Visiting Vienna

As of May 31st, 2005, Vienna had 366 hotels, offering 22,815 rooms and suites. Over half the beds are in four star accommodation, and these hotels also have the highest occupancy rates.

So much for statistics.

Hotels here use a one to five star system similar to that found the world over. A hotel applies in writing to the local Chamber of Commerce for a star classification. Then a chamber commission visits and classifies the location.

This commission revisits an establishment every 3-5 years to renew or alter the original classification. If, however, the authorities receive enough complaints about a particular place, then the commission visits earlier!

The only exception to the above system is the five star classification, which is awarded by a national committee. There are 13 five star hotels in the city.

Since the hotels brought in over €330 million in revenue in 2004, they’re a vital part of Vienna’s business community and big tax contributors to the city treasury. Hence it’s very much in Vienna’s interest to ensure standards are maintained. Thus you shouldn’t expect any problems with the tourist class hotels.

Given the high level of education in the country, plus the many vocational schools specializing in tourism, hotel staff should be well-qualified and pretty conversant in English.

Tip: One thing to watch for when booking a hotel is location. Vienna is a relatively small, compact city. So booking agencies and the like can get away with describing just about any hotel location as “central” or “city center.” Don’t take their word for it and check on a map.

As always with planning a visit, you need to book early. Vienna is pretty full with visitors throughout the year, with the exception of January, February, November and December.

Even so, hotels are filling up in December and January, thanks to the growing popularity of Vienna as a holiday destination for visiting Christmas markets and enjoying New Year’s celebrations.

Some weeks can be very, very busy, as Vienna often hosts huge international events. The city expects 15,000 visitors in early March, 2006 for the European Congress of Radiology and up to 30,000 in late August 2007 for the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress. If you want to avoid the big events, when rooms are scarce and rates high, check this congress calendar or this event calendar for information.

Be aware also that a significant proportion — including the final event — of the world’s third largest sporting event (soccer’s European Championships) takes place in Vienna in June 2008.

As far as booking your room goes, there are hundreds of tour operators, agencies and websites who’ll sell their grandmother for the opportunity to organize your accommodation, so I’ll leave it up to you to find the one for you.

If you do want to go straight to source, the official city tourist service has an online booking engine.

This entry is filed under Places to stay, Hotels.