- LGBT travel inspiration – 7 days in Florida Keys - 11 March, 2023
- LGBT travel inspiration – 5 days in Florida Keys - 9 March, 2023
- LGBT travel inspiration – 4 days in Key West - 7 March, 2023
Located on Am Hof road in the centre of the city, the Park Hyatt Vienna – part of the luxury brand of the Hyatt group, offers 143 luxurious rooms, 35 suites, a selection of eateries and a full-service Arany Spa including a pool lined with gold-leaf tiles.
Vienna boasts a superfluous number of cultural attractions in Europe from music, to art to a rich history of a Queen and the royal family. Legacy of the composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Strauss permeate the city, and regular exhibitions at the Albertina Museum, and infamous Hofburg palace offer extensive tourist attractions.
For the LGBT community, there are clubs including Why Not , and bars such as Eagle, City Bar, Gugg and Mango.
Park Hyatt Vienna
Park Hyatt is a luxury brand that focusses on personalised luxury touches at each of their hotels. The Vienna venue delivers this in a former bank building. Historic nods of this former bank are evident throughout the property, with the main restaurant and bar in what was previously the banking hall and the original vault door on display in the spa area. Park Hyatt Vienna has paid careful attention to other luxurious touches. For example each room boasts a decorative piece of art, an enlarged form of a brooch design from the 1920s and 30s. Similarly, finishing touches of mother of pearl glisten in cabinet handles and floor tiles.
In complete contrast to the abrupt Austrian attitude, service at Park Hyatt was consistently polite and prompt from the moment we checked in to our check-out. The Hyatt group offer a global Concierge, so pick up on requests and discussions on social media and direct them to the appropriate hotel. In our case, we found rubber ducks delivered to our room for a long soak in the tub, after a brief comment on Twitter. This rare level of integrated service across a hospitality group, demonstrated genuine personalisation and care about guests’ levels of comfort.
The primary dining option at Park Hyatt Vienna is, aptly named, The Bank – a restaurant and bar where both breakfast and dinner are served. We enjoyed breakfast, a buffet which comprises everything from fruit salad to smoked salmon and champagne. The open plan kitchens, a typical Park Hyatt feature, offer a selection of hot food cooked to your preference. We ordered Eggs Benedict with spinach and smoked salmon, which was exceptionally well executed, although we did have a disappointing 25 minute wait.
The Lounge and The Living Room are other areas of the Park Hyatt Vienna with food offerings, the former providing afternoon tea and an ideal place to hold small working lunch meetings and the latter for whiskey, cognac and cigar fans.
Cafe Am Hof, served by a separate entrance is decorated with the same enlarge brooch design as the rooms. Ideal for a pause for a Viennese moment with your favourite coffee (or tea) with a slice of indulgence or lunchtime bite. We sampled the apple strudel (with vanilla custard) and the pistachio praline coated in perfectly glossy chocolate. And if you want to re-live a Coco Chanel moment, the mirrored staircase into the main hotel building is the perfect spot for a selfie.
Accommodation
Our room (number 308) was one of the largest standard King rooms with a view over Am Hof square. Palatial elegance is probably the best way to describe our initial reaction. Every detail had been considered in the room design and execution, both in terms of function and form. From the cyclical floor design to the handles of the mini bar cabinet, mother of pearl is widely used. Dark woods frame the high-ceiling room, contrasting against herringbone parker flooring and luxury wallpapers. The desk area, with view out the window over the square provided a comfortable space to work, and well connected with ample plug sockets and cables to connect to the 45” TV. Curtains and blinds, all electronically operated with one-touch buttons— naturally, meant that the window can be almost entirely blacked out for an excellent night’s sleep.
A personalised touch was the handwritten welcome note and gift (fruit and a gift from Cafe Am Hof), and a well-stocked mini-bar provided additional snacks. The wardrobe yielded ample storage for two people. The King-sized bed, with hypoallergenic pillows meant a heavenly night’s sleep. With 4 plugs by the bed, abundant phone re-charging could also occur overnight.
Of equal decadence was the bathroom, featuring a separate bath and rainfall shower with seat, and most surfaces finished in marble and a red Oryx Marble feature-wall (from Qatar) next to the bath. The amenity products are custom made by Blaise Mautin for Park Hyatt Vienna, with light citrus notes. Technology features in the bathroom again, with one-touch lighting controls, a built-in TV and buttons for the tub. Of course this meant indulging in a soak (with our rubber ducks, courtesy of Hyatt Concierge). Our only minor criticism here is that the water temperature was limited slightly too low for our preference; nevertheless the Blaise Mautin bath salts helped sooth away aches from an earlier workout.
Spa – The Arany
In the basement of the Park Hyatt Vienna, the jewel of the vault is found in the form of the Arany Spa, which features a 15m-long pool, a 120sqm gym, vitality shower, steam rooms and of course a sauna to help relax the muscles after your workout. A further impressive Midas-touch, the pool is lined with gold-leaf tiles, which shimmer as you glide (or splash) through the water.
Various massages, cosmetic and beauty treatments are available through the full-service Arany Spa. Whilst we didn’t try any of these out, we did visit the couple’s spa suite – an intimate relaxation room with a huge round bath to bathe together after a treatment. If travelling with your significant other half, this is most definitely the best way in the city to romance them.
Overall thoughts
The Hyatt group has again proven their track record for excellent service, this time at the Park Hyatt Vienna venue. We received flawless professional customer care from all staff throughout our stay, including from staff in the separate Cafe Am Hoff. Whilst Park Hyatt is clearly an elegant five-star hotel, we were made to feel relaxed and at ease without any pedantic pomp. A 20 minute wait for our eggs at breakfast was rather bothersome, albeit once they did arrive, were perfectly cooked and elegantly presented.
Our room, even as one of the lower categories boasted bountiful space, in hallway, bedroom and bathroom. Elegant touches (from mother of pearl floor designs to marble feature walls) combined with seamless technology (it all just worked), and of course a comfy bed ensured a relaxing stay. The (electronically operated) bath didn’t heat the water as hot as we had hoped, but we did receive rubber ducks. For these reasons we rate the Park Hyatt Vienna 4.9 out of 5 – practically flawless.
Park Hyatt Vienna is located at Am Hof 2, Vienna, Austria, 1010
Room rates start at circa 500 EUR per night. For World of Hyatt member, Park Hyatt Vienna is an ideal venue for redemptions. More information is available at vienna.park.hyatt.com.
