Review: the InterContinental Vienna hotel, and where to find the best breakfast in town

This is my review of the InterContinental Vienna hotel.

What do you do when there are no British Airways redemption flights from Split to London and you don’t want to pay £500 due an event inflating the prices?

Simple – be grateful that you have some Avios and book yourself an airberlin redemption from Split to Vienna.  Due to a lack of immediate onward connections, I got to spend 24 hours in Vienna and review the InterContinental Vienna hotel at the same time.

I raided Rob’s IHG Rewards Club points to pay for the room.  IHG was not involved in this review in any way.

Getting from Vienna International Airport to the city centre (Wien Mitte) is pretty easy. You can either go non-stop on the CAT (City Airport Train) and spend €12 (€17 return) or take the S7 for €3.70. The CAT is 5 minutes faster and has more room to store luggage. I chose the S7 and cannot say much about the CAT, but I assume it’s a bit like comparing Gatwick Express to Southern Rail, albeit without the same risk of cancellation.

The InterContinental Vienna is in the heart of Vienna right next to the Stadtpark and about a 10 minute walk from most of Vienna’s key sights. From Wien Mitte station it’s a 10 minute walk along the Stadtpark to the hotel itself.  I reckon a taxi would take about 3 minutes.

The first thing you notice when entering the InterContinental Vienna are the imposing chandeliers and mirrors throughout the entrance hall. If there wasn’t an overload of those decor items, it could look classy, but instead it gives the hotel a very dated look.

Check in was relatively quick. I was offered a Mozartkugel (pistachio/nougat chocolate from Vienna) but had to decline as I’m allergic to hazelnuts. I should probably mention that the receptionist tried to convince me the chocolate was without hazelnuts …… that could have ended badly.

My room at InterContinental Vienna

I was upgraded from a Classic room to what appeared to be a Deluxe, although it could even have been a Studio Suite – although if it was, I didn’t get the club access which normally comes with a Studio Suite.  The room was large and bright with two windows overlooking the city.

The bed had two small duvets instead of one large one. This is typical for Germany and Austria, but I’m not used to small duvets anymore and woke up a few times during the night as my duvet kept moving around ……

The desk was a good size, but the desk chair was too low to sit comfortably.

The TV was attached to the wall and you could move it from one side to the other to either watch TV in bed or on the chaise lounge. The channel list was impressively wide with channels in English, German and Arabic.

The bathroom had a combined shower / bath with a showerhead. The area around the sink was big enough for all my make-up, creams and toothbrush. The toiletries were the usual Agraria green ones.

The hairdryer was awful. It wasn’t very powerful and in order to use it, you had to push down a button whilst holding the hairdryer.  I’ve stayed at hostels with better hair dryers….

The wardrobe had enough hangers for shirts, blouses, dresses, jackets, t-shirts, trousers, skirts …

The kettle and mugs were on top of the safe inside the wardrobe. There was a socket inside the safe which wasn’t working so I ended up using the plug next to the desk. The tea selection was good, the coffee instant and there was also hot chocolate powder.

This was the view out of one of the windows – could have been worse ….

Gym

Compared to the rest of the hotel, the gym was very bright and modern with lots of equipment.

There was also a sauna and a steam room.

Throughout the hotel you find a lot of artwork and chandeliers:

Food

I didn’t eat in the hotel and I did not have club access so could not take a look there.  With Vienna being famed for its cafes, I couldn’t bring myself to pay the inflated price for a hotel breakfast.  Scroll down to the lenghty PS. to see where I went.

Conclusion

The InterContinental Vienna is a good hotel in great location in a beautiful city.

The chandeliers are gorgeous, the artwork classy and my room was open and light but overall it didn’t impress me much. I know that it  is a matter of taste, but I found the hotel a a bit dated with room (sic) for improvement.

There is definitely potential to improve the interior of the InterContinental Vienna (and I say interior as the building itself is very ugly and beyond help!).  I do expect a good hairdryer in a 5* hotel, a kettle with a socket and a comfortable desk chair with an appropriate height for the desk.  Small things can make the difference.

However, for a night or two, the InterContinental Vienna is a good choice thanks to its location if you can get a good deal or IHG is running a decent promotion.

As a redemption, it is 35,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night.  A typical weekend night in October costs €150 – €175 Advanced Purchase so this is roughly on a par with Rob’s current 0.4p valuation.  You will pay over €200 midweek which makes a redemption look a decent deal.

The hotel website is here if you want to find out more.

PS ….. Breakfast in the park

I only had 24 hours in Vienna and didn’t want to waste too much time in the hotel.  As breakfast wasn’t included in my rate and the weather was too nice to sit inside, I decided to go to a restaurant in the Stadtpark right outside the hotel.

The Meierei Steirereck serves breakfast, lunch and dinner:

If you plan to eat breakfast after 10am it’s recommended to reserve a table as it gets quite busy.

I had a mushroom egg dish (BEST EGG DISH EVER), salmon, avocado with olives and some bread. All the dishes on the breakfast menu were around €6. You could also choose from one of the set breakfasts for around €20. A regular black coffee was €4.  Menus in English are available.  This was closer to the real Vienna than the pricier buffet at the InterContinental.

If you want any more tourist tips:

Walk around without a map – everything in Vienna is pretty and very close.

If you want to see the skyline, you should go to the Domkirche St. Stephans. The Nordturm (North Tower) has a lift and it costs €5.50 to go up.  If you like stairs, choose the Suedturm (South Tower) with its 343 steps – you save €1 ….

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IHG One Rewards update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: IHG One Rewards is offering 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay (not necessarily consecutive) between 1st April and 31st May 2024. You can read our full article here and you can register here.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

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Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.