Hotel Review: Park Hyatt Vienna Part I

Vienna is one of my favorite European cities. I was excited to try the Park Hyatt’s newest European hotel located right in the heart of Vienna, which celebrates the modern while embracing tradition.

Typically I do hotel reviews in one post, but since this property is so new and I want to give readers a lot of pics and info, I am dividing it into two parts.

Pulling up to the hotel I was greeted right at the curb by a bellhop. “Welcome to the Park Hyatt Vienna” he said with a warm smile.

He guided me into the elegant lobby to the reception area on the left. The 100 year old building was previously a bank and has been completely refurbished to Park Hyatt’s luxury standard, while keeping the traditional architecture and some unique touches.

Paying for a regular room, I had used a Hyatt confirmed suite upgrade. The hotel’s policy is that Diamond members booking a Standard room will be upgraded to a Deluxe room, if available. Using an upgrade instrument is the way to get into a suite. After being assigned a Park Suite room on the 5th floor (6 is the highest), I was led by the hostess up a beautiful staircase on the right to the elevator.

On the way up in the modern glass structure, she mentioned that all guests get free wifi, everywhere in the hotel.

The hallway to the room had neutral toned walls and richly colored carpeting.

Reaching the room I waved my key in front of the pad, and the door unlocked.

Entering the foyer I looked down. The marble flooring had an intricate design on it, as did the wood inlaid french doors in front of me. To the right was the closet/bathroom, and straight ahead was the living area.

The suite interior made an oblong O shape, much like the Park Hyatt Tokyo suite layout. There are just 143 rooms at this hotel, 35 of which are suites. They are all generously sized, and my suite was about 680 square feet.

The transition from hallway carpet to marble foyer to the carpeted room beyond was all at the same level. No bumps up or down, which is good for room service carts. My first impression was that this room had the “wow” factor.

A large bowl of welcome fruit had been carefully arranged on the table, along with a letter wishing me a pleasant stay.

The TV in the sitting room was really neat. It was fully covered by a mirror that slid up easily with just one finger, so that when not in use the TV could be tucked away.

The desk had a good view out one of the windows, and there was an added feature – a hidden cabinet that flipped open to reveal a charging station. I was disappointed that there weren’t any 110 volt US outlets in there though, since it is becoming more common to find those in hotel rooms worldwide.

A table with storage space swiveled around 360 degrees, and two sides had openings for magazines and such.

The minibar took the form of a glamorous cabinet.

Both doors swung out to reveal cups and glasses, drinks, snacks, an Illy coffee/Espresso maker, and a tea kettle.

One feature I thought was smart was that all of the bottles were kept upright and cold, in a separate refrigerated pull-out drawer. A second tray on top had chocolates that are also best kept cold.

The minibar cabinet looked great, but was quite noisy when being opened or closed. It also made a loud humming sound which wasn’t noticed during the day but would have been too noisy at night had there not been a closing door between it and the bedroom.

There were some thoughtful touches around the room like small lights in the room corners, and a slide-out table with outlet below.

Touch pads were located in each room, so there were no traditional switches for anything. Some were easy to figure out, like this one in the bedroom. The first pad had up and down buttons that adjusted the temperature, there was a fan speed button, and one for turning it off. The second pad down had a metal blinds blackout button (yay!), light buttons for on/off, and up/down brightness.

Moving over to the ones on the bed got a bit more complicated.  There was a sole reading light (which turned out to be way too bright for my taste), a curtains open/shut, an all off button, a light dim/bright one, foot-level light, but…was that a picture of a bathtub? Could I turn on the bathtub with the touch of a button right by my bed?

No, as it turns out. But I could turn on some small lights by the tub. Pretty cool. The touch screens were confusing though, because lighting buttons controlled more than one room and it was difficult to tell sometimes which one would produce the effect you wanted.

The bed itself was large, firm, had a padded leather headboard, and fluffy pillow. There was a beautiful pattern on the wall behind, which complimented the lamp design.

There were big bottles of Voslauer water on the side tables by the bed. when I say big, I mean almost three quarters of a liter each! That was great, because I drink a lot of water.

On the left bedside table there was an exciting new Bose speaker, called a Soundlink Mini. It’s a wireless bluetooth speaker, and you can bring in whatever room you want to listen to music. Very cool.

The TV in the bedroom was the same really nice one as out in the living room area, and had the same hidden-beneath-a-mirror feature.

There were double sets of window panes, and opening both was easy.

Looking down there was a little cafe, a shopping area, and you could watch the people walking by. You could also see the tops of the buildings across the way.

The Golden Quarter recently became part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the Park Hyatt is the only hotel in its radius. Prime shopping, museums, and well-known restaurants and bars are all close by.

The Am Hof square right in front of the hotel has a theatre in the summer and a Christmas market in the winter.

I started to close the windows, but realized the second set was stuck open. I tried pulling it several times strongly, to no avail. Uh oh. Had I just broken the Park Hyatt Vienna’s brand new window? Turns out that when you open them, a little clip holds the first window in place. In order to close it, you have to release using the button. Phew, thank goodness.

Stepping into the large bathroom, I was surrounded by cool marble with deep gold accents.

I noticed immediately that the amenities were by Blaise Mautin, the perfumer who also has amenities at some of the other Park Hyatts. I was expecting small bottles, but this set was big! I flipped one of the containers over and found that it was 2.75 ounces. Yay! Perfect sizing to allow it safe passage through liquid security at the airport. The packaging was different than I’d seen before too. This series was in silver, and black, and smelled lightly of lemon meringue pie. Mmmm. A few of these may have caught a ride home with me in my bag. I did note that the liquids tended to run out of the tube quickly, so while there I found myself first turning the tube upside down before opening.

There were his and hers sinks, one on each side of the doorway to the bedroom.

The one on the right had a TV in the wall, and a couple outlets as well.

The sinks were hammered metal, and I liked that the water came out like a fountain rather than just a typical stream.

The shower was huge, and even had a bench and a mirror against one wall. There was a rain shower above, and a handheld option too. Water pressure was good, and I was able to find that perfect temperature between cool and hot.

When it was time to take a bath in the evening, the bathtub also had touch buttons, and I loved the digital feature. Pressing the “hot” button increased the temperature by one degree, and pressing “cold” brought it down one. It was easy to control, and a wonderful tub to soak in.

Further down the bathroom was the closet.

There were all kinds of storage areas, and a lined pull-out safe with plenty of room for a laptop. There was even a separate small area for jewelry.

There were lots of hangers, and one area looked like they had actually measured the size of a large suitcase opened up. My 21″ suitcase looked teensy opened up, as there was so much space around it! Clearly, this hotel has enough closet space for when I come stay for a month. Ok, I can dream anyhow!

Turndown service brought two more wonderfully large bottles of water and fresh towels.

The bed beckoned with its super fluffy pillows, and I laid down for a quiet, restful sleep.

Thanks for following along on Part I. I hope you’ll join me for Part II, which includes breakfast, hotel features, lounges, etc. Click here to read Part II.

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