"Our three night stay at the Ritz-Carlton Vienna would have been a major disappointment — were it not for the massive upgrade to the incredible specialty Ritz-Carlton Symphony Suite arranged a few days before arrival. That Symphony Suite alone made our stay worth every euro. But we wouldn’t return until the total hotel renovation is completed, supposedly scheduled for 2027. And I still vastly prefer the Hotel Imperial.
#vienna #ritzcarlton #ritzcarltonvienna #suiteupgrade #specialtysuite #ritzcarltonsuite #symphonysuite #ambassasorstatusmatters #clubloungefail #airconfail
#airconsuccess
Originally, I desperately wanted to return to the Hotel Imperial, one of my all time favorite stays. But the Imperial team sadly couldn’t guarantee the air con at 65 F — I guess it’s just too room dependent there. Since the Ritz-Carlton did make the guarantee, I booked the Ritz-Carlton despite concerns over the hotel’s overall quality. As it turns out, I was right to be concerned. Also as it turns out, even from the hotel managers themselves, the new Symphony Suite likely is the only room in the entire hotel with the newest HVAC that would meet my air con requirement. (So my originally booked junior suite almost certainly wouldn’t have been able to handle my air con requirement as promised, after all. I was pretty dumbfounded.)
And yet on arrival, the Symphony Suite bedroom still was at 69 F. The much larger living room was cooler at 68 F. But that wouldn’t do it. They acknowledged their fail. So we opened the windows to cool it down and left for dinner. Thankfully, on our return, the room was a wonderful 66 F. The air con itself worked like a charm from that point forward and soon cooled the room down to 63 F before my husband intervened. Success at last.
The Symphony Suite isn’t historic like the Hotel Imperial, but it certainly is delightfully grand and impressive, with a spacious living room (with powder bathroom) and separated bedroom with soaring ceilings, lots of windows and natural light, and exquisite Art Deco style furnishings. It’s an amazing space, and a surprisingly comfortable one at that. The bathroom was curiously small for the specialty suite size, but the two grand closets were made for extended stays for dressier people, indeed. Toilets were both automatic. Shower pressure was fantastic, and the WiFi speed was a fabulous 200 Mbps up and down. Blackout shades and curtains were automated and worked very well.
The Ritz-Carlton Symphony Suite upgrade was at least a €15,000 upgrade value. I’d have to say that #AmbassadorStatusMatters still.
The only real weakness of the suite was the obvious lack of counter space in the small primary bathroom; we had to ask for an extra table to be brought in to hold some of our toiletries. Not smart design.
The welcome amenity of chocolates and champagne was lovely. They got all my other pre-arrival requests right. They also brought a special cake and another bottle of Wachau wine on the second night by way of further apology for the air con miss. Very nice recovery.
We were meeting friends in Vienna, so hosting them in the suite was extremely comfortable (no pun intended for me).
The suite absolutely and delightfully made the stay for me.
And that pretty much was where our delight ended.
The hotel otherwise is old and tired and in desperate need for renovation. It’s just not luxurious. The lobby is curiously and clumsily divided between three tiered levels due to the two buildings being combined into one — very poorly, I’d say.
The RC Club Lounge was even worse — tired, dated, and with uneven levels of service and offerings among lower ceilings. It just felt mundane. The prepared cocktails were terrible. I utterly despised it and only went twice for breakfast to assuage my husband — who loved that it was included. Our third morning, I insisted on breakfast in the restaurant (which also was included, I hadn’t realized) — which was marginally better in its offerings but still crowded and with very disappointing service. F&B just wasn’t up to par IMO.
The club lounge service pre-arrival was flawless. But on premises, it didn’t measure up. Too many misses, too much confusion, too many mistakes.
The only surprising highlight turned out to be the bar — in the sub basement area of the lobby. It’s totally dark and dreary feeling, but the Italian bartender was a delight. He was one of the few gems we met. We sadly once made it once.
Housekeeping was great, however.
We enjoyed our private excursion to the Wachau Valley wineries. The club lounge concierge team got that right. They helped fix a mistake winery charge. We enjoyed our dinners in town, including at 3* Amador.
They did keep trying to make up for the misses. They comp'd us the house Mercedes S several times. They also comp'd our taxi to the train station on departure. But it just didn't erase the sting of the service misses or the hotel hard product not measuring up. It was a very reactive service experience.
Essentially, we absolutely loved the Symphony Suite. We were extremely disappointed by the Ritz-Carlton hotel otherwise, however. I honestly can’t wait to get back to the Hotel Imperial, though I’m also curious how well the future RC renovation may go to try and lure me back with better air con. — feeling disappointed at The Ritz-Carlton, Vienna."
