The Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof, Vienna, Austria

The Steigenberger Group are in the midst of constructing a new four-star superior hotel which is due to open in Vienna in late 2008/early 2009. The hotel is being constructed from the shell of an existing hotel building on the site, which was first built in 1913; the new hotel will use the neoclassical facade of the old building to retain some of the old world character of this part of the historic city of Vienna.

The new Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof is being constructed in the Old Town district and will have 186 guest rooms with an average floor space of 31m² (102ft²). The hotel will also have 10 suites with floor space of between 60 and 85m² (197–279ft²).

The hotel conference facilities will consist of 10 seminar rooms that can be linked together in a modular fashion as required for larger meetings with a total floor space of 600m² or smaller focus or fringe groups. The largest of these meeting rooms will have a capacity for 200 delegates.

FACILITIES

Extensive renovation work has resulted in the creation of a modern business hotel. The new Steigenberger hotel will offer 196 rooms and suites, with outlooks over the rooftops of Vienna’s historic Old Town.

The Steigenberger Spa Comfort will offer all the latest treatments and have a sauna, steam room, relaxation room and juice bar as well as a plunge pool, swimming pool and an open gallery area for relaxation.

The hotel will also be opening new restaurants and bars offering a tempting range of culinary delights. Creative ‘Show Cooking’ may be enjoyed at the buffet of the main restaurant, which adjoins an individual à-la-carte restaurant. The Café/Bistro represents the traditional Viennese coffee house while the Lobby Bar is the perfect place to enjoy a drink in a comfortable quiet ambience.

SPA PHILOSOPHY

The Steigenberger Spa is based around three ‘columns’ – aqua (water), corpus (body) and Venus. This means that the customer has the choice in the spa to choose their own package of treatments or combination according to their perceived requirements. Someone choosing simply aqua has full use of all the pool facilities, spa and Jacuzzi tubs.

Corpus, meanwhile, refers to a programme of treatments centred on the body such as massage, packs and heat/cold treatments. Venus will offer beauty treatments and pampering to the guest including hair and nail treatments. The guest is encouraged to ‘choose your own personal spa enjoyment’.

LOCATION

The location of the hotel is quiet but central in the Palais district, close to the Hofburg; the hotel forms the perfect base for excursions of all kinds. Cultural monuments such as the gothic St. Stephen’s Cathedral and shopping areas such as the Kohlmarkt are all just a few minutes walk away.

INVESTORS AND REFURBISHMENT

The main investor in the project is Amisola Immobilien AG of Vienna, a private foundation owned by Karl Wlaschek, founder of the Austrian commerce chain Billa. The hotel itself is managed by Steigenberger Hotels AG. Steigenberger have four other hotels in Austria and in 2006 they showed a turnover of €17m and a profit increase of 1.7%.

In 2006 six new Steigenberger hotels opened their doors. March saw the opening of the first Steigenberger hotel in Italy, the Steigenberger Hotel Therme Meran, fashioned by the top Italian designer Matteo Thun. This was followed in early April by the opening of the Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe opposite the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

At the beginning of June the Steigenberger Strandhotel in Zingst opened on the Baltic coast, with the Steigenberger Hotel Treudelberg in Hamburg following suit in October.

Finally, in December, two new operations in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada – the five-star Steigenberger Al Dau Beach Hotel and the all-inclusive Steigenberger Al Dau Club – received their first guests.

2008 will see three new InterCityHotels opening their doors in Dresden, Essen and Mainz and at the end of 2008 the four-star Steigenberger Hotel Herrenhof in Vienna will be opened for business.

Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts sees further expansion opportunities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as in European cities and in a variety of mountain and seaside locations.