Hotel am Schottenpoint

Hotel or mock accommodation: it's still unclear. Ours wasn't a stay, it was a scavenger hunt. We booked this hotel in Vienna and found ourselves in an immersive experience of live renovations. Unfinished ceilings, dangling wires, half-installed spotlights, a TV in decorative mode (but not yet hung). We didn't know whether to sleep or get a quote to finish the work. Check-in was at 4 p.m., but we were offered the option to leave our bags at a temporary location beforehand. It's logical to assume the hotel would be nearby... naive us. At the last minute, they sent us the real address, which was on the other side of Vienna. Surprise. As if you booked in Madrid and were sent to Guadalajara. And of course, everything was digital. No reception, people, or human contact. Everything here is opened with your phone: the entrance, the room, common sense... well, not always the latter. If you don't have any battery or data, prepare to sleep on the street with a pixelated smile. But the best comes last: the door wouldn't lock. And we're not talking about a minor problem. We're talking about you leaving the room wide open. Security is zero. We tried to contact by phone, but there was no one. WhatsApp. Only WhatsApp. And of course, someone might answer if Mercury decides to align with Saturn. We had just arrived in Vienna, eager to wander around and see the city... and we spent three hours standing guard in front of the door, watching our belongings like unpaid, unremitting janitors in a smart building. A stay designed for the adventurous traveler, a lover of risk, frustration, and undeveloped concepts. Ideal if you want to feel like part of a technological beta without quality control. A Spanish group in Vienna, still without a Sacher torte (because we were defending the door).

We arrived in a fairly hot period of the year, in fact I think that among the summer seasons July is the hottest. We entered the room after half an hour of trying to open the door with online opening, we found ourselves in front of dust, strange stains on towels and sheets that, among other things, were winter with a quilt. To cool the room there was no air conditioning, but two old fans that barely worked. The main door to enter the hall must be opened by a bodybuilder apparently because, in addition to being heavy, it was also difficult to force. The door to the room, however, was opened after half an hour of failed attempts because apparently there were too many, rightly so, you check in in the evening practically arriving exhausted after walking Vienna and you have to wait in the hottest corridor of the room for the attempts to reset. I strongly advise against it.

It's the most frustrating of hotels. Due to the attempt to make everything automated. They don't give you basic information like wi-fi passwords in the room, combination for safe, map to fire escapes. TV doesn't have broadcast signal it's only intended for streaming. Tea and coffee facilities only has tea bags, no coffee or whitener. The biggest problem however is the decision to remove room keys and send you a link that opens the door. After a delayed journey and 8% battery on my phone. It kept saying too many attempts to open the door. They don't have a back up facility like a PIN or key safe. Plumbing is ancient and shower is either boiling hot or freezing cold within a millimetre of turning the dial. They don't do house keeping whilst you stay. Rooms have poor sound insulation so everyone walking past sounds like they're in your room.