Hotel Pension Andreas - Vienna, Austria     

This is a comfortable, unpretentious three star bed & breakfast Pension in a quiet, convenient and pleasant location. I was attending a conference at the University, just 5-10 minutes' walk away. The city centre is easy to reach on foot too. The staff were universally friendly (my German is limited) and my room (a double with two single beds) was bright, welcoming and spotlessly clean, and in my view very good value for 90 Euros including breakfast. The cold beer available from reception was gratefully received (at a cost of two Euros). There were plenty of bars and restaurants in the immediate vicinity (especially in Florianigasse). They looked nice, though I didn't have the opportunity to try any of them. If I go back to Vienna, I wouldn't hesitate to return to the Andreas, especially if I needed to be near the University.

I shared a large room with two others in this low-cost pension close by the university while attending a conference in Vienna. With the city's U and S-Bahn systems, it's very easy to get around. And the walk into the city center takes about 15 minutes. But if you're looking for something to do at night or a decent meal during the day, the area immediately surrounding the hotel is pretty much dead. On one day, while working in the lounge, I saw the housecleaner doing her rounds. Housecleaning equated to changing the towels, folding the duvets, and vacuuming just one little section of rug--that's it. I ended up cleaning the sink myself with an extra towel every night. Also, the shower stall had lots of hair from previous guests stuck to the walls, and soap scum and mold everywhere. Internet connectivity consisted of a 10-year old computer in the lounge next to check-in. There was a nominal fee associated with using it. But the first ten minutes of use were free--because it took ten minutes to boot up!!! One of the staff members told me that my laptop wouldn't work if I connected it directly to the CAT5 cable feeding the hotel's slow computer... but after checking that the hotel computer was using DHCP, I pulled the cable and plugged it into my laptop and got online immediately. No one at the desk could recommend restaurants nearby, nor places to buy SIM cards for cell phones. Luckily an internet cafe a block away had SIM cards and lots of advice about the area.