Grand Ferdinand Hotel, Vienna

Once upon a time, my wandering shoes took me to Vienna.

I’ve never actually stayed in a hotel there before, even though I visited a few times.

That was quickly crossed of the imaginary list this summer, when we passed through Vienna as part of my husband’s birthday adventure trip. Following a search on booking.com, the Grand Ferdinand Hotel caught my eye.

The interior of the rooms was very unusual, extremely insta-friendly (not that it is a real hotel-hunting factor) and it seemed like the perfect option even for location.

Just a short stroll away from St Stephan’s Cathedral and Belvedere Gardens and Palace. And we like to stroll.

The whole stay ended up being quite a bit of unnecessary drama and confusion.

If you’re up for a bit of moaning, feel free to read further. If not, just flick through the images.

You have been warned.

We arrived in the early afternoon, greeted by an unusual receptionist.

He didn’t even say hi or Gruss God.

After a quick look-around, we found the actual reception and checked in, amid a bit of commotion as it seemed like a whole rugby team just arrived for their check-in.

There were three people at the reception desk but nobody seemed to pay attention to us.

Which is ok, we just waited a little longer, made sure they heard our eyes rolling.

We were given our room keys and headed upstairs in search of our room.

The room was immaculately decorated and so stylish, I couldn’t believe it’s a hotel room.

Until I figured out some practicalities.

Notice the position of the shower corner?

Not that great, is it?

I couldn’t believe they would stick a shower room with a view straight from the bed. Zero privacy.

I don’t know if that’s supposed to be some sort of team building exercise for married couples, or to break the ice for those who just started dating.

Another thing that you probably wouldn’t realize from the hotel pictures – there was virtually zero storage space.

All you get is 4 hangers and that’s it. No closet, just 4 hangers.

We also realized that we paid for an upgraded 25 square meters room and this wasn’t even half of that size – keep in mind the pictures were taken with a wide-angle lens.

I mean, it wasn’t a great start.

We did what any normal person would do, went to the bar to think about this with a glass of wine.

At least the roof terrace didn’t disappoint.

I mean they had wine, massive plus.

Plus the view and roof terrace pool (which we didn’t test).

The staff up there was extremely friendly and professional.

This was the beautifully decorated on-site restaurant where we returned later in the evening to celebrate our room triumph (more on that in a second)!

There was a selection of cakes and a pretty well stocked bar.

From the restaurant you get amazing views of whole Vienna, even spot St Stephens Cathedral in the distance.

We opted for seats on the outdoor terrace as the weather was beautiful and seagulls were nowhere to be seen.

From past experience seems like me and seagulls won’t be Facebook friends in near future, so I try to avoid them.

Armed with a few glasses of wine, and a manual leg measurement of the room, we went down to the reception to find some sort of resolution….

…. only to be told that the rooms have actually never been measured.

The manager wasn’t on site and the kind lady who was in charge passed on the opportunity to take out the measuring tape and gave us a free upgrade to their next available room.

Which actually seemed like the size we paid for.

Victory at last.

This is the upgraded room, you can see the difference.

Oh, what’s that?

A whole room called bathroom? Where you get privacy?

We were in love with the room.

It made us appreciate all the decor details that much more.

Plus it actually had storage space.

below – that’s a happy Lulu in her new room.

A few details I loved – the old school light switches and those beautiful mirrors.

I didn’t know you can still get these today, so cool!

below – the view to the courtyard from our room….

To celebrate our new upgraded accommodation, we headed back upstairs for a drink before heading out to the town.

The sun was just getting down and we witnessed a beautiful sunset while sipping a glass of white wine.

After our one night stay in the hotel, it was time to say goodbye and head to the train station to catch the evening train to Italy.

It was certainly a stay to remember.

Please, dear hotel people, if you spend a fortune on designer furniture, can you at least give people chance to store their clothes?

I mean, it’s a hotel in the end, right?

Even though the receptionist below might disagree.