- Introduction: A Royal Visit To Versailles
- Review: Air France La Premiere First Class Boeing 777 (MIA-CDG)
- Review: Air France La Premiere First Class Arrivals Lounge Paris Airport (CDG)
- Review: Airelles Chateau De Versailles, Le Grand Controle (AMAZING!)
- Review: Bulgari Hotel Paris, France
- Review: Air France Business Class Airbus A220 (CDG-VIE)
- Review: Park Hyatt Vienna, Austria (World Of Hyatt Gem)
- Review: Austrian Business Class Boeing 787 (VIE-IAD)
- Review: United First Class Boeing 737 MAX (IAD-MIA)
For the next hotel stay of our royal visit to Versailles, I spent a quick night at the 146-room Park Hyatt Vienna, as I was arriving from Paris in Air France’s A220 business class, and connecting the following day to Washington in Austrian’s 787 business class.
The property first opened in 2014, so it’s a bit over a decade old. I had actually stayed there twice before, though my last stay was in 2015, so I figured it was time to revisit the property.
Well, I’m happy to report that this continues to be a gem in Hyatt’s portfolio. It’s a gorgeous, historic hotel, with great elite recognition, friendly service, a central location, a nice restaurant and bar, and an expansive gym and indoor pool. I’m just sad that I didn’t have more time to enjoy it.
In this post:
Booking the Park Hyatt Vienna
I redeemed World of Hyatt points for my one night stay at the Park Hyatt Vienna. It’s currently a Category 7 World of Hyatt property, meaning that a free night costs either 25,000, 30,000, or 35,000 points, depending on whether you’re staying during off-peak, standard, or peak dates. I was staying over off-peak dates, so I paid 25,000 points. For what it’s worth, I value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each.
Even if you’re not a Hyatt loyalist, earning World of Hyatt points can be pretty easy. In addition to being able to earn World of Hyatt points with the World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review), you can also transfer over points from Chase Ultimate Rewards.
For what it’s worth, the cash rate for my stay would’ve been around €500. If you are going to pay cash, I recommend booking through the Hyatt Privé program. Hyatt Privé rates cost the same as standard flexible rates (not member rates, advance purchase rates, AAA rates, etc.), and include additional perks, like daily breakfast, a $100 property credit, a room upgrade, a welcome gift, and more. Admittedly some of these overlap with World of Hyatt Globalist perks, but at a minimum, the $100 property credit adds value.
So this wasn’t some slam dunk award redemption, but it was the best option for my stay.
Park Hyatt Vienna location & history
The Park Hyatt Vienna has an excellent location in Vienna’s 1st district (“Innere Stadt”), and it’s near lots of shopping, restaurants, and more. The hotel is situated by Freyung Square, looking out over Am Hof.
The Park Hyatt Vienna is my favorite kind of hotel — it’s housed in a historic building, while still having all the comforts you’d expect from a modern hotel. Specifically, the hotel occupies a former bank building, which first opened in 1915, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was initially opened as the Lower Austrian Escompte Bank. It’s always cool to see old buildings like this repurposed.
As far as getting from the airport to the hotel goes, you can expect that it’ll take somewhere around 30-40 minutes by car. Alternatively, you can take the City Airport Train, which takes around 17 minutes. From the main train station, the hotel is around a 20-minute walk, or alternatively, you can take a connection, and get out closer to the hotel.
Park Hyatt Vienna lobby & check-in
Upon arriving at the hotel, I was immediately greeted by the bellmen, and offered assistance with my bags (which I didn’t need). You can get a sense of the hotel’s history the moment you step inside, based on the high ceilings and marble.
Inside the entrance and straight ahead is a staircase, which leads to the restaurant, bar, and some of the other amenities.
Reception, meanwhile, is located to the left. There are a couple of reception desks, the concierge desk, and a handful of seats.
The check-in process was super efficient. The woman checking me in was friendly, and within a few minutes, I had a key to my room. This hotel is great with upgrades, thanks to the percentage of accommodations that are suites (of the 146 rooms, 43 are suites).
On account of my lifetime World of Hyatt Globalist status, I was upgraded to a Park Suite with a view, technically one category above the standard suite.
With keys in hand, I headed to the elevators, located to the left of reception.
Park Hyatt Vienna suite
The Park Hyatt Vienna goes from levels minus two to four. I was assigned room 406, located on the top floor.
The levels with guest rooms are pretty huge, since they have up to 45 rooms, so it can take a bit of effort to find your room. I actually walked past my room a couple of times before figuring out where it was, since the numbering system didn’t make much sense to me, and the numbers are also written quite small, and blend in.
The Park Suites with a view are marketed as being 55 to 65 square meters (592 to 700 square feet), and my room actually felt like it might’ve been a bit bigger than that. The suite had an entryway with a half bath near the entrance.
The living room was spacious, with a dining table that had four chairs, a couch, and a desk behind the couch. I liked many of the design features, like the mirrored walls (which include TVs) and the finishes on the double doors.
The living room also had a minibar, with complimentary (illy) coffee and tea, plus drinks and snacks for purchase.
The living room had a lovely welcome amenity with a bottle of sparkling wine (which I didn’t end up consuming), some fruit, and some tasty chocolate treats.
Double doors separated the living room from the bedroom. The bedroom had a king size bed — the pillows weren’t as plush as I like, but that’s of course a personal preference. The bedroom had a chair with an ottoman in the corner, plus a little table with a stool.
The main bathroom was off the bedroom, and was large. As you walked in, there was a soaking tub right there.
Then on each side of the doors were identical sinks.
Then one side had a large walk-in shower, with a rainforest shower head and a wand, and toiletries from Blaise Mautin, in reusable bottles.
There was also a toilet, in a separate room.
Lastly, there was a large closet space off the bathroom.
In the morning, I had a brief period where I could enjoy the views out the window, before having to go to the airport. It sure was a pretty view (but my gosh it was cold — it was well below freezing during my visit).
All-in-all, what an awesome room! Not only was it luxurious, but it had some character, and wasn’t your typical cookie cutter room.
Park Hyatt Vienna spa, pool, and gym
The Park Hyatt Vienna has an impressive wellness complex located underground, and this includes a spa, pool, and gym. The hotel’s spa is named Arany Spa, and it has six treatment rooms, and you can find the treatment menu here.
The spa has a beautiful indoor pool, which guest are welcome to use between the hours of 7AM until 9PM. The pool is 15 meters long. It’s visually quite stunning, but doesn’t have much in the way of seating directly around it.
However, the spa area has plenty of seating when you go down a level from the pool.
There’s also a sauna and steam room, which is clothing optional, as you’d expect in Europe.
The Park Hyatt Vienna also has a 24/7 gym, which I’d say is an excellent facility for a historic property that doesn’t have that many rooms. It has a large selection of cardio and strength training equipment, and it partly looks out over the pool.
Park Hyatt Vienna Bank Brasserie & Bar
The Bank Brasserie & Bar is the Park Hyatt Vienna’s signature restaurant and bar, and it’s the social hub of the hotel. It’s not just popular with hotel guests, but also with outsiders. You can’t help but be a bit mesmerized when in this space, because it’s mighty impressive.
The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the bar area is open for most of the day, serving drinks and light bites. You can find all the menus here.
While I didn’t have dinner here, I did have breakfast, which is served daily from 7AM until 10:30AM (until 11AM on weekends). The breakfast concept here is that there’s a buffet, and then you can complement that by ordering off a menu, and there’s no limit to how many dishes you can order.
As soon as I sat down, a server came by to offer me a drink, and I asked for a cappuccino.
I then had a look at the buffet, which was pretty impressive, at least by European standards.
Cold options at the buffet included things like fresh fruit, veggies and salads, cold cuts and cheese, yogurt and cereal, pastries and freshly baked bread, and more.
There were also several hot options, including several types of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and more.
I chose a few things from the buffet, and also ordered the truffled scrambled eggs, with spinach, onion, and shaved truffle, which was a decadent twist on traditional scrambled eggs.
Bottom line
The Park Hyatt Vienna continues to be an excellent luxury property, and one of Hyatt’s best hotels in Europe. This is truly one of the best hotels in the city, with a great sense of place, a central location, impressive amenities, and a destination restaurant and bar.
I was a little worried that the hotel’s quality would deteriorate over time, given the alleged financial issues, but it seemed to be business as usual.
What’s your take on the Park Hyatt Vienna?
It's a lovely hotel for Hyatt loyalists but there are more special properties in Vienna. The Sacher and new Rosewood are my favorites.
My wife and I just finished a 15-night stay using 400,000 points and a Suite Upgrade Award. We stay here every March. The service, room, food, and amenities are extraordinary, and the staff treats you like family. If you love music, art, and architecture, Vienna is the place to go to refresh your creative mind. And, at the Park Hyatt Vienna, it's all outside your door.
Why don’t you make a pre-arrival request if you wanted a type or number of pillows? I’m sure they know how to do that and it can be added to your property profile.
@ Cbchicago -- The pillows weren't actually an issue, because there were four of them and I was alone, so I could just use two. Since I hadn't stayed here in nearly a decade, I had no clue what the pillows would be like.
"...by European standards"?
Wholly mackerel. Next to the photo showing a bowl of fresh pomegranate seeds and passion fruit you take a snarky swipe at the standards of the breakfast buffet? Are you kidding me?
I guess you would prefer to see a riff on greasy bacon, Velveeta cheese cubes and a sloppy waffle machine.
Jeez, c'mon man.
@ gregorio -- I wasn't contrasting it to US buffets. Instead, I said "by European standards" to differentiate it from Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern standards, where you'll generally find the most extravagant breakfast buffets.
Loved my stay here last year! And still craving the truffle eggs. They were so good
I just left Vienna and stayed at the park Hyatt. This is the best hotel I have ever stayed at. To boot, all the name brand stores are next door and the prices are less than US prices when you account for the VAT refund. (My wife claims she saved me $1,000 by purchasing a Louis Vuitton bag there). That’s wife math for you.
As an orthodox Jewish person they were extremely accommodating to my specific needs there as well!
Beautiful hotel. Just taking advantage of your review to add a couple of Vienna facts:
1. Am Hof is the largest open plaza in the inner city (Innere Stadt), the old portion of Vienna enclosed by the Ringstrasse. It was the site of the original Roman military encampment.
2. While most people staying at the hotel would not be taking public transit, to clarify:
a. The CAT train is nonstop from the airport to the...
Beautiful hotel. Just taking advantage of your review to add a couple of Vienna facts:
1. Am Hof is the largest open plaza in the inner city (Innere Stadt), the old portion of Vienna enclosed by the Ringstrasse. It was the site of the original Roman military encampment.
2. While most people staying at the hotel would not be taking public transit, to clarify:
a. The CAT train is nonstop from the airport to the Wien Mitte station. For 1/3 of the cost one can take the S7 which uses the same traks, has a few intermediate stops, and takes about 7 minutes more the the CAT.
b. The ÖBB (Austrian Federal Rail) Railjet is nonstop from the airport to the central rail station (Hauptbahnhof), different from Wien Mitte. For a little Viennese atmosphere take the D tram from here which goes along the Ringstrasse. From either the City Hall (Rathaus) or the Schottentor stops it is a short stroll to the hotel.
There is also a Julius Meinl grocery store one block away if you want some snacks or wine in your room.
Stayed there in a suite for 4 nights over Christmas. Overall we enjoyed it. The suite was beautiful with attention to detail and luxurious refinements. The location could not be better. The concierge team is excellent.
Breakfast in the main dining room was just ok. Trying to get coffee refills almost required you to trip a waiter and the cappuccino tasted like it was machine made - a sin in a city with a...
Stayed there in a suite for 4 nights over Christmas. Overall we enjoyed it. The suite was beautiful with attention to detail and luxurious refinements. The location could not be better. The concierge team is excellent.
Breakfast in the main dining room was just ok. Trying to get coffee refills almost required you to trip a waiter and the cappuccino tasted like it was machine made - a sin in a city with a strong coffee culture like Vienna. The TVs are dated with no ability to cast content or use Apple TV, etc. Finally, I felt that service was just 'there'. We returned one day at 4pm and found our room had not been made up and the turn down service is nothing special.
That all said, this is the place to be at Christmas with superb access to all that Vienna has to offer. And again, the suite really was a work of art.
PH Vienna pricing largely seems to match the trend w/ higher end Hyatts, where the category is relatively inflated, but the cash pricing doesn't match, so you're rarely getting a good cpp redemption w/ points, but you're still forking over a good amount of cash.
Similar properties to this are PH Auckland and Bangkok, where the average cpp is only 1.7 to 1.8.
Park Hyatt Vienna or Hotel du Palais Biarritz as the best Hyatt in Europe?
Those are my two picks.
Lots of concerns during my stay regarding the gruff Austrian service. These are things international management training should have ironed out. I would not return.
@ Français -- Surprised to hear that! I'm curious, could you give some examples? Admittedly my interactions were fairly limited, but I found everyone to be friendly, and that's what most other reports I've seen suggest as well.
Austrian hospitality and service is great one of the best in europe, along with France and Switzerland. Why do you want American(or what you call „international“ which it isn‘t) service if you visit Vienna? Maybe you should be open to another cultural experience. I do seldomly get European style service when I visit New York or Miami even if staying with a european brand. I would oftentimes prefer to sit for an hour after dinner,...
Austrian hospitality and service is great one of the best in europe, along with France and Switzerland. Why do you want American(or what you call „international“ which it isn‘t) service if you visit Vienna? Maybe you should be open to another cultural experience. I do seldomly get European style service when I visit New York or Miami even if staying with a european brand. I would oftentimes prefer to sit for an hour after dinner, when you are rushed out in the US or asked repeatedly whether you need something when all you need is a peaceful atmosphere to enjoy your wine and san Pellegrino. It’s just not something you can easily train people on.
Service might be less frequent here but usually really friendly and honest without pretending to have the utmost pleasure in serving you. People are also not overly communicative with people they don‘t know but that’s it if you visit frequently your server may recognize you year after year in some of the smaller Austrian ski hotels. And you have people who stay employed with their hotel for decades and not just a few months like in the US.
It is really tough to find people working in hospitality in Europe so you have more of a equal footing service culture which I personally prefer to the US style service.
And if you complain about European service (which I can in some scenarios understand, best thing would be a middle ground), Austria is really not to blame first, as it has a great service culture if compared to other countries. So maybe you should give Austria and the Park Hyatt a second chance as the service there is not best described by what you mentioned.
I am a bit surprised that Ben did not order the Avocado Toast, hehe.
@ Stanley C -- Hah, I decided to mix things up for once!
@Ben Thanks Ben for allowing my sense of humor. Long time loyal reader here since your blog is the only one worth reading daily. I have learned so much from your blog but sometimes too much info to remember haha. Like silly me for forgetting to book with Hilton Impressario or Hyatt Prive when staying with cash.
I miss this hotel, glad it's still checking all the boxes. IIRC the pool is located in the old bank vault. For the pillows, I vaguely remember them having pillow options if you ask (but don't quote me on that).
Wasn't there some drama a while back about the hotel potentially leaving Hyatt though?
My wife and I stayed here for my 50th birthday last year, and we had such a lovely, well-serviced stay. All the staff we encountered treated us with such respect and care—certainly compared to other Hyatt properties that purport themselves as luxury.
On the day of my birthday, we returned from touring the Albertina and eating lunch to discover that the staff had provided a Sacher torte in the room. That small act of kindness...
My wife and I stayed here for my 50th birthday last year, and we had such a lovely, well-serviced stay. All the staff we encountered treated us with such respect and care—certainly compared to other Hyatt properties that purport themselves as luxury.
On the day of my birthday, we returned from touring the Albertina and eating lunch to discover that the staff had provided a Sacher torte in the room. That small act of kindness really made our stay one that I will never forget.
So glad that you decided to stay here, it's my favorite Park Hyatt in Europe! Yes, much better than Paris Vendome.
Ben, do you have any insight into the game Hyatt continues to play with their category 7 free night certificate and whether they have gotten enough negative feedback over it? I personally think Hyatt is making a mistake by moving so many flagship aspirational hotels into this made up category 8 that puts them out of reach from the free night certificate. I think we are due for the free night certificates to be bumped...
Ben, do you have any insight into the game Hyatt continues to play with their category 7 free night certificate and whether they have gotten enough negative feedback over it? I personally think Hyatt is making a mistake by moving so many flagship aspirational hotels into this made up category 8 that puts them out of reach from the free night certificate. I think we are due for the free night certificates to be bumped up to a 5 and an 8 and I don’t think Hyatt really cares. It’s shortsighted and makes Hyatt look petty because most people don’t go out of their way to stay at a category 7-8 for just one night. Thoughts?