Living Hotel Kaiser Franz Joseph

I was there for only a couple of hours, and it was a horrible experience. As soon as I walked into the room, I found a cockroach crawling on the bathroom wall. I immediately went to the front desk, and I do want to acknowledge that the concierge was very helpful. They showed me three different replacement rooms in an effort to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, all of the alternative rooms were warm, the air conditioning was not working well, and several smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. After seeing the conditions of the other rooms, I decided to leave the hotel after only three hours. Even after leaving, I couldn’t stop thinking about the cockroach and whether there might have been more in my clothes, luggage, or around the bed. It completely ruined my peace of mind and made it impossible for me to feel comfortable staying there. I ended up checking out and finding another hotel. I had two reservation for 4 days and 17 days there and I cancelled both. Too much inconvenience

Quiet and peaceful, ensuring a great rest. Transport links (bus, tram, train) are perfect. There is a wide choice of international TV channels, but we missed a Spanish international channel. The Maisonette is fantastic; however, the bed frame was not firm enough for my back. The sofa bed may be too small for a teenager, so the hotel should ensure a proper, adequate mattress fits.

There was a faulty fire alarm in the basement that went off on two consecutive nights. The first night, it sounded at around 4:00 am. When we spoke to staff, they told us there was a fire in the basement but that it was safe to return to our rooms. We later found out this was not true. The second night, the alarm went off again at around 7:00 am. This time, staff admitted there was an issue with the basement fire alarm rather than an actual fire. We raised our concerns with the staff, but the only response we received was an apology. It would have been appreciated if the hotel had made some effort to improve our stay after two disrupted nights, such as offering a gesture of goodwill or another form of compensation for the inconvenience.

Booking a room was already more difficult than expected, as it wasn't possible to make a reservation by phone. We ended up booking through the hotel's website, and, following the staff's instructions, noted in the comments that our 5-month-old daughter would be sleeping in our bed. At check-in, we were informed that our room could only be reached by climbing two sets of eight steps. Since we were traveling with a baby and a stroller—and had specifically mentioned this during booking—I explained that this wouldn't work. The receptionist immediately understood and kindly switched us to a different room, even giving us a complimentary upgrade, which we really appreciated. Unfortunately, the new room had a connecting door, making the already poor soundproofing even worse. We also had twin beds that kept sliding apart, which made sleeping with a small baby both uncomfortable and potentially unsafe. We informed reception, and they offered either a room change (which we declined because our daughter was already asleep) or to find a way to secure the beds. Unfortunately, nobody followed up, so my husband ended up fixing the issue himself. Another downside was that the room never got properly dark. The blackout curtain got stuck before fully closing, and there was a gap of around 5 cm at the top that let in a significant amount of light. For families traveling with young children, especially during the summer months, this can be a real challenge. Overall, we wouldn't recommend this hotel for families with small children. The sound insulation is extremely poor—you can hear conversations in the hallway, neighboring showers, and housekeeping moving furniture across the parquet floors early in the morning. On the positive side, the mattress was very comfortable, the pillows were excellent.