The Ritz-Carlton, Vienna is a hotel built around music and the Ring, and our freshly redone Symphony Suite, with a violin in the living room and Beethoven's statue outside the bedroom window, was a lovely place to come back to after a concert. The staff were warm from the welcome email to the last morning. But the suite isn't what most people get, because the regular rooms haven't had a real renovation since the hotel opened in 2012, and you'll find old furniture and stained marble in them. At about $535 a night it costs less than the Park Hyatt, the Sacher and the Rosewood, which makes it competitive on price, but its rooms lose out to the Park Hyatt and the Rosewood. The location and the people are the reasons to stay, and in a regular room I'd pay a little more for the Park Hyatt. See pictures ↓
Service
A warm, personal email came from the hotel a week before we arrived, so I already felt expected. When the car pulled up on the Schubertring the doorman had our bags before I'd got out, and at the desk they greeted us by our surname. Reception is a handsome room, with the Italian restaurant and its small bar just across the way, and I liked having a bar in view the moment we walked in.
It was a birthday trip, and one afternoon we came back to cake and balloons in the suite. Every evening at turndown there was fresh water and two chocolates by the bed, one milk and one dark, with a card carrying a quotation. I got into the habit of reading the card before I'd even taken my coat off.
When the hotel is full the polish slips a little. The front desk can be too busy to pick up the phone, so I'd walk down if you need something quickly, and turndown and restaurant service aren't always as sharp as that first welcome. None of it spoiled our stay.
Rooms
Our suite was on the third floor, up a private lift that only works with your key card and along a long, quiet corridor to a pair of tall doors. The Symphony Suite is 99 square metres on a corner of the building, freshly redone, and it's built around music. A violin stands on a marble plinth in the living room, the gold arches reminded me of the Musikverein, and there were Vienna Symphony postcards on the hall table beside a huge floor mirror. There are two big speakers too, and on the first evening I put on some classical music and wandered from room to room with it playing.
The bedroom sits in the corner, with the bed on a rug and tall windows, and from the pillows I could see Beethoven on his plinth in the park across the road. It's a bed I'd happily have at home, and there are USB-C sockets right beside it. The bathroom is all marble, with a tub by the window big enough for two, a glass-fronted shower, a Dyson hairdryer and big bottles of Diptyque. There are two dressing rooms as well, one with an ironing board, plus a guest bathroom and a trolley of serious wines.
Most people won't be staying in it. The Deluxe rooms are about 38 square metres, which is big for Europe, with high ceilings, good beds and black and white marble bathrooms that have a separate shower, a tub, heated floors and a towel warmer. But the regular rooms haven't had a real renovation since the hotel opened in 2012, and it shows in old tables and cabinets, stains on the bathroom counters, sockets that only take USB and interiors that look tired for the price. If you've stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Berlin, where the rooms were refitted in 2019, these will feel a generation older. If you're booking a room, pay for a Premium Room for the view, because the courtyard rooms look out on very little.
Food and drink
Breakfast is in Dstrikt, up a short flight of stairs and along a connecting corridor to a corner of the hotel, in a small, stylish room. There's a little cold table of smoked salmon, fruit, juices and a basket with the well-known Offerl bread, and the hot dishes are ordered from a menu and brought to you. My Eggs Benedict came with the yolks perfectly runny, though the other hot dishes were less even, so I'd stick with the eggs. Choose a rate that includes breakfast.
The evening I enjoyed most was at Pastamara, the Sicilian restaurant opposite reception, from the Michelin-starred chef Ciccio Sultano. Olives, nuts and good bread came first with a little mushroom tartlet, then a seafood pasta that was small but full of flavour, and the day's steak special. An older chef came out from the kitchen to talk us through each dish, and that's what I remember best about the night. Get there between five and seven for a Negroni at the bar first. From Wednesday to Sunday Dstrikt turns into a steakhouse for Austrian beef, and D-Bar, looking over the Ring, has a cocktail menu built around the symphony.
The Club Lounge on the seventh floor came with our suite, and it's where the food disappointed me. The evening spread felt thin for a Ritz-Carlton, and after one look I ate downstairs most evenings.
Setting
On the night of our concert I walked out of the front door, along the Ring and round to the Musikverein, and sat in the Golden Hall with no taxi and no rush. The hotel is on the Schubertring, close to the Opera, with the Beethoven monument in the little park across the road, and I can't think of a better base in Vienna for anyone going to hear music. Getting in from the airport was easy too. The ÖBB train is quicker than the CAT, and we were at the door in under an hour.
The hotel is made of 19th-century palaces joined together and protected as heritage buildings, and parts of it still feel grand. I liked walking through the gold-slatted hall by the entrance, under its ring chandelier, and the lobby lounge with its crystal and marble columns was a nice place to sit in the afternoon. Up on the fourth floor there are woodcarvings and frescoes from the original palaces.
The spa feels small for a hotel this size. The pool is 18 metres long, with music playing under the water, which I loved. There's a sauna, a steam room and a full gym, and treatments use Susanne Kaufmann products and are by appointment. I'd treat it as a quick swim and a sauna, and save the afternoon for the city.
Value
A regular room here usually costs about $535 a night. The Imperial, a few minutes' walk away, is a little cheaper at about $502, and the Park Hyatt is about $580, the Sacher about $657 and the Rosewood about $744. On price, then, the Ritz is competitive. On the rooms it falls behind. The Park Hyatt opened in a converted bank in 2014 and the Rosewood in 2022, while the regular rooms here are still the ones from 2012.
Premium Deluxe and Premium Executive Rooms include the Club Lounge, so the higher room rate is all you pay for it. I'd only move up if the gap is small, because the lounge food didn't earn its keep for me, and I'd put the money into a Premium Room with a better view instead.
The Symphony Suite is in another price bracket altogether, and it felt like it, with the music and the park right outside. For a regular room, though, I'd pay the extra $45 or so for the Park Hyatt before I booked a Deluxe room here.
Who it suits
Book it if you're heading to the Musikverein or the Opera and want warm service and an easy base on the Ring, and especially if you're booking the Symphony Suite. It's the wrong pick if you want a fresh, modern room at a normal rate, or a proper spa. For a younger hotel at a similar price, book the Park Hyatt Vienna, and for the newest rooms in the city, the Rosewood Vienna.
