Radisson Sas Palais Hotel

Really - 5 Stars - NO WAY

My husband and I have stayed in 5 star hotels and inns all over the world. The Vienna Radisson Blu is no 4 or 5 star hotel.
This was our Experience: no doorman and no bellman to help with luggage; frazzled understaffed front desk people with angry guests milling about; bar closed for some unexplained reason; tacky big screen TV right as you walk in the door - advertising something or other; lobby smelling like an over-deodorized gas station lavatory; the elevator was dirty and finger-smudged; hallways had low ceilings and dirty, smelly carpet; and tacky, falling-apart upholstered chairs and cheap furniture greet you as you exit the elevator on your floor. My husband had had surgery so I had to schlep three bags up by myself. AND THE ROOMS - We upgraded to a suite?! - (What were we thinking?) The first suite to which we were sent smelled of mold and mildew; the second, "non-smoking" suite they gave me key cards to smelled like an ashtray. A sympathetic maintenance person told me he knew the first room smelled bad - he thought one of the windows had leaked. Maybe the staff hoped we wouldn't notice. Hotels that deodorize carpets instead of cleaning do not even deserve 2 stars.
I went back to the desk and said the 2nd suite would not work. I was told they were fully booked, so I said I would go to another hotel and they found me a third suite to try. It was not too offensive ... after I opened the window. My husband was tired so we decided to stay.
NOTE: The lights only turn on if you stick your card key in a little box by the door - since no one explained that - it took us a while to figure it out - pretty tacky, but worse is that when you go to bed you have a choice of unplugging all the lights you don't want on or pulling the card and stumbling in the dark.
The "amenities" were woeful: the king bed is really two hard as a rock twin beds stuck together - they didn't even attempt to put a king sheet on them; the linens are nice but the feather pillows are old and have no protective covers under the pillowcases - (left me wondering what critters were lurking in the folds); the duvet covers have blankets in them - not duvets; the bath towels - one per person - are small and cheap - I have used paper towels that were more plush; the toilet paper feels like newspaper; there were two tiny bottles of body lotion and three tiny bottles of cheap conditioner in the bathroom and NO soap and NO shampoo - or Cotton balls or swabs - no sewing kit, no robe, no slippers, no iron, or any sign of any other kind of amenity. I asked for Shampoo and was told they had no more. My sympathetic maintenance guy found me two bottles of shampoo - I asked where he got them and he shrugged. The internet is complimentary - but very slow. The mini bar (mini being the operative word - not bar) is complimentary - YAY - one bottle of regular coca cola, one of coke light; one orange juice, one apple juice, two waters, one energy drink, one beer, one teeny bottle of cheap Brut, and no alcohol. The room service at night is pre-made snacks I was told - uh - no thanks. But my husband and I did get a laugh when we saw by the bedside table a card that read "We guarantee
If this hotel had the 2 or 3 star rating it should have - I would not be so upset. I would have known what to expect and we would not have booked at the Radisson. This would never be a 4 to 5 star hotel anywhere else in the world - I shudder to think what a 1, 2 or 3 star hotel is like in this country.
Nothing can ruin a trip or holiday like a bad hotel and this hotel ruined VIenna for us - we considered moving to another, but if this is 4-5 stars in Vienna - why try anywhere else. We cut our trip short in Austria because we could not wait to leave, and I doubt we will ever come back.

Unique Quality: The location is very good.