Category: Unusual

Suite with a Vault in Vienna

Coburg Loft Suite

You have suites with a view, but at the Palais Coburg Hotel Residenz in Vienna you can have a suite with a view and a safe in the vault.

Palais Coburg was built in the period 1840-45 by Duke Ferdinand Georg August of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha (1785-1851) on the Braunbastei [‘Brown Bastion’] – a part of the city defenses dating back to the 16th century. It is thanks to this “super-construction” that a large part of the Renaissance fortification, in particular the casemates, have been preserved.

The Late Neo-Classical/Early Historicist building is notable for its portico with its freestanding columns in the central section of the facade; this feature soon led to the Palais being given an affectionate nickname by the locals, the “Spargelburg” [literally, “The Asparagus Palace”].

The house of Saxe-Coburg has many strong ties to European Royalty, as for instance Queen Victoria of the UK was a niece of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg.

During the period of occupation after World War II, Russian soldiers were quartered in the Palais. In September 1947 the exhibition “800 Years of Moscow” was shown in the Palais. After the occupying troops moved out, the first and second floors of the Palais were leased to the Austrian federal railways, which used the premises until 1997. The Palais was sold in 1978 to a property dealer by the last Coburg to own the building, Princess Sarah Aurelia, who lived in the Palais until her death in 1994. The property dealer used the Palais as a means to speculate. Through the onward sale and subsequent bankruptcy of the purchaser, the Palais ultimately came into the ownership of the Länderbank, subsequently the Zentralsparkasse (central savings bank), from whom the building was acquired by a private foundation, the POK Pühringer Privatstiftung, in 1997.

Coburg Front

The Palais Coburg has been restored by the POK Pühringer Privatstiftung, in close collaboration with the Federal office for the preservation of buildings and monuments (Bundesdenkmalamt), over the period from 2000 to 2003.

The hotel has 35 suites.

Staying at The Coburg is for the haves:

Look for instance at this promotion:

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS …
New Years eve at the Palais Coburg

Experience and tour the incomparable and authentic splendour from 16th to 19th Century Imperial Vienna and celebrate New Years’ Eve in the casemates and the Grand Ball Rooms on the ‘Bel Etage’ of the Palais Coburg.

This exquisite Gala Evening commences at 19.00 hours with a Champagne reception in the Coburg Vaults Foyer ‘Stadtbild’, followed by a classical concert in the ‘higher casemate’. Then it is time for a six course Gala Dinner prepared by Palais Coburg’s lauded Chef Christian Petz and his brigade. Each course is accompanied by specially selected wines from the Palais Coburg’s favourite Cellars, unrivalled for the extraordinary collection of rarest vintages and specialised in vintages from Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Entertainment is provided by a live band and an Austrian New Years’ tradition of ‘lead casting’. Fine cigars and digestifs are enjoyed in the adjacent Blue Salon. And finally bid farewell to the year 2006 from the terrace of the Palais Coburg with views over the legendary city park, fine champagne and a ‘little surprise’.

New Year’s Extravaganza € 10,760 for two people sharing Stay for four in a deluxe Suite, join the Gala Dinner on New Years Eve and enjoy the ‘Wiener Philharmoniker’ live in the best seats at the Musikverein on New Years’ Day. Two spa treatments of your choice are also included.

New Years’ Eve Concert Special € 5,160 for two people sharing
Stay for two nights in an elegant City Suite, join the Gala Dinner on New Years Eve and enjoy the ‘Wiener Philharmoniker’ live in the best seats at the Musikverein on New Years’ Eve. Two spa treatments of your choice and a late checkout are also included in this special arrangement.

Gala Dinner € 3,360 for two people sharing a Stay for two nights in an elegant Suite and join the Gala Dinner on New Years Eve.

All arrangements include all taxes, service and the airport transfers as well.
Dress Code: Formal (Black/White Tie)

The tickets for the New Years concert are easily two thousand Euros. Taking that into account I would say the promotion is even reasonable and very tempting, as waltzing into the New Year in Vienna is still on my wish list…

Palais Coburg is the seat of the Palais Coburg Tresor where one can hire a safe in the Vault with 24/24 access. This seams to me an ideal drop off for a character in one of Robert Ludlum future stories….

Also the Institut für strategische Kapitalmarktforschung (ISK) (Institute for Capital Market Research) has its seat at the palace. Next to research it performs asset- and portfolio management.

I have been in the entrance Hall of the Palais and bought their book about the renovation which is excellent. However the atmosphere was a bit cold, as if entering a bank rather than a hotel. For further entrance you have to pass a security guard and/or have a key card. No way to enter the restaurant or the bar: It is very private off course, but a bit uncharacteristic for a typical Relais et Chateaux member.

Dream in a drain pipe: Drain Hotel in a park

Drain Hotel

This will prove you wrong if you believed everything has been invented already:

In July 2005, under the motto “Book a Pipe Dream”, Austrian Andreas Strauss has set up Das Parkhotel/ Andi’s Place (the Park Hotel) in a park in Ottensheim, on the Danube river border, near Linz, Austria. It is only open in Summer and operates under the Pay as you wish principle: You are asked to leave as much money as you want to pay for the place. No Bad room, minibar or toilet available: You are asked to make use of publicly available toilets a couple of yards to the left or to the right and of the mini bar of a gas station in the neighborhood. Reservations via the website where you get an access code for the electronic lock.

Source: Times Online

Update: After discovering the term Notel I’ve added this post to the Notel Category.

Last edited by GJE on March 30, 2011

Qbic: Dutch answer to Easy Hotel, Yotel and Hotel Everland

Qbic

Begin November 2006 the launch of Qbic Hip Hotels was announced by Paul Rinkens, Rino Soeters en Marcel Voermans, the people behind Design hotel La Bergère and Hip Hotel St Martenslane, both in Maastricht, as the Dutch answer to cube alike hotel concepts as Easy Hotel, Yotel and Hotel Everland:

Qbic Hip Hotel Amsterdam Center (at WTC, Strawinskylaan 241) is anticipated to open in March 2007.

Qbic Hip Hotel Antwerpen (at Sint Paulusstraat 42 / Lange Koepoortstraat 6) is anticipated to open in June 2007.

Each Cube will cover 7 m2 with a living room, King Size Hästens beds, Philippe Starck design bathroom elements, TV, radio, safe and wireless Internet access.

With individually adjustable varicolored led lights guests can establish their own atmosphere. Easily changeable wall panels will give the guest the possibility to adjust the atmosphere further.

The lobby in Amsterdam will be designed by Feran Thomassen and for Antwerp by Ontwerpers.nu (i.e. Designers.Now!). They envisage a digital “concierge kiosk” where through an ‘i- touch’ screen guests can gather the necessary information about things to do, where to wine and dine and where to party, or to contact a Qbic staff member who will be available on site.

Also a self service shop is anticipated for all amenities and necessities.

Pricing will be done by the “the-earlier-the-reservation-the-lower-the-price” system and vary from Euro 39,- to Euro 139,-.

Realization by PRM.

Last edited by GJE on December 3, 2011 at 11:43 pm

Lars Stroschen: The Artist who became a Hotelier

Recently, I stayed a couple of days in Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin with a group of about 20 baby boomers.

It was a lot of fun having some members of the group remembering their backpacking and youth hostel days (waaay back!) as the down to earth design of the rooms forced some of us on their old knees to properly enter the bed which was sunken in the floor.

In a separate post I will address some of its features, but now first some attention for Lars, who is the originator and owner of the hotel and with whom I shook hands the day we departed. I asked him whether he liked it to be an hotelier: His answer was:”No, but I liked the making of it, and I have a very nice crew of 5 who attend our guests”.

I had the impression already as he roamed around as if being the ghost host of the hotel during breakfast hours. But indeed his crew is excellent and very friendly and they make the visit worthwhile!

Lars himself explained it as follows somewhere on his site:

Ever since childhood I have always enjoyed doing things that had something to do with sound and images. I had music lessons, started to draw, built my own furniture and took photos like mad. I could never settle for one particular discipline because I loved them all. Because technical innovations were also a great inspiration to me, I soon turned in the church organ for a synthesizer and later shifted from the pencil and the darkroom to computer art.

After school I studied Visual Communication at the Berlin Art College. In my spare time I worked as photographer and sound engineer. During my various travels at this time, I swapped my camera for a microphone and started to collect noises. This material formed the basis for my experimental music and sample-CD projects. My instrument collection grew to a full size, specialist electronic music studio. I then got a job as author of a radio series on electronic music. During these two years I created several compositions for demonstration purposes, several of which got released on CD.

The radio broadcasts also earned me a composition contract for a dance performance at the Berliner Schaubhne (Playhouse Theatre). I got my first recording contract with a Hamburg-based label and shortly afterwards another one in France. From this time onwards, all my projects were published under the name PROPELLER ISLAND. This pseudonym stems from a book written by Jules Verne at the end of the nineteenth century which describes an artificial island that travels with its inhabitants around the world – way ahead of its time! I chose this pseudonym mainly because it sounds good in German and English and because can refer to almost any kind of work – not just music.

Later I founded my own record label so as to be completely independent. Along with the many CDs with music and sound sculptures, I also published (as PROPELLER ISLAND) several sample CDs and CD-ROMs with unusual sound collections.

The only musical excursion without the aid of a ‘propeller’ was with the composer community TONART, which I joined along with other artists in order to publish avant-garde music. We dissolved the group after the fifth CD.

To fund my music projects and my studio, I turned two rooms in my flat into guest’s rooms. Because normal rooms it would have been far too boring, the first rooms of CITY LODGE were created.

The rooms quickly became very popular via the press, especially in England, and soon the letting out became so much work that I had almost no time left for my studio projects. I decided to enlarge the guest room business, thinking that I would be able to hire staff and therefore have more time for my studio. How naive! ….

An old pension hotel in the same building seemed perfect for the expansion. I was lucky, the lease had just run out and it was up for sale. It took over five years to complete PROPELLER ISLAND. During that time I designed hundreds of interior elements, objects, and pictures and drew up new concepts. As a ‘non-hotelier’, I had to learn to think about safety regulations for guests and also convince authorities of the practicality of my fantasy interiors.
It was a long hard road that makes me even more proud of my giant work of art, since so many doubted that I would ever manage to make it work. It is attracting art lovers from all over the worlds- even ‘proper’ architects and ‘proper’ hoteliers! :-))

The only problem is that I still haven’t managed to make enough time for the music – and that is what I wanted to achieve in the first place, didn’t I? … Oh well, c’est la vie!

Lars Stroschen, Summer 2004

Victorian Beer Bathing in Hotel U Sladka

Beer Bathing

Health is a hot issue. Spas grow as mushrooms. This spring in Chodova Plana, Czech republic, the Hotel U Sladka with 7 Victorian beer baths opened in a local beer factory. Delicious Victorian frothing beer bathing in special local brew dark beer! See the Youtube Video

Edited August 2009 to change the links