Prevue March/April 2013 - (Page 86)

the only group hotel with outdoor meeting space. There’s a huge skating rink next door during the winter that the hotel F&B team can cater for skating events. The meeting ballroom on the second floor is divisible by six, with capacity for 300. All together, there are 16 event rooms including a selection of breakouts for 50 each, with a combined total capacity for 800-pax galas. Back on the lobby level, a previous fine-dining restaurant with large windows facing the street is now exclusively a group restaurant and event space with a dedicated kitchen. Also on the ground floor, MediterraNeo is a fun fine-dining restaurant with a country-style kitchen ambience. The grilled salmon on a bed of ravioli was perfectly paired with a lively gewurztraminer, followed by a delicate strawberry and raspberry cheesecake. In terms of location, the InterContinental is well positioned between the Hofburg and Belvedere Museum. We popped over to see Viennese painter Gustav Klimt’s two famous masterpieces, Judith and The Kiss. Don’t leave without seeing those. Also visit the Museum Quarter adjacent to the Hofburg for contemporary art and shopping. CLASSIC MEETS MODERN Here are a few more hotels and venues we sampled in a range of Viennese vibes from classic grand dame to sleek and chic. Making it easy to get around, the circular Ringstrasse Avenue and trolley car system rims the city center. Just past this on the banks of the Danube River, the severely modern Sofitel Vienna Stephansdom was designed by French celebrity architect Jean Nouvel, who’s designing the new Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi. Because it’s just outside the city center, this is a high-rise hotel with the best views in town. To capitalize on that, the top floor LOFT Restaurant 82 | prevue magazine is entirely wrapped with floor-to-ceiling windows. Definitely go here at least for lunch/dinner for 100 pax and the most contemporary shopping in the city next door. The 184 rooms/suites are all white, ebony and glass with sharp lines and minimalist decor. Likewise the meeting space on the fourth floor inside nine rooms with capacity for 130. During the conference, we heard mention of the 35-suite Palais Coburg as the “best” hotel in Vienna. People talk about it in hushed tones with a degree of reverence, so we stopped by for lunch on the outdoor terrace. This was, by far, the best mushroom soup with little crunchy croutons—ever. Expecting something perhaps a little pretentious, we were pleasantly surprised with the heartwarming service. The suites run 570 sf to twice that size in four categories: Modern, Imperial, Palais and City. The last three celebrate the hotel’s heritage dating back to the Coburg dynasty who built this as their home in 1846. We love the Moderns with their slanting roofs, loft vibe and bone/plum palette. For events the “Bastion Foyer” lobby is located atop fortress ruins from the Renaissance. The old red bricks have been left exposed and form part of the walls in both the lobby and Casemate meeting halls. Upstairs, the Johann Strauss and Marie Antoinette meeting halls are well suited for Viennese Waltz lessons and receptions with live classical music. The 579-room Hilton Vienna is the largest hotel in the city with meeting space for 1,800 delegates. It’s centrally located on top of the train station, so you’re only 20 minutes from the airport, and all of the rooms are the exact same except for 23 suites. There are 11 breakouts with natural light, 19-foot ceilings in the grand ballroom for 400 pax (banquet) with Klimtstyle artwork, and big windows overlooking Stadtpark. Overall, the ambience is fresh, bright and militantly maintained.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue March/April 2013

Planner's Pick: Miami
Fresh Meets: Renaissance Hotels
Bureau Buzz: Austin
Good Business: Washington, DC
Sea Shores: Cruising Sweden
Feelin' Good About Incentives
Special Section: California
On Location: JW Marriott Desert Springs
Caribbean & The Bahamas
On Location: U.S. Virgin Islands
On Location: Aruba
On Location: Omni Amelia Island
The South: Best of Golf & Spa
On Location: Fairmont Scottsdale
On Location: W Singapore
Austria
Ireland
On Location: Mexico City
On Location: Starwood Los Cabos
On Location: Universal Orlando
On Location: Villas of Grand Cypress, Orlando
Check Out: Alpina Gstaad, Switzerland
Club Med

Prevue March/April 2013