http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2012-02-14T10:29:28Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/ http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/13/93145/7852 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/61268/SportSaunaVienna.JPG" class="top"><p>With everyone talking about New York's upcoming gay-themed hotel, <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2012/1/2/143624/6873/hotels/"><b>The OUT NYC</b></a>, we thought we'd take a look at some of the world's gay-friendliest hotels and resorts. Keep an eye out for that later next week. In the meantime, we thought we'd share a tip we received yesterday from a <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Hotel%20Maven%20Reviews"><b>HotelChatter maven</b></a> about a place called <a href="http://www.pension-wild.com/index_eng.html"><b>The Wild</b></a> in Vienna. <p>Despite its evocative name, The Wild is in fact just a family-owned (Wild is their last name) European pension hotel located in Josefstadt, with free breakfast buffets, reasonable rates (from EUR 41), and close proximity to Vienna's sights. Interestingly, what their website chooses not to mention is <b>Sport Sauna, a thriving sports-themed gay bathhouse, bar ASchechter 2012-01-13T09:38:28-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/8/4/132133/9107 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/parkhyattvienna_2013.jpg" class="top"><p> <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/park hyatt hotels"><b>Park Hyatt Hotels</b></a> are on an expansion whirl this year. The <a href="http://maldives.hadahaa.park.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp?null">Park Hyatt Maldives</a> debuted the other month, the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2010/11/1/232740/286/hotels/Bermuda_Will_Get_a_Park_Hyatt_in_November_2011">Bermuda location</a> is later this year or early next and even NYC will be getting a Park Hyatt soon. And now come 2013, the Park Hyatt will open its doors in <b>Vienna</b>.<p>Hyatt Hotels made the announcement this morning, saying the hotel would open inside a historic building in the city's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innere_Stadt">Innere Stadt</a>, or First District. <blockquote><p> Park Hyatt Vienna will feature 143 rooms, including 35 suites. In addition to an all-day dining restaurant, lobby and <b>cigar lounges</b>, and a hotel bar, the hotel will include a premier meeting facility with 640m2 of juliana 2011-08-04T14:44:43-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/6/17/123032/965 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/shangrilavienna.jpg" class="top"><p>While the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/6/16/11210/9204/hotels/The_MO_Morocco_is_No_Mo_">former Mandarin Oriental Marrakech</a> recently got snapped up by Taj Hotels, the planned <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/2/22/133720/143/hotels/Shangri_La_Dumps_Its_Vienna_Plans_Will_Never_Open"><b>Shangri-La Hotel Vienna</b></a> is still searching for the perfect companion. We reported that Shangri-La shockingly pulled out back in <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/2/22/133720/143/hotels/Shangri_La_Dumps_Its_Vienna_Plans_Will_Never_Open">February</a> and since then, the hotel has been sitting empty.<p> A tipster tells us that the local media refers to it as a <b>"ghost hotel"</b> and that despite everything being finished and furnished, there's been no takers from the operational standpoint.<p>That sounds surprising for a completely finished property with 207 rooms and an indoor swimming pool but then again the Shangri-La dumped it because of poor construction quality. So that probably rules out any other luxury brands like Four Seasons and juliana 2011-06-17T12:41:57-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/2/22/133720/143 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/21888/shangrilaviennagone.jpg" class="top"> <p><i>Wiped off the map. Gone but not forgotten.</i> <p>Sometimes, with all these hotel openings, we forget there&#146;s that small matter of wavering economies. But today we&#146;ve been brought back to reality with a jolt, with the news from a tipster that the Shangri-La Vienna will never open. <p>The hotel has already been removed from the <a href="http://www.shangri-la.com/en/corporate/press/futuredevelopment">Shangri-La website</a>, as if it never existed. Very secret agent. <p>It was <a href="http://www.hotelsoftherichandfamous.com/articles/vienna-shangri-la-hotel-to-open-in-2009.cfm">originally down to open in 2009</a> and Shangri-La had bought up an entire city block on the 19th century Ringstraße in order to turn it into a 207 room hotel. But things haven&#146;t gone to plan, because, according to our tipster: <blockquote><p>Shangri-La has terminated the management contract with juliab 2011-02-22T14:01:30-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/9/14/53839/2523 <![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/grandhotelwifi.jpg" class="top"><p> <p>When you turn up to stay at the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Grand+Hotel+Wien/ian/148567"><b>Grand Hotel Wien</b></a> in <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotels/city/at/Vienna"><b>Vienna</b></a>, you'll likely be thinking along the lines of "old elegance" and "grand luxury" rather than "high technology" &#150; but you might be pleasantly surprised. <p>This grand old dame of a hotel has just got itself hooked up to a WiFi network system which claims to be one of the best. (Well, actually it claims to be the best, but we think that's hard to prove). The NonStop Wireless Networking, a Belden brand, has been installed in 140 different access points within the hotel &#150; we assume that means that most or all of the guest rooms now have WiFi. The system has amandak 2009-09-14T09:28:52-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/