-inspired guest rooms with high-tech amenities. True to Austin, the hotel will feature live music by an outdoor fire pit, a dipping pool reminiscent of Hill Country swimming holes, and an onsite food trailer court featuring its own signature food truck, the Feed Store, and other local favorite trailers on a rotating basis. Lone Star Court's full service restaurant, The Water Trough, will have a Texas-centric menu and a full bar featuring signature cocktail "The Chill Cowboy."

Lone Star Court will draw business as well as leisure travelers to its unique "ranch-tech" property, and The Water Trough and Feed Store will be a destination for Austinites as well as visitors, says Doyle Graham Jr., president of Valencia Group.

"We believe that Lone Star Court is the most exciting new concept in the hotel industry," Graham says. "Lone Star Court is a 21st century re-interpretation of the nostalgic motor court which, at the same time, captures the essence of Austin and the Texas Hill Country. It's a one-of-a-kind place; totally unique to Texas' capital city."

Lone Star Court offers approximately 2,000 square feet of interior meeting space, a 1,600 square foot outdoor covered pavilion, and an adjacent open-air lawn that adds 1,800 square feet to the total available meeting space.

Lone Star Court was created by Valencia Group, a Houston-based company known for its luxury independent Hotel Valencias in San Antonio and San Jose, and Hotel Sorella CITYCENTRE in Houston and Hotel Sorella Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.

During the early days of auto tourism beginning in the mid 1940s, roadside campsites led entrepreneurs to create quaint, cabin-like places for travelers to stay. Simple cottage camps began to evolve into more sophisticated full-service motor courts, and the number of motels in America tripled to more than 60,000 by the 1960s.

The new, more modern motor courts along great American highways featured "air cooled by refrigeration," television, coin-operated radios, tiled bathrooms, easy chairs, and "perfect sleeper" mattresses. After decades of booming business, mom-and-pop motels began to disappear in 1956 with the Federal-Aid Highway Act that funded construction of the interstate highway system. With little means to move their facilities or re-route traffic, these gems of the road gave way to corporate chains staking their claims along the new highways.

Lone Star Court will take visitors back to the heyday of the roadside motor court experience, where guests can discover an era of authentic Americana along with modern amenities and the excitement of Austin.

The architect for Lone Star Court is RTKL Associates of Dallas, led by Jim Suggs. Suggs was part of the design team for Hotel Valencia Riverwalk in San Antonio and Hotel Valencia Santana Row in San Jose. The designer for Lone Star Court is Lauren Rottet of Houston-based Rottet Studio, and the landscape architect is Christine Ten Eyck of Austin-based Ten Eyck Landscape Architects.