Austin Convention Center Earns ConventionSouth’s Annual Readers’ Choice Award

January 14, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas – The Austin Convention Center has been honored with the ConventionSouth 2021 Reader’s Choice Award. This is the twelfth time, since the creation of the award in 2001, that the Austin Convention Center has received the award that recognizes the top meetings sites and destinations in the South.

ConventionSouth magazine is a national multimedia resource for planning events and is based in Gulf Shores, Ala. The publication is distributed to more than 18,000 meeting professionals across the country who book meetings held in the South.

“Customer service is our No. 1 focus. All of our staff members are committed to providing the best service in the industry,” said Paul Barnes, Austin Convention Center Department Deputy Director – Chief Operations Officer. “This award is not just us saying this, but a reflection of the feedback we receive directly from the meeting professionals we work with.“

Throughout the year, meeting professionals nominate facilities and locations to ConventionSouth that they believe provide exemplary service for group events. To determine the best of the best, the nominated sites are then voted on by meeting professionals and fans.

“ConventionSouth readers and fans have voted to decide the best meeting sites in the South, and it is no surprise to us that Austin Convention Center has been selected to receive our annual Readers’ Choice Award,” said ConventionSouth Associate Publisher Ashleigh Osborne. “The value in receiving this prestigious recognition is that it comes from the United States’ top meeting professionals who hold events in the South. These planners demand the highest level of customer service and quality facilities, and they have contributed in determining that Austin Convention Center indeed displays the commitment to professionalism, creativity, and service that they require.”

The Austin Convention Center is a LEED® Gold-certified and GBAC STAR™-accredited facility. Located in the heart of downtown, the Austin Convention Center Department operates the Austin Convention Center and Palmer Events Center. The Austin Convention Center Department is comprised of 301 full-time staff positions and is an enterprise department for the City of Austin. As an enterprise department, ACCD is not funded by property taxes, sales taxes, or through transfers from the electric and water utilities. Over 10 million people have attended 6,000+ events, including over 900 conventions, at the convention center since it opened in 1992.

FACTS ABOUT THE AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER:

• Neighbors 12,000 downtown hotel rooms within a two-mile radius
• Five exhibit halls, two ballrooms, 54 meeting rooms, and show offices
• Seven ballrooms, ranging in sizes from cozy and intimate to one of the largest in Texas at 40,510 square feet
• State-of-the-art audiovisual technology on a gigabit-rated network
• Free Wi-Fi, over 20,000 wireless devices can connect simultaneously
• In-house technology staff provides 24-hour support and customization monitoring.