K+K Palais Hotel, Vienna

Despite what everyone says about turning 30, for me it's turned out to be quite a nice experience! Not only was I treated to a trip to Germany before Christmas, but also my lovely boyfriend had secretly booked a long weekend away for February. Sadly all treats are now gone! But for any of you thinking about going to Vienna, I would definitely say GO.


Booking

Now as I mentioned, my boyfriend booked the hotel ...
...information. As with many hotels, it is possible to book this hotel through a city breaks complete package, after a bit of research we have discovered that most of the big package tour providers do include this hotel in both their winter breaks to Vienna and their summer city breaks. Interestingly, we have also found that all offer a discount via number of nights. Some offer 2 nights get one free others, 3 nights get one free, but its worth looking ... more

Despite what everyone says about turning 30, for me it's turned out to be quite a nice experience! Not only was I treated to a trip to Germany before Christmas, but also my lovely boyfriend had secretly booked a long weekend away for February. Sadly all treats are now gone! But for any of you thinking about going to Vienna, I would definitely say GO.

Booking

Now as I mentioned, my boyfriend booked the hotel for me, so this is all based on second hand information. As with many hotels, it is possible to book this hotel through a city breaks complete package, after a bit of research we have discovered that most of the big package tour providers do include this hotel in both their winter breaks to Vienna and their summer city breaks. Interestingly, we have also found that all offer a discount via number of nights. Some offer 2 nights get one free others, 3 nights get one free, but its worth looking into the prices they charge prior to booking the flight, the hotel, the transfers etc independently.

Booking on-line is a simple procedure, but be warned there are no special deals, no discounts for booking in quite periods so do check elsewhere before going for this method.

To book on-line they have managed to provide one of the simplest methods of booking that I have experienced. Simply check availability first from the hotels homepage, put in the dates you are considering arriving and departing and a small list appears to confirm what rooms are available. There is no requirement to input how many people, how many rooms or any further information that many other hotels insist upon. Therefore within a couple of seconds you are aware whether this hotel will suit your dates or not, without effectively starting the booking process that so many hotels force you into!

So assuming that the dates are available and you still wish to go to the hotel, then simply click on the box marked online reservation. The site then confirms again the availability, so click on book and off you go. Within a couple of minutes the whole thing is booked, and a receipt sent through to your inbox, it really couldn't be simpler.

For the non internet buying sort of person, the telephone numbers are available next to the hotels address and a quick call to the fluent English speaking receptionists and the process is completed.

But, as I say, check that there are no cheap package deals available at your local travel agents at the time you want to go.

Price

As mentioned before the price via the hotel is fixed all year around at 230 euros per night for a double room and 175 euros per night for a single room. The hotel does not accommodate specific executive or business rooms so double or single are your only choices. For those with children it is possible to request another bed be placed in your room. But for this there is another charge of 45 euros per night.

So check check, check what the travel agents have on offer. Personally I am the type of person who always books everything separately, but this example just showed that infact sometimes it is worthwhile to go with a travel company as you might get the whole thing cheaper!

Location

Now be careful with this if you are out lost or travelling from the airport to the hotel that you ask for directions to K & K Palais Hotel and not just K & K Hotel. The reason for this is that there are two K & K Hotels in Vienna, one Palais and one called the K & K Hotel Maria Theresia, so if you are not specific then you could end up heading to the wrong hotel!

This one is close to the river, and about 20 mins cab ride from the airport. Despite its appearance from the river side, it is in fact in the centre of Vienna and forms part of the 1st district. There is a metro stop very close to the hotel, but to be honest if you are planning to do anything in central Vienna you really ought to walk as every major museum, opera and parliament building are found clustered together within a very short walk. I would guess that within 30 minutes comfortable walk (in the right direction) and you can be anywhere that you may wish to be. There are many interesting sights much closer than that ranging from the shopping area to a very sweet street market but that is probably the furthest point you will ever find yourself walking back from. Our attitude was we were there to see, so there was no way we were going to do anything other than walk, but if you do have plans to do something on the outskirts of Vienna, or a short trip somewhere then the metro is a couple of steps away.

Facilities

Hhhm well this is where the hotel fell down in my opinion when compared to the Raddison. As we all know Sundays in most of Europe mark the day when everything is shut, Vienna is no exception to that, so as we were there at the weekend, really it would have been nice to have been in a hotel that would occupy at least part of the day with a sauna or swim or a drink in the lobby. But, this hotel lacked facilities (although costing very similar to the Raddison!), there are no sauna's swimming pools or even meals available outside of breakfast! The hotel is purely geared to have a pleasant end to the day and start, the bit in the middle is for you to fill in outside!

There is a bar in the lobby area, which seems to be unmanned for the majority of the day, infact in the four days we stayed there, we only once saw a couple drinking a coffee at the bar, and even then the barman was no where to be seen! So it certainly was not a sideline for the hotel to get extra revenue, luck or perseverance is the only way you will get anything from that bar!

Also in the lobby is an area where you can gain free internet access, tucked away it didn't seem to be a facility that was heavily used! Next to that is something they call a business lounge, which contains free tea and coffee, another computer to check emails and a printer. It would make a great place to wait before a meeting, with expensive leather modern chairs and its panelled walls, but again this lacked any form of usage or atmosphere, it was just a desolate well decorated room!

The only other public space was the breakfast room, which was exactly that only for breakfast, it does not serve snacks, lunch or dinner, although it is possible if you do get peckish to order room service from 6am till 10pm so if desperate that is your option.

The hours of breakfast are possibly the longest I have ever seen, breakfast is served from 6am till 11.30am, a massive 5 and a half hours. For this reason the breakfast room was always nearly empty although capable of housing perhaps half of the 66 room occupants at one time, we seemed to always be in there with one or two other couples. But, the service and food was fantastic, easily possible to fill yourself till evening. With choices of numerous fruit juices, smoothies and even champagne to drink, there is also a continuous flow of staff wandering past checking you have enough tea or coffee.

To eat, well they had everything there, fresh fruit, dried fruit, cereals, musilli, cold meats, hot meats, eggs in various guises, a huge choice of breads that could be toasted or eaten as were, rolls and every day a new type of cake, which was my favourite. Chocolate cake, strudel, tarts of all sorts absolutely lovely. Everything was completely fresh, if for nothing else its worth a visit just for the breakfast.

The rooms themselves are again finished to a high quality, from carpets to doors to showers; everything was modern, clean and high quality. Our room was large, with two double sized beds, TV, large area to hang clothing, two chair and a breakfast table and plenty of space to move around. The bathroom was similarly spacious with a deep bath and powerful shower. Everything was spotless, and cleaned daily. As with many European hotels, it was possible to have either a smoking or non smoking room, which seemed to be located on the top two of the four floors. In total the hotel has 66 rooms.

Externally, the hotel carries the old distinguished hallmark of many of Vienna's buildings, while internally everything is modern yet comfortable. Staff were always polite and helpful and all of them spoke perfect English! Overall I would recommend the hotel, but warn those who like to potter around a hotel that this is may not be the one for them. 

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