Hotel Rathaus

Description:

• From the outside, this government-rated four-star hotel looks like a direct transplant from the late 18th century. Today, the building's lavishly ornate baroque facade has coats of Schönbrunn yellow paint. Inside, you'll find a series of photographs taken during the building's radical upgrade, a minimalist and very tasteful contemporary design, a glistening white-with-touches-of-alabaster wine bar that doubles as a breakfast room, and one of the most unusual blends of hotel and wine-industry marketing in Austria. Bedrooms, scattered over five floors, are each dedicated to an individual Austrian wine grower and vintner. As such, each entryway has a door-size wine label identifying that room's allegiance to, say, the Triebaumer or Jamek wineries, or to any of 31 other vintners. Bedrooms are comfortable, high-ceilinged, and large, with a palette of neutral earth tones, high-style plumbing fixtures, and a sense of postmodern hip.

• © Frommer's 2012

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Highly Recommended 2010