FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Hilton Vienna Danube Waterfront {AUT}
View Single Post
Old Jul 17, 2020 | 8:43 am
  #245  
nldogbert
2M
50 Countries Visited
All eyes on you!
20 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 5,265
Nice waterfront hotel and friendly service

Introduction Since I was not in Vienna to do the usual sightseeing/touristic activities and I've never stayed at this property I actually selected this property mainly based on the location next to the Danube river - which was very tempting during the summer season. With the current situation, the price was very reasonable compared to other full service Hilton hotels around Vienna. Location The hotel is located about 10 mins walk from the U-bahn station, Stadion (take the exit away from the direction of the Stadion exit, Stella-Low-weg). There is a small pathway leading to a bridge just after the Penny Markt which crosses the large main road. Other options would be the bus (including the Airport bus) or streetcar/tram (although this involves a walk of about 30 mins if you don't take the U-bahn one stop to the station of Krieau) where you actually do walk across a nice park with a couple of nice biergartens. The marina is very close to the hotel - for those that wants to take a nice stroll - there is a U-bahn station on the same line, Marina.For those with a car, there is of course paid parking at the hotel or you can park in the residential area and walk over the same small path/bridge to the hotel. Check In I arrived rather early (since I came actually from the HGI South). I already noticed on the app that I was had been upgraded to the King Executive Waterfront floor room. I still passed by the check-in desk for the key and also because I was early. There were a couple of people before me, but did not have to wait long, about 5 mins upon arrival I was assisted with my check-in. I did enquire about further upgrade to a suite, but was told that the hotel was rather full (only 4 floors were opened) - although I did notice on my floor, one of the suites (which are located just next to the elevator) never occupied during the duration of my 2 night stay. This was not a really issue since I was nearly the whole day out of my room.I was given a run down of the facilities, breakfast and the new lounge location (normally on the 8th floor). Room I had selected another room (from the one given to me) to one further away from the elevator. For me this seemed to be a good choice (despite the slightly further need to walk) as there was also a nice view of the area with the UN buildings. Room size was actually spacious with a nice big bed and a sizeable sofa and table. The writing desk was also of a good size. The room was very nicely renovated in my opinion. There were sufficient electrical outlets available (although only European outlets) all around the room. Bathroom size was also sufficieint and was renovated. It was a bathtub/shower combined (thankfully not with those irritating glass/plastic divider but a proper shower curtain. As usual toiletries were from Crabtree & Evelyn - I had expected to see those wall mounted toiletries, but this property still uses individual bottles. Shower pressure and temperature was very good. There was tea/coffeee making facilities and there was still a minibar available - although I did not see any price list. As an elite member, there were two bottles of water provided (it should have been daily, but with the new rules, I am not sure how it works - request from the front desk?) The same goes for the tea/coffee items. Due to the current situation, housekeeping is only done after the 5th night - this according to them is based on the survey they have done. No comments here, since I was just here for 2 nights. Wifi was in general good throughout the hotel - a one click access to the internet (it does seem to drop at certain points - for example walking from the elevator to the room, it will drop between a small section and pick up again - must be some router exchane point). TV selection was the usual international options. Only small complain would be the climate control, it seems to have been renewed, but truthfully I never really figured how it works. The lowest setting seemed to be 19 deg C, and there were 4 fan speed - 1, 2 3 and auto. However it seems only at stand 3 would it keep operating (but at this stand, the fan sound was on the high side). On the first night, putting it to 2, it seemed to work fine, but on the 2nd day/night, on stand 2, it would suddenly switch off and never come back on until it was changed to 3 and back to 2, it went dead again after some time - so on the 2nd night, the room did get warm in the middle of the night as it switched off. Other than that, it was quite quiet over all at night and in general a good sleep except for the 2nd night due to the room temperature. Breakfast Breakfast is served in the main restaurant of the hotel. I guess due to current summer season/weather, guests are welcomed at the outdoor terrace where on a nice morning, it is a great place to sit. I am not sure how busy it was, but on both morning, I did go before 8 am for breakfast which did not look busy. Th breakfast spread was still very good despite current situation - consisting of both cold and hot items. Only change was that all cold items were plated and wrapped in plastic foil. Also accessing the buffett was changed into a 1 way routing, although this was not really enforced (or informed) and it just became normal 2 way traffic often. One small complain on my side was that it was not clear that you could do eggs to order as it was not written anywhere (only realized this when on the 2nd day I noticed someone with sunnyside egg). All in all, I was happy with the breakfast service especially in current situation where it was still quite normal and what you expect from a Hilton breakfast. Executive lounge The Executive Lounge is normally situation on the 8th floor of the hotel. However in current times, (most probably due to the low number of guest eligible for access) this has been moved to the Pier bar in the -1 floor. They have blocked off a small part of the bar for executive lounge guests. The timing are as follows:15-17 hours: Coffee/Cakes/Snacks18-20 hours: Cold and warm snacks/bites including a selection of alcoholic drinks15-18h and 20-22h: any softdrink and coffee/teaI tried on the first day the tea time service - it was ok, with small plates of a mix assortment of cakes and sweets (wrapped with plastic foil).The evening mix - it consisted of a type of cold small snack - a mix of fish and ham and stuffed baby paprika - this seemed to be the same for the 2 days I was there. As for the hot dishes - there were always 2 options. On the first day, it was some sort of chili con carne and fried mini spring roll; on the 2nd day, it was fried rice and teriyaki chicken skewers. There was also a basket of bread available. As for the alcoholic drink selection - there was no information on what was possible for the executive lounge guests, I did not ask, so I just ordered the usual - wine (white and red). For me this could have been improved if they had a list of items available for order. I felt that there was a lack of information Overall All in all, for the price paid and current situation I found the stay to be satisfactory. There are some points that they could still improved especially from communication point of view due to the different changes because of the current situation.
nldogbert is offline