Inside Auberge Resort’s plan to open five-star hotels in Texas

In a state where natives measure time in generations rather than years, Craig Reid’s crisp British accent sticks out among honeyed Southern drawls. 

The CEO of Auberge Resorts & Collections has been in Texas for almost three decades — a relative blip, but long enough to get to define what luxury hospitality looks like in the Lone Star State.

At the moment, there are only two Texas hotels with five-star designations, according to the Forbes Travel Guide’s 2024 edition: the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas and the Post Oak Hotel in Uptown Houston. New York City has 10. 

Although the Forbes Travel Guide is an imperfect measure, the ranking holds truth: Texas is behind on luxury offerings. 

Only 3.3 percent of Dallas’ hotel supply is in the luxury segment, according to data from CoStar. Across the top 25 U.S. markets, the average is almost 11 percent. 

Reid is on a mission to change that. Since 2020, he has opened two boutique hotels in Texas, Commodore Perry in Austin and Bowie House in Fort Worth. A third, the Knox, is under construction in Dallas’ chic Knox-Henderson neighborhood. Texas Hill Country will be home to a fourth, and a fifth is slated for River Oaks in Houston. 

All this as interest rates have pumped the brakes on new construction and sales of hotels, at least in most places. High-growth Texas markets continue to perform well. In 2023, revenue per available room increased by 10 percent in Dallas and 8 percent in Fort Worth/Arlington, according to a recent CoStar report.

Reid may not have the Texas bona fides of a rodeo star, but he “understands luxury,” said Jo Ellard, the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame rider who partnered with him on Fort Worth’s Auberge hotel, Bowie House.

He cut his teeth in hospitality by cooking and tending bar for London-based hotelier Savoy Group. Reid worked his way up from assistant lounge manager at the Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C. to the company’s president of hotel operations for the Americas over 28 years.  

Reid is the kind of hotelier who can wax poetic about the origins of the modern hotel as the place where stagecoaches stopped for rest. He’s the kind of hotelier who asked Ellard’s team the baffling but illuminating question, “How do you plan to serve a guest a bowl of soup at the bar?”

It’s clear he understands luxury and hospitality. But does he understand Texas?

Translating Texas taste

Reid learned one of his first lessons in Texas refinement from its chief practitioner, Lady Bird Johnson. 

After Reid catered a gala for the opening of the National Wildflower Center, the former first lady invited him and his wife to dinner at her home. When the Reids arrived, Johnson already had food on the table. She told the couple not to be bashful and “load up because we want to sit and visit,” he recalled.  

“Here’s the wife of a former president, a big landowner, probably wealthy in her own right, and it’s all about family-style dining,” he said. 

In Texas, it’s not uncommon to see the square toe of an Ariat boot peeking out from under starched denim in a business casual environment. The city’s elite drive pickup trucks.  

Providing authentic luxury hospitality in Texas requires an understanding of “the understated way Texans celebrate success,” Reid said.  

“How would you serve someone soup at the bar?”
Craig Reid

He took his first stab at the concept with Commodore Perry, a restored Gatsby-era mansion built in 1928 by “Commodore” Edgar Perry and his wife, Lutie.  

The hotel opened in Austin in June 2020. Archer Hotel, Fairmont Austin and Austin Proper opened between 2016 and 2019, but the city hadn’t seen a “true luxury product” since the Four Seasons opened its Austin location in 1986, Reid said. Forbes gave these five hotels four-star ratings; Austin does not have a five-star-hotel.

He wanted to create a venue that was at once luxurious and approachable, a place that could host multimillion-dollar dealmaking or a postal worker’s retirement celebration (which has actually happened there). 

It worked. 

Ellard visited the hotel when selecting a company to manage the future Bowie House in Fort Worth’s Cultural District. The visit sealed the deal for Auberge. 

Building for ‘rich experiences’

Bowie House’s design hangs on a few principles. 

First, visitors should know they’re in Texas. Second, the decor couldn’t be stuffy or precious. 

“I wanted big guys to come in and feel really comfortable in the furniture they’re sitting on and not feel like they’re going to tear something up because it’s too dainty,” Ellard said. 

The lobby has overstuffed pillows, worn-in leather chairs and intricate rugs. (“I love texture,” Ellard said. “I can’t buy short-haired dogs. It’s gotta have some fluff.”) Tasteful cow print and longhorn skulls say — not scream — “Texas.”

Striking the balance between elegant and welcoming wasn’t easy. 

The team debated having tablecloths in the dining rooms (too old-school?) and stools at the bar (too dive bar?), Reid said, wearing a button-up and quarter zip. 

“We’re not building places for the rich. We’re building places for rich experiences,” he explained. Rooms run $600 a night, but a vodka martini at the bar is only $15. 

Reid knows he can’t copy and paste Bowie House into Dallas, the Hill Country and Houston; he will interpret “true luxury” for each market.

The Knox, in Dallas, will be part of a mixed-use project that includes luxury office, multifamily, retail, restaurants and a park connected to the nearby Katy Trail. The hotel will reflect the city: elegant bordering on opulent, with a saloon. Reid said he wants the hotel to feel like “the club upstairs.” 

The Hill Country hotel will “feel like a ranch experience.”

Auberge in Texas 

Just six weeks after opening its doors, Bowie House’s translation of Texas refinement was put to the test during the city’s favorite annual event: the Stock Show and Rodeo. 

The hotel was nearly sold out every weekend in January. The bar and restaurant were packed from 5 p.m. to closing. 

Reid is on a tight timeline for Auberge’s upcoming Texas hotels.

The Knox and the Birdsall, in Houston, are expected to open in 2026. The company hasn’t yet announced an opening date for the Hill Country hotel.

Auberge got an unspecified infusion of cash from its partner in developing the Knox, BDT & MSD Partners. The minority investment will help Auberge grow its portfolio in the Americas, Europe and beyond.

Reid also has Ellard’s stamp of approval. She made sure Reid and the team came away understanding the soul of Fort Worth.

“I preached to him pretty strongly for two years,” she said. “Now they get it.”