Repeat after me – I do not have to stay in a hostel to save money. I do not have to stay in an expensive hotel to have a good time. When I choose a hotel, I will chose one with a great hotel bar.
There, doesn’t that feel better? If you’re looking to make good on your promise above, and you’re planning any time in Vienna, Austria, you would be wise to consider the Austria Trend Messe.
Austria Trend Hotel in Vienna (or, Wien, to the Austrians) is a hotel chain, albeit small, with additional locations in Salzburg, Linz and in neighboring Slovakia. With just over 20 locations, we aren’t talking about an overly commercialized or homogenized HoJo here, but rather a well-run, clean, fun establishment that is strategically located in a great area of Vienna near Rathauspark.
When you think of Austria Trend, think small, clean and modern.
In fact, there are numerous locations in Vienna. Among them is the Austria Trend Messe – Prater, so-called because of it’s proximity to the small, if not strange “Prater” park. The Prater is home to the Riesenrad, a 212-foot ferris wheel that played host to 1949’s film noir “The Third Man”, starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.
This is where we called home while in Vienna.
Now, I fight as I begin writing this to not talk about how great Vienna really is. How beautiful the Christmas markets are or how besotted I am with this fair city. No, that will be for another time and another post. Just know that, if you’re looking for a great hotel that is close to the city center and inexpensive, the Austria Trend in Prater will give you access to anything you want.
Larger than you would think, warmer than you think, the Austria Trend in Prater isn’t flashy. You aren’t going to pull up in your cab and find yourself gripped by it’s beauty or opulence. Not should you. Great hotels for under $100 per night shouldn’t stun you. They should surprise you.
The rooms are fairly standard for budget hotels in the Euro zone – smaller in size, comfortable beds and small bathrooms that leave a linebacker-sized gent like myself a bit short on elbow space. I’m used to this when we travel, and quite honestly consider this my litmus test for hotels – if the shower doesn’t bruise my elbows, we paid too much. The style is stark, mostly white with faux wood along the headboard and setting behind desks and stands, with the basic amenities one would expect.
The location is good, not great. We cabbed regularly from the Trend, each time with the front desk agents (who were, by the way, incredibly well-trained and helpful) calling a local number for us which arrived within mere moments each time. The prices were always fair and the prices were consistent. Additionally, information about the city was easy to come by and communication was a breeze. Despite Tracy’s German ability, my relative inexperience in the language made me pleased that they did, in fact, speak English.
A view from the hotel restaurant
The Trend has a great breakfast buffet, open early enough to please the early birds and late enough for those nursing a hangover. Among the food is a wild assortment of simple fair such as bread and cereals to eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes done multiple ways. The quality of the food is surprisingly good, and the restaurant, as well as the rest of the hotel, is supremely clean. Get your juice, get your coffee and some great grub, hail a cab and Vienna is yours for the day – from only a short distance away.
The Trend in Prater lies a bit on Central Vienna’s east side – only about 1,000 feet from the River Danube. We loved the location, although I would say it was a bit further from the city center than we originally realized. Great restaurants nearby? Well, yes. One, in particular, and we had a great time at L’Osteria, just a mere 200-yard walk from the front entrance of the hotel.
However, what will absolutely stand out about The Trend were the consecutive nights, sluggish from Christmas markets and jaunts around an absolutely break-taking city, where we were greeted by masses encircling a small hotel bar that we barely noticed other than to say “oh, there’s a bar” upon arrival. The small bar comes alive, stays open late and is somehow quietly withheld from the unknowing, the tourist, and in general people like us. Dozens of locals mix in discussions with one another, somehow without the general presence of the actual people staying in the hotel, who seem to enter the front entry and walk straight to their room, missing the best part of an otherwise fairly normal, nice hotel.
A few of the new friends we met at the hotel bar – open late!
Oh, what that bar did to us.
We met one at first, then two. Then five. Then pictures happened to prove the experience, and the next thing I know I’m drinking some sort of flaming thing in a hotel bar at 4am with a stunning group of people – from artists and photographers to business magnates and models. It was strange, but it was, in fact, surprising. It was fun. It was completely unexpected. It was what we hope for.
That’s how we like hotels.
That’s how we like travel.
The Austria Trend in Prater is what you want when you travel, with few bells and whistles but completely clean, inexpensive and reliable. The best part however, about hotels, restaurants and life itself, are always the surprises – and we had a few.
Our verdict: We recommend
Contact
Website: https://www.austria-trend.at/en
Address: Messestraße 2, 1020 Wien, Austria
Phone: +43 1 72727
