Park Lane Guest House is located in Austin, Texas, and is found close to what is referred to as Lady Bird Lake Hiking and Biking Trail by many locals and tourists alike. Lady Bird Lake courses directly through the city and offers several opportunities for kayaking, paddle boarding, and other lake recreation. Park Lane Guest House is open year-round and offers a total of three separate cottages. The buildings are uniquely decorated, but all provide the same amenities. The establishment has an outdoor swimming pool, gardens of flowers and vegetables, and a front porch with rocking chairs. Breakfast is provided to every person staying at Park Lane Guest House and is made by the owners with vegetables grown in their own garden. As such, the breakfasts at the property can abide by gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and vegetarian restrictions. Dogs are allowed to be on the premises and inside the cottages provided that the owner of Park Lane Guest House is notified in advance. It should also be noted that children under the age of 16 years are not permitted to stay, as the establishment is oriented towards adults.
Park Lane Guest House has a total of three guest houses available for visitors to reserve. Each unit is uniquely decorated and built using reclaimed material and wood. Regardless of which one is reserved, the cottages feature similar amenities. They each have a private bathroom, a television, a kitchenette, and access to Wi-Fi. Espresso coffee, French press coffee, drip coffee, and more are available throughout the day. An outdoor pool can be used by guests to swim in at their leisure. Everyone who stays at Park Lane Guest House also receives breakfast with their reservation the following morning.
A full breakfast is provided each morning. The meal is prepared and brought to each cottage, allowing guests to eat on their own front porch or in the bar area of their kitchen. Items that have been served in the past include pancakes with fresh fruit and breakfast tacos. The owners are responsible for making breakfast and are capable of making food that abides by specific diets and food allergies, including gluten-free, dairy-free, and more. There is no set menu, but they try to make something different each morning for their visitors. She mentions that the business does not serve meat with breakfasts.
Guests can find flowers and vegetables outside the units in the gardens. The vegetables they grow in their gardens are used in the breakfasts they make in the morning. There are also free-range chickens that can occasionally be seen roaming the grounds. There is an outdoor pool with covered seating that guests are allowed to use during the day and a front porch with rocking chairs. The business has solar power and an electric car charger on-site that visitors may utilize to charge their vehicles.
Beyond the property line, one will find the city of Austin, Texas. Park Lane Guest House is half a mile away from Lady Bird Lake where guests can participate in recreational water activities. Moreover, Park Lane Guest House is located in the heart of the South Congress district, and Shakti recommends that guests explore the shops, restaurants, and live music venues that can be found within the district. The owners also direct guests to some of their favorite restaurants in the area. One place they mention is Hopdoddy Burger Bar, which offers several vegetarian burgers and vegan options in addition to fries, shakes, and beers.
Shakti, one of the owners of Park Lane Guest House, explains that she would like her guests to feel comfortable when they stay at the bed and breakfast. To help their guests find comfort at the business, they equip the rooms with filtered air systems, don't use cleaning chemicals, and only use cotton linens. She also mentions that they interact with people as often as the occupants prefer. Shakti and Devkirn typically talk to those staying at the cottages when they deliver breakfast to their units. They make an effort to be available to the guests, often telling them that they can knock on the back door of the owners' house, call, or text if they need something. Shakti remarks, "They have somebody available, but they don't have somebody in their space."
Park Lane Guest House has several policies that visitors should be aware of when they make reservations at the bed and breakfast. Guests are allowed to bring their dogs to the cottages, as it is a pet-friendly company. Quiet hours begin at 10:00 p.m. each night. The pool is open 24/7, although the owners ask that guests keep the noise to a minimum during the night. Smoking is prohibited on the grounds. Visitors are not allowed to hold parties at the bed and breakfast. Children under the age of 16 are not permitted to stay in the cottages.
There have been many people that have stayed at Park Lane Guest House. Those who left reviews of their experience tend to mention the cottages' interior and the breakfast. One person who recently stayed at the establishment wrote, "Our stay at Park Lane was the highlight of our anniversary trip to Austin. We enjoyed the personal touches throughout our cottage, the wonderful breakfast each morning, and the excellent communication with the hosts. We had the pool to ourselves, and this was a huge plus during the heat in August." The best seasons of operation tend to be spring and fall, both of which are also the festival season, where there are usually football games and various celebrations taking place in the town. The typical demographic of guests who stay at Park Lane Guest House are usually couples, though Shakti mentions that they often host business travelers who are traveling through the area as well.
The Park Lane Guest House is not the first structure to have resided on the premises, though whatever building existed there before was burned to the ground in the 1930s. The foundation of this first building is where the pool now resides. According to the owner, the outdoor pool was a neighborhood swimming pool for nearly 50 years. The home that stands today was hand-built by a man after World War II in the late 1940s. He took material from a dismantled military camp called Camp Swift in Bastrop County and used it to build the house. Most of the home was built using reclaimed wood and other materials.
The current owners of Park Lane Guest House, Devkirn and Shakti, purchased the house in 1994, renovated it, and opened it in 1995. The owner is a restoration carpenter and used that knowledge to restore the home. The current owners are also the ones responsible for opening the bed and breakfast. They further explain that the bed and breakfast began as a single room in one main house, although that space was converted and turned into an office that they use for their business. One aspect of running the Park Lane Guest House that they really enjoy is being able to meet and spend time with guests. Shakti mentions that "we get to know many interesting and wonderful people."
Devkirn and Shakti were led into the industry because they "love to travel often." According to Shakti, "We really designed the place around our own personal lifestyle of how we like to live and how we like to share our living with other people." She mentions that she enjoys owning a location that can cater to vegan or vegetarian lifestyles. As a reflection of this, gardens, trees, fruit, and other plants are cultivated on the grounds of Park Lane Guest House.
221 Park Ln
Austin, Texas 78704
United States
Bed and Breakfast
Devkirn & Shakti Khalsa
