Austin's busiest month is here. How booked are local hotels ahead of ACL, Formula 1?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — This weekend marks the start of a busy month for Austin: four back-to-back weekends of major events in the capital city.

The string of October events will bring thousands of fans, and hotel rooms are filling up for tourists coming to town, according to Visit Austin.

First up is the Austin City Limits Music Festival, which kicks off the month with two weekends of performances from some of the biggest artists in the world, including Dua Lipa, Blink-182, Chris Stapleton and Chappell Roan.

Next is a weekend packed with Formula 1 on Oct. 18-20 and college football fans with the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs coming to face the No. 2 Texas Longhorns on Oct. 19.

The month wraps with the Austin Film Festival on Oct. 24-31.

October is the busiest month historically for tourism in Austin, said Wesley Lucas, the communications director for Visit Austin, with the Formula 1 race as the busiest weekend of the year. The race generated about $434 million in direct spending from tourists during the 2021 F1 weekend.

"Honestly, for some of our hotels and business partners, Formula 1 weekend is the weekend that they do the best business," Lucas said. "I think what's going to be unique this year is that there's also a big football game... I don't know if it's necessarily a challenge, but we have heard from some of our hotels — they are sold out already."

Occupancy rates for the Formula 1 weekend are 27% higher than in 2023 with the addition of the highly anticipated SEC showdown. The average price per room is $477 citywide as of Sept. 26—an increase from $427 in 2023, according to Visit Austin.

Hotel occupancy rates vary by ACL weekend. Hotels are about 41% booked during Weekend One this year—about 7% higher than in 2023, according to Visit Austin. Weekend Two's occupancy rate is about 38%, which is about 5% lower than in 2023.

Notably, the Texas-Oklahoma game was during Weekend One in 2023. The game is scheduled during Weekend Two this year. Visit Austin sees higher hotel demand during the UT-OU weekend because local festivalgoers typically attend during the other weekend, meaning fewer hotel rooms are needed.

The Austin Film Festival wraps the busiest month for Austin. Occupancy rates are about 11% lower than in 2023 with about 25% of hotel rooms booked in the city. Many of these historically have been group room nights, according to Visit Austin.

Overall, October bookings are similar to last year, according to Visit Austin. While the occupancy rate is up 2% in October 2024, the daily rate average increased 1% from 2023.