I'm at the IC Vienna and saw the email from Hyatt this morning announcing this hotel was now open. Why couldn't they have sent that email a few days earlier? Oh well. After a good meal at the IC Club lounge, and seeing the nice weather outside, I decided to take the mile walk over to the PH. It was a good thing I didn't try to take a taxi because there was some kind of Nazi demonstration/parade going on and traffic was horrible. But the hundreds of police everywhere, heavily armed with flak jackets on, made sure that all stayed relatively calm.
As I arrived at the PH, there was police on the steps eyeballing everyone who walked up. I swear he checked me out head to toe, even looking at my shoes! Happily I was wearing Gucci. I fear that if I had on jeans and Nike's it might not have gone well. I noticed there was a Dior event going on at the hotel, so everyone was dressed to the nines.
My first stop was to the cigar room in the Pearl bar. The cigar and spirits menu was good, but not as good as high end hotel's in Paris or London. I had a Cuban Montecristo and a Diplomatico rum from Venezuela that I had wanted to try for a while. As he tore off the label he said I'm the first to try this rum here. I replied that there are a lot of firsts happening now, which got a laugh.
The room itself was oak paneled with a view onto the square. I felt the ventilation could have been better. On the website it says that bar patrons get free WiFi, but I was told that it isn't set up yet for non-guests.
Well fortified, I went to the front desk and asked for a tour. They happily complied and showed me around. The building is an old bank and they really are proud of this and show it off where they can. The pool is in the old vault and the old vault door is still there. It's a smallish pool, I'd guess about 10 meters, but it is all beautiful. The mens locker room has sauna and steam and is well equipped. The fitness room is equally well equipped, but not huge. I guess it is fine as there are only around 150 rooms. The whole spa/fitness area was empty this evening while I was there.
Then I was escorted up to the rooms. First a Park suite was was quite nice with lots of space and a huge bathroom. But then we went to one of the smaller room, one level up from an entry room. I think it was called a Park view. It too was quite large and well equipped with a decent size bathroom with a TV by the sink. The only knock on the rooms that I could see was Euro only outlets. No US or GB plugs. But of course they will give you adapters. And there was an outlet by the head of the bed which is nice as people like to sleep with their iDevices these days. I was told that each room can be different, even within the same category. This is due to the old architecture of the bank.
Overall it is a stunningly nice hotel that mixes very modern furnishings with the old architecture. The location is perfect for tourists, but not great for people who like public transportation. It would be a pain to take the airport train then metro to this hotel, but I would guess that most guests take a taxi or limo. However once you have shed your bags, the center of Vienna is easy to walk around and the area around the hotel is lined with shops, restaurants and cafe's. As with most PH's, there is a huge Louis V shop just steps away.
The IC is the first and oldest luxury hotel in Vienna, but now there is a lot to choose from. I would say the PH is now the best. At least from the standpoint of non-residing visitor.