Usually, our rule for travel is to keep accommodation pretty inexpensive. We don’t plan on spending much time inside the room, so it really just needs a bed and a bathroom—everything after that is an unnecessary extra. Keeping this in mind, though, LeeAnne and I figured our honeymoon should also include a few special nights, so we decided to stay at the Hotel Imperial in Vienna: a former palace converted into a 5-star luxury hotel.
Now, lest you think we went totally overboard (which, come on, it was our honeymoon, we can do that), we happened to have a friend who worked for Starwood and was able to get us an incredible deal on the room. We went with an Imperial Junior Suite, which was the best room we could get that, with the friends and family discount, would still be somewhat in our budget.
We arrived at the hotel feeling just a little out of place with our backpacks and jeans—and would feel more out of place the next day, when there were suddenly heavily-armed guards stationed in front of the hotel, as the president of India was also staying at the Imperial.
Getting into our room was one of those giddy joys that happens very seldom with hotels—seeing all the goodies, all the things you didn’t expect. There was a piano. There was a chaise lounge. Bulgari products in the marble bathroom. In addition to the welcoming bottom of champagne and small chocolate petit fours, our friend had also arranged for the hotel’s famous Imperial Torte to be waiting for us—a chocolate cake with six layers of crunchy almond and cacao cream covered in marzipan and a milk chocolate glaze. I tasted it, even though I don’t like chocolate, and the remainder was left to LeeAnne.
At turndown, we were given bottles of water and even more chocolates. The following day, after sleeping in two twin beds pushed together to make a king bed, we decided to order breakfast in the room, as one of the items on our honeyfund had been a room service breakfast. This “breakfast for two” was wheeled into the room on a full-sized table and could have well be a breakfast for two families. Two omelets with ham and sausage, French toast, pancakes, pastries, breads, fruit, yogurt parfait, juice, and coffee—the only problem was we were planning on saving half of it for later, but the top-notch service cleared it as soon as we’d left the room that day.
We had plenty of sights to see, which was a shame because this is one of those hotel rooms you should spend a lot more time in. And while I did get plenty of use from the robe and the marble bathroom, I could have definitely spent some more time practicing the piano (since I don’t know how to play). Maybe next time, though at the regular prices, a next time is doubtful. If you are looking for a luxurious stop in Vienna, though, this would be the place to do it.
Ryan Travels and Eats 