The deposit and cost of reservations are paid directly to the hotel. SXSW Housing & Travel does not collect any reservation funds. Nothing is charged at the time of booking, but a valid credit card is required to secure your reservation.
Deposit:
Most SXSW hotels charge an advance deposit to the credit card on the reservation once they receive our reservations and assign reservation confirmation numbers in late February. The deposit amount depends on the hotel you booked and is detailed in the Reservation Agreement section of your reservation confirmation email.
You can also view deposit information prior to booking in the "See All Amenities" section for each hotel on the Availability Page.
Reservation:
Upon check in, it is your responsibility to understand the method of payment for your reservation. The credit card used when booking is used only to secure your reservation and for the hotel to charge your deposit. When you arrive, you must provide a valid physical credit card to pay for room, tax, and incidentals.
If you do not intend to travel with the credit card to pay for the reservation, you must submit a Credit Card Authorization form to the hotel before you arrive. This allows you to charge your reservation, tax, and incidentals to a credit card that is not in your name (e.g. a company card that does not belong to the employee).
Individual hotel credit card authorization forms are available to download from our Reservation Policies page in early February. You are not able to submit the credit card authorization form to the hotel until your reservation confirmation number is assigned and emailed to you in a new confirmation in late February.
If you must pre-pay for the reservation, this can be done directly with the hotel using the credit card authorization form or their preferred method at the time deposits are taken. Email housing@sxsw.com if you still have questions.