Best Western Hotel Harmonie - Vienna, Austria     

Well, I never though that it is possible to write something bad about Vienna; but I have been to Harmonie Hotel (Best Western?!) and now I do. Last year I have been in IM Forum Muelheim (Best Western also) and it was super OK everything. In Harmonie Hotel everything was bad; breakfast remind me of the Romanian two star hotels from 80’s. Only location is OK.

If you are planning a few days in Vienna and dont want to break the bank, then I can recommend Hotel Harmonie. Based a stone's throw from Sigmund Freud's house, it is about 15 minutes walk to the centre of town and based in a quiet setting in a pleasant central neighbourhood. It is on a very frequent bus route (41A) with a stop 1 minute's walk from the hotel. The rooms were very clean, but the decor was a little worn around the edges. We made a mistake on the web booking and called the hotel directly to which is impressive coming from a large hotel chain, where sometimes anything such as a reservation change has to go through the internet or a call centre. The staff were very helpful and friendly, handing us an ironing board and iron on request. (Dont forget to ask for complementary tea and coffee too, and they will give you some (plus a kettle and cups) to take to your room). There's also an internet terminal by reception, which is a little expensive, but useful if you dont fancy lugging your laptop around on holiday. The self-service continental breakfast was good quality, consisting of cereals, yoghurts, eggs, breads, tea and coffee and looked all very fresh and served until 10.00am, by friendly staff. The desk staff were all friendly and approachable, but a little unsure of general vicinity information, such as restaurants options and kept on recommending the Armenian pizza restaurant at the end of the road (which was OK, but nothing exceptional) Also, we were given the wrong information for bus departure times to the airport from Schwedenplatz (which could have been a real problem if we were running late for our flight) and on check out my (not inexpensive!) suede bag had my room number chalked on it in huge bold letters, which took a while to wash off, which was annoying! Overall, I would recommend the hotel for a stay for a night or too, despite the small occasional hiccups!