Oct 08

HomeAway Stage Austin City Limits Music Festival 2016
HomeAway Stage Austin City Limits Music Festival 2016 by Chris Heuer

Chris Rauschnot @24k spent the last weekend of September in Austin, Texas covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Chris was invited and sponsored by HomeAway to live in one of their rented condos in Downtown Austin, where all of the action is during ACL. The condo was conveniently located about six blocks away from the ACL shuttle stop and a few blocks away from the Four Seasons Austin. To get to Austin, Chris flew nonstop from Las Vegas via a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 airplane.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival is in its 15th year and entertains about 450,000 people over three days and two weekends. There are many stages setup around Zilker Park, which is across the river from Downtown Austin. One thing to note about Austin is that it does not have Uber or Lyft. They have multiple ride-sharing options however and the one Chris choose to travel with happened to have helpful and fun drivers.


Downtown Austin HomeAway Condo Tour

Chris’ social posts began on September 29th and they continue to run through this weekend for his coverage of the event. He used two hashtags, #HomeAwayACL and another that was trending during the event, #ACLFest. He found the engagement to be great with Southwest Airlines, Four Seasons Austin, HomeAway, ACL Festival, his following and Austin locals.

Chris Rauschnot @24k said, “Rocking out to new and familiar music during the Austin City Limits Music Festival on its 15th anniversary was an experience I’ll always remember. HomeAway provided a cool condo downtown as a base of ops with all of the comforts of home. My roommate Ryan mentioned that his family would have enjoyed the condo too. We produced live videos of what we were looking forward to seeing each day. Communicating with the condo owner was easy and they had everything we needed to make the trip a success. Our small three person group even made dinner at the condo one night.”

“The coverage I produced provided Southwest Airlines, Austin, Four Seasons Austin and the Austin City Limits Music Festival positive exposure for the week. I have been to a few giant music festivals in the past, but this one was held outside with nearly 80,000 people each day. I covered my travels to and from Austin including the flights, the HomeAway Condo, the HomeAway backstage area, Austin area food and many of the bands on various stages around Zilker Park,” he said.

Chris’ following saw that he was using the two hashtags mentioned above with the screen name @24k via Tweets, Instagram posts, Instagram Stories posts, Vines and then Snaps via “the24k.” He utilized those same social networks including Facebook and more to cover travel, music, food, aviation and luxury.

5 Reasons Why I liked My HomeAway Condo

  • Rent the entire condo
  • Kitchen available
  • Central to transportation
  • Separate rooms and bathrooms
  • Available during a high traffic event

On why Chris was picked to help HomeAway with their social media coverage for ACL, Chris Heuer said, “I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of people around the world in social media, and especially travel, and Chris is clearly an epitome of an authentic, engaging human being. So when I was finally able to do something cool that I could really influence in working with a big brand like HomeAway, Chris was one of the very first people I thought to invite. Not only because he is a good story teller, but also because we have developed a REAL relationship over the years, we are friends and colleagues. I wanted to invite him because I knew he would make me better, he would enjoy telling the ACL story and we would have a good time together enjoying Austin. Reach is one thing, quality and integrity is an entirely different level.”

HomeAway said about the festival, “HomeAway was born and raised here in Austin, just like ACL Fest, so it feels like we’ve grown up together. We’re both about creating memorable experiences, and the thousands of travelers coming to ACL Fest each year book up just about every vacation rental in Austin. This year we wanted to show our appreciation for them and for our homeowners and property managers, so we invited them to hang out backstage with us. HomeAway also donated five dollars from each festival booking to Austin Habitat for Humanity.”

“Our backstage area is more than just a shady spot to take a break from the crowds, it’s also a peek into our culture at HomeAway. It gives our guests an idea of what our more than one million vacation rentals have to offer: more space, privacy, relaxation, and though we don’t have a kitchen back there, we make sure our guests are well fed and their thirsts quenched. We even built a tiny home to resemble a miniature whole home experience, kind of like the more than a million homes on HomeAway.com,” they said.

The HomeAway stage and backstage area was a welcome respite to the warm weather and sun that weekend. Backstage was definitely a VIP experience. It had several rows of comfortable couches in a stadium seating setup, a bar with several beers on tap, locally sourced High Brew cold-brew coffee, very comfortable chairs from West Elm, a tiny house with a nap area co-sponsored by Casper, snacks provided by Snap Kitchen and access to a small area on the stage.

HomeAway’s backstage was one of the most popular experiences during ACL as other sponsored VIPs were talking about it with people around the stage. Their stage saw multiple newer acts and huge names like The Chainsmokers.

The first Saturday was possibly the biggest day during ACL as Gallant, DJ Mustard, AlunaGeorge and The Chainsmokers performed on the HomeAway stage. Chris had not heard of Gallant or AlunaGeorge before, but now he has them saved in his favorite music-streaming app. The Chainsmokers garnered one of the biggest crowds he was a part of at the music festival. He felt like it was a legit Vegas show that had arrived complete with onstage pyro.

The Austin City Limits Music Festival is a chance to discover new acts, enjoy popular bands and meet cool new people along the way. Chris had the opportunity to meet fun people during the festival like Ryan Bell and chat with several ride share drivers too.

They gave him a sense of how the city has evolved since he last visited and a few travel tips. One of the tips was to visit Torchy’s Tacos. Torchy’s had a food stall at ACL. Their tacos were amazing. He even visited their restaurant for a few tacos on Monday afternoon before leaving for the airport. Trudy’s chicken stuffed fried mini avocados were so good. And last but not least, Salt Lick BBQ’s brisket nachos, yes and again please.

Engaging the Four Seasons Austin went well, including the visit for brunch on September 2nd to experience their luxurious setting. The lobby lounge area was open for hotel guests and travelers alike even with a fully booked restaurant during ACL. Their attention to quality customer service, tasty cocktails and delicious bites made for a visit he would definitely like to experience many more times. The giant doors overlooking their garden were opened halfway through brunch revealing a nice cool breeze and leaves falling off of the trees. Fall arrived in Austin while he enjoyed brunch, ahh.


To find a HomeAway for your next trip, click the link. They have rentals available all around the world.

Revisit photos, videos and recaps of the first weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival by following his social media channels:

@24k on Twitter
@24k on Instagram
the24k on Snapchat
@24k on Vine
@24k on Periscope
@24kMedia Facebook
Chris Rauschnot Google+
24kMedia on Pinterest
@VegasBiLL & @24kMedia YouTube Channel

Check out his exciting trip to Austin by following @24k on social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Google+.

About Chris Rauschnot:

He is a conference speaker; award winning social media personality Named Top 20 Must-Follow On Social Media by DIGIMIND and Top 50 Social Media Influencer by Cision / PR Newswire, writer and syndicated blogger. With an affinity for social media, he frequently covers technology, travel, luxury, events, celebrities, aviation, food and tourism in Las Vegas and beyond. He is the driving force behind 24kMedia.

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