Novotel Wien Hauptbahnhof — Hotel in Vienna

I stayed 2 nights at the newly opened Novotel Wien Hauptbahnhof (stayed there in July 2017) and it was a stay that left me with mixed feelings. It will perhaps be a better hotel when they are finished and actually ready to open.

Let's start with all the good things. The location is excellent, just steps away from the central station and easy to reach from Vienna Airport. The hotel is also as mentioned brand new so the look is modern and clean.

The hotel offers rooms that are clean and nicely furnished. The upper floor rooms offer great views of the city. Big plus is also great air condition and good choice of tv channels. What I also believe they should get credit for is the fact that they have provided plenty of plugs and connectors to charge things. Bathrooms are nice and big, with good light by the mirror, big mirrors as well as spacious shower. They also provide a coffee maker & kettle.

They also offer a gym and sauna department on the top floor and there is a nice room for the kids to play. The restaurant/bar downstairs look nice but appears as if it was not fully ready yet as I never saw the bar in the lobby staffed.

Now for the things that are not so good. The rooms lack certain basic things that would be ok if it was a 2 star hotel but I get the impression they want to be something more than that. First of all there is no desk in the room and nowhere to sit with a computer. They have instead crammed a sofa in there. They also have no iron and ironing board - while I can understand that I could not get one when asking about it - they promised to bring it the next morning before a specific time but did not happen until the second reminder which made for a stressful morning for me. If they want to be an option for business travelers I believe desk and iron an ironing board should be standard in the rooms.

The rooms also appear to not be finished as the safes do not work, confirmed by them that they are working on it. Offered storage downstairs in the lobby but does not replace non-functioning safes. Internet was also working on and off so sometimes great but at other times not at all or disconnecting frequently. Further improvements would be to consider adding some small things to the in general nice gym. There is no water in the gym (one can go into the sauna/spa and find a water fountain but the 2 times I was there the whole area was wet and fairly dirty (cleaning had not been done). There are also no shades or blinds in the gym and as it is located on the top floor with nice big windows and all machines facing the window it means the sun will be straight in the eyes from morning and at least for several more hours. Simple things to fix that will be big improvements.

The last part that should improve is staff. I believe it is start up issues but several small issues create annoyances. The do not disturb sign was ignored twice by staff wanting to enter the room. I had to ask several times for the iron and they did not keep to what was agreed (meaning I wait and then have to call). I also believe that the fact that the no safes are working should have been informed before or at least when checking in (and the offering to store things downstairs rather than force me to go all the way up, find out the safe is not working and then come down again). The fact that no one asked when checking out or at any other time during the stay whether everything was ok or the if I enjoyed the stay further made me feel that staff were perhaps not yet fully trained and/or a bit stressed by the situation.

All in all, still an ok stay and hopefully they will work out some of the issues. For me I would still doubt staying again as I usually come to Vienna on business and want a desk in the room as well as I depend on reliable...

We recently stayed at the Novotel Wien Hauptbahnhof, which is conveniently located across the road from Vienna Central Station and just three stops away from Stephensplatz city centre. The room was modern and clean, offering a comfortable stay, but there were a few areas that could be improved.

There was no phone in the room; instead, you were expected to use your own device to scan a QR code, which connects you to the staff at the neighbouring Ibis hotel. Shampoo and body wash were provided, but there was no conditioner, bathrobe, or slippers. It would have been convenient to have conditioner available for a short stay, as I wouldn’t have needed to unpack my larger bottles. If you needed additional toiletries or a different type of pillow, you had to order them through the QR code, which led to a shopping cart, indicating a charge, so we chose not to proceed. Unfortunately, the staff did not explain their system to us. If you want guests to order their own consumables, at least explain the hotel process.

The minibar included a bottle of sparkling mineral water, but we were not informed at check-in that this was a one-time complimentary offering. Clear communication about what was included would have been helpful, especially given the high cost of the stay we were not going to spend anything more.

The breakfast was adequate, but not everyone eats pork, which made it a bit challenging. There were plenty of pork options, but only one chicken sausage option, with no beef sausage available. The scrambled eggs were also dry, and the signage for yoghurt and fruit juices was misleading as it read “smoothies,” yet there was no equipment to make smoothies.

The hotel was significantly overpriced at $852 USD for two nights, likely due to the Taylor Swift concert that was scheduled (though it was eventually cancelled). Despite this, the rates remained high, and when we enquired about the cost, check in staff member simply stated, “nothing we can do, it’s Taylor Swift.” It was surprising to hear the hotel openly acknowledge overcharging guests.

While the stay was pleasant, considering the amount charged, staying in a more central location would have...

I would never recommend anyone to stay here..ever.. This is probably the worst Accor or Novotel property. It is convenient from a commute point of view, but the "goodness" ends there.

Ever since we checked in yesterday, here are some of the issues we encountered-

03.12.2022, 7:30 PM CET: The AC in the room didn't work. To the extent it will make you sweat and suffocate. No one receives the call at the reception. If they do (if you are lucky), you will receive troubleshooting instructions, which do not work. You are told someone will come and attend, which never happens. If you go down to the reception and enquire, you realize, you were wasting time all along and nothing can be done. 03.12.2022, 8:30 PM CET: Their flagship bar & restaurant on the ground floor- "The Flave of Vienna" takes 30+ minutes to acknowledge people standing at the counter, even to take an order for a muffin. When asked, there is a super rude, "I cannot take your order". Needless to say anything on their hospitality. 04.12.2022, 6:45 AM CET: Did you know that you are entitled to two coffee creamers per room per day? So, if you wake up early (read 6:30 AM), and want to have coffee with creamer in the room, you would either need to walk down to the reception or wait for the morning (hopefully after 8 AM). 04.12.2022, 9:00 AM CET: This is the time (it could be different for you) when you see little crawling friends in the room.. check out the pic.

In summary, this hotel, and its staff's great rude shock did splendidly well to tarnish the image and impressions of Austrian hospitality and all the great work done and hospitality showered by equivalent or smaller hotels we stayed in, much smaller towns like Innsbruck and Salzburg. I strongly believe this hotel's staff should be sent to other places to learn a thing or two about hospitality. If that can't be arranged, ask them to learn from the ones in Innsbruck...