On the road

Vonlane ramps up luxury bus service from Houston to key Texas city

Vonlane has added new routes in major cities around Texas.

Photo courtesy of Vonlane

Luxury bus operator Vonlane is adding new routes across Texas for 2026, including bringing back crack-of-dawn rides between Houston and San Antonio.

According to a release, effective February 16, Vonlane will run new early-morning and evening departures in four Texas cities on high-demand travel days. Six additional weekly departures have been added in each city as follows:

NEW Fort Worth to and from Austin:

7 am and 7 pm Monday, Thursday, and Friday

NEW Houston Galleria to and from San Antonio:

6 am and 6 pm Monday, Thursday, and Friday

As of February 16, the schedule to and from these Texas cities will be as follows:

San Antonio to Houston Galleria:

6 am, 10 am, 2 pm, 6 pm Monday, Thursday, and Friday
10 am and 2 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday
1 pm Saturday

Houston Galleria to San Antonio:

6 am, 10 am, 2 pm, 6 pm Monday, Thursday, and Friday
10 am and 2 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday
9 am Saturday

Vonlane also offers routes from Houston to Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin.

The company says the expanded schedules aim to help facilitate day trips, allowing regional business travelers to arrive in time for morning meetings and return home the same evening.

“Business travelers are telling us they want schedules that actually work,” said Alex Danza, founder and CEO of Vonlane, in a statement. “These new departures make it possible to take a morning meeting without a 4 am alarm, stay productive on the road, and still be home by dinner. That flexibility is exactly what Vonlane was built to deliver.”

Dallas-based Vonlane launched its high-end bus service in 2014 to cater to business travelers. Each bus, which holds fewer than two dozen passengers, features amenities like Wi-Fi, satellite TV and radio, snack and drink service, sleep masks, and leather seats. Their fares are flat-rate, one-way or round-trip, with no taxes, baggage fees, or change fees.

Vonlane now offers more than 500 departures weekly across nine cities, in Texas and beyond. Routes run in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas; between Atlanta, Georgia, and Nashville, Tennessee; and between Nashville and Memphis, and Nashville and Knoxville.

In Houston, buses to Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin depart from the Hyatt Regency Downtown at 1200 Louisiana St. Buses to San Antonio depart from the Hyatt Regency Galleria at 2626 Sage Rd.

Reservations can be booked online, and may be canceled and fully refunded up to 24 hours before departure.

Vonlane also just launched an app to make booking and managing trips easier for passengers; it is available for Apple and Android devices.

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a major award

Art-filled boutique hotel in the Heights earns coveted Michelin Key

Photo by Julie Soefer

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A boutique hotel in the Heights is one of seven Texas properties to earn a coveted Michelin Key. The Hotel Daphne, a Bunkhouse property that opened in 2025, joins these other Texas stays on the list:

Four Seasons Hotel Austin
The Frances Modern Inn (Austin)
Hotel 1928 (Waco)
Missing Hotel (Marble Falls)
The Ritz-Carlton Dallas (Las Colinas)
Sophie’s Gasthaus (New Braunfels)

In its entry on the Michelin website, the Guide’s inspectors hail the five-story, 49-room property, which is also home to Hypsi, an Italian restaurant led by Houston chef Terrence Gallivan, and Bar Daphne, an art-filled cocktail bar. The hotel's walls are adorned with more than 160 pieces from the Ackerley Family Collection, which focuses on works created by living Texas artists.

A bohemian Bunkhouse hideaway and One-Key in Houston’s The Heights, with 49 rooms, a library, and a restaurant serving house-made pasta. Select suites come with a balcony; unexpected details include stitched floral headboards and funky soap dishes. A lobby shop sells locally produced jewelry and home décor.

“Being awarded a Michelin Key is a testament to our wonderful team and all the hard work they have put in to make Daphne what it is,” owner Ben Ackerly tells CultureMap. “The Heights community has been great in how well we’ve been received, and now that is being recognized on a broader scale with this accolade.”

Announced Friday, September 18, Michelin added 65 properties in America to its list of Key-worthy stays, bringing the overall total to more than 350 hotels nationwide. Hotel Daphne is the fifth Houston hotel to earn One Key status, joining The Post Oak Hotel, Hotel ZaZa Houston (Museum District), Hotel ZaZa Memorial City, and the Hotel Saint Augustine, a Bunkhouse property in Montrose. The Carr Mansion in Galveston also holds one Michelin Key.

Similar to the famous Michelin Stars awarded to restaurants, hotels may receive one, two, or three keys, which is defined as follows:

One Michelin Key for hotels that offer "very special" stays with service that "provides significantly more than similarly priced establishments."
Two Michelin Keys for "exceptional stays" where memorable guest experiences are "always guaranteed" with a special emphasis on the hotel's design or architecture.
Three Michelin Keys for hotels that provide "extraordinary stays" for "the ultimate in comfort and service, style and elegance."

No properties in Texas hold three Michelin Keys. The state’s only two key properties are the Commodore Perry Estate (Austin), the Bowie House (Fort Worth), and Hotel Emma (San Antonio).

hotels hotel daphne awards michelin keys the-heights

On the road

Vonlane ramps up luxury bus service from Houston to key Texas city

a major award

Art-filled boutique hotel in the Heights earns coveted Michelin Key

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