Mandarin Oriental, Vienna

Hello! We recently returned from our annual Christmas time trip- this year to the Christmas Markets in Budapest, Prague and Vienna. After lovely stays at the Four Seasons Budapest and Four Seasons Prague, we checked in to the new Mandarin Oriental Vienna. As the Mandarin is brand new, I thought I would leave some thoughts (happy to comment on the other hotels if any questions). Overall, I was very disappointed with our stay. The hotel is brand new- so I expected some service hiccups. However, given the brand and the price (our rooms were $1200 and $1500/per night) I expected they were confident they could deliver a great stay. That was unfortunately not the case. I will detail some of the numerous service issues below. However, the hard product overall was also disappointing. I expected this to be our new go to in Vienna but I’m not sure it will ever fully compete with some of the existing properties. The lobby and check in area has a unique sculpture but is missing some grandeur. Despite some Christmas decor, the lobby and hallways were very clinical (they must have used every bright white bulb they could find for the hallways!). There was also some false advertising- I had booked a Mandarin Room and an entry level room for my mother in law. Upon check in, the entry level room only had a shower (all photos and written information indicated a bathtub). They were able to move her to a room with a bath however. The Mandarin Room was spacious but a narrow rectangle. Based on past experiences, the Mandarin Rooms usually have something that makes them unique- this room did not- it was simply larger by about 5 empty feet in the middle of the rectangle when compared to the other room. The fixtures and finishes were nice as you would expect of a brand new luxury hotel. The website also listed 4 dining venues- two restaurants, a bar, and a cafe/patisserie. As it turns out these are all one restaurant- the fine dining is a private room, the patisserie is a coffee bar and cart of pastries in one corner, and the bar is in the other corner. While the greenhouse-like space is lovely, it all seems a little budget for a new hotel like this. Breakfast was listed as a buffet. Instead you received an etagere- a three tiered platter of fruit, bread, and then a beetroot spread with crudite. This has to be even more wasteful than a buffet as how many people are going to devour beetroot spread first thing in the morning. It is also not ideal in a new hotel as you know service is going to be slow so the buffet at least would have allowed us to get in and out quickly. When I asked for just the fruit we actually ate the next morning, we still received the full platter so we enjoyed our three slices of pineapple and some grapes while the rest went to waste. The location is also not as good as expected. It is a 5 minute walk from St Stephen’s which was lovely at Christmas given the market. But outside of that time, I’m not sure that’s the most major draw. The surround

It was great stay! Felt like Arabic luxury exclusive home! We were on anniversary she made us big surprise and we wake up to make breakfast order in Arabic with concierge karina and we order dinner with her to room. Like pasmara restaurant in lunch. Karina was such a phone friend to my love wife! She took care of all the time and call us always if we need water or car. It is great ritz Carlton. We will be back with our kids in January and hope to have better room. Thank you, we liked ritz.