Time Out City Hotel Vienna

This place is best suited to budget travelers. The location is its strongest point: there are plenty of good cafes and restaurants nearby, and you can walk to the Museum Quarter, Hofburg Palace and gardens, and several underground stations. The hotel and rooms are very basic. Even if you book a room with a shower, the toilet isn't in the room. I was fine with the shared toilet, but that's a matter of preference. There are no extras like a kettle, mini fridge, or vault, so keep that in mind. Those omissions are pretty standard for a budget stay. My main concern was that the water stopped running in both the basin and shower one day. I'm not sure what caused it, but it had fixed itself by the time I returned that evening. It would have been very annoying if I'd been in the middle of a shower. There wasn't daily room service either. I don't mind that for most things, but by the middle of my stay I was noticing that the towels hadn't been changed. For the price, it served me well on my solo budget trip to Vienna. On a second trip, if I had more money, I'd personally pay more for somewhere a little more upscale and comfortable.

The room was cozy, and the bed was really comfortable. The shared bathrooms were clean and well kept, and having a working shower right in the room was a nice bonus. It's a handy location next to a shopping center, and the price felt like good value for the amenities and area. There were a few snags. The shower area seemed exposed to the outside, so we had to find a way to cover the window, which was inconvenient. Some electrical outlets were coming loose, the towel rack was unstable, and the shower's glass door was slanted and needed fixing. It took us nearly 20 minutes to work out how to get into the room, so clearer check-in instructions would help first-time guests. Check-out at 10:00 AM also felt early, especially with check-in not until 4:00 PM. Even with those issues, I had a good stay and would come back. In some ways it was even better than my last apartment. A few fixes would make this place a real gem.

They answered on WhatsApp at first, then stopped replying after giving me a room code that didn't work. I was left without anywhere to stay late at night. There happened to be other hotels nearby because it was low season, but in peak season this could have gone very badly. Avoid it unless you want to risk being stuck without a room.

The room was clean and the bed was comfortable, and the price made sense for a place with shared facilities. It worked well for a one-night stop. The centre is quite a long way off, though the metro is walkable.