Vienna Marriott am Parkring
The Vienna Marriott: A very nice hotel in an ideal location
It is hard to love a city as cold, wet, and gray as Vienna was for us in mid-May 2009; but it is easy to love a hotel with the wonderful beds, friendly staff, and ideal location that we experienced at the Vienna Marriott. Best of all, we got a great discount on the internet (more about that later).
In Vienna the better hotels are strung like beads along the ring boulevard which encircles the Innere Stadt (former old town). The Vienna Marriott is located on the east side of the ring between the historic Radisson SAS Hotel and the modern Hotel am Parkring.
Although the Vienna Marriott does not have the fantastic Danube views of its sister property in Budapest (in Vienna the Danube is some distance from the city center), it is across the street from the Stadt Park and its famous gold statue of J. Strauss Jr.
From the hotel it is a 10 minute walk through the park to the Wien Mitte train station, which serves the VIE airport by CAT Express (fast) and S-bahn (cheap) trains. Similarly, the Stubentor and Stadt Park U-bahn (subway) stations are each a 5 minute walk, and tram lines 1 and 2 stop directly in front of the hotel. Best of all, the Stephansdom and heart of the inner city are just 10 minutes away.
The Vienna Marriott is definitely a 4 star property, but our standard room lacked a few of the usual 4 star amenities: no robes, no slippers, no coffee or tea pot, and a mini-bar with no space left for personal items. The TV is an older CRT rather than HDTV. There is an internet connection, but there is no radio or Ipod dock.
However, the rooms made up for this in other ways. They are comfortable in size, about 300 sq.ft. total. The beds are fantastic -- pillow top mattresses, ultra-high thread count sheets, extra long duvets, and a choice of four pillows of various sizes and densities.
The decor is an attractive, understated Empire style in pale green and gold. Each room has a bay window, which opens. Only a few rooms are directly on the busy Parkring. Most rooms extend back along the quieter Weihburggasse or (across the hall) overlook the courtyard above the hotel lobby, directly across from offices, which include the U.S. Consulate (the consulate, not the embassy, helps tourists in emergencies).
The granite and tile bathrooms are functional in size, with a single sink and a single tub-shower combo. Lighting is good and mirrors are excellent.
The staff is very friendly. The front desk is very helpful, but unfortunately could not provide a morning check-in.
Non-stop flights to Asia or the Middle East are easier to handle than overnight flights to Europe because they usually provide a full night’s sleep and then arrive in the afternoon, when hotel rooms are ready.
Flying to Europe one usually arrives in the early morning and ends up a street person until afternoon check-in. In our case we left our bags with the concierge, who later delivered them to our room. To stay out of the cold rain we zombied our way to the famous Kunsthistorisches Museum.
We have seen it multiple times before, but at least it is warm and dry, and has comfortable couches where one can safely close ones eyes without being asked to move on, even if one looks and feels like an unmade bed.
Our room rate at the Vienna Marriott did not include the breakfast buffet, which is 27 euros ($38). The continental breakfast buffet is 20 euros ($28). Room service and items in the monitored mini-bar were similarly over-priced.
As a result, we did not consider eating or drinking in any of the hotel restaurants or lounges during our stay. The Innere Stadt has numerous alternatives.
In addition, there is a small but fully stocked Zielpunkt supermarket one block north and west of the hotel on Singerstrasse (beyond the Palais Coburg). There we found a nice split of champagne for exactly one tenth the price of the mini-bar offering, with wonderfully sweet strawberries from Spain and brie from France.
In addition there is a Bila supermarket also on Singerstrasse near the Stephensdom, and a Spar supermarket next to the McDonalds on Schwartzenberg Platz one tram stop south of the hotel. These markets all had fresh fruit, nice bakeries and delis, and good wine selections.
In spite of the terribly cold and wet May weather, we enjoyed Vienna and we loved our stay at the Vienna Marriott. Best of all, we stayed there at the very reasonable rate of $106 per night for a double room, plus $15 in taxes and fees, obtained by bidding for the central Vienna zone on priceline.com .
We wanted to stay at the Marriott again for our return to Vienna in late May, but could not obtain that reasonable rate, so instead we stayed several additional days at the outlying (near the Vienna International Center) NH Danube City Hotel.
But that is another review.
Happy travels!
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