Falkensteiner Hotel Palace - Vienna, Austria 

As part of a party, my wife and I stayed at the Falkensteiner for eight nights during the final stages of the Euro 2008 competition. The hotel had been booked by one of our party, and, having read some of the negative reviews, we were a bit concerned about what we would find. To our great surprise, despite the hotel being to capacity, and various corporate goings on by Adidas, we had an excellent stay. The hotel is situated in the residential area nestled between the Opera and Belvedere quarters. It is within easy walking distance of the underground station at Pilgrimgasse, various restaurants, cafe's and bars, and also the superb Naschmarkt. You could also chose to walk into the city centre, being that the area is generally on the flat, and gives you a better feel for the city than forever popping down into the underground network. We found the hotel to be very clean and well proportioned for it's size. The lobby and bar were well appointed and of a pleasantly modern decor. The staff were always helpfull, pleasant and attentive to our every request. We have found in our visits to cities in the more eastern parts of Europe that people can seem a bit stand-offish to some others. I find that it's like a form of understated politeness, where people do not readily engage in conversation unless you first start one. Some rooms do seem quite small, although ours appeared to be one of the larger ones, and we had no complaints whatsoever. In fact if we could be guaranteed a room to this standard everywhere we go, we would definitely be very happy bunnies. Visiting Vienna is not, however, an inexpensive affair. Our eight day trip, including flights, accomodation, meals and drinks, could have got us two weeks all-inclusive at the superb 5 star Paradisus Rio de Oro in Cuba. Flights were not cheap, but for some reason hotel prices in Vienna are disproportionate to what you would expect to pay in other, similar cities. However, to come here and have a good standard of stay, that is the price you really have to pay. If returning, to do the other two million things that we couldn't cram into our stay, I would have no hesitation in staying here. Best sized rooms appear to be: 214/215, 314/315.

If you're looking for an international hotel that caters to a wide range of people, this hotel is not for you. No internet access in the rooms, just one computer next to the registration desk on the first floor where there is a line of people waiting to use it. Only two elevators service the entire hotel, and one of them was broken for the entire duration of my 5-day visit. When I asked one of the clerks at the reception desk if they could mail some postcards for me, I was told that I would have to go to the post office to mail them. However, the food was great and the service was otherwise good. More of a mom-and-pop type of a hotel.