Europe Trip - Review Renaissance Wien Hotel

Image credit: www.conferenceguideuk.com

I picked the Renaissance Wien Hotel because it was near to go to the Schonbrunn Palace. I didn't know much about the hotel except on booking.com it was pretty popular. My friend and I saw that there was a swimming pool on top and it looked decent through their website photos so, we picked this hotel.

We took the slow train and the U-Bahn to the hotel which took us about an hour to get there. If we had took the CAT we could have gotten there earlier. Read more about the transportation in Vienna. The hotel was right across the Meidling Hauptstraße. It was the only convenient thing for this hotel.

Image credit: http://finance.flemingeurope.com

When we arrived at the entrance we were pretty excited because it looked really nice. The lobby itself looked very nice as well. Everything looked brand new and there were 2 staff at the counter. The concierge at the door was very helpful as well.

Once we got in one of the reception there looked at us and we looked at him. Without a smile or a greeting he looked away. We found that very odd but once when we said we're checking in a warm welcome happened. I am not sure if it is how Vienna Hotels are but usually when I am walking towards the counter a smile would have been greeting me for my arrival.

Anyways, we paid on the spot and I asked if there's Free Wifi inside the hotel. The receptionist told me that there will be a complimentary 30 minutes Free Wifi for every 24 hours and the lobby wifi is free of charge. Once I heard this I was in shock! NO WIFI!!! How is this possible?! I sort of went into panic mode. If I were to use the wifi they will have to charge me. Knowing this my friend and I went up to our room.

Image credit: www.viennahotel.co.uk

The room looked decent but old. It seems like the hotel hasn't updated their furnitures at all. The TV itself is very old. It was the big bulky ones. No flat screen TV and it was pretty hard to turn on the TV as well. The wall itself looked kind of yellowish. The room does not provide anything! No kettle, glasses, just NOTHING! The bed was big but my bed was lumpy. I literally felt the person who slept on it was pretty heavy that made his or her body moulded on the bed. I could feel the height and size of the last person who slept on it! It was that lumpy!

I wrote a review about the hotel on Trip Advisor, have a look if you like. Read my review

After calming ourselves down on this outdated hotel we had to get online! My friend had to contact her husband that we arrived safely and I had to check in to Facebook to notify my family that I arrived in Vienna safely. Due to I do not have an international SIM card on every trip I check in to let my family in Hong Kong know that I am still alive and well.

Since the receptionist told us that the lobby wifi is free, we headed downstairs sat down and logged in.

Image credit: tripadvisor.com

We took our cell phones out and noticed that there wasn't any FREE WIFI at the lobby!!! It told us to pay or use the 30 minutes complimentary free wifi for every 24 hours. If we decided to use their wifi for more than 30 minutes, they will charge us according to the hour. There were several selections the lowest price was 9 Euros for 2 hours wifi for each device! Yes, they charge each devices for internet! It was ridiculous to us from where we were in Prague that the Park Inn Hotel gave us Free wifi for 4 devices to use in our room. We were just in shock. We still had to use the wifi. We just had to go grab something to eat first and deal with the internet situation later.

By the time it was already 7pm and most of the stores are closed. The only restaurants were open were either pizza, kebab, pasta or chinese. We had chinese and it was buffet. Never in a million years I will have thought of having Chinese food in Europe! I can have it here in Hong Kong every day! But there wasn't any choice.

JC Lucky Fen is opened by a Shanghainese family. The son there is very pleasant and speak pretty okay English. I was too in shock that I was having chinese food that I over reacted and shocked the boy. I totally forgotten which of the 3 prices we had. I think it was the Kleines Buffet. As expected, the food wasn't Chinese at all. It was European-ized Chinese Food. A lot of fried stuffs though. Oh! Refills on drinks too!

The restaurant is located on Bonygasse. From the hotel walk straight ahead on Vivenotgasse.

Where is JC Lucky Fen?

After dinner we headed to a local store which was still opened. Thank god! We bought 2 bottles of water because the hotel doesn't have a kettle and my poor friend didn't get to drink her tea when she bought a lot of tea bags with her during the trip.

Once we got back to the hotel, I decided to use my phone and purchased the 9 Euros for 2 hours wifi in our room so we can contact our families. Seriously, for 2 hours I kept using the wifi. I did not want the 9 Euros to go to waste! We also discussed that the next day I will go find a phone company that provide pre-paid sim cards and use it for the next couple of days in Vienna.

The next morning, we went down for breakfast. The usual continental breakfast. I must say their breakfast wasn't really good at all and the staff there looked very grumpy. It seemed like they had a very rough start for the day. Not just that day but every single morning when we were there.

After breakfast we headed out and went to 3 to purchase a pre-paid SIM Card. It was 9 EUROS and I could use it for 4 days there. I shared my hotspot to my friend so, she's able to use the internet when she wanted to. 9 Euros for 2-4 devices internet? Oh yeah! It was worth it comparing using the one the hotel provided that charges each device for internet!

I mentioned that the hotel provided a swimming pool. It closes at 10pm! I wasn't even back at 10pm! So, during my stay we didn't even get to see the pool!

Overall, this hotel is really not as expected and poor. I wouldn't recommend anyone to stay there. I seriously recommend other people to look for others and read carefully what sort of things the hotel provides. Most of all READ REVIEWS!

I apologise that I had to use other people's image. I was just too upset to even take photos at the time of the hotel.

Where is Renaissance Wien Hotel?

Next blog... Europe Trip Day 8 Schönbrunn Palace!