If the three important attributes of real estate are location, location and location, then Hotel Am Stephansplatz has to be included with the world's notables.
It's set in a great city, Vienna, right in a famous square and just 30 metres or so from the pride of the Viennese -- the enormous 14th-century St. Stephen's Cathedral. If you're lucky, your window will open almost above the cathedral door through which they carried Mozart for his funeral.
The hotel, built in the 1950s upon the ruin of a house bombed in the Second World War, is still privately owned by one family, whose matriarch, according to local lore, worked there until her death at the age of 93.
The hotel's exterior is unadorned; some might call it minimalist. The 57 rooms are each individual in design, with an overall classical Viennese motif rich in marble and fabric. The hotel's lobby is all dark woods, crimson draperies and tasteful wall hangings. The Dom, the hotel's second-floor restaurant, is part café, part kaffeehaus,and for almost a half century has been a favourite among local people. Each afternoon, it is frequented by ladies of a certain age or businesspeople bent over coffee and scrutinizing newspapers. Still, the hotel's setting is its unmatchable attribute -- it's in the very heart of the great city of sight and sound.
Clientele
Roughly 70 per cent of guests are businesspeople. Most are Austrian, the remainder from other European countries. The rest are tourists -- mostly, if overheard conversations are an indication, middle-aged Austrians or Germans with a sprinkling of Italians. North Americans have started staying here recently, but you won't see many T-shirts or baseball caps. This is refined European -- friendly, but with a formal touch.
Service
The staff, friendly and competent, are smoothly, noiselessly efficient. A few have worked here for decades. And given the hotel's small size, help is just a minute away, whether you want a hair dryer replaced or, if you're in the business centre, need a hand to log on. Since the centre is beside the café, help often comes from behind the bar.
Rooms
The style of the rooms dates to the Biedermeir design of the early 19th century, with its inlaid marquetry and crushed velvet upholstery, but the accent is on comfort with a flair for high ceilings and pastel-coloured walls.
Food and drink
The Dom is first and last a Viennese restaurant -- as much for locals as visitors. Its windows overlook the square and its tables are spacious and bright, reflecting exterior light to lend the room an airy quality. The menu is what the Viennese themselves favour, wiener schnitzel for sure, but also wiener tafelspitz, which is boiled beef served with creamed spinach, thinly sliced roasted potatoes, onions, steamed vegetables and a sauce made with chives.
Wines include the local white, Gruner Veltliner, or the fruity red Zweigelt, which is making a splash on the global wine scene.
Ambience
Old World, with chic subtly tossed in through splashes of colour and fresh flowers. The atmosphere is understated refinement with polish -- tables are elegant but functional, and there is enough warmth among the wall tapestries, modern prints and casual sketches to keep it from being stuffy.
Design
The overall style of the public area is Viennese traditional, with marble and hangings in both the café and the lobby.
The individual rooms have very high ceilings, but maintain the integrity of old Vienna style. You know once you pass through the door that you're not in an international chain hotel but a family-owned private inn, designed, owned and run by Viennese.
Things to do
In Vienna? The city is an outdoor museum. There's the square and the cathedral, its steeple regarded as a symbol of the city. You can climb the south tower for a skyline panorama of the city and surrounding Weinerwald or Vienna Woods.
The hotel is also just a short walk from the shopping areas of the Kartnerstrasse, and about 15 minutes from one of the great city promenades of Europe, the Ringstrasee (Ring Boulevard), overhung by leafy trees. (You can hire a horse and carriage for a 40-minute ride, but many local people rightly complain of the mess from horse droppings so these may soon become history.) Some planning could get you tickets to the city's incomparable boys choir. Another attraction is the performances at the Vienna English Theatre. Also, a vast new museum quarter is now open. The hotel staff is helpful with tickets and directions.
Information
Hotel Am Stephansplatz is at Stephansplatz 9, A-1010, Vienna. Phone: 43 (1) 53405812; e-mail: hotel@stephansplatz.co.at. A double room until Dec. 31, including breakfast, service and tax, costs $266. For general information on Vienna: http://www.austriatourism.com.