Unveiled: Newly launched Austrian hotel invokes memories of Vienna and Paris

MOTTO Group, a Vienna-based lifestyle hospitality brand, has announced the opening of Hotel MOTTO in the heart of Vienna. Hotel MOTTO is a stylised study in Renaissance and Baroque architecture with the interiors rendered in Art Deco geometric lines and accented with industrial grit.

The 83 rooms  and 8 suites showcase fabric-covered walls with floral patterns; custom-designed carpets and tiles are inspired by the framework of the original vintage furniture; and the herringbone hard-wood flooring is seen throughout the property. Every piece of furniture has been tailor-made for the hotel: from the brass door handles to the in-room lighting concepts have been crafted for each individual space.

Central to the new property is the restaurant Chez Bernard – Restaurant et Bar, which offers a menu of eclectic dishes, a curated natural wine selection, and an extensive cocktail program. The open-air rooftop garden and bar provide unobstructed views of the city and the adjacent vineyards while, on the ground floor, the on-property boulangerie and patisserie ‘MOTTO Brot’ invokes memories of both Vienna and Paris with a traditional outdoor terrace the locals call ‘Schanigarten’. The exciting mix of opulence and simple modernity turns every space into a work of art, including the private fitness and sauna rooms as well as the meeting and event spaces with their cozy break-out living rooms that spill into the hotel’s foyer.

“Hotel MOTTO is a locally-rooted visual story. I wanted to combine the traditional Viennese architecture with the glamour of 1920s Paris, but infuse the design with some personal design touches inspired by the Scandinavian comfort and the Japanese ‘WABI SABI’ culture,” said Bernd Schlacher, owner and creative director of the MOTTO Group.

In addition to the popular ’MOTTO am FLUSS‘ restaurant, an omonimous catering service, and the MOTTO Brot bakery, Schlacher, originally a restaurateur from Styria,  wanted to add a unique hospitality concept to his portfolio.

The historic building has housed hotels for over three centuries with the first property, The Golden Cross, opened in 1665. The Golden Cross morphed into Hotel Kummer in 1872 and became a social hub for artists, painters, sculptors, writers, actors and musicians who gathered for coffee, wine and Austrian delicacies in the hotel’s public spaces. In 1904 the building was refurbished by Ludwig Schwarz, who preserved the original slanted corners and the oversized columns that frame the lobby and entryway to the hotel.

The décor of the upper floors was especially elaborate and the interiors have been partially preserved to this day, even after the allied occupation of post-World War II Vienna when the hotel was taken over by the French from 1945 to 1955. The architecture is infused with Renaissance and Baroque nods layered with elements of the gothic and byzantine styles: towers and domes as well as the configuration of the façade, originally constructed by the top artisans of the Vienna Artisan Craft movement, are fully preserved and play a pivotal role in the layout of the property. In the realm of classical music history, Hotel MOTTO was the birth home of Josef Strauss, son of the famous composer Johann Strauss, who called the hotel home in 1827. In addition, Hotel Motto‘s latest iteration, Hotel Kummer, was the setting of the celebrated John Irving’s novel The Hotel New Hampshire.